ELL Strategies & Best Practices. The even better news? Imagery is particularly useful for ELL students as they can struggle to really connect with the language when it’s presented on a page or in the spoken word. Below are their step-by-step suggestions on how to handle issues like the fourth-grade slump or the development of critical thinking skills. For more advanced learners, keep an eye out for other songs and reading passages where the characters repeat the same actions, so that students can notice the correct form of the verbs by themselves! FluentU brings language learning to life with real-world videos. Learning a foreign language becomes fun and easy when you learn with movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talks. It can be a serious challenge. Learning strategies are the tactics we use to learn new things. Learning in a foreign language is incredibly difficult and it can sometimes seem to ELL students that there are simply too many gaps in their language knowledge to grasp a subject. Use a timeline to help students visualize the location of the event in terms of time, and encourage them to do the same. Here are seven key strategies that my co-author Debbie Zacarian and I believe should be used by classroom and subject area teachers to differentiate content area information for beginning level English learners (ELs). During an upcoming history lesson, you might require students to write an account of the American Civil War. We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs for products and services we believe in. The cognitive, cultural, and professional benefits of bilingualism have the potential to broaden learners' experiences in their careers and academics. Many of the strategies we use to make content comprehensible for ELLs are also helpful in working with linguistically diverse parent populations. Whether you teach a class composed of all English language learners or a mainstream class in which you have a mix of ELLs and non-ELLs, keep in mind that many of these strategies will assist not just your English learners, but your other students as well, including slower processors and special needs students. Why not give your students a copy of your long-term plan for the week, month or even year ahead? Elicit from students what they already know about the activity before beginning to give directions. Please check your email for further instructions. If this helps, they should by all means be encouraged to use this as a learning strategy wherever appropriate. Students are much more comfortable playing to their strengths, and once they’ve found their strongest learning strategies, they’ll soon excel where they previously floundered. Accompany this debate and the vocabulary from it with some real-world videos from the Politics and Society section on FluentU English. Reading a Shakespeare play in English? Imagine you’ve been looking at a recorded political debate, either as a language focus or in a specific subject you might teach, such as politics. Some may have already cultivated their own unique ways to learn classroom materials. English language learners need ample amount of time just practicing speaking English in order to become fluent. However, encourage dictionary work when needed, to avoid misunderstandings caused by false friends. The game doesn’t keep your score. Language transfer can be an extremely useful strategy in aiding student comprehension. • Deliver the content in “chunks”, so ELL students can digest a little at a time, and then continue to build their knowledge and understanding of the material. While ELL has multiple definitions, here we are referring to ELL students who are studying in an English-language school or institute, and need additional support to help them understand subject matter taught in English. Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association. As we know, some students prefer to learn with visual aids. © 2020 Enux Education Limited. Teach word-study skills. Educators from across the country have discovered excellent ways to tackle some common classroom stumbling blocks. Similarly, monitoring progress might come as second nature to teachers, but students haven’t necessarily been taught to independently monitor their own learning. The average native English speaker enters kindergarten knowing at least 5,000 words. Perhaps in a vocabulary learning exercise, you’d prefer to see the direct translation into your own language alongside the new vocabulary. It uses extremely simple vocabulary with accessible visual aids, and it incorporates all the present simple verb conjugations of the verb “to be.”. Others may have never given this a second thought. But what if they forget the rule? allows them to learn the same material as other students as they continue to develop their English language skills. Even then, these false friends can still help to create memorable vocabulary lessons. More effectively manage your lesson planning and progress monitoring. Mayda is a former student of mine who had become utterly discouraged by her slow progress towards English fluency. Well, Richard Schmidt’s Noticing Theory (1990) suggests that, if students learn rules by noticing them rather than being told them, they’re more likely to retain the information and remember the rule later. Not only do you not know how you’re progressing, but you can’t tell how you compare to other people’s scores! Students will be most successful when they are told upfront what they will be expected to learn and to do as a result of a lesson. What's even better than a bright idea? You can start by providing the words initially, to help students realize that they’re able to make language transfer connections in certain situations. Children who have an opportunity to develop basic foundational skills in language and literacy in preschool enter kindergarten ready to learn to read and write (Ballantyne, Sanderman, & McLaughlin, 2008). If you see one of your students struggling with using a learning strategy after you have faded your assistance, you should give them as much chance as possible to succeed, but provide personalized assistance if you feel that this student is becoming demotivated or if this learning strategy doesn’t suit their individual needs. And like many scaffolds, effective