This post is the second in a series of lessons on teaching students who are braille readers to make the transition to UEB. All lessons are by Catherine Summ and Suzanne Cappiello, who both work as Education Consultants for the Department of Rehabilitative Services (DORS-BESB) in CT. See the full UEB Curriculum with all lessons.
Goal:
The student will be able to identify the four part-word EBAE (English Braille American Edition) contractions below that are not used in UEB (Unified English Braille).
to into by o’clock
For an explanation of the changes refer to the handout “Overview of Changes from Current Literary Braille to Unified English Braille” authored by Braille Authority of North America, March 2013, www.brailleauthority.org. Refer to the UEB manual for a full explanation of the braille code.
Procedure:
Teacher prepares sentences below in braille. The sentences below contain words that were formerly used in EBAE. Ask students to mark the words in the sentences below that are no longer contractions used in UEB:
- The young lady walked to the movie theater to see a 7 o’clock showing.
- The little boy is allergic to his cat.
- I want to be a great artist when I am older.
- The children ran by us without waving.
- Every Friday at 8 o’clock my family gathers to watch TV.
- Please come by later and have some tea by the garden.
- The book was written by Anna Carr and was later turned into a motion picture.
- The baby got into all the cabinets.
- He needed to go into the store to buy some snacks.
- Grandma went into the clinic to see her doctor at 9 o’clock.
Additional Activities: Writing Practice
Dictate sentences to students using the following eliminated contractions: to, into, by, and o’clock. Add your own.
- The students walked by the library on their way to the cafeteria.
- I placed the linens by the dresser in the master suite.
- The teacher asked the students to write in their journals until 11 o’clock am.
- Sally changed into her best attire for the big event.
- If you go by car then you will not arrive until 12:00 o’clock midnight.
- Wally finalized the plans while rushing to catch his train.
- We need to compile data before reporting to our team.
- Later this evening we can swing by the ice cream shop on our way to the game.
- Let’s leave for the airport at 6 o’clock, before rush hour begins.
- The chef made our orders to go since grandpa was feeling under the weather.
Assessment:
Teacher dictates the following 10 sentences using the eliminated contractions: to, into, by, and o’clock. Add your own. Teacher compiles a spreadsheet for each student to document progress and compile data.
- The award was given to her by her parents and her professors.
- Sally ran into the house to get away from the bees.
- Freddy walked in looking very tired from her shift at work.
- He needed to go into the office on Saturday to finish up some work.
- I am quite happy you arrived on time and by 8 o’clock.
- The fish weighed in at 22 pounds and was measured at 27 feet.
- The ball flew by her head just missing her by a margin.
- She was in enough trouble by the time her parents picked her up at 9 o’clock.
- He complained to the chef that his dish was not warm enough.
- We drove 2 days to get to our vacation spot by the beach.
Educational Activity and Game:
Name that Contraction Game:
Prepare a tactile, square-shaped game board with 8-10 blank spaces on each side. Prepare a set of 30 sentences using the following eliminated contractions: to, into, by, and o’clock. Provide a tactile or talking die and game markers.
- Cards are placed face down to begin the “Draw Deck.”
- Players roll die to determine first player.
- Each player in turn takes the top card from the “Draw Deck, reads aloud the sentence and explains the rule for the eliminated contraction.
- If correct, player rolls die and advances the number of spaces appearing on the die. Card is placed in “Discard ” pile.
- If incorrect answer is given, player chooses any player of his choosing to help him explain the new UEB rule for the specified contraction/s in the sentence. If chosen player is correct, he/she will roll die and advance the number of spaces. The original player loses his turn on this round and the next player selects a card.
- Winner is first player to reach “Finish.”
- See attached Game Board.
Click here to download this handout in Word format.
Click here to download .dxb file of sentences to mark. (Courtesy of Karen Carl.)