Thursday, December 6, 2007
My Junior Field Experience...with a lot of time to reflect.
Friday, July 13, 2007
My Junior Fields Experience
10 year olds learning English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMIz6ARrg2c
Linda Furiya's Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov_gD4q6Or0
Monday, June 25, 2007
ELL Outlook Newsletter
Sunday, June 24, 2007
More ESL Websites
Literacy Connections to promote literacy and love of reading (has an ESL section) - http://literacyconnections.com/
Pearson's software for teaching ELLs - http://www.pearsondigital.com/ellis/
Center for Applied Linguistics - http://www.cal.org/
International Reading Association brochures for parents in English and Spanish - http://www.reading.org/resources/tools/parent.html
A fun ESL learning site for students - http://www.manythings.org/
20 Graphic Organizers - http://longman.com/ae/shiningstar/
Crosscultural Developmental Education Services - http://crosscultured.com/
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory - http://www.sedl.org/
WIDA Consortium English learner assessments - http://www.wida.us/
Carnegie Corporation Literacy site - http://www.carnegie.org/literacy/
A Carnegie download, Double the Work, which is about "Challenges and Solutions to Acquiring Language and Academic Literacy for Adolescent English Language Learners." http://www.carnegie.org/literacy/pdf/DoubletheWork.pdf
An Idea to Raise Self-Esteem
Mrs. Hurley's ESL Site
Cultural Arts Resources for Teachers and Students
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Use of Visual Aids as a Strategy for ELL Success
This is a site, hosted by the Jefferson County Schools of Tennesse, containing links to interactive websites. A majority of the readings I have done for this class in regards to strategies and tips for teaching ELLs have all emphasized the necessity of using visual aids to guide the ELL to successful learning. There are many sites available on the internet, in which school districts, agencies, universities and teachers have posted their own interactive lesson plans. There is no need to start from scratch when designing a visual aid component during lesson planning. The links in this site may be assigned as homework, used in a computer lab or incorporated into a multimedia presentation such as Power Point in a classroom equipped with a projector, screen and internet access. It is fairly straightforward to include a hyperlink to any of these links in a Power Point presentation; doing so will provide an accomodation for the variety of differential learning styles we will all encounter in our classrooms. I found especially helpful the link to The Biology Project, hosted by the University of Arizona, especially designed for high school biology students.
Graphic Organizers Make Great Visual Aids for ELL students
This site contains many different types of graphic organizers, all free and all printable. Most of the literature I have been reading has touted the use of different types of visual aids as a recommended strategy for teaching ELL students. The variety of graphic organizers on this webpage is very good, and all may be tailored to meet the needs of any grade level and content area.
Teaching Science to Language Minority Students (The author of this book is a Kean U professor!)
Discussions range from the implications of learning style diversity between teacher and student, to classroom culture, to conversational versus academic English proficiency, to studies on how "wait times" effect student responses. (Wait-time is defined as the amount of time, in seconds, that a teacher waits for a student to respond to a question. Typical teacher wait-times were noted to be less than one second, increasing that time to just three to five seconds resulted in marked improvement in responses in controlled studies.)
The book is available for loan through Kean University's library, and is well worth looking at.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Teaching Mathematics and Science to ELLs
The 42 page document was funded by the US Department of Education and contains a wealth of information for science and math teachers and includes a resources and bibiography section of additional information and organization contacts. Just a few thoughts on what I learned from this site: ELL students may experience difficulty with the concepts of logical connectors (e.g., if, because, however, consequently); these words or phrases are an important component of "talking science". Therefore it may be necessary to restate a scientific problem as a declarative sentence (and eliminating the use of the logical connectors), for an ELL. Interestingly, the publication also references studies in which it was found that students' "academic performance ...and English-language development often improves...when allowed to use their home language in the classroom". This brought to mind a conversation I had with a friend who is a high school teacher who insists that only English be spoken in the classroom. Reading this and other documents available on the web makes me realize that I have a long way to go in developing my own strategy for effective teaching of the ELL in my classroom. I know this development will be a dynamic process, changing in response to my own experiences and research.
