EL Resources Wiki for grades k through 5th.
The charts above have links to websites that are valuable resources for any teacher that has ELL students in their classroom.
The following are tips for providing reading and writing foundational skills for all grade levels:
Phonemic Awareness: Challenges and Strategies:
Challenges for ELLs Sound recognition and production. Some students will not hear the phonemes or be able to produce them with letters.
Strategies for ELLs
Model production of the sound.
Help beginning readers learn to identify sounds in short words.
Phonics Challenges and Strategies:
Challenges for ELLs
Limited literacy skills in the native language. Students who have not learned to read in their L1 will struggle to read in L2. The student is having to learn the concept of letter sounds as well as the meaning of the new words.
Unfamiliar Vocabulary words: ELLs will find it difficult to distinguish phonetic concepts in new words.
Strategies for ELLs.
Teach Phonics in context.
Use hands-on activities to help teach letter-sound relationships.
Have students write for sound.
Help students make a connection between their L1 and English.
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Vocabulary: Challenges and Strategies:
Challenges for ELLs
Limited Comprehension: Students must use the words they hear orally to make sense of the words. If the word is not part of the student's vocabulary, they will have trouble understanding the text.
It will be difficult for students to understand the words they read if the words are not part of their oral vocabulary.
Limited Vocabulary Foundation: The average native English speaking student enters kindergarten knowing 5,000 words. An ELL will enter kindergarten knowing those words in their native language but much less in English.
Limited Academic Foundation: Students who do not have a strong foundation of academic language will struggle to read at their expected reading level.
Strategies
Teach the students vocabulary that they will need to build their reading skills.
Use gestures when talking to translate meaning.
Use pictures
point to real objects.
Draw things on the board to help ELLs make connections with the lesson.
Focus on Cognates to relate to the children so they can translate text easier.
Encourage the students to discuss the Spanish word that is connected to the English word in the lesson.
Provide students an opportunity to practice new words so they will get more meaning from the text.
Fluency: Challenges and Strategies
Challenges for ELLs
ELLs will often read a passage without errors but not make a connection with the text. Decoding is a different skill and will need the practice to master.
ELLs will have trouble decoding text due to their limited vocabulary.
Strategies
Have students slow down and read with expression rather than read for speed.
Read a story to the students and then have them immediately read the text back to you.
Give the student short passages to read over and over.
Allow students to practice reading out loud along with tapes.
Reading Comprehension.
' Challenges for ELLs
ELLs will have more difficulty following along in group readings or read at the same pace as other students. ELLs will have reading comprehension difficulty for this reason and due to their limited vocabulary.
Strategies
Build on background knowledge.
Check often to see if the students understand.
Ask questions to check for comprehension after reading.
Reading and writing instructional strategies for ELLs
Use themes to introduce vocabulary.
Choose read aloud passages and stories that use targeted vocabulary so ELL students can make connections with the text.
Allow the student to work with adults and other classmates often so they can get feedback during their lessons. Give them lots of opportunities to practice reading aloud and listening to stories they can retell.
Pick activities that match their interests and background knowledge.
Give the students prompts that they can use for any occasion in the classroom.
Use sentence starters for writing.
Encourage L1 language development to continue.
Reading and writing Technology Tools
Use Audiobooks for students to listen to as they read along.
Provide students with interactive reading materials.
Use Ipad, Computers, and Laptops to allow students to visit sites like www.abcya.com and www.starfall.com which help students build vocabulary and literacy skills.
Use videos to introduce lessons and include videos that scaffold the lesson content.
Grouping Techniques and cooperative Learning for ELLs
When grouping students, put struggling ELLs with students who have strong English skills. Do not just group students who speak the same L1 together. Provide ELLs with an opportunity to work with all students.
Use flexible seating for students. Allow them to pick their seating with students who have similar interests and abilities to encourage engagement.
Pull some students into smaller groups for teacher-led instruction and readings.
Allow students to pick their writing topics. Allow their interests to enhance their engagement.
PART 2 WEEK 6
editListening and Speaking Skills Resources:
According to Opitz and Guccione (2009), there are several reasons why you should not use Round Robin with ELL students.
- Round Robin does not build comprehension skills.
- Expecting ELLs to follow along with faster readers will discourage and confuse the student. When the student is unable to process what they are hearing, they will feel disconnected from the text and unable to monitor their comprehension skills.
- It will cause embarrassment and anxiety in a struggling ELL student.
- It can cause behavior problems that are avoidable. When a student isn't following along or is not willing to read, they will be reprimanded and then discouraged from reading in the future.
- Takes too much time which can be used for other things.
