I feel as if Chapter 14 in the Graves book is really important, especially with the increasing number of English Language Learner's in our country. The book states that from 1979-2003 the school-age population increased by 19% while the children that spoke English with some difficulty increased by 139%. Clearly the ELL population is on a huge rise! As future teachers it is important to understand how to teach these students English and how to proficiently read and write in English. This is definitely a tough task, especially when the majority of our students will already have a lot of background knowledge in the English language. Luckily the Graves book does a really good job at giving tips to improve your classroom environment to better accommodate it for ELL students.
Some of the best tips I got out of this chapter...
1. It is important to remember everything you know about first-language reading when teaching reading to ELL.
2. Demand critical thinking of your ELL students. High levels of literacy curriculum are as appropriate for ELL students as they are for other students.
3. Teach mastery of basic skills. ELL students often do not learn these skills that most kids come to school with.
4. Know the students strengths and build on them to avoid boring them.
5. Use students background knowledge and interests to help them relate. Also make sure to honor/respect the children's cultures!
6. Some languages have up to 20% overlap with one another...make sure to take advantage of their similarities!
7. Create a classroom chart with everyday English words and put up the words that mean the same thing in your students' native languages. This not only helps your ELL students but allows your English proficient students to learn new words!
8. Involve the family!
9.When assessing students allow them to choose the language they'd like to respond in.
10. One of your major goals should be to increase their English vocabulary.
11. Use visuals.
All of these tips will be important for me to remember when I become a teacher. It is EXTREMELY likely that I will have students who struggle to learn English sometime in my career. With the help from these tips I am better prepared to address the needs of these students and help them attain English Proficiency.
