Summer SAVY 2017, Session 4/Day 2- Looking into Language (Rising 4th/5th)
Today we asked, “what are the limitations of using the standard English alphabet to represent the way that people actually pronounce things?” Our linguists learned about the history of writing, beginning with cuneiform and hieroglyphs before learning the Greek alphabet and learning about the transition into what we recognize today as our ABCs. We learned about codes and symbols, ranging from Morse Code and the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet to the Navajo Code Talkers in WWII. We thought about what it would feel like to use a code in our own lives and wrote short autofictitious stories.
In the afternoon we got silly with Ubbi Dubbi (http://pbskids.org/cgi-registry/zoom/ubbidubbi.cgi) in order to start thinking about when to separate words into syllables. We then tackled the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), first learning each sound individually and then putting them together to form words. It was tricky at first, but after some exercises and a crossword puzzle we were ready to go outside for a Phonetic Mystery Race where the clues were ONLY written in IPA! Every student completed the task and I couldn’t be prouder!
Ms. Abby Broughton
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