Teachers who work with English Language Learners know that academic language takes longer to achieve proficiency in than does conversational language. On average, ELL students need at least two years to achieve conversational language and, five to nine years to develop academic language proficiency. Many English words ELL students are exposed to in school, they have not yet learned or even heard in their first language, which makes transference of knowledge impossible. The vast differences in the ability to use conversational versus academic language can be a hindrance to these students and have lasting effects on their academics and therefore, their lives. I was interested in finding out how teachers can help ELL students to develop this type of vocabulary and whether or not there is a highly effective technique that can benefit every student in class. As classroom teachers we need understand the unique needs of our ELLs. We need to understand that while they are just as capable as our native speakers, they are at a distinct disadvantage because of the amount of information they must process all at once that is in a language they do not fully understand. I have found that there are a number of ways that teachers can foster vocabulary growth in ELLs, I am going to focus on of the most effective: use of graphic organizers. What are graphic organizers? Graphic organizers are maps or charts that essentially reveal the organization of concepts and relationships of concepts in a straightforward manner. They help to make information more precise by cutting out a lot of the small details to allow focus on key points. This helps to lower the cognitive load on ELLs allowing them to process less heavy amounts of information all at... ... middle of paper ... ...2). Graphic organizers. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved Nov 2011 from http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers/graphic_organizers Lee, C.C. (2007). Graphic organisers as scaffolding for students’ revision in the pre-writing stage. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/lee-cc.pdf Smith, J. J. (2002). The use of graphic organizers in vocabulary instruction. M.A ResearchProject:KearnUniversity http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED463556&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED463556 Unspecified organization author. ¡colorín colorado! how vocabulary relates to ells.(2007). http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/teaching/vocabulary/
“Let Them Talk!” written by Wayne E. Wright is an article that focuses on the idea of promoting English Language Learners (ELL) oral-language skills in the classroom instruction time to improve their literacy and academic achievement. Too often are an ELL’s speaking and listening skills overlooked and not given enough attention to, even though it is one of the most important parts of communication. Wright encourages teachers working with ELL students to allow time for the student to adjust, not to pressure them into their language development, respect their various stages, bring them into whole class and small group discussions, correct simple language errors in speaking that impeded comprehension, and have them interact and communicate in the classroom for meaningful purposes.
Walking around I can observe that student’s population is Hispanic who are ESL. This student’s first language is Spanish and has little bit knowledge of English. They are able to take conversation with their peer with the Basic English they know, but struggle to talk in complete sentences. For example the
...r they had all received the same language instruction for three years (kindergarten, first and second grade). These finding conclude that English language proficiency at the time of entering school does not matter. A good early literacy program works for both L1 students and ESL students who enter school at the kindergarten age. Students at that age are very susceptible to learning new languages quickly. The ESL children had difficulties in kindergarten, but by second grade they had caught up and were right on track with the L1 students and some of them even surpassed the L1 students.
All students begin school with different levels of literacy development; English-speaking natives have obtained oral language proficiency in English which helps t...
Because America is such a diverse country, public schools are faced with the challenge of providing students from all over the world with a quality education. As Chen points out “public schools have embraced the linguistic challenge presented by immigrant students” (¶1). Then, No Child Left Behind law was approved, and it required every public school should have an English Secondary Language (ESL) program that will provide the “academic support” for English Language Learners (ELLs). ELL parents are happy that their children are getting education help from the school, but it has raised the question of how successful are the ESL programs? Do ESL programs provide enough “academic support” to all ELL students? Do ESL programs have enough tools to help students learn English? Some ELL parents complain that ESL programs do not help their child learn English. A successful ESL program is not based solely on the test scores, but also the ability to connect parents, teachers, and students together to strengthen tools that will help ELL students to learn a new language in reading, writing, and speaking.
Anglin, Gary J. (1995). Instructional Technology: Past, Present and Future. (2nd ed.). In Barbara L. Grabowski, Message Design: Issues and Trends. (pp. 222-225). Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
racie Allen of the comedy team of Burns and Allen was once asked how one should speak French. She replied, “Well, you speak it the same way you speak English; you just use different words.” When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation, building background, and comprehensible input, we can indeed teach our future English language learners all the right moves with all the right words.
