DFR0760 Speech Synthesizer question - Steps for use with Agon Light 2 single board computer?

I have purchased a couple of these text to speech synthesizer modules and well versed in UART and I2C communication (3.3vdc) in eZ80 assembly and BBC Basic/Assembly for an Agon Light 2 single board computer. All I found was Arduino and Raspberry Pi library's for using them which I am not using either. Can some one fill in the blanks on how to implement this module let's say for I2C that is NOT using an Arduino or Raspberry Pi ?

1. Open the i2c bus as a master - assuming $40 as the i2c address in hex

2. Write a block of bytes to the i2c bus

Do I just write out bytes ($48, $69 - ie Hi) or strings (i.e. “Hello”)? 

Do I have to send out a [text control identifier] before I send out the bytes / strings ?

What else am I missing or not doing right here?

3. Close the i2c bus