Quick Resource

For those of you that have native Spanish-speaking ESL students in your classroom, here is a book recommendation that will really help a lot: NTC's Dictionary of Spanish Cognates Thematically Organized (Nash 1990). You can find it here. Freeman and Freeman (2004) state, "One way that etchers can help student develop both content-specific and general academic vocabulary is through the student of cognates" (p. 210). Studying cognates, particularly thematically, is really helpful in developing your student's academic vocabulary. I hope you'll check it out!

Resources for Teaching Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-Verb agreement is an area of particular difficulty for ESL students, largely due to English's complex verb system and the differences in "rules" among languages. Here are some resources to help you plan.

Activities:
http://www.eslgamesplus.com/subject-verb-agreement-game/
http://www.ehow.com/info_8397360_activities-teaching-subjectverb-agreement.html

Anchor charts:
http://www.pintrest.com/search/pins/?q=subject%20verb%20agreement%20anchor%20chart&rs=ac&len=12

Resources for Teaching Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives and adverbs can be an area of difficulty for ESL students. Many of their first languages may have very different rules for adjectives and adverbs and their placement. Here are some resources that will help as you teach this topic.

Activities:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Adjectives-1052928

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Adjectives-Task-Cards-422358

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Adverbs-243163

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ProductAdverbs-Adjectives-FREEBIE-524197

Video:

http://www.brainpopjr.com/readingandwriting/word/adjectivesandadverbs/preview.weml

Rethinking Spelling

Here is an interesting article that will probably make you rethink the way you were taught/teach spelling. The article also includes some tips on how to help your students become better spellers. Enjoy!

More Resources for Teaching Pronouns

English uses many pronouns--singular and plural, masculine and feminine. This can be a difficult concept to understand for an ESL student, particularly if their native language has different rules or not as many pronouns options. Here are some resources to help you as you lesson plan.

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJDIEs4wEdQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koZFca8AkT0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh62KQ7mujA

Activities:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/281404676688124932/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/88594327642304913/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/64809682110049469/

Resources for Teaching Capital Letters

There are many times that we use capital letters in English, and this list of "rules" can be overwhelming for an ESL student, particularly if their native language has very different rules on capitalization. For example, in Spanish, the days of the week and months of the year are not capitalized, nor is the pronoun for "I". With this background, you can see that it would be difficult for a native Spanish speaker to correctly use capitalization rules. Here are some resources to help you as you lesson plan.

Activities:

http://www.brainpop.com/educators/community/lesson-plan/capital-and-lowercase-activities-for-kids/?bp-jr-topic=capital-and-lowercase

Lesson Plans:

http://www.slideshare.net/Latrice23/letter-lesson-plan

https://roythezebra.com/reading-games-lesson-plans/lesson-plan-capital-letter.html

YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kshfSh7TJNw

Resources for Teaching Comma Usage

Proper comma usage can be a difficult concept to master even for native English speakers. Here are some resources to help you lesson plan.

Videos:

http://www.brainpopjr.com/search/?keyword=commas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOwcovqtkGY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-dDmWWuqO7DY

Lesson Plan Ideas:

http://www.eds-resources.comedcommas.htm

http://www.myenglishteacher.net/usingcommas.html

Resources for Teaching Pronouns

English uses many pronouns--singular and plural, masculine and feminine. This can be a difficult concept to understand for an ESL student, particularly if their native language has different rules or not as many pronouns options. Here are some resources to help you as you lesson plan.

Videos:

http://www.brainpopesl.com/level1/unit1/lesson1/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZADSyQZlvCc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-mfGEJJ9g1tl

Lesson Plans:

http://www.readwords.org/lessons/gradek-1-2/pronoun-reference/lesson-1

http://esl.about.com/od/grammarreview/a/Learning-Pronouns.htm

http:/betterlesson.com/lesson/30983/pronouns

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/lesson-plans-grades-1-2103184-first-grade-activities-that-teach-pronouns/

Resources for Teaching Fragments

Fragments are an issue you will probably encounter in the writing of all of your students. It is important that your ESL students learn to identify a fragment and know how to correct it. Here are some resources to help you.

