English Language Arts

English Language Usage -

• Jeremiah will continue to be supported as he independently develops more sophisticated English language skills. 
•  Jeremiah speaks and reads fluently, near or at an adult level.
• His language has become increasingly sophisticated, and he is easily able to communicate both concrete facts and abstract concepts.
• Jeremiah is comfortable  and confident speaking with a wide range of people. 
• At the Northeast Unschooling Conference, Jeremiah performed a brief stand-up comedy routine he created himself before an audience of approximately 100. This was his first experience with public speaking.
• Jeremiah is increasingly able to communicate in writing (something he was not interested in doing until he was 9).  His written efforts are becoming more diverse and complex, and have included notes, advertisements, instant messages, blog posts, comic strips, cards, forms, contracts, and other text.

• He will be exposed to English in many written and spoken forms. 
• Jeremiah continues to explore many forms of written English, ranging from subtitles to prose, poetry, and plays.
• Jeremiah enjoyed the Shephard grammar flash games, and played until he was proficient in all areas:
• Nouns and adjectives
• Verbs and adverbs
• Punctuation and capitalization
• Possessives and plurals
• He enjoyed assorted language based television programming, such as The Electric Company, Martha Speaks! and Word Girl.
• He explored programming in England created by those for whom English is a second language as in Japanese animes subtitled and/or dubbed in English.

• He will have the opportunity to converse with a wide variety of English speakers of diverse ages, including those for whom English is a second language.
• Jeremiah heard various dialects of English throughout this quarter.
• We spoke occasionally of specific sound characteristics of regional and international accents, such as Canadian, British, Australian, Japanese, and Boston.
• Jeremiah spoke with native speakers of Taiwanese and French during this quarter.
• All conversations were voluntary, unscripted, and mutually interesting.

• His interest in sentence structure; grammatical principles; parts of speech; prefixes, suffixes; word roots and origins; and vocabulary will be encouraged and nurtured.  
• Jeremiah's interest in these topics seems to be evolving in concert with his interests in Japanese and in communicating through the written word.
• As his language becomes more sophisticated, Jeremiah has become more interested in and intuitively aware of numerous grammatical forms.  
• He has asked for and received corrections and advice on how to apply various grammatical principles to his writing and speaking.  

• His parents will facilitate by providing opportunities and excursions that allow Jeremiah to interact with many written and spoken forms of English; by providing access to a wide variety of print and online English language resources; by engaging with Jeremiah in involved conversations; by answering questions and offering advice as he requests; and by supplying a vocabulary-rich learning and living environment.
• Jeremiah has been supported in all his endeavors to more fully understand and communicate in his native tongue. 
• Conversation is at a level commeasurate with his abilities, and new structures, vocabulary, and information are presented as they occur in the course of day-to-day life.
• Jeremiah has been provided access to a wide variety of written and spoken English, in a variety of situations, company, and locations.