A Checklist of Strategies for Teaching ELLs
Hints for Science Teachers of ELLs
This website, from a textbook publisher, contains a great outline of tips for science teachers of ELLs (many of which are applicable to all content areas) under its "Subject Specific Resources" section, entitled "Helping English Language learners in the Science Classroom". The outline format of the section makes it easy to read, and while I did practice some of the suggestions prior to reading the site, I did learn some new hints, especially under the section concerned with laboratory techniques. This is the part of the science classroom experience in which I feel least prepared to teach, since this is the part of the classroom experience in which a teacher may easily lose control of the students. The hints offered, such as breaking the lab into clear, concise steps and using pictorial aids, would help the ELL, along with assisting in maintaining control of students during this important learning experience time in any science classroom. The hint about not forcing the ELL to speak in front of the class gave me pause, since I had a situation in which a student was speaking very softly (during my Junior Field experience). The other students told me I should "make him speak up", and I quickly realized that the student in question had a heavy accent and was probably not comfortable in speaking to the class. I quickly defused the situation, but realized that I need to be more aware of the potential for these situations in advance. Although this student actually volunteered to speak (I did not force him to answer), I need to address methods of encouraging the tentative ELL student in the face of some insensitive (albeit normal for the age range) high school students. As the teacher, I may set the tone by example and by courtesy expectations for my classes.
NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) Resources
Using Power Point for Effective Lessons!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Videos worth watching!!
Library Ref.
You Must Have Been a Bilingual Baby P118.2.Y68X ………my favorite!
Oh Say What They See P.118.037.1983
Out of the Mouth of Babes P.118.087.2004
A Child’s Guide to Language P.118.2C45.1993
Learning to Communicate (The First Three Years) P.118 L.42.1993
A World of Gestures
Pilar
Thank you for a GREAT BLOG
"Great idea. Thanks for the info. That's really perceptive of you. Good for you for making the most of a teachable moment. That's brilliant! I wish I thought of that. Good for you! You're going to be a great teacher."
It's almost as if I could take each posting and pick one of the phrases above. Your comments on others' postings are also spot on. Several of you have emailed me to ask if you could continue blogging. My answer: BY ALL MEANS!
Full Disclosure: I'm back in my office to print out your papers. My home computer crashed earlier this week and I'll read those that have been submitted today over the weekend and retrieve the rest probably on Monday morning. I'm also posting this very same entry on both F1 & F3. Both of your classes did a bang-up job!
A few of you had a problem handing the paper in on time, and fulfilling the blog numbers on time. I will accept late stuff, but I'll have to take some points off--it's only fair to those who made a point of doing assignments on schedule.
Now here's the part that I regret: I wish you guys all used your real names. I can't place many of you; three meetings wasn't enough for me to get a handle of you individuals. If this wasn't summer, and this course wasn't one credit, I'd ask you to come get your papers from me in my office so I could have a little chat with each of you. I won't ask you for this; just wanted to let you know how I feel.
Enjoy your summer and travel if you're able to--it's the best learning experience I can think of!
My Terrific Junior Field Experience
Junior Field Experience!
I was surprised to learn that even though this school is one of the toughest middle schools in Elizabeth, many students were eager to learn. I had a wonderful co-operating teacher who helped me with everything that she could.
While doing my Field experience, I also learned that a teacher should not act fake with his or her students because students can always sense when a teacher is being sincere or not. I got to experience first hand what students really think about some of their teachers. A teacher shouldn't only see his/her students as students, but also as human beings. Even though students have their own issues, we as teachers must understand where they are coming from and have patience.
I also had the experience to observe a special education classroom of six students. I must say, this was an experience that I will never forget. Even though these were a tough bunch of kids, most of them had respect for my co-operating teacher, and me as well. They were very curious to know who I was and if I would be working at the school next school year. One of the kids was in a foster home and really craved attention and love. He will be graduating the eighth grade now, but he acted as though he was still in the fourth. It was sad to hear about some of these cases.
Furthermore, I had many intelligent students who were anxious to know what activites I had prepared for them. They enjoy working in co-operative groups, and using the computer to complete their assignments.