YouTube Videos:

The basics of a fragment and how to correct them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dfmg6EsaRs

A song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHUvzjlniUY

For use with high school students: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Wcr4Wgf7U

Lesson Plans:

http://www.stickyball.net/writing.html?id=517

http://faculty.ccp.edu/dept/viewpoints/s01v2n3/strips.htm

http:/records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/grammar/fragments.htm

http://www.webenglishteacher.com/sentence-fragments-lesson-plans.html

Resources for Teaching Sentence Structure

Syntax, or sentence structure, is something that can vary greatly from language to language. It is important for your ESL students to understand English syntax. Here are some resources to assist you.

Videos from YouTube:
To help teachers explain sentence structure:
http://youtu.be/VPyo8-Pr55Q

http://youtu.be/9EXL6M6eGyo

This one lets kids get up and move around: http:/youtu.be/Ra-nmxEhP2M

Websites: The following offer lesson plans, activities, and printables
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/sentences.html

http://www.time4writing.com/uncategorized/sentence-structure-worksheets/

http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/grammar/menu.html

http://www.eslbase.com/resources/sentence-reduction

How to Help ESL Students Acquire Vocabulary

We all know how important vocabulary acquisition is for all students, especially those learning English. So how can we help in this crucial area? According to David Sousa in How the ELL Brain Learns, "How quickly a child understands words of another language may be closely related to whether the word can generate a clear mental image" (p. 38). We can conclude that a simple way to help kids learn vocabulary is to present the word alongside an image, whether this be through use of flashcards, multimedia, bulletin boards, etc. Be creative in thinking about this and share ideas with your colleagues!

Why Do Bilingual Children "Mix" Their Languages and What Can You Do to Help?

As a teacher with ESL children in your classroom, you might hear them "mix" their languages, say for example, using Spanish words while speaking English. While this may concern you, rest assured that it is not a cause for concern. In his book Bilingual Life and Reality, Francois Grosjean states, "It is important to view within and between-language mechanisms (over generalizations, simplifications, interferences, and so on) as strategies employed by children in their effort to use their weaker language" (p. 193). Far from being a cause for concern, it is evidence that the child is in fact learning and using strategies that enable them to use their "weaker" language. The child is not mixing because of laziness or lack of care.
Here's what you can do to help! Grosjean states, "Further language input and feedback from listeners, as well as occasional breakdowns in communication, will gradually help the child home in on the new language" (193). So, as the teacher, if you hear your kids "mixing", follow Grosjean's advice:

• Continue providing appropriate input to the child, giving them opportunities to hear the target language in context
• Give feedback, helping to find a needed work or giving an example of appropriate sentence structure

Lastly, Grosjean says, "...as soon as they have picked up enough of the second language, they will increasingly speak just that language and will then call on the other language mainly for communicative reasons, primarily when the situation is appropriate and they are in a bilingual mode" (p. 198).

Be patient with your students, give them lots of rich, appropriate input, and gentle feedback. Language acquisition is a process.

Educating Boys

Here's a great article that doesn't necessarily deal with the ESL population but does apply to all boys in your classroom. There's an example activity in the article that would be fun and engaging in any classroom. Check it out here.

ESL News

The ESL population is growing, and we as teachers need to be equipped to serve this group. Here is some of the latest news...

Professional Development Tool

If you are in the position to provide Professional Development for your teachers in the area of ESL but don't know where to start, this is a great tool. In Resource B (pp. 119-122) of Mary Ann Lachat's book, Standards-Based Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners, there is a survey that you can give teachers that allows them to self-evaluate their need for training in many areas. The survey is very comprehensive and would allow you to really see what the needs of your staff are. If don't have access to the book, leave me a comment and I can make you a copy of the survey and mail it to you or I can scan it and email it to you.

Why and How to Use Blogs with ESL Students

Blogs are web logs/journals that are maintained as a place to share thoughts and ideas, photos and videos, etc (like the one you're reading!). Readers can comment on entries (called posts).

