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

5 Fun Phonics Activities for ELLs

February 18, 2021 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 1 comment

Phonics is an important component of teaching students how to read. For ELLs it is important to include pictures when possible to help with vocabulary development. Stay away from nonsense words. Here are some phonics activities to use with your English Language Learners and emergent readers. Build the word For these phonics activities use magnetic letters, letter tiles, or simply pieces of paper with letters written on them. Have students practice building words that have the phonics pattern that they…

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Making Sight Words Visual

February 1, 2021 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Sight words are words that students are expected to read automatically. Some of these words do not follow common phonetic patterns. Many of them are not easy to visualize. This can make it challenging to teach these important words to English Language Learners. Look for creative ways to make sight words visual to support your students. Teach Sight Words in Context The easiest way to help students learn the meaning of sight words is to incorporate them into the context…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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