modeling helps all students—not just ELs. Make content comprehensible for all students (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008) — Providing ELLs with alternative ways of accessing key content (e.g., charts, books written in their first language, simplified text written by the teacher, discussion, etc.) Provide information that the beginning EL can understand. Maybe saying new words aloud to yourself is most effective, or maybe you like to see the new words in context so that you better understand their usage. Homepage illustrations ©2009 by Rafael López originally appeared in "Book Fiesta" by Pat Mora and used with permission from HarperCollins. Wondering how to keep your ESL students motivated and determined to overcome serious linguistic obstacles? There are a number of ways to support the language and literacy development of English language learners (ELLs) that also allow students to participate more fully in classroom activities and lessons. By Karyn Lewis and Yvette Ramirez Transitions can be challenging for any student, whether that is moving from elementary to middle school, or moving to an entirely new school district. ELL students can sometimes feel powerless in an environment where they aren’t communicating in their first language, but self-monitoring helps them take back some of this control. When students feel unable to express themselves during a task, they can be encouraged to find alternative ways of using the language to get a similar meaning across. However, if they create timelines using different written sources, or they have access to other students’ timelines from different sources than theirs, they’ll be equipped with various ways of describing the same events. Similarly to imagery, using role play as a learning strategy can help your students to use the target language as they would do in real life—communicating with others. The six key strategies not only help students develop English as a second language, they also help native speakers learn words that are not part of everyday English (for example, words such as algorithm, allegory, Avogadro’s hypothesis, or filibuster). By sharing their icons with their class and hanging them up in the classroom, ELL students gain a sense of ownership in the classroom that allows them feel connected to their classes and to their learning. Different linguists adhere to different rules about how to teach learning strategies. This one speaks for itself. For younger students or those with extremely limited English, ask them to evaluate how they’ve performed by indicating on a numerical scale. I would write them out, over and over, until my writing hand hurt and my brain was fried. Ever notice that, despite teaching a well-thought-out lesson that’s geared towards a whole group of students, only some students will grasp the concepts straight away while others will really struggle? Teachers may be uncomfortable identifying students for additional reading instruction if their English language skills are low. When I was learning French in high school, I was given lists and lists (and more lists) of verb conjugations to learn. You may already be doing some of these things without realizing it! Teachers of EALs who approach the challenge in different ways, by making classroom activities more EAL friendly, teaching strategies English learners can implement independently, making use of technology, and paring native-speaker and English language learners up to encourage scaffolding, can turn any lesson into a successful learning experience for everyone involved, even the teacher! For any students who struggle, it provides crucial access that can make the difference between frustration and success. Prosody is a term that is frequently heard in discussions of fluency. Student self-monitoring solves this problem! It usually has to do with their individual learning strategies. Now, your job is to help your students discover which ones work best for them. Or what if the exceptions to that rule are so numerous that they begin to over-apply it and come back even more confused and frustrated than before? Imagine, for example, you’re teaching a science lesson about plant growth, but you’re worried that the scientific language will prove too intimidating for your ELL students. Research has shown us that the difference between good learners and poor learners is their ability to employ these strategies in learning situations. Think: visuals, graphic organizers, and translated or icon-based cheat sheets for potentially unfamiliar terminology (for example, immunizations, English language development services). As an educator (and perhaps as a fellow language learners), you might already be aware of the learning strategies that best suit you. Explain clearly what you’re doing, how the strategy works and in what situations it’s an appropriate strategy. For example, classifying and sorting words by spelling patterns helps students develop vocabulary and provides opportunities to transfer spelling concepts from reading to writing. A strategy that actually gets students to chat more is pretty much the holy grail. Imagine, to the despair of many students, discovering that the French librarie doesn’t mean “library” but instead means “bookstore,” and the French for library is actually bibliothèque! Thanks for subscribing! In terms of physical education, it is in a unique position as it has characteristics supportive of ELLs with conditions similar to those in which children acquire their first language (Clancy, M. & Hruska, B., 2005). It’s obviously essential that teachers are able to monitor progress too, but if this progress is a secret to your student, they’re in danger of becoming demotivated and frustrated. However, there are a number of steps you can take to help strengthen students' language development and engage them, no matter their level of language proficiency. English Language Learners (ELLs) represent a significant population in schools today.As such, it is important to use strategies that can assist student learning in any content area. If you’re teaching students the strategy of creating rules, walk them through various examples of this and check at each stage that they understand the rules you have made. © Copyright 2019 WETA Public Broadcasting. We have put together the list below based on professional experience, research (including White, Schramm & Chamot (2007) and Rubin, Chamot, Harris & Anderson (2007)) and also with ELL students in mind. Start by providing flashcards or illustrations for your students (there are loads of these online) and then gradually allow them to find or create their own using the internet. Better yet, encourage students to continually refer to this outline by asking them periodically what stage they should be at, what topic is being covered next and whether or not they feel they’re meeting their goals. All Rights Reserved. What the Flip is a Flipped ESL Classroom? 