As an ESL teacher a few things that may help you understand your ELL students:.
1. Literacy skills/pre-literacy skills transfer from one language to
another. A student with a solid reading/literacy foundation in their first
language (L1) should be able to transfer those skills into their second
language (L2). Problems can arise when they don't have a solid foundation in
their L1.
2. Vocabulary transfers quickly. If a student has already learned the word
or context of meaning in their first language (L1), they will pick up quickly.
For example, if a student learned the word "fence" in their L1 and understand
what is it used for, and you are reading them a story, and you point out the
fence and then discuss why people have fences; the ELL will pick it up quickly
because they had it in their L1.
3. I have found ELLs do need a balanced literacy language experience
approach and should learn all things in context. Focus on reading
comprehension strategies, vocabulary, and phonics, grammatical structure,
writing skills, synonyms, antonyms, fluency, and developing oral language.
When we read something, we first look at it as a reading piece and then take
time to look at it through the eyes of a writer. We are always developing oral
language with rich discussion.
4. Some ELLs have limited background knowledge and experiences, so
assume nothing! Build lots of background through many domains.
5. There are many reasons why some students can achieve fluency very
quickly and others can not. Students who do not develop a primary language
early on usually struggle a lot. I see this in families where broken English
combined with their native language are spoken and the student doesn't develop
a primary language. Students who are extremely good students and high
achievers in their native language tend to achieve fluency rather quickly.
There are many cultural differences related to early learning in the formative
years. In the US, we tend to focus on academic skills early on, other cultures
wait until the children are school age.
6. Be patient! It amazes me sometimes how some students need a lot of
repetition and then all of a sudden the bell goes off. Just as with any
learning, when they are ready for it, they will soar.
7. Recast back to students who do not speak with oral fluency. If a
student says to you "I go store on Saturday." You would reply back to the
student with the proper structure. "Oh, you went to the store on Saturday."
"What did you buy?" Notice I didn't correct the student, but recasted back to
them in the correct structure.
8. Remember that writing is the last skill to develop. Although they may
sound fluent in their oral language, their writing may not be at a native
speaker level. I find most classroom teachers get frustrated at this. They
immediately want to put a student who confuses some tenses, drops articles or
shows other writing deficits back into ESL. An advanced ELL student benefits
from the rich language in a classroom and seeing what their native speaking
peers are writing. If an ESL student can contextualize the language in a
regular classroom, they should remain in the classroom with some support in
their writing (If the support is available).
9. The research says it takes 5 - 9 years for language fluency and 10 - 14
years to adapt culturally. You are teaching students who are becoming
bilingual or multi - lingual, but also developing bi-culturally.
10. Juli Kendall/Outey Khuon's Book titled Making Sense: Small-Group
Comprehension Lessons for English Language Learners is fabulous for ELLs. I
often tell people it is the MOT for ELLs. You can purchase it from Stenhouse,
see link below. They offer many selections that also relate to student
cultures. Try to use a lot of different read alouds that come from your
student's cultures, but also US historical read alouds and non - fiction that
will develop their background knowledge and academic language. Read a book
related to your ELL's culture and watch their face light up! Most of all love
them and have fun teaching them!
Regards,
Donna Kleinert
Hatfield PA.
Link for Making Sense
http://www.stenhouse.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=0&idproduct=8949
_______________________________________________
Mosaic mailing list
[email protected]
To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to
http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org.
Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
