A World of Language Learners - Teaching ideas for those teaching English Language Learners

Discover Inspiring Immigrant Civil Rights Books

January 18, 2021 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Immigrants have, and continue to make a lasting impact on the struggle for civil rights in the United States. Discover biographies and picture books that tell the stories of how American immigrants have fought for civil rights. These books about immigrant civil rights will help introduce ELLs and all students to the important contributions of these individuals. Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click on an Amazon link and make…

Read More Read More

Setting Language Goals with ELLs

December 27, 2020 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Goal setting is helpful for students to reflect on their learning. Students can set goals at any point in the year. Setting language goals for ELLs is particularly beneficial at the beginning of the school year, at the beginning of the calendar year, and before beginning WIDA or other language testing. For English Language Learners, setting a language goal helps them to become aware of how they are progressing learning the English Language. This can look different depending on the…

Read More Read More

Engaging ELLs in Virtual Learning

December 20, 2020 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Virtual learning is both highly engaging (think TV shows) and highly unengaging (staring at a screen for hours on end). Here are some tips for engaging your students during distance learning. Build Relationships Building relationships with students is important any year. If you are teaching virtually it is even more important…and for many students much more challenging. Share your own interests. If you are teaching from your house show students your pet, a favorite mug, or other anything that is…

Read More Read More

The Best Winter Books for ELLs

December 14, 2020 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

In some parts of the world, wintertime means cold temperatures and snow. In other areas, it is the rainy season and cool. Here are some books to help introduce English Language Learners to the winter season with my picks for the best winter books for ELLs. ” In Ten Ways to Hear Snow, a young girl listens to the different sounds that snow makes as she walks to her grandmother’s house. The girls and grandmother make the Lebanese food of…

Read More Read More

Winter Holidays for ELLs

December 5, 2020 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Holidays can be a fun experience for those students that celebrate them. Some holidays are a great opportunity to teach students about different traditions and infuse fun into learning. For some English Language Learners, they might be unfamiliar with the winter holidays that their classmates have celebrated for years. It can be helpful to go over basic holiday traditions and facts before the holiday begins. For American holidays such as Martin Luther King Day, Groundhog Day, or Veterans day most…

Read More Read More

16 Thanksgiving Books for ELLs

November 9, 2020 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

There are Thanksgiving books on a range of topics to share with students. One theme I like to focus on around Thanksgiving is gratitude and being thankful. Students can read and listen to what others are thankful for and then write and talk about what they are thankful for. Families have many unique traditions around Thanksgiving. Immigrant families often add in their own cultural traditions to this holiday. Books are a great way for kids to learn about some of…

Read More Read More

How to Create Digital Word Sorts

October 31, 2020 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Word sorts are a helpful tool for teaching students spelling and phonics concepts. Concept sorts are one way for students to practice comparing and contrasting. One challenge with sorts that I would run into when teaching ELLs is that the time I had to work with them was so limited. If I had students cut out the materials then this could take up 1/2 of our group time for younger kids. One way to solve this problem is to use…

Read More Read More

Halloween Tips and Activities for ELLs

October 13, 2020 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Many children look forward to Halloween each year. For English Language Learners (ELLs) that are newcomers, they may not have experienced Halloween in the past or celebrated it in a much different way. These students will benefit from a basic explanation of what the holiday is and the different ways that it is celebrated in their community. This will help alleviate the confusion that may come up otherwise. Here are some Halloween tips to use as you introduce the holiday…

Read More Read More

Digital ESL Assessments

September 27, 2020 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Like it or not more and more of student learning and assessments are done on the computer. In the short term, this is in large part due to virtual learning. More long term though this is still the trend. Many standardized assessments students take are given digitally. This includes the WIDA language assessment. It is important to give students the opportunity to practice navigating digital ESL assessments before they are expected to take a high stakes one. This will allow…

Read More Read More

Diverse Back to School Books for ELLs

September 7, 2020 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 1 comment

The beginning of the school year is a great time to read books about starting at a new school, culture, respect, names, and identity. Books with a diverse range of characters allow students to see their own and other cultures represented. It is especially important for ELLs to read and listen to books where they see characters similar to themselves represented. Here are some great books to use a read aloud at the beginning of the school year. Many of…

Read More Read More