In conlusion, my experience overall was a great one and I look forward to completing my Senior Intership. My Senior intership will be completely different because I got placed in a Gifted and Talented school. That will be a completely different experience.
Learning about your students' backgrounds
I think that as educators we must most definately get to know our students background. Many times it can help us understand why they do what they do and we will be able to help them more. This website talks about that and about the different aspects that play a role in the students life, such as values, culture, home environment and language.
This website states, The English language learners (ELLs) in your classroom may represent diverse languages and cultures from around the world. The majority of ELL families in the United States come from Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. These Hispanic families may have many things in common, such as customs, foods, dances, values, and the Spanish language. However, there are also many rich cultural differences within and between countries like Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, and El Salvador.
The more you learn about where your students come from, the easier your job will become.
What Teachers Make...
The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.
One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers:
"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."
To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"
Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...)
"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 minutes without an ipod, game cube or movie rental...You want to know what I make?" (She paused again and looked at each and every single person at the table.)
"I make kids wonder.
I make them question .
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make then have respect and take responsibility for their actions.
I teach them to write and then I make them write.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them show all their work in math.
I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity.
I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.
I make my students stand to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, because we live in the United States of America.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life."
(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.) "Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant...You want to know what I make?
I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make?"
There is much truth in this statement:
"Teachers make every other profession."
The Diversity of English Language Learners
I found this site to be very interesting. This site stated that english language learners (ELLs) come to school with a wide variety of background knowledge, language, and literacy skills. The schooling experience of ELLs is impacted by many factors such as time in school, quality of instruction, transiency, home environment, and past emotional experiences in school. The following vignettes illustrate some of these differences.
The article illustrates varios characteristics of ELL students. And if appropriate programs are offered, ELL student have a better opportunity to develop literacy skills early in their school careers (pre-kindergarten to second grade) .
For chart and more information go to the website above.
The Very Best Teachers:
- Are enthusiastic and upbeat
- Have high expectations for all students
- Believe all students can learn
- Are positive role models
- Are skilled in classroom management
- Respond to the needs of ALL students
- Provide a nurturing climate to help develop a positive self-esteem in students
- Enjoy working with students from all cultures and backgrounds
- Are aware of the changing family structure
- Are flexible, open to change, and willing to learn
- Enjoy working on a team
- Have a sense of humor
- Are committed to teaching and are loyal to the profession
- Have high expectations of themselves as professionals
- Keep up with educational research and literature
- Look forward to professional development and never stop learning
- Communicate with parents consistently and keep the image of school positive
- Enjoy life every day
- Plan their time wisely
- Are thankful for their many blessings and take time to "stop and smell the roses"
How to Develop a Lesson Plan that Includes ELLs
This website has a lot of good information and suggestions that teachers can use to accommodate and help make the life of their English language learners a bit easier. This particular website helps teachers create a lesson plan that includes English language learners.
The website states that English language learners often have problems understanding literature and mastering science, math, and social studies concepts because they cannot comprehend the textbooks for these subjects. Depending on their different stages of English proficiency and literacy, ELLs will benefit from explicit instruction of comprehension strategies, along with other skills that a well-designed lesson can address.
The following are suggestions that this website gives for Comprehensive lessons:
- building background knowledge
- explicit instruction and modeling
- guided practice
- peer practice
- assessment of content learned
The article states that Teacher-student interactions, as well as peer interactions, are critical for learning. Because of the diversity in experiences and backgrounds that ELLs bring to the classroom, it is essential to prepare lessons that can address a wide range of needs. This broad sweep will also benefit all other students in your class.
Components of a comprehensive lesson
Teacher preparation
Survey the text to:
- determine your standard or objective
- eliminate unnecessary information that does not meet your objective
- elect the concepts to teach
- choose specific vocabulary to pre-teach
- develop assessments to test that content
Building background knowledge
- Create interest in the subject by using pictures, real objects, maps, or personal experiences. Say the names of objects as often as you can so ELLs can remember them. Relate material to students' lives when possible.
- Build text-specific knowledge by providing students with information from the text beforehand, particularly if the text is conceptually difficult or has an abundance of information that is important.
