Waiting until the end of class to see what people write in their learning log is not going to provide timely feedback. Do encourage students to continue building their literacy skills in their home language, also known as L1.
This transfer may include phonological awareness, comprehension skills, and background knowledge. Forbidding students to use their primary languages does not promote a positive learning environment where students feel safe to take risks and make mistakes.
This practice can be harmful to the relationships between teachers and students, especially if teachers act more like language police than language coaches. This is certainly not a complete guide—these are just a few of the most basic practices to keep in mind when teaching English language learners or, for that matter, probably any second language learner.
Modeling Do model for students what they are expected to do or produce, especially for new skills or activities, by explaining and demonstrating the learning actions, sharing your thinking processes aloud, and showing good teacher and student work samples. Using visuals, close activities and graphic organizers can all aid ELL students in their learning. I would often teach the same concept multiple times using different strategies such as singing, videos, actions, stories, etc.
As part of my regular classroom routine, I created a list of words that were related to the weekly themes. Each word was posted for the week at the front of the classroom, along with a visual conveying meaning. Learning vocabulary first, freed them up to focus on the overall learning objectives of the lesson. Teaching languages taught me the importance of differentiation. Differentiation goes so much further than having high, medium and low leveled worksheets and activities.
I used a lot of center-based, hands-on learning activities. I also found grouping students in mixed ability and ability groupings helped them work more independently. For more ideas, check out websites that provide lesson plans and resources for teachers, including:. All of these great resources are designed to help enhance the student learning experience in your classroom. ELL students need to retain recently acquired English vocabulary by relating it to their own real-life experiences to store it in their long-term memory.
We live in a digital world. Kids nowadays are growing up in a world dominated by technology tools and apps. Incorporating digital tools and technologies into your curriculum and lesson plans is a great way to reach and engage digitally-savvy students in more creative ways.
Get started by trying out some free classroom apps like ClassDojo and Quizlet. We also launched an online course for teachers to help bring digital literacy and learning into the classroom, Digital Learning for the K-8 Classroom , in partnership with Teachers College, Columbia University.
November 6, 10 min. How can that be possible? So you can come to your first classroom prepared, here are 12 little-known ESL teaching strategies for English language learners: Connect with your students.
Create a safe learning environment. Establish routines. Speak slowly and enunciate words. Use non-verbal communication. Make things visual. Check for understanding. For example, a teacher who uses mostly the direct method may occasionally do a lot of grammar explanation when teaching a test preparation class , or a CLT advocate may borrow some aspects of the direct method or use TPR.
She then moved to New Zealand for another two years before returning to her chosen home country, Japan, where she currently lives. Now, with more than eight years of professional English teaching experience, Johanna enjoys her expat life in Japan teaching teenagers at a private junior and senior high school, where she recently received tenure after only two years. No surprise here. A successful classroom, our educators agreed, is one in which students feel known, appreciated, and comfortable taking emotional and intellectual risks.
That requires intentional planning and consistent messaging by the teacher. Do they feel comfortable tapping me on the shoulder if they have to go to the bathroom? English language learners should not be learning the fundamentals of English in isolation; they should be applying their developing language skills to rich academic content in all subjects.
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