The NJ Dept of Ed has put together a very comprehensive unit on teaching ELLs.
Your assignment is to go through the entire unit. It's entirely online, and includes quizzes, voicetracks and some videos. It has many links to a great deal of useful information and material. Be sure to use your back button as well as going through all four parts.
At this point I'm thinking of our one writing assignment and it will probably have something to do with this unit...we'll discuss that together.
Meanwhile, here's the link. Don't expect to complete this unit in less than 6 or more sessions; it's not short--but I believe it covers just what you need.
http://www.state.nj.us/education/njpep/pd/ell_mainstream/index.html
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I have carefully reviewed this website and found it to be filled with interesting information and ideas. Noted as being a "professional development tutorial for educators who are involved with English language learners," it offers many suggestions as to ways to go about teaching children who are ELL. Activities, along with countless techniques and instructional strategies, are all provided to make the learning process easier for children joining the mainstream of educational practices.
A section of particular interest to me was the ELL Demographics of New Jersey. I found it very surprising that languages such as Arabic and Tagalog are part of the top eleven languages found in the LEP enrollment in our state’s schools. And to know that there are more than 276,031 students who do not use English as their first language, makes me realize just how important it is to learn how to properly go about teaching them and include in the classroom environment.
Due to the fact that this website offers so much detail and assistance for educators, I look forward to checking back and learning even more than I have already started to learn today.
I feel that I'm playing "catch-up" on the reading, blogs and BIG assignment since I am one of the students who was unaware that this class started one week earlier than my registration form indicated. So, as I am feeling completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of material, and already one week behind, I have decided to begin with the NJ DOE/PEP link posted. I have discovered a wealth of information, especially regarding questions I had concerning how and what type of ELL information is to be obtained by the school district. I'm assuming that the state of NJ found it necessary to create this website because the needs of English Language Learners were not being addressed in a consistent manner throughout the state, and I wonder if there are still districts not in compliance with the suggestions on the site. Are these suggestions or mandates?
I found the video of the West Orange high school Biology teacher to be very helpful (especially since I am a visual learner!). In the few lessons I have designed for my Junior Field experience over the past 9 days I was already using some of the techniques the teacher mentioned, and plan to include others in her lessons. Personally,I find the benefits of a Power Point presentation for the lecture portion of teaching high school biology are many-fold. Power Point allows for ease of use of color to delineate a breakdown of vocabulary to facilitate learning, along with pictures and graphics; both techniques are of benefit not only to English language learners, but also to all students. Use of visual presentations along with auditory, and the kinesthetics involved in a science lab, address the diverse, differential learning needs of all learners.
After viewing the video, I also realize that I must not assume that students know that I am comfortable with their questions regarding use of vocabulary, but rather that I must make students (especially ELL's) aware on a regular basis that asking for an explanation is a part of the learning process in the classroom.
To Suzanne's comment: Good decision to start with the BIG ASSIGNMENT and work from there!
The Big Assignment made me think about ways in which I can accommodate the ELL students. I never thought of the first generation Haitian Americans and some Africans Americans as ELL students, because I felt that they were born here, and are fluent in English. However, although I don't think that my ignorance has hurt anyone throughout the years I am happy to know this fact. Most of the children that I teach are of Haitian, Caribbean, and African ancestry, and when at home they usually speak the native language of their parents. In some cases the parents cannot speak English, or they speak very little of it, or only the father has command of English.
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