Interaction: Activity 4
Co-constructing comparative statements
Watch Pari and Fereshteh as they interact in the Comparison Task. The learners are asked to find differences between two pictures of houses and make inferences about who lives in each house, their social class, and what the differences in houses say about American culture. The task requires that they make comparisons. Persian has many structures that can be used for comparison including:
| Adjective | in khooneh æz oon khooneh bozorgtær-eh. |
|---|---|
| Adverb | kargær bishtær æz mohændes kar mikoneh. |
| Noun | un khooneh fæza-ye bishtæri æz in khooneh dareh. |
| Verb | in khooneh ha æz seh jæhæt ba hæm tæfavot darænd. |
| Conjunction | ba vojoodi keh khooneh-æm zeshteh, (væli) mæn doostesh daræm. |
| Conjunction | in khooneh bozorg-eh, æmma un khooneh kuchik-eh. |
- Using the list above, categorize the words and structures that Pari and Fereshteh use to express similarities and differences. How do they scaffold each other’s efforts to express similarities and differences?
- If Pari and Fereshteh were completing this task in your classroom, given the words and structures they are currently using, what structures could you scaffold for them and how could you provide that scaffolding at the moment that they need it in a way that accelerates their movement toward self-regulation with the language?
Transcript (click to open)
| 1 | P | um fekr mikonæm tuye in khuneh um yek kargær zendegi mikoneh, væ um zæn nædareh, |
| 2 | æmma do ta bæcheh dareh <laugh>. | |
| 3 | F | aaa, fekr mikonæm mohændesi væ pæræstar dær khaneh zendegi mikonænd. |
| 4 | P | movafegæm, fekr mikonæm keh tuye in khuneh, ah næfær, næfær-ha ke pul dar-eh zendegi |
| 5 | mikonænd. | |
| 20 | F | inja, oh, fekr mikonæm... khuneh dær shær bozorg, bozorg-eh, æmma in khuneh.. dær, |
| 21 | hehe hum,... kuchik shær, kushær-eh hehehe |
Translation:
| 1 | P |
I think a labor lives in this house, and he doesn’t have a wife, but he has two |
2 |
daughters <laugh> |
|
3 |
F |
aaa, I think an engineer and a nurse are living in this house. |
4 |
P |
I think so, I think that in this house, people, people who are rich |
5 |
are living. |
|
20 |
F |
Here, oh, I think…house in big city, is in a big city, but this house… in <L> hum, .. |
21 |
small city… small city, is in small city <laugh> |
Please type your answers to the questions in the box below.
When you have finished typing your answer, click to compare your response with the Learner Language staff response.
1. Using the list above, categorize the words and structures that Pari and Fereshteh use to express similarities and differences. How do they scaffold each other’s efforts to express similarities and differences?
Pari and Fereshteh compare their houses in the Jigsaw task and they find out that one house is small and ugly and the other house is beautiful and big. In the Comparison task they try to talk about the man who is living in these two houses. Interestingly, the learners collaboratively construct these comparisons. For instance, Pari describes the man who is living in the small house as a "laborer" that has two daughters but not a wife. And Fereshteh describes the people who are living in the big house as an engineer and a nurse with three children. They constantly confirm each other’s opinion by using phrases like "I agree with you" or "I think so". Overall, Fereshteh uses more adjectives but hardly uses any other structures for comparison; she makes contrasts lexically. Pari uses both adjectives and complex sentence structures such as the comparative structure and that clause.
| Pari | Fereshteh |
|---|---|
| Adjectives: "khub" good "sheytun" naughty |
Adjectives: "bozorg" big "kuchik" small "mashin-e sabz" green car |
| Adverbs: "kheili" very "shayæd" maybe |
Adverbs: "kheili" very "æmma fe'lan" but now |
| Noun: "pul dar" rich |
|
| Connector: "væ" and "ya" or "æmma" but |
Connectors: "æmma" but |
2. If Pari and Fereshteh were completing this task in your classroom, given the words and structures they are currently using, what structures would you scaffold for them and how would you provide that scaffolding in a way that accelerates their movement toward self-regulation with the language?
After having them complete the task and identifying the comparative structures they seem ready to learn (the ones in their ZPDs that they can produce with scaffolding), the teacher may be able to provide that scaffolding more effectively by reviewing the task together with the students. For instance, the teacher may encourage Pari to use comparative and superlative adjectives to describe the house. The teacher may also encourage Fereshteh to use a wider variety of structures to make comparisons. The teacher may also give the learners a writing assignment using the same task with different but similar pictures. In doing it, the learners will have another chance to review the new vocabulary and structures and the teacher can check their explicit knowledge on what they learned in the class.
