ESOL

Resource Book

Strategies and resources for Teaching English language learners

By: Rachel Cohalla
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Table of Contents

Content Area in Classrooms:

Page 3: Realia Page 4: Cloze Technique Page 5: Think-Pair-Share Page 6: Numbered Heads Page 7: Brain Pop Website Page 8: Lesson Plan Ideas (EverythingESL)
Levels of ESOL:

Page 9: Scripting Technique Page 10: Syntax Surgery Page 11: Carousel Brainstorming Page 12: Leveled Questions Page 13: Alphaboxes
Assessments:

Page 14: English Quizzes Website Page 15: Modifying Strategies Page 16: Portfolios Page 17: Graphic Organizers
Parental involvement:

Page 18: Translated Documents Page 19: Reading Nights Page 20: Cultural Nights Page 21: Collaborative Homework Page 22: Colorin Colorado Website

REalia
Realia is used by bringing in objects from real life to enhance classroom instruction. This can improve students' understanding of other cultures and real life situations. Realia is especially helpful for ELL students because they are able to use the objects to strengthen word recognition and understanding. Providing tangible objects create a stronger connection but having access to models, pictures, or replicas are great alternatives. The students can use combination of oral and visual instruction to grasp concepts. EXAMPLE: Teaching about foods, you can bring in a fruit basket with different types of fruit and have the students label them.

Also, teaching articles of clothing.

The options are endless just as long as you can provide tangible or visual representations of the object or subject.

Cloze technique
A cloze activity is where a passage or sentences have particular words missing. The student is then required to fill-in-the-blank by using the word bank provided. The student has to use context clues to figure out which word appropriately fits the blank. This helps students with meanings of words and vocabulary. Cloze activities are easily adaptable. You can create a cloze for any topic or material. A cloze can be as easy or difficult as you would like it to be. You can have a closed cloze which gives you the exact words needed to fill-in-the-blanks or you can have an open cloze which leaves the blanks open for deeper understanding of vocabulary or creativity. You can also adapt this for English Language Learners by giving a cloze to all of your students. Then for the ELL students you may include pictures to accompany the sentences for a better understanding of the words.

Think-Pair-Share

This technique is used to allow students to come together and share their ideas. First students receive a text, book, or assignment. They begin working on the task individually. After having time to think about their own conclusion or possibilities they discuss the ideas with a partner. Once they pairs have discussed, they share their ideas with the class. For many ELL students sharing can be intimating. This allows the students to participate in the lesson, communicate with classmates, and have prior knowledge and support before sharing. This creates community as well as confidence in the learner. As a teacher, choose the pairs wisely. Knowing your students and their strengths/weaknesses play a large role in this technique. For ELL students, having patient and helpful partners will increase their participation. Switching partners can increase community and ideas.

Numbered Heads

This is group activity that requires participation from all group members. The instructor groups students into equal groups. Then each student receives a number in the group. The group discusses the class activity. This can be a math problem, writing passage, book, or any question assigned by the teacher. The group talks collectively and decides on their conclusion. The instructor then calls on a certain number to speak for the group. This can allow ELL students to participate in the discussion as well as answer questions confidently. As a teacher, you can assign numbers methodically by having all ELL students in separate groups, or all have the same number. This will allow you to direct your questions to accommodate their understanding or verbal ability. This allows other students to model discussion to ELL learners if they are not comfortable with conversations.

For example:

If the teacher called on all twos to speak, Bill, David, Barn, and Ted would speak for their groups.

Brain POP
This site is a great tool for educators and students. Students are able to use this resource not only at school but at local libraries or at home, provided they have available internet. The website has a wide variety of subjects with interactive games and activities. Students are able to practice skills while having fun. For educators this site is amazing! Finding adjusted lessons and activities may be difficult. Brain Pop offers a section specifically for ESL students. They also stay consistent with Common Core standards. The website provides activity sheets and answers, lesson plans, word lists, graphic organizers, curriculum calendars, mobile apps, and games. It allows you to choose material for certain subjects, grades, and state standards. This website has so many options and is very userfriendly.

Lesson plan Ideas

The lesson plan ideas come from an online resource called, everythingESL.net. The site currently has forty-one year round lesson plans accommodated for English Language Learners. It lists all of the materials and books needed for the lessons. It also provides alternative books depending on the level of the student. The lessons mainly have to do with holidays, weather, books, and American history. Below is an example of a lesson on hurricanes. This may be an important topic when teaching in Florida. It provides important vocabulary and goals. In this particular lesson a KWL technique is being introduced. K- what you know W-what you want to know L- what you learned

Scripting
Depending on the level of your ELL student, having a script or dialogue to promote repetition of text or vocabulary can increase fluency and understanding. Scripts can encourage students to speak in the classroom if they are not already. Scripts are pre-written and pertain to topic in the class or even to introduce themselves. You can write the scripts for your students or have the students come up with the scripts themselves. Scripts can be passages written for an individual to share Scripts can be dialogues between two students.

Example of a script: Hello, my name is Rachel. I am from Spain. I enjoy reading and playing outside. My favorite color is purple. I have two cats and dog. Example of a dialogue script: Fast-Food Restaurant Student 1: Hello, may I take your order? Student 2: Yes, I will have large fry and a small Sprite, please. Student 1: Of course, anything else? Student 2: No, that is all. Student 1: Your order will be right up! Student 2: Thank you!