There are several reasons to use blogs with ESL students. According to Lori Langer de Ramirez in Empower English Learners with Tools, blogs can be used for:

• Class debates
• Poetry collections
• Creative writing
• Novel or story reviews
• Commenting on essential questions
• Responding to photos of art, historical figures, and audio files of music or speeches
• A detective or suspense short story in installments (meaning different blog posts build on the story over time)
• Group discussions 
• Writing journals or diaries

Students can practice reading and writing as they write blog posts and comment on other's posts. They can also practice speaking and listening if audio or video files are part of the blog they are viewing or creating. Blogs can be great practice for all four language domains! 

One last feature of blogs that makes them a great tool for ESL students is that blog posts can serve as a sort of writing portfolio, whereby students can look back over earlier posts and see their growth in writing. Students also love being able to use technology and being independent in creating something of their own. 

Professional Development Resource

Dr. Christel Broady is the Program Director for the ESL Endorsement program at Georgetown College. She is a KYTESOL board member and is a frequent speaker at the state and national level. She is a passionate advocate for ESL students. She is available for professional development. You can contact her at Christel_Broady@georgetowncollege.edu

Matching Instruction to Language Acquisition Phase

Earlier, I did a post on the four general stages of language acquisition. In this post, I wanted to give you a couple of tips I found on matching instruction to each phase/level.

Beginning Level (Preproduction Stage)-
Provide concrete activities featuring input that is augmented by pictures, real objects, carefully modified teacher speech (see post on guarded vocabulary), and frequent repetition of new vocabulary

Early Intermediate and Intermediate (Early Production and Speech Emergence)-
Ask questions that evoke responses of single words and brief phrases
Provide opportunities for student to use their primary language as they acquire the second language

Early Advanced Level (Intermediate Fluency)-
Engage student in opportunities to speak with greater complexity, read several pages of text even thought they may have limited comprehension, and write paragraphs
Offer a curriculum that supports and explicitly teaches learning strategies


Source: Diaz-Rico, L.T. & Weed, K. Z. (2010) The crosscultural, language, and academic development handbook. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Stages of Language Acquisition

I wanted to give you some information on the general stages of language acquisition so you could work on recognizing them in your ESL students and providing the proper support at each stage. Here are the four stages:

1. Preproduction- this is also called the silent period because the learner is absorbing the sounds and patterns of the new language, tuning into the pace of speech, and starting to pick up on words. Understanding is highly contextualized and the learner often communicates non-verbally. If you have a "silent" student, do some investigating and see if they might simply be in this stage of acquisition. If so, be patient with them; don't force them. Give them low stress opportunities to express themselves.
2. Early Production- the learner attempts words and phrases (single or two/three word phrases)
3. Speech Emergence- learners are a bit more confident and talk readily; begin to use full sentences
4. Intermediate fluency- learners are able to initiate and participate in conversations; they begin to self-correct language errors 

In a later post, I'll give you some ideas on how to match instruction to each of these stages!


Source: Diaz-Rico, L.T. & Weed, K. Z. (2010) The crosscultural, language, and academic development handbook. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

The Phases of Acculturation

Acculturation is the process of adjusting to a new or non-native culture. It is helpful to be aware of its phases so that you may recognize them in your students and be of support to them during the process of learning a new culture. The phases are as follows:

1. Honeymoon-there may be a sense of excitement at the sense of novelty of life in a new culture
2. Hostility- As time goes by and the newness wears thin, students may find that their cultural mannerisms are misunderstood and/or that they struggle to understand their new culture. In this phase, students often feel impatient, anxious, frustrated or even angry. Teachers can offer support by cultivating a supportive, respectful, and caring classroom environment.
3. Humor- Students begin to reshape their cultural identity as they begin to understand more about their new culture and how they fit into that culture
4. Home- Students at this phase "value and celebrate their own bicultural and bilingual identity". They feel at ease in the second culture

Source: Herrera, S.G & Murry, K.G. (2011). Mastering ESL and bilingual methods. Boston: Pearson.