Word building activities are a hands-on way for students to practice phonics skills. Breaking apart or putting together words helps students to focus on the individual sounds that letters or letter combinations make. Students can use word puzzles such as word chains or word ladders. The activities are fun for students as they learn how to read. or ELLs it is helpful to include pictures of the words that you are using, or at least for any unfamiliar words for…
Decodable books are books that typically have controlled text. The words are simple to decode. This is helpful for students as they are at the beginning stages of reading. The benefit of using decodable text is that students do not encounter many unfamiliar words that they can not figure out by using the strategy of sounding it out. One challenge of these books, especially for ELLs is that the language can be awkward. Some of the vocabulary words used may…
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…
Teaching phonics is an important aspect of a balanced literacy program. This is especially true for ELLs. Phonics is the relationship between sounds and the letter or letters used to write it. Phonics helps students learn specific sounds in the English language. For newcomers that have a background in a language that does not use the Western alphabet, phonics is a way to help them learn the letters and sounds of the alphabet. For older students, it is important to…
Learning how to read is a complex process for all students. When you are teaching reading to ELLs, there is the added challenge that they are learning the vocabulary of English as they learn how to read. Some ELLs have the benefit of knowing how to read in their native language. This is helpful as many of the same skills will transfer over as they learn how to read in English. For young ELLs they are learning to read for…
Teaching rhyming and word families are simple ways to include phonemic awareness and phonics activities. Recognizing and producing rhymes is one aspect of phonemic awareness. This is a skill that emergent readers experience through games, listening to stories and nursery rhymes. For older ELLs, rhyming often does not come as naturally. Rhyming ability is one predictor of reading success. It is not necessary to spend a large amount of time on rhyming activities. Short exposure is just as beneficial as…