Listening, Reading, and Speaking skills:
In order to build reading, listening, and speaking skills, it's important to make sure to pick engaging stories for ELLs. Students will need to have background knowledge that will help them make connections to the story, they will need to have practice putting themselves int he story, and they need more time to read the text before the class moves on in the story. According to Robertson (2017), Reader's Theater is a great way to offer a fun and engaging activity that gives ELL students an opportunity to read and listen to a story that is scripted like a play. This way, students can put themselves in a story and make a personal connection with the characters. This method can be helpful for ELL students in many ways:
- Students in the "silent period" can be given a very small two line roll to practice speaking and listening. If they cannot even have two lines, they will can have a non-speaking role and they will still have an opportunity to listen to the play and the instructions of the teacher in the activity.
- Teachers can use Reader's Theater to help students practice voice inflections, facial expressions, and gestures which all help ELL students learn the meaning in the texts.
- Reading the text over and over in order to practice for the play is a great way to improve reading fluency and comprehension.
- The teacher can use this activity to help ELLs build pictures in their minds to follow the story.
(Robertson, 2017).
Grammar and Vocabulary Development:
According to Vocab Gal (2018), there are 8 strategies for building Vocabulary skills in ELL students.
- Label things around the classroom. This is a great way for students to learn the English words for things they will use or see everyday in the classroom.
- Build a word wall. Throughout the year, as the students learn new words, have them add the words to the word wall and include an image if you can!
- Students will bring their own pop culture into the classroom with them. Have them share their pop culture iconography into the class and label them with English words.
- Have the students use a weekly word chart. As the students learn new words they can add those words to their word charts. The word charts will have a section to add the word, add the definition, and add their personal connection to the word. Then the student can and the chart to their vocabulary notebook.
- Use Context Clues: students can use words in the text that they understand to learn the meaning of words they don't know.
- Vocabulary Improv: this is a fun game where ELL students can use kinesthetic motions so that students can learn the meaning of words faster.
- Vocabulary Games: The internet is a wonderful resource for vocabulary games that help ELL students learn vocabulary words. Students can play Vocabulary Bingo, Go fish, Vocab land, and Guess That Word (which are all free to download from this article- link above.)
- Vocabulary Activities: There are lots of vocabulary activities that students can use during literacy centers or during Early Finishers work or for extra skill builders time. (Some activities are for free download in this article- link above.)
Strategies for comprehensible input, feedback, building background, and student engagement:
- Bridging- Build on the students background knowledge by bridging learning from one lesson to another. This helps students build on current knowledge and retain things they have learned in previous lessons.
- Brainstorm- Allow students to brainstorm ideas in whole class discussions or small group discussions so students can practice receiving feedback, giving feedback, and encourage engagement. This activity also helps students with comprehensible input. It's a low stress activity that will encourage students to relax and engage in the activity in a stress-free way.
- Provide students with a lesson outline- when students understand the outline of what they will be learning, this helps them break down the lesson in their minds, understand objectives, ask for clarification, and follow along in the lesson with the outline as a guide.
- Teacher Model- Model the correct way to read aloud or pronounce words so ELL students can imitate.
- Model how to use context clues- Using context clues is a wonderful way to infer meaning in unknown words. This is a skill that will be useful in their entire lives. So, teachers need to show their students how to use context clues in text.
- Include Graphic organizers- graphic organizers help students understand how to break down text into small manageable parts. Students can learn to create organizers for creating their own writing, understand key concepts in lessons, and understanding main ideas in reading assignments.
- Sentence frames- Students should be provided with sentence frames or sentence starters and key vocabulary terms.
(Sage 2YC, 2017)
Grammar and Vocabulary Technology Tools and Instructional Support for ELL students:
Instructional Support:
This is the most useful website for providing instruction for ELL students. This site breaks down useful techniques for students on all proficiency levels. The site also includes differentiation, Modification, Culturally responsive Practices, and Technology Tools for providing instruction for ELL students on the Elementary Level ("Learn Alberta", 2018).
Technology Tools:
Technology Tools are very important in every classroom, but can be extra useful for ELL students. ELL students will be on many different proficiency levels, so a technology tool that adjusts the lessons as the student progresses in their proficiency level will help enhance that student's learning experience on a very individual way. Here are a few Tech tools to use in the classroom:
- Story Time for Me: This is a site that offers free stories for the student to read and listen to. Every word is highlighted and professional actors are hired to read the stories.
- Starfall: is a wonderful tool which can be used to learn vocab and grammar as the program adjusts to each students ELP level. (Math, Science, Reading, and Social Studies).
- Voxy: can be used to listen to news stories then answer questions at the end to test their comprehension. (Great for Social Studies).
