1. Colourful Semantics Making sentences make sense
Presented by Brooke Scantleton
Speech Pathologist

3. What are common difficulties the students you work with have when it comes to making up sentences (both oral and written?)
Don’t know what to write
Sentences don’t make sense
Produce brief sentences without details
Have trouble expanding on ideas
Sentences consist of grammar mistakes

4. Colourful Semantics
Colourful Semantics was developed in the UK by Speech and Language Therapist Alison Bryan
It was brought to Victoria by Speech Pathologist Andrea Hewett (Bairnsdale)
Presentation adapted from that developed by Marcella Van Mourik (CEOM Speech Pathologist)

5. Where does the name come from?
Colourful
Where does the name come from?
Semantics

6. What is ‘Colourful Semantics’?
A method of teaching children how to understand and construct sentences
A therapy technique that uses colour-coded cue cards that ‘show’ the structure of a sentence; each card represents a word or part of a sentence
Tunes the child into key words in sentences (oral/written)

7. Activities aim to help children to:
Understand instructions and sentences
Follow discussions and to communicate their own ideas effectively
Reduce problem behaviours such as anger and aggression in the classroom (if this is the result of frustration associated with language difficulty)

8. Use different modalities to learn about making sentences (Children with SLD are usually stronger visually and kinesthetically - hands-on)
Develop competent use of simple and complex sentence structure
Develop a concept of narrative (e.g. what makes up a ‘story’)

9. Produce grammatically correct sentences in speaking and writing
Develop literacy skills by building a strong foundation in oral language:

10. Select a word from the bucket Decide which group your word belongs to:
ACTIVITY 1:
Select a word from the bucket
Decide which group your word belongs to:
nouns
verbs
adjectives
adverbs
conjunctions
pronouns
Form a group with others who have the same word type

11. What is a sentence? Can be one or more clauses joined together
So what is a clause?.....It is a unit of meaning that contains a verb and a subject (noun)
For example….
‘The dog jumped’
‘Come here’

12. What is a sentence?
More information about the noun is added through the use of adjectives
More information about the verb is added through the use of adverbs
For example….
The lazy brown dog jumped over the log quickly

13. ? Colour Cue Cards ‘WHO’ = orange = nouns Can include:
people e.g. man, baby, Grandma
animals e.g. horse, dog, butterfly
occupations e.g. clown, hairdresser, doctor
pronouns e.g. he, she, it, they
Program teaches these elements in isolation then builds them into various sentence structures.
Vocabulary development; teach subjective pronouns
MAN

14. is ‘WHAT DOING’ = yellow = verbs Can include:
‘stand alone’ verbs e.g. run, sit
verbs associated with an object e.g. wash (car), brush (hair)
different tenses (past, present, future)
‘is’ (copula) verb ‘to be’ e.g. Boy is tall
(other times, ‘is’ = auxiliary verb e.g. Boy is running; in this context ‘is’ is modeled, not explicitly taught) is
EATING

15. ‘WHAT’ = green = objects/nouns
- e.g. brush dog, wash car
‘WHERE’ = red
- e.g. on the car, in the cupboard,
outside, at the park
‘WHEN’ = purple
- e.g. yesterday, last week,
on the weekend, tomorrow
BREAKFAST
AT THE TABLE
IN THE MORNING

16. ? ‘HOW DOING’ = white = adverbs ‘WHAT LIKE’ = blue = adjectives
- e.g. quickly, gently, like a monkey,
in a silly way, well
‘WHAT LIKE’ = blue = adjectives
Can include:
- Feelings e.g. angry, scared, hungry
- Physical attributes e.g. old, tall, pretty
how doing ?
QUICKLY
Man is HUNGRY

17. Joining words = brown = conjunctions
‘WHO TO’ = pink = indirect objects
- e.g. The girl gave flowers to her mother.
Joining words = brown = conjunctions
- e.g. and, because, after, although
Teach indirect pronouns e.g., to him
MAN GIVING BREAKFAST TO THE BOY
Man NOT “ “ “
Man is NOT hungry.

18. ‘Not’ = red circle cut out
- e.g. not verb, not adjective
(N.B. ‘never’ = ‘how doing’ (adverb); ‘does/did’ etc. = auxiliary verbs
e.g. ‘Boy did not run’)

19. Using Colourful Semantics
Teach ‘WHO’
Establish the colour link by explaining ‘who’ words are orange and present the orange card
Use real objects
Identify real people in the class, home, school
Identify people and animals in storybooks, photos and magazines
Make a poster with pictures or photos

20. Expand vocabulary and oral language by using occupations activities (e
Expand vocabulary and oral language by using occupations activities (e.g. ‘Who am I?’)
Students may experience difficulty with gender (e.g. he, she)

22. 2. Teach ‘WHAT DOING’
Establish the colour link by explaining ‘what doing’ words are yellow and present the yellow card
Use stand alone verbs at this stage (e.g. running, walking, jumping, sleeping, sitting, standing, falling, crying, laughing, swimming, sleeping etc.
Use pictures from magazines, books, photos etc. and encourage the student to identify the ‘what doing’ word
Make a poster with pictures or photos