- Establish the purpose for reading (e.g., "Now we are going to read to find out about a country called France. What are some things we might learn about France as we read?")
- Select a specific comprehension strategy for students to use. For example, decide to focus on the main idea, cause and effect, or comparing and contrasting.
I have provided a link to this website. You can further read about how to pre-teach vocabulary and many more great ideas. I hope this information is helpful!
Cooperative Learning
This is a great website not only to learn about cooperative learning but also for many other useful topics and resources. Cooperative learning is used more everyday because it brings out so many positive outcomes in the classroom. Students use pro-social behaviors to complete the tasks needed. Students recieve feedback not only from the teacher but also from other peers. Therefore students become more motivated when they work in groups.
This website also talks about cooperative learning structures and techniques, which I found interesting because there are so many things you can do than jsut putting the students into groups.
The one I like the most was One Minute Papers. It is almost a form of assessment which is so important to do now a days in a classroom. Basically students comment on the following questions: What was the most important or usefull thing you learned today? What tow important questions do you still have; what reamains unclear? What would you like to know more about?
And this great because a good teacher always focuses on high expections and should always know if their students actulally learned and gain from the lesson. You do not just cover the material.
Gangs in New Jersey Schools
http://www.njgangfree.org/home.htm
The second has NJ gang statistics from 2001-2004.
http://www.state.nj.us/njsp/info/pdf/njgangsurvey-2001-2004.pdf
The third is a gang awareness guide for recognizing the signs.
http://www.nj.gov/oag/gang-signs-bro.pdf
Framework
I came across this aritical from aprevious education course, and I find it very useful. This article speaks about how a framework for building a cultural understanding is based on process skills and it includes both factual and socio-linguistc content. I found the four dimensions interesting.
1. Convention: Students need to reconize and understand how people in a given culture
typically behave in common, everyday situations.
2. Connotation: Students need to know the significant meanings that are associated with
words.
3. Conditioning: Students need to know that people act in a manner consistent with their
cultural frame of reference, and that all people respond in culturally conditioned ways to
basic human needs.
4. Comprehension: Students need the skills of analysis, hypothesis formation, and tolerance
ambiguity.
These four dimensions are so true, and not only for students but for adults to. I think sometimes we forget that typically someone might act or do something different because of their culture and we end up judging them instead of trying to learn why.
Selecting vocabulary words to each English language learners.
This article was given to me last semester in one of my education classes. I found it to be very interesting and useful and thought it might be helpful to many of you.
This article states that a student's maximum level of reading comprehension is determined by his of her knowledge of words. The article also states that this word knowledge allows students to comprehend text. As teachers or future teachers, we can explicitly teach word meanings to improve comprehension. Furthermore, it is essential that a student know what a word means and knows it in all the following dimensions:
- The ability to define a word
- The ability to recognize when to use that word
- Knowledge of its multiple meanings
- The ability to decode and spell that word
The article suggests that it is very important to teach key words that children will need to comprehend texts, learn the content in those texts, and pass tests. Words should be taught through direct instruction of word meanings as well as through discussions about words, including prefixes, suffixes, and roots, all of this combined with alot of practice and reading.
Furthermore, the article states that for English language learners, vocabulary development is especially critical for their ability to read and comprehend texts. The article also discusses a selection of vocabulary words that are to be taught to ELLs which are grouped into three tiers. I will briefly discuss each group, and you can further read about it on the website that I have provided.
- Example of Tier 1 Word: Tier 1 words are words that ELLs typically know the concept of in their primary language, but not the label in English. An example given in the article was the word butterfly. This is a word that English language learners may not know, but it can be easily taught by pointing to a picture of a butterfly during text discussion.
- Example of Tier 2 Word: Tier 2 words are more complex then Tier 1 words. They may also be more abstract then concrete. The article suggests words that have connections to other words and concepts, such as, between, among, by, combine, and estimate.
- Example of Tier 3 Word: Tier 3 words are low-frequency words that are found moslty in content books in the upper grades. Some examples include, witticism, isotope, procastinate, or words that are not demonstratable or cognates. These words are rarely encountered in the early grades, but if they do appear, the article suggests that a teacher can translate them or briefly explain them in either English or in the ELLs' first language.