English Language Learners range from Newcomers learning survival English and developing foundational literacy skills to Long-Term English Learners who have had 6 years or more of their education in English yet continue have significant language gaps. These students may speak English with little or no accent and still lack the vocabulary, grammar and grade level literacy to be successful in school. English language learners may remain silent in the classroom as they adjust to a new school, environment, and culture unless he is a native language comrade to interact with. The English language learners are concerned about decoding verbal and non- verbal communication as well as understanding the social culture framework of the school. Most of the time English language learners are observing during instruction, trying to repeat words used by others, memorizing simple phrases and sentences, tired by midday or be frustrated attending long lectures unaccompanied by visual and gestures, relying on first language translation used peer translation or bilingual dictionary, as the students begin to learner they become more involved in the classroom, they can respond non-verbally to commands, statements, and questions in simple form. As their oral comprehension increases, they begin to use simple word and phrases and may use English spontaneously. They can understand short conversation on a simple topic when reading students can understand a narrative text and authentic materials, although they will be below
190). An alternative way to use a graphic organiser in a lesson introduction is to ask students to correctly order the steps in a procedural task. For example, the teacher may say to the students ‘I am going to make a cake. On the board is a list of things I need to do to make the cake. I need your help to put the steps in the correct order.’ The list on the board will have the steps to the procedure in an incorrect sequence (bake cake, wash hands, turn off the oven, mix the ingredients, preheat the oven, get out the ingredients, take the cake out of the oven). The students can collaborate to determine the correct sequence then place steps into a procedural flowchart. These activities are designed to engage students and promote participation. According to Liou and Li (2014), graphic organisers have become a common devise used to support cognitive development (p. 2). Educators should encourage all students to take part in the activity and praise students who demonstrate a positive outlook on active participation; praise is a positive reinforcer that will increase the likelihood of student participation
Be it reading, writing, vocabulary improvement and text analysis, the use of visuals has a positive impact in learning a language. Although some studies claimed that some results were not really significant, but it proved that a better understanding of the text was evident as well as making the text more interesting to read. Using visual aids abundantly in understanding complicated materials, and using simple graphic organizers, particularly in difficult materials makes it easier to follow the author’s train of thought. It is therefore important that visual representations should not be complicated in order to simplify the texts’ meanings and should not depart student’s attention on some other things. After all, the use of visuals is meant to simplify the lesson and achieve language acquisition better.
If needed, the focus learner can use a graphic organizer to aid in the planning portion of his writing piece. The focus learner will display his understanding of the information presented in each of the individual lessons and his ability to generalize the information by creating authentic
Nowadays, English is one of the most popular languages all over the world. In Vietnam, English also plays an important role in people’s life because this country is in a stage of development and globalization. Many foreign companies invest in Vietnamese market. This is a good opportunity for learners of English to find good jobs. Therefore, it is necessary for people to study English. However, it is not easy to master English since there are several difficulties in the process of learning. Vocabulary is a typical one.
Graphic design gives some the ability to build something magical on a computer or paper and turn it into a solid form for others to see or use. Graphic design or graphic communications is the art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. The form of the communication can be physical or virtual, and may include images, words, or graphic forms. The experience can take place in an instant or over a long period of time. The work can happen at any scale, from the design of a single postage stamp to a national postal signage system, or from a company’s
Resources are designed to support us as teachers to plan, deliver and assess our teaching and lesson delivery. All the materials and books, a variation and diversification of approaches, resources used for different learning styles, in order to meet the needs of all my students were contributing to the professional development and continuing education. Preparing visual prompts to stimulate, the use of colour in my slides, always helped to stimulate the interest and emphasise the key points in my teaching. However, computer-based technology, provided opportunities to develop ICT skills. Thus, through class sessions and little practice students were developing skills to use it, and create professionally looking and visually stimulating slides. As teachers, we must be willing to encourage our students to become active participants in their learning, creating opportunities to actively engage all
Students need to understand the essence of what is being said to them or presented to them during instructional periods. For students to understand what is being said to them, teachers should use graphic organizers to help students understand what is being taught to them. Teachers can also present applicable background information and content about what they are teaching. Teachers can also present information that brings the ELLs’ cultures and experiences into the curriculum and vocabulary;...