5 surprises about teaching english language learners
TRANSCRIPT
Five Reminders about Teaching English Language Learners
Kristin Lems
Professional Development Provider – [email protected]
1. It’s exhausting to function all day in a new language, and students get tired.
Listening in a new language is fatiguing!
Reading in a new language requires stamina
1. It’s exhausting to function all day in a new language, and students get tired.Classroom implications:
Give opportunities for native language support or instruction.
Provide a chance to review or rehear material
Break tasks and texts into smaller units
Spend some class time on stamina-building
2. Bilingual ≠ bicultural
You can speak the primary language of a country or culture but not understand aspects of its culture
FACT: People are more forgiving of language mistakes than cultural mistakes
Classroom implications:
We see the world in many ways!
Derek Sivers on Japanese Street Addresses, and opposites
Help kids learn rules and customs for:
Salutations and Greetings Protocols for Meals Ways of complimenting, requesting,
etc. Gift giving and receiving When to show up, when to depart Kinds of questions that are
acceptable Touching and other body language Use of money Attitudes toward elders
3. More than 50% of ELLs are US born. An English language learner is someone whose
household speaks a language other than English
Even though many ELLs are not immigrants Their parents may or may not be immigrants AND Their parents may or may not be undocumented AND Their parents may or may not know English AND Their parents may or may not be literate in a language
AND The child may or may not be familiar with the country
the family has come from
A LOT OF FACTORS!
Classroom implications:
Learn as much as you can about the children, their families, and their cultures!
Involve the family in the life of the school!
Give children chances to share what they already know about – their own lives!
Adjust instruction as you go along – be nimble!
Family literacy nights
Art project!
4. It’s not just academic language that needs to be taught!
Common words can present misunderstandings, too!
Collocations, idioms, and listemes include many phrasal verbs, and the preposition can make a big difference to the meaning!
Come up withInto one’s ownAround
Can you finish these idioms?
All that glitters….
It’s like going from the frying pan….
Like father, ……
If at first you don’t succeed….
A rolling stone……
5. After they make progress, they’ll appear to stall out. This time is critical.
Levels of oral language development
The 5 levels
A child experiencing the silent period
Classroom implications:
Don’t let kids accept basic communication as enough – stretch it
Help students understand that language learning and acquisition never ends! And develop the habits of mind to continue to improve and grow… And celebrate successes!!
Songs Help Differentiate
Man of Constant Sorrow
Preteach unknown vocabulary
Play the song and have students fill in cloze
Get in small groups, have students write response from point of view of various actors in the song and read them back