Websites for Teachers
Immigration Lesson
Classroom Management
Multiple Intelligences
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Access Excellence website
Access Excellence Actitivities Exchange
Visiting an ESL Class
Theatre Teachers
Web-sites for new teachers
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
ELL: Working with Children from whom English is a New Language
Thank you,
Cara
Junior Field Has Come to an End!
Monday, June 11, 2007
It's Over!
Junior Field has been over for one week, so we have all had time to reflect on our experiences. The 15 days FLEW by for me. During the second week, I really got to know the students and I started to build relationships with them. By the third week, I felt like I belonged with them, so I was sad to see it end. Teaching 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students about performing was not as hard as I thought it would be. As long as I went into the classroom prepared and confident, I was fine. It was keeping the kids focused that sometimes proved to be a challenge. I am definitely looking forward to teaching at the same high school in the fall. Good luck to everyone!
The world is changing...
According to the 2000 census 47 million people or 18% of the population in the United States speak a language other than English at home. By 2030, this number will increase to 40%. As the number of English Language Learners has increased, the politics of English language learning have become more prominent and complicated. Issues such as funding for bilingual education and ESL programs, the pros and cons of making English the official language of the U.S. and the status of ELL students in the context of testing are all sites of contested views.
A Frustrating Conversation
Name Games
immediate use of learning will have the students retain 90% of the information and lectures only 5%. In order to maximize learning experience the teacher should combine the following lectures, reading, audio-visual, demonstration, discussion group, practice by doing, and teach others/immediate us of learning. Go to the following website for more information: http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/whyuseal2.htm
ESL Lesson Planning
African Beading
Worldwide Languages and Cultures
I hope that all of you take the time to look at this site because there is definitely something for everyone, especially for those who want to become educators. The reason being is that Vistawide provides enough pertinent information that enables us to gain a much more thorough understanding of all of the cultures around the world, and if they cannot, they offer other sites to visit that can help us learn even more. This way, if there is ever a student in your class that is an ELL learner, and there most likely will be, you can check out the site for information that can help you better assist them! Go there now!! =)
The experience of a lifetime =)
I went it to it on the very first day without knowing what to expect or what was expected of me, but after meeting with my cooperating teacher and discussing his notions of what a good teacher was and what he thought would make my experience worthwhile, I knew that I was going to be up for challenge that would either reaffirm my belief of wanting to be a teacher or alter it completely.
Within just 3 days I was already thoroughly participating within the classroom environment. I reviewed homework, graded papers, and answered all of the questions my students came up with. It was great. And by the end of the second week, I pretty much had the floor to myself! I was Ms. Cerrone, “the 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher.”
During my experience, I was able to create a unit plan, with my cooperating teachers advisement, teach it to the over 120 students I had throughout the day. It was exciting to see that I was able to really relate to the students and teach them things they had never even known existed. I got a glimpse of what my future could hold and I am now surer than ever, that teaching was meant for me. I look forward to my senior field and I can only hope that it will be just as rewarding as the one I just completed.
I hope you all had just as wonderful of an experience as I did, and I look forward to hearing about them! =)
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The ELL Outlook
http://www.coursecrafters.com/ELL-Outlook/2005/may_jun/index.html
Activites for ESL Students
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Everything ESL
Helping ELL's in the Classroom
Friday, June 8, 2007
humorous uno
http://www.reggie.net/teaching/
Somthing I learned from the NJ state website
TPR STORY TELLING
www.TPRSTORYTELLING.com
TPRISFUN@ aol.com
Or contact them at 800-TPR IS FUN
Pilar
Thursday, June 7, 2007
ELL Activities
http://www.manythings.org/e/listening.html
Activities for ESL students
This site contains useful tools that can be used by teachers when teaching ELL students. The top of the page contains grammar quizzes that are listed by their level of difficulty. There are separate ones for students who only speak English and also for those who are bilingual. There are also vocabulary and crossword puzzles for students to complete. I opened up some of the links for the grammar quizzes and explored them. It provided you with the correct answer if you happened to get it wrong. This teaches students and helps them to learn. This site also contains podcasts that were posted by ESL students about various topics that you can listen to. This site also has various links of useful tools for teachers. For example there is a link that helps with quizzes, in the areas of writting and using them.
