1. English Language Learners (ESL/ELL)
Challenges
&
Classroom Strategies

2. English Language Proficiency
Main Challenges
EL’S ARE LEARNING TO SPEAK ENGLISH AT THE SAME TIME THEY’RE LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE
* * *
English Language Proficiency
Background Knowledge
Vocabulary
Reading
Writing

3. Oral Language Acquisition & Literacy Development
EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION—teach literacy strategies & skills & unfamiliar academic vocab
ORAL LANGUAGE—opportunities to practice speaking English informally
SMALL GROUP WORK—opportunities to practice speaking English formally
READ ALOUD—use variety of texts, build familiarity, & model proper English
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE—thematic units build knowledge
AUTHENTIC ACTIVITIES—daily opportunities to apply strategies & skills as read & write for real-life purposes

4. Phonemic Awareness
“Phonemic awareness is a common underlying linguistic ability that transfers from one language to another” (Riches & Genesee, 2006)” (Tompkins, 150)
Draw attention to pronouncing English sounds & how oral language sounds are represented by letters in written words
Chinese ie: uses syllable length characters instead of letters; phonologically /l/ and /r/ sound alike; is a tonal language (pitch, not spelling differences, is used to distinguish between words); prefixes & suffixes not used
Spelling development
EMERGENT STAGE: letters, sounds, words, LR, up & down, spaces between words
LETTER NAME-ALPHABETIC STAGE: letters represent sounds, long & short vowel sounds, consonant sounds, consonant blends
WITHIN-WORD PATTERN STAGE: spelling patterns (CVCe & CVVC & exceptions to rules)
SYLLABLES & AFFIXES STAGE: spelling & grammar concepts (verb forms, change adjectives to adverbs, add inflectional endings, comparatives & superlatives), pronounce accented & unaccented lables differently, & learn to spell homophones
DERIVATIONAL RELATIONS STAGE: Latin & Greek root works, vowel alternation (cat-dog game)

5. Expanding Academic Vocab
TIER 1: BASIC WORDS
Translate OR use pictures, pantomime, objects & demonstration
TIER 2: ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
Preteach unfamiliar vocab & new meanings for familiar words
TIER 3: SPECIALIZED TERMS
Translate directly, briefly explain, or do word-study activities (posters, word sorts, semantic feature analyses)

6. Developing Fluent Readers & Writers
TEACHERS CAN:
Build automaticity, speed, & expressiveness
Monitor ability to write quickly, easily, & comfortably
Assess ability to apply writing genres, develop topics, organize presentation of ideas, & use sophisticated vocab & variety of sentence structures
Check control of Standard English grammar & usage, correct spelling, & use of proper capitalization/punctuation

7. Promoting Comprehension
TAKE NOTE IF AN EL:
Lacks background knowledge or culturally-based knowledge
Is unfamiliar with a genre or can’t understand the figurative language
Chooses books higher than their reading level
TEACHERS CAN:
Help EL choose appropriately leveled books
Build world & literary knowledge
Introduce key vocab in advance
Model how, why, & when to apply comprehension strategies in think- alouds
Implement “I do, we do, you do”

8. Assessing Literacy Development
ORAL LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT
Comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar
Commercial tests: Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM)
READING ASSESSMENT
Identify reading level, monitor growth, document learning
Assess background knowledge before instruction (KWL)
EL self assessment
WRITING ASSESSMENT
Fluency Single focus & form  Organization of ideas & correctness
Rubrics, conferences, mini lessons, revision groups, author’s chair, portfolios
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENTS: oral performances, story retellings, oral interviews, writing samples, illustrations, diagrams, posters, projects

9. In review, what can teachers do?
Learn about students’ home languages & understand how they differ from English
Embed students’ languages & cultures into instruction
Use explicit instruction, authentic learning activities, manipulatives, visuals, audials, & preteaching activities
Vary learning environments: group discussions, small groups, partner activities, individual
Provide daily opportunities to practice oral language, reading & writing
Make clear links between topics & students’ past experiences
Practice note-taking to build writing and reading comprehension
Simplify language, when necessary
Review key concepts & vocab
Use alternative assessment tools

10. Activity #1 Each student chooses a letter from the box
Each then picks a word beginning with that letter (extra points if you can choose a challenging word you think no one will know the definition of!)
Write it’s dictionary meaning down on an index card
On the back of the index card, draw a picture to illustrate the meaning
In your group, share words, meanings, & illustrations in a “Tea Party”
In whole group discussion, the students then teach the class their words
Teacher posts words on a word wall

11. Activity #2
Multiple Meaning Words are words that have several meanings depending upon how they are used in a sentence
Provide students with words that have multiple meanings
Each student comes up with 3 (or more, if possible!) meanings for the word (as a noun/verb/adjective/etc) and, on an index card, draws a different picture for each meaning
On the back of the index card, students then provide a sentence for each different meaning of the word
Teacher displays work on a multiple meanings bulletin board

12. Can be used as vocab lesson or as preface to new topic/book/etc.
Activity #3
Can be used as vocab lesson or as preface to new topic/book/etc.
The group/teacher chooses one student to dress in costume with provided props & provided key vocab word (for today, we will just be laying the provided props to display); this one student is the ONLY individual who can see the provided key word at this time
Other students guess what word you’re trying to represent (if need help, can play Hangman)
Once word is guessed: create a word cluster graphic organizer—with key word in middle, then discuss related words & meanings for branches; compare nouns/verbs/adjectives/etc.
Additional activities:
Provide sentence examples w/ key word & related branch words
Make KWL charts on key word
Vocab parade—dress up as representation of key words & teach class