One of the best ways to improve reading comprehension and vocabulary development is to READ. The summer is the perfect time for students to read for pleasure. The challenge is convincing reluctant readers to pick up a book when they are not in school. Encourage Reading in their Native Language If your ELLs are literate in another language then the summer is a great time for them to practice reading in that language. If parents are literate encourage them to…
Studying a topic in depth is engaging for students. They are able to use their background knowledge each time they interact with a new text or piece of information. Text sets are one way to support ELLs. A text set is a collection of books, articles, and multimedia such as video clips about a topic. Using text sets with ELLs helps to lower their affective filter when they are reading. You can start off by reading aloud a book or…
Patterned texts can be a helpful tool to use with students. Some of these books use words that are difficult for students to decode independently. This means that these books are not the best choice for beginning readers to use in a guided reading lesson until they have learned the phonics skills and sight words to read the majority of the words. Instead, try using patterned or predictable books for read alouds, shared reading, and writing lessons. Find suggestions for…
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 have controlled text. The words are simple to decode. They typically follow a sequence of skill progression such as short vowels, digraphs, long vowels. 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…
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…
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 in learning the English Language. This can look different depending on…
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…
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…
It is important for children to be exposed to diverse books as they are learning how to read. Many teachers are examining their classroom library and adding more diverse books to their collection. Guided reading is also an important component of a balanced literacy program. Some teachers are lucky to teach in a school with a well-stocked book room. In other cases, many of the books at the lower levels are not age-appropriate for older ESOL students and do not…