24. A variety of tenses can be used (e.g. past, present, future)
Students may experience difficulty using verb tenses and may need more assistance with this step
It is important to remember that prompts need to change as different tenses are worked on. E.g.:
PAST TENSE: What did the girl do? (jumped)
PRESENT TENSE: What does the girl do (jumps)

25. Use stand alone verb pictures
4. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING’
Use stand alone verb pictures
Place action picture in front of the student
Place ‘who’ and ‘what doing’ cue cards in front of the student
Point to the orange ‘who’ card and ask ‘Who is in this picture?’ (boy)
Point to the yellow ‘what doing’ card and ask ‘What is the boy doing?’ (sleeping)
Ask “What is the complete sentence?” (The boy is sleeping)

26. 4. Teach ‘WHAT’ (in conjunction with ‘WHAT DOING’ words)
Establish the colour link by explaining to the student:
‘what doing’ words are yellow (present the yellow card)
‘what’ words are green (present the green card)
Identify actions in the classroom, at home or at school
Identify actions in story books, photos or magazines
Use ‘what doing’ words that can be associated with an object (e.g. reading (a book), throwing (a ball) etc.)

27. It is important to ensure that the student understands the distinction between ‘what doing’ and ‘what’ words in this context
For example:
When asked “What is the boy doing?”, a child will often respond with ‘reading a book’. This is incorrect.
‘reading’ is the ‘what doing’ word
‘book’ is the ‘what’ word

28. Place action picture in front of the student
5. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING’ + ‘WHAT’
Place action picture in front of the student
Place ‘who’, ‘what doing’ and ‘what’ cue cards in front of the student
Prompt student as outlined previously:
‘Who is in the picture?’ (a boy)
‘What is the boy doing?’ (reading)
‘What is the boy reading?’ (a book)
‘What is the complete sentence?’ (The boy is reading a book)

29. ACTIVITY 3:
In pairs, ask each other comprehension questions for these pictures….

30. It is important to remember that colourful semantics builds on the concept of ‘meaning words’ rather than specific grammatical structures. Therefore, if a student responds with “The boy reading a book” reward the student for including all parts of the sentence, but recast the sentence back to the student using the correct grammar.

31. 6. Teach ‘WHERE’
Establish the colour link by explaining to the student that ‘where’ words are red (present red ‘where’ card)
Present the student with pictures and ask the student to identify the ‘where’ words (e.g. under the chair, in the box etc.)

32. Use the following activity ideas to teach ‘where’:
Play hiding games – ask ‘where’ things or people are hidden. Consider the following hierarchy:
life size objects → toys → photos → drawings
Play barrier games and/or use picture scenes – give each other instructions (e.g. put the bike on the road’ etc.)
Students may experience difficulty understanding concepts

33. 7. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING (IS)’ + ‘WHERE’
8. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING’ + ‘WHERE’
9. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING + ‘WHAT’ + ‘WHERE’
10. Teach ‘WHEN’
11. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING’ + ‘WHEN’
12. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING + ‘WHAT’ + ‘WHEN’

34. 13. Teach ‘WHAT LIKE’
14. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING (IS)’ + ‘WHAT LIKE’
15. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT LIKE’ + ‘WHAT DOING + ‘WHAT’
16. Teach ‘WHO TO’
17. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING + ‘WHAT’ + ‘WHO TO’
18. Teach ‘HOW DOING’
19. Teach ‘WHO’ + ‘WHAT DOING + ‘WHAT’ + ‘HOW DOING’

35. ACTIVITY 4:
On the weekend I played soccer at the sports oval.
My brother and I were kicking the football to our next door neighbours
My sister spoke well during the school performance.
The whale was as big as a house.

36. 20. Teach ‘JOINING WORDS’
Present the brown card to the student and explain that ‘joining words’ are brown
Explain to the student that we can join sentences together to make longer sentences. We join sentences with a joining word (point to the brown card)
Give the student some examples, then ask them to formulate sentences using the cue cards (2 sets)

37. Teach ‘joining words’ one at a time, making sure you explain the joining word to the student and provide them with examples and modelling
Present the student with pictures and photos, as well as the colour cue cards
Encourage the student to formulate each sentence individually before joining them
Check that the student understands the concepts by asking questions, such as ‘What did the boy do first?’ etc.

38. because
The boy went to the doctor
The boy had a pain in the stomach

39. Using Colourful Semantics in the classroom
Have large copies of cue cards stuck on blackboard or wall, ready to use.
Put up posters or butchers’ paper containing brainstormed words/pictures for each cue.
Use colour cards as cues during ‘Show and Tell’
Use colour cards during writing demonstrations or story writing activities

40. Have students find the key words in a sentence, text or picture  underline them in colour etc.
Write a sentence on the board and have students match up the words with the cue cards. Encourage the students to make the sentence ‘more colourful’ by adding a word or sentence part.
Add appropriate labels to the cue cards e.g. ‘who’ = noun/subject; ‘what doing’ = verb; ‘what’ = noun/object
 Students can then use the colour cards to refer to if unsure about a label e.g. adverb, adjective
Use colour cards as cues during narrative, essay, report, debate, sentence formulation etc.

41. Questions???