- Vocabulary Games: These are wonderful interactive games for ESL students.
- Writing Games: for building writing skills (grammar, vocab, etc.).
- Online Picture Dictionary: This is a wonderful vocabulary building site.
("Masters In Esl", 2018).
The following are my own ideas:
Science Specific ELL strategies:
Graphic organizers can be used to build science understanding. Explaining the life cycle of animals using graphic organizers, visuals, etc.
Pre-teach vocabulary in a science lesson. Add the new terms to the vocabulary notebook.
Allow students to collaborate in small teams.
Hands on materials.
Use labels in science labs
Math Specific ELL strategies:
Graphic organizers can be used in math skill building activities. Using visuals to show students how to conceptualize math concepts which could be very abstract without them.
Hands on tools like counting bears or math blocks. Use academic and regular vocabulary while working with these materials. Example: "let's add all of our purple counting bears and all of our yellow counting bears! What is the Sum?"
Use Starfall to build math skills and math vocabulary with ELL students.
Social Studies ELL strategies:
Graphic organizers help students relate meaning and timelines while learning about social studies concepts.
Have students act out historical events in a "dramatic play."
Students will learn social studies academic vocabulary to add to their vocab notebooks. They need to understand the concept of cause and effect, the concept of past and present.
Allow students to work in small groups to research important social studies concepts.
References
5 Key Strategies for ELL Instruction(2017). Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/10/25/strategies-for-ell-instruction
Bench Mark Education. Retrieved from https://benchmarkeducation.com/best-practices-library/supporting-english-language-learners-in-reading-writing.html#section_5
BULY, M. R. (2011, the National Council of Teachers of English). English Language Learners in Literacy Workshops. Retrieved from
https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Books/Sample/22884Intro_chap01_x.pdf
Cooperative Learning Strategies (2017). Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/cooperative-learning-strategies
de Jong, E., & Commins, N. L. How should ELLs be grouped for instruction?. Colorin Colorado, (), . Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/how-should-ells-be-
grouped-instruction
Ford, K. (2018). 8 Strategies for Preschool ELLs' Language and Literacy Development. Colorin Colorado. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/8-strategies-
preschool-ells-language-and-literacy-development
Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade. (2016, July). EDUCATOR’S PRACTICE GUIDE. Retrieved from
https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_foundationalreading_040717.pdf
Gal, Vocab. (2018, August). 8 Strategies for Teaching ELL Students Vocabulary Words. English Language Arts Blog. Retrieved from https://www.sadlier.com/school/ela-blog/8-strategies-
for-teaching-ell-students-vocabulary-words-instructional-strategies-for-ell-students
KELLY, K. S. (2018). Tech Tools Supporting English Learners. Retrieved from https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2017/06/02/tech-tools-to-support-english-
learners-literacy-and-language-development
Learn Alberta(2018). Retrieved from https://www.learnalberta.ca/content/eslapb/organizing_for_instruction_instructional_supports.html
Literacy Instruction for ELLs. Colorin Colorado. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/literacy-instruction-ells
Masters in ESL(2018). Retrieved from https://www.mastersinesl.org/blog/instructional-technology-tools-in-the-esl-classroom/
Opitz, M. F., & Guccione, L. M. (2009). 5 Reasons Not to Use Round Robin Reading with ELLs. Colorin Colorado. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/5-reasons-not-
use-round-robin-reading-ells
Robertson, K. (2018). Reading 101 for English Language Learners. Colorin Colorado. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/reading-101-english-language-
learners
Robertson, K. (2017). Reader's Theater: Oral Language Enrichment and Literacy Development for ELLs. Colorin Colorado. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/readers-
theater-oral-language-enrichment-and-literacy-development-ells
Rosetta Stone(2018). Retrieved from http://k12.rosettastone.com/Technology-And-ESL-Success?eeid=se-nb-gg-
7010W000002K802&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=EDU%20ESL&utm_adgroup=EDU%20ESL%20-
%20ELL&utm_region=NA&utm_content=239657322219&offer=&utm_term=%2Bell%20teacher%20%2Btool&utm_source=google&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-
6i6htXe3QIV1lmGCh0ljAP0EAAYASAAEgJIUfD_BwE
Sage 2YC. (2017, June 08). Retrieved from Enhance ELL Comprehension and Retention : https://serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/geo_ell/enhancing_ell_c.html
Teaching English Language Learners. Retrieved from https://www.learner.org/workshops/teachreading35/session6/index.html
Using Flexible Grouping to Meet the Needs of English Language Learners (2018). Retrieved from https://www.learnalberta.ca/content/eslapb/organizing_for_instruction_using.html