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

Parts of Speech Coloring Freebie

February 10, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Using Coloring with Students Coloring can be a relaxing activity for students. Even older students enjoy a periodic coloring break. What better way to help students practice the grammar concept of parts of speech than through coloring? Color by Code Worksheets I have a FREE set of Color by Code Worksheets. On the coloring sheets students color each part of speech a different color. The pages cover nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. Illustrated Vocabulary Sheets I designed these…

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Supporting Newcomer ELLs in Elementary School

Supporting Elementary Newcomers

February 3, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Newcomer students receive some support from an ESOL teacher in most elementary schools. The majority of their time is spent in their grade level classroom. Here are some strategies for supporting a newcomer student in their grade level classroom. Differentiate Assignments In the beginning, you will likely do more modifying of the assignment. The learning goal might be different for your newcomer student. You might instruct them to listen to a read aloud and try to remember five new words…

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How to Keep ELLs Engaged in Reading

January 27, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 2 comments

Reading engagement is an important part of a student’s motivation to read. When you are motivated to read, you are more likely to increase the amount of time that you spend reading. This is important for English Language Learners, as they need many exposures to text. When a student is motivated, he or she is better able to learn new material. Feeling frustrated can lower one’s motivation to practice reading. This also impacts how engaged they are with the text…

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5 Ways to Use Task Cards that will Keep Your ELLs Engaged

January 21, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Task cards are a great tool to support English Language Learners. There are many leveled sets available, making it easy to differentiate. There are cards with short reading passages, grammar practice, writing prompts, speaking questions, and more. Take a look at these five ideas for using task cards with your ELLs that will keep them engaged throughout the lesson. 1. Play a Game Kids love playing games. You can keep the game simple and print out a basic game board….

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Figurative Language with ELLs

January 14, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Figurative language uses figures of speech including metaphors, similes, idioms, and personification. It typically describes something by comparing it with something different. Figurative language can be challenging for an English Language Learner to understand, as they are still learning literal language. Here are some strategies and ideas for teaching figurative language to ELLs. Culture plays a role in figurative language. Metacognition helps students to understand when they encounter figurative phrases. (Palmer, Bilgili, Gungor, & Taylor 2008) Have Students Illustrate Examples…

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Prefixes and Suffixes with ELLs

January 6, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Teaching students the meaning of prefixes and suffixes is a great way to increase their vocabulary. When they know basic prefixes and suffixes they are better able to use context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words. This is true for all students, but it is particularly helpful for English Language Learners, as they may not be familiar with some of the words that have affixes from past exposure. Some suffixes can make changes to words such as tense, number,…

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Folktales from Around the World

December 30, 2018 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Fairy tales and other folktales are a great opportunity to include books and stories from around the world. A common lesson is to compare and contrast different versions of a fairy tale. Here are some folktales from around the world to check out. Anthology Fairytalez– This is an amazing FREE collection of fairy tales, folk tales, and other traditional stories from around the world. It allows you to print each story as a pdf. Each story comes with an estimated…

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Teacher Self Care

December 23, 2018 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Teacher Self Care: Tips for Parents Teacher self care is vitally important. This is particularly true when you are also a parent. The trouble is that many of the typically strategies listed are more difficult to implement when you have kids. Today I partnered with my husband to reflect on strategies that work for us, and hopefully will help you as well. My husband is an elementary school teacher. This summer he took a professional development class through Learners Edge about…

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December 16, 2018 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

I am very excited to announce that I am starting an email list newsletter. I am planning on sending out weekly tips and ideas to help teachers support their English Language Learners. Also when you sign up you will get a FREE Speak then Write sample set to use with your students. I would love to hear from you! Sign up below and let me know if you have any questions about working with ELLs or if there are specific…

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Teaching About Folktales to ELLs

December 10, 2018 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Teaching About Folktales to ELLs Folktales included fairy tales, fables, and legends. They were traditionally passed down by word of mouth. Folktales are great windows into the culture and values of the the group of people telling them. Fables have a lesson the the reader is meant to learn. Fairy tales and legends have more subtle lessons about good and evil. Cultures around the world often have their own version of a common folk tale. Here are some ideas for…

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