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

Thanksgiving Activities for ELLs

November 10, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 2 comments

Thanksgiving is an opportunity to integrate American culture into lessons. Some ELLs will have celebrated Thanksgiving their entire life. These students will be able to share their family’s traditions around the holiday. Other students will have never experienced the holiday before and will benefit from a basic overview of what the holiday is. Here are some ideas for integrating the topic of Thanksgiving into your November lessons. Include Multiple Perspectives As you teach students about Thanksgiving, here are resources to…

Read More Read More

13 Thanksgiving Books for ELLs

November 3, 2019 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

Choral Reading for ELLs

October 28, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Choral reading is one strategy to help ELLs practice their reading fluency. During choral reading, the teacher and a group of students read a text together. This allows students to practice reading the text fluently and without the stress of missing a word. Here are some tips for choral reading with ELLs. Selecting a Choral Reading Text Choral reading works best when the text is close to the instructional reading level of the students. It is a good opportunity to…

Read More Read More

Sentence Starters and Frames for ELLs

October 20, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Using sentence starters and sentence frames are one strategy to support students in speaking, reading, and writing. A sentence starter is when you give students the beginning part of a sentence and they fill in the rest. A sentence frame is when there are blanks inside a sentence that students fill in. Here are some ways to use sentence stems and frames as a scaffold to support your ELLs. Support Newcomers & Emergent Readers Simple sentence starters allow students to…

Read More Read More

Halloween Tips and Activities for ELLs

October 13, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Halloween Tips for ELLs 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…

Read More Read More

7 Grab and Go Snacks for Teachers

October 7, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Snacking is a great way to get a quick burst of energy. Snacks for teachers need to be easy to store and not messy. As an ESOL teacher I often only had a few minutes to grab a snack or needed something that I could eat while I was prepping for my next group. For a short time, I got a snack subscription box (Graze). It was fun to get new snacks each month and all of them were easy…

Read More Read More

Halloween Books for ELLs

September 30, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

If you choose to introduce your ELLs to the holiday of Halloween, here are some fun books to use. I found books that include bilingual books, books that show the merging of cultures, and a basic history of Halloween. I also have suggestions for Halloween activities for ELLs to use as you are teaching. Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click on an Amazon link and make a purchase. This…

Read More Read More

Using Bingo with ELLs

September 21, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Bingo is a classic game that can provide students with an engaging way to practice language skills. You can use the game to help students practice vocabulary, reading comprehension, and more. For ELLs bingo is a fun way to practice basic listening and reading skills. Keep reading to get a FREE set of blank Bingo boards. Research supports that using games as students are learning a new language has positive benefits. Games can increase student motivation (Martin, 2016) and student…

Read More Read More

fall teaching ideas leaves writing coloring

Fall Teaching Ideas for ELLs

September 8, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Fall is a great time to teach about changes. If you live in an area where the leaves change colors during the fall, this might be a new experience for English Language Learners that are new to the country. Apples and pumpkins are also popular fall themes. Here are some ideas for teaching about the fall to ELLs. Study How Leaves Change For young ELLs of all levels, and older newcomers they can practice colors, answering questions, and describing words…

Read More Read More

Picture Matching for ELLs

September 1, 2019 aworldoflanguagelearners Comments 0 Comment

Matching pictures with text is one strategy to assist English Language Learners and primary students with reading comprehension and vocabulary development. Students can match pictures in a range of ways. This includes matching pictures with words or sentences. Here are some ideas for using picture matching with ELLs. Match Pictures with Words Choose pictures from a text that students are reading or relevant vocabulary words. Depending on the choices of words, students are able to practice beginning and ending sounds…

Read More Read More