What an experiece...
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
http://businesswithturkey.hypermart.net/tourist-guide/turkish_culture.shtml
Learning about different cultures
I substitute teach at the local middle school, and yesterday they had a Culture night. This school is very small and does not have any ELL nor do they have ESL teacher. Students are not exposed to various cultures among themselves and they know very little about their cultural background. This year was the first time school had the Culture night. Students and teachers were asked to participate by providing information on various cultures around the world such as language, food, cultural beliefs and superstitions, music, and engaging in different group games found around the world. I know that many schools have events like this on regular bases, but it was the first time for this school, and everyone enjoyed it.
Interesting things for ELL students
I found this website to be a very useful tool for ELL students. It contains various vocabulary activities and games. The one link titled superkids school vocabulary 1 you are provided with a new vocabulary word, definition, and synonyms each day. The link titled interesting things for ESL students contains word searches. The topics of these were directed towards students. For example some topics were sports, body parts, colors, all things that students would find interesting. I really liked the internet picture dictionary. It contained several different languages to help students learn the difference in their native language compared to the English language. There is also a link containing different idioms for each letter of the alphabet. This is useful because students will be able to read a word or statement and see it used in an example, helping them to understand it's meaning and proper use.
Stories from former ELL students
I found this extremely interesting. It has the accounts of six former ELL students, however you do need Quick Time for this to work but it will work without it, on my computer only four of the videos worked, just click the play arrow and listen to them tell you what their life as an ELL student was like. It is helpful for ELL students to find support and encouragement by listening to the struggles and successes of former students.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Strategies for working with English Language Learners
This is a good website that offers strategies for teaching ELL students in Elementary and Middle school. It provides a description of who they are, understand cultural differences, understanding second language learners, instruction in the active learning classroom, etc. The site begins by describing how teachers may discover in the beginning of the school year that they have ELL students in their classroom. They may be unaware of how to handle the situation. The article mentions that teachers may have the question, "what do I do?" The site also provides answers to that question. Much of the suggestions that are provided are related to working within an active learning instructional model. You will find that working with ELL students can provide a resource to your classroom, aid the learning process for all of your students, and improve language skills and cross-cultural understanding for the entire class. The English language learners in your classroom will vary in their background, skills, and past experiences which will bring diversity into the classroom. First and foremost ELL students need to work on and build their English oral skills but that is not all. They also need to acquire skills to read and write in English as well. All of this cannot be accomplished at once; it needs to be done one step at a time. I like how the article stated that students from other cultures can have different views of how to be a student or to "do schooling." The example they used is that some students may not feel discussion in class is appropriate because in their culture it is disrespectful to ask questions to the teacher. This site ix useful and also provides information on building a home and school community, utilizing cultural diversity, and many more. I recommend this site to future teachers because it is very informative.
Congrats
This is where I would just like to say a bit about my summer job and how it relates to different languages. Many people in America are fluent in other languages and as we know, Spanish is definitely at the top of that list. One thing I regret is not taking Spanish in high school. I work at Island Beach State Park and there is a very high rate of Spanish speaking families that visit the park on a daily basis. I wish that I could help them understand the park better and be able to do it in their nation tongue, however I can’t. So this means that they must use the little English that they know to understand what I am saying. America is a vastly diverse country and that is what makes us great, so it truly is important to respect everyone and not be turned off when someone can not speak English as well as we can.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Cooperative Learning
Saturday, June 2, 2007
http://www.bnkst.edu/literacyguide/ell.html
http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/div/124545.htm
This research article provides useful information for us new teachers as well as for those who have taught for many years and are not sure how to handle ELL students. Besides useful statistics, article elaborates on the most obvious problem ELL students face in mainstream classrooms and that is teachers unfamiliarity on how to communicate with the student and allow him/her to feel welcomed.