Page 21 - Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12 Native Languages

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THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12: NATIVE LANGUAGES
Grammar, Language Conventions, and Vocabulary
Languages reflect the culture and philosophy of the people who speak them. Grammar, which is the framework of language, reveals the ways in which each language defines relationships between concepts. An under- standing of these relationships enhances a speaker’s ability to formulate ideas, to com- municate, and to understand the communi- cation of others.
In Native languages, individual words carry a great deal of information, much more than is the case in English or French. Effective com- munication in Native languages, therefore, requires grammatical accuracy.
The learning of grammar can be a produc- tive and enjoyable activity for students. It is not necessary for students to memorize rules of grammar. A knowledge of the structure of a language allows students to analyse and reflect on its use, thereby stimulating their interest in language itself, deepening their understanding of the language being learned, and helping them to develop their writing skills and to analyse the writing of others.
This section supports all three strands in the course. Students should develop and apply the language knowledge through commu- nicative activities in all three strands.
Language elements for the two Native language families in Ontario,Algonquian and Iroquoian, differ and are therefore listed separately.
Sentence Structure
In Native languages, sentences are structured in a variety of ways that may include one or more of the following parts of speech: verbs, nouns, pronouns, particles, and conjunctions.
A verb and its affixes, used to convey such grammatical information as person, number, and tense, can represent a complete sentence. Sometimes a particle can express a complete thought. Sentences may also consist of one or more clauses that in English would be parallel to simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex constructions.
Spelling Strategies
Use of:
– cluster and syllable recognition
– capitalization
– punctuation
– diacritical marks
– contractions as they occur in rapid speech (Iroquoian)
– resources to confirm spelling (e.g., classroom-displayed lists, texts, dictionar- ies, lexicons, information technology)
Vocabulary
Use of:
– basic vocabulary (sample list: numbers from 1 to 1 000 000 plus; mathematical opera- tions; kinship as it applies to cosmology; seasonal activities; social events; weather; community activities; government; the arts – music, film, dance, theatre, painting; formal oratory)
– new words from units of study and per- sonal and class word lists
– a Native-English dictionary or lexicon to build vocabulary