11 Useful Tips to Boost Your Intermediate ESL Students’ Reading Comprehension, 7 ESL Video Activities That Your Students Will Love, Waste less time on strategies that don’t work for your students. Explicit and effective ELL strategies must be utilized in order for your students to gain a true understanding of the content being taught and the language associated with that content. This way, students’ expectations are set for each stage of their learning and they’re able to self-monitor their progress. Since we’ve mentioned it, let’s look at grammar. Dedicate a section of your whiteboard to listing both content and language objectives for each lesson. This is true for all students, not just English language learners. By widening your students’ language sources, you can help them to substitute language where they would otherwise struggle to express themselves. The good news? Early childhood education can play an essential role in preparing young English language learners (ELLs) for later success in school. You can incorporate the teaching of these learning strategies into your current lesson plans, and we’re going to show you how. Do you want to teach English while traveling the world? This enables students to be familiar with the vocabulary words as you use them in your instruction. Whenever I’m asked about strategies for teaching ESL students, I always think back to my experience with Mayda. Imagery helps to solidify meaning and reassure students that they are following the language correctly. Body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice can let them know that you care. Once they learn to do this, it can help to accelerate their learning massively as they feel personally responsible for their own progress. Though such tests may provide information about an ELL’s reading comprehension and writing composition skills, they may not give an accurate picture of student progress towards attaining instructional objectives or provide feedback to the teacher about the level of success of instructional strategies. ELL students are sometimes hesitant to produce language in spoken form in the classroom, for fear of making mistakes or seeming incompetent. These ideas from veteran educators can help make content more accessible and provide students with an opportunity to participate in all classroom activities. Classmates are a valuable resource in helping English language learners succeed, whether by showing students around the school on their first day or serving as a buddy in the clasroom. One of the most important uses of assessment is informal, ongoing assessment throughout the school year (also called formative assessment) to monitor student learning and target areas of instruction. Read these inspirational stories about English language learners, teachers and paraprofessionals who have overcome obstacles standing to achieve success. Knowing that ELLs represent a growing part of the U.S. student body and that elementary schools are feeling the weight of that impact, it’s critical that K–5 educators are prepared to support these students. Learn more about this approach from the following resources and videos. Want to teach past perfect tense in English? You can encourage substitutions at both word level and sentence level. You can also encourage your students to complete Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) in order to gain an idea of what learning strategies they are already using, and what types of strategies they may want to try. You can read the most recent research on learning strategies on Google Scholar. If “systematically building on students’ experiences and knowledge” is a key to scaffolding, knowledge of students is of even greater importance. 10 superb learning strategies for you to teach your ELL students to help them become confident learners in what is often a very challenging and frustrating learning environment. The most important thing is that they work for you. Spread the loveEducators share their strategies for teaching academically challenging (and fun) lessons that support native and non-native English speakers. Vocabulary: The development of a wide and varied vocabulary is essential. Let’s imagine you’re teaching a geography lesson about countries of the world. Visit WETA's other education websites: Start with a Book  |  Reading Rockets |  AdLit  |  LD OnLine, Web development by Boxcar Studio and Rapid Development Group, A bilingual site for educators and families of English language learners, How vocabulary can get in the way of solving a word problem, Building Social Studies Background Knowledge, ELLs with special education needs are entitled to both ELL and special education services, Building upon student strengths: The "Can Do" Approach, What makes RTI effective or ineffective with ELLs, Big trends in the field: RTI and ESL training, Differentiating assignments in a Social Studies lesson, Supporting struggling readers in high school, Jessica Panfil: Formative Assessment for ELLs, Having trouble with the way questions are worded, Using technology to differentiate in the classroom, Higher-level questions: Thinking about magic, Focusing on language with the Common Core, Using realia to build background knowledge, Answering guiding questions with middle school ELLs, Classroom Strategies for 4th-Grade Language Arts, Serving and Supporting Immigrant Students, Bilingual & Dual-Language Education: Overview, Schools and Families: An Important Partnership, Differentiation & RTI for English Language Learners, Using Informal Assessment in the Classroom, Strengths-Based Instruction for English Language Learners. 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