Syntax Surgery
This is a breakdown of a sentence that allows students to see differences in sentence structure. It slows down the reading process so students are able to grasp the different parts of a sentence. To perform use this technique a teacher writes a sentence word by word on a set of paper strips. Then has the student rearrange the strips of words correctly to create a sentence. The teacher can include punctuation. Other examples include writing incorrect words or misspelled words to the sentence to see if they are able to spot the mistake. Commonly for Spanish speakers, they misplace the adjective when translating to English. So working on adjective placement can also be used with the syntax surgery method.

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Carousel Brainstorming
This is a rotating classroom activity. Students move from different centers around the classroom where different questions are presented. They are able to discuss at each station. Students activate their prior knowledge of a topic or concept and share their ideas with their small group. Each group posts their ideas at each station for all groups to read.

For English language learners, this provides not only a review but scaffolding for future knowledge. Being able to read other students ideas and discuss with classmates as they rotate the room provides a physical activity as well as connecting to the questions.

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Leveled Questions
Depending on the development of your ELL child you may not want to discourage him/her by asking questions that may be difficult to answer in front of the class. Leveled questions are where you meticulously ask questions to students based on their background knowledge and engagement in class. You are able to adjust the difficulty and response type depending on your student. Requiring different cues or actions based on the question can mimic the level of language proficiency for English language learners. For example: When you beginning your lesson, you may develop a couple of yes or no questions to introduce the subject. These questions require fewer explanations and can be

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answered quickly. Asking the yes or no questions to your ELL students engages them into the conversation without overwhelming them.

Alphaboxes
This is a great graphic organizer to extend a students vocabulary. The concept works by creating a set of boxes titled with each letter of the alphabet. The student then writes down any vocabulary words in the box that are unfamiliar and then defines them. To adjust this concept for ELL students you can have them draw pictures next to the word so they are more apt to recall the word later. Alphaboxes can also be created in a 3-D version by bringing in a box titled with a certain letter and inside have objects that begin with the same letter. This tool is helpful for visual ELL learners.

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English Quizzes Website

http://www.funenglishgames.com/quizzes.html Every student learns at different rates. To make sure that your English language learners are on progressing to their grade level you can distribute online or printed quizzes. This website provides quizzes for number recollection, finishing sentences, parts of speech, money, and many others. This will allow you to assess how much a child knows on a certain subject and where you can help them. It provides online worksheets, games, videos, and activities.

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Modifying strategies
There are different strategies that can be used to adapt assessments to better fit an English Language Learner. Reading the questions orally to the student. Providing additional time on an assessment to allow processing of the language. Include graphics or pictures to the assessment for better understanding of the text. Simplify the language, while testing the same content. Allow students to write in bullet points instead of extended essays.
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Providing a word bank for the assessment.

Portfolios
Having the students create portfolios over an extended period of time is a great assessment of growth. The portfolios provide all of the work completed by a student in one place. Having the portfolio arranged by date is also helpful to see the progression. Students can look at their accomplishments. Portfolios track improvement and allow you to see where assistance is still needed Include writing samples, quizzes, tests, artwork, etc.

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Graphic Organizer
Creating assessments in the form of graphic organizers can be easier to understand of English Language Learners. The graphic organizer is testing the same information but in a different form. Sometimes students know the answer but formally writing the information can be difficult. Having the student make a check or circle items that test the same knowledge is a great alternative for ELL students.

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Translated Documents
To increase parental involvement, providing information that is translated into their native language can make a big difference. When the parents are informed they are more likely to participate. Though some languages are not easily translated from English trying your best to provide information that is understandable to the family is important.

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Reading Nights
To build a stronger community and include parents that do not speak English schools can participate in reading nights. Invite parents and family members to the school one evening a month or whenever it is possible. Have the parents partake in reading development activities to strengthen their English skills. Having the students teach their families the skills they are learning in school will not only strengthen the skills for the student but increase the possibility of future communication with the families. Getting participation from the families may be tough,
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but encouraging students to invite their families and making it a enjoyable environment can increase participation.

Things you can include: Refreshments: soft drinks, popcorn, chips, cookies, desserts, etc. Games: educational games or active games for children. Wide variety of books to choose from Stations or culture centers

Cultural Nights
Another way to include parents of ELL students is to invite them to share their story! Set a date in the beginning of the year to welcome them to the school. Not having the background of the language can make parents nervous or uncomfortable, creating a warm welcome can ease the apprehension. You can have families come and say where they are from and introduce themselves. They may cook food from their culture, wear clothing from their culture, and other ways to connect the school to the new families.
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Collaborative Homework
Creating homework that can be worked on with an adult can help include the parents and families. You can have children use adult figures to help them can create connections to the classroom. You do not want rely heavily on this in case the adults are unable to help.

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Colorin Colorado Website

This website is great for parents and schools to work together! It has information for educators to expand ideas and use activities in the classroom, but it also has a translated version of the website in Spanish for families. The website provides videos, podcasts, newsletters, and links for parents. This allows the families to receive ideas to help their child succeed at home.

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Thank you for reading some of the strategies and resources for teaching English Language Learners.

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I hope this provides new ideas and techniques to better you teaching and community with ELL students.

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