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

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

Free Podcasts to Use with ESL Students

• 30 Newest ESL Podcasts A round-up of podcasts geared toward ESL learners from various sites
• Culips ESL Podcast A Canadian-based podcast of interesting topics discussed by 20- and 30-somethings
• English Media Lab The audio is not great, but the files include their own comprehension questions
• ESL Pod Offers podcasts in 2 formats – ESL Café is a longer episode that addresses various cultural topics and current events, the ESL Podcasts are short dialogues that focus on idioms and grammatical issues
• International Teachers of ESL Journal’s recommended listening sites A listing of various sites where one can find podcasts and transcripts on various topics
• Jokes in English Short jokes with transcripts compiled from various sources
• Learn English A-Z The site itself can be a little confusing, but the links to other sites, including ESL MP3s are helpful
• Talk English There are 34 conversations, mostly about college life, for listening practice with comprehension questions and transcripts
• Voice of America News Great resource for current events in the USA and the world. Also has many lessons on the meaning and origins of words and phrases.

Source: Lexington Public Library System

How Does Your Curriculum Stack Up?

I have talked in several posts about building a culturally inclusive classroom. One aspect of this is the curriculum you use. While you may not be able to choose it, you can be aware of biases present in order to make appropriate supplementations. Here are some questions to help you think about bias in the curriculum:

• What groups are represented in texts, discussion, and bulletin board displays? Are certain groups invisible?
• Are the roles of minorities and women presented in a separate manner from other content, isolated or treated as a distinct topic?
• Are minorities (and women) treated in a positive, diversified manner, or stereotyped into traditional or rigid roles?
• Are the problems faced by minorities presented in a realistic fashion, with a problem-solving orientation?
• Is the language used in the materials inclusive, or are biased terms used, such as masculine forms?
• Does the curriculum foster appreciation of cultural diversity?
• Are experiences and activities other than those common to middle-class European-American culture included?

These questions are a good starting point to help you evaluate your curriculum and, if bias is found, find authentic resources with which to supplement your curriculum. I hope these are helpful!

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

Best Practices Booklet

At www.tolerance.org, they have put together a great booklet of information on best practices in the following areas:

• Communication
• School Climate
• Student Registration 

Each section shares best practice information regarding your English as a Second Language population of students and parents, as well as practical tips. It is very short but very useful! You can find the booklet here.

Thanks to Dr. Broady's blog for making me aware of this great resource so I can pass it on!

Great Teacher Interview

I recently did a blog post about building a culturally responsive classroom. We talked about how the four components of such a classroom are as follows:

• Using what students know
• Affirming students' identities
• Presenting diverse perspectives
• Examining real-world issues

In this interview, you will hear from a teacher that has created such a classroom, and the interview is full of great ideas and tips as well as lots of her personal experience. Check it out here! 

Need Culturally Inclusive Lesson Plan Ideas?

I recently came across this website via a blog I follow (here), and it is loaded with great stuff! There are lots of lesson plan ideas and resources, as well as interviews with teachers that have great ideas. Lesson plan ideas are labeled with age/grade levels, so that makes it easy to find what you need. Check it out! I think you'll easily find something you can use!

Building a Culturally Responsive Classroom, Part 3

In Part 2 of this post series, I told you I would give you some ideas for the last two components of a culturally responsive classroom. To review, such a classroom has four components:

• Using what students know
• Affirming students' identities
• Presenting diverse perspectives
• Examining real-world issues

In Part 2, I gave you what were hopefully some ideas to get you started in the first two components. Now I'd like to give you some ideas for the second two. Most of these ideas come from Literacy for All Students (Powell & Rightmyer, 2011).

Presenting diverse perspectives--

• Teach students to view all texts and non-print material with a critical eye
• Encourage students to question and challenge the ideas presented and to question what is missing
• Provide students with specific structures that require them to view an issue from different perspectives
• Have students dramatize a text so that they view it from the point of view of multiple protagonists
• Ask students to take various stances as they read aloud from a text
• Allow questions to come and be discussed without trying to provide an immediate explanation

Examining real-world issues--

• Take a few minutes of class time to engage students over real-world issues
• Function as the guide, not the authority, helping students examine issues through various perspectives
• Include texts that deal with the real-life issues of your students as well as national and global issues

Building a Culturally Responsive Classroom, Part 2

In Part 1 of this post, we talked about why the culturally responsive classroom should be the goal of every teacher. In this post, I hope to give you some ideas to get you started in building your own culturally responsive classroom.

To review, the framework for the culturally responsive classroom includes the following (simplified from the bullet points in the previous post):

• Using what student know
• Affirming students' identities
• Presenting diverse perspectives
• Examining real-world issues

Let's briefly take a look at some ways to address the first two of these components. In a later post, we'll talk about some ideas for the second two.

Using what students know--

In order to use what they know, you must know what they know! This means you have to build relationships not only with your students but also their families and communities. You can connect to students by "intentionally and consistently including opportunities for discussion and sharing" (Powell & Rightmyer, p. 133). Give students opportunites to share about themselves (through pictures, family interviews, sharing of songs or traditions, etc) and include the information you glean into your lessons. In a later post, we'll talk about home visits as another great way to gather this kind of information.

Affirming students' identities--

Having and incorporating multicultural literature in your classroom is a great starting point. Here are some tips (from B.Y. Louie, 2006) to keep in mind when choosing such literature:

• Check the text's authenticity
• Help learners understand the characters' world
• Encourage children to see the world throught the characters' perspectives
• Identify vaules underlying the characters' conflict resolution strategies
• Relate self the the text and critique the portrayal of characters in the text and in popular media
• Use variants of the same story or collection of stories to help students build schema
• Encourage students to talk, write, and respond throughout reading the multicultural texts.

I hope these tips and ideas are a helpful starting point for you as you begin to think about your classroom as a culturally responsive one!

Sending the "Right" Message

Stephen Krashen maintains that people acquire language when they can understand the message. You may have heard the term comprehensible input but are wondering what it means and how you can use it with your ESL students. Here is a short video where Stephen Krashen explains and demonstrates comprehensible input. If the concept of comprehensible input is new to you, I think this video will really help clarify!

25 Online Games for English Language Learners

Check out this blog post at http://broadyesl.wordpress.com for some great ideas for games to teach and review English!

http://broadyesl.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/25-terrific-online-games-for-english-language-learners/

Lesson Plan Resource Using Technology with ESL Students

Yesterday we talked about how to begin to practically implement the TESOL Technology Standards in your classroom by using the checklists provided to both self evaluate and get an understanding of what your students can do. Today I want to show you how TESOL has provided teachers with vignettes that allow them to easily begin to incorporate technology into their classrooms. This is what I love about this book and one of the main reasons that I want to see more teachers using this book in practical ways in their classrooms. The middle part of the book (Part 2) provides teachers with vignettes, which are basically lesson plans, that address all of the goals and standards. This is a simple way for teachers to begin using the standards in their classrooms. Each of the vignettes tells you how to modify the lesson based on the technology access you have, so whether that is a lot or a little, you can use the lesson. I encourage you to pick up the book today and familiarize your self with the standards. Then choose a grade/literacy level appropriate vignette and try it in your own classroom. Let me know how it goes!

Technology Checklists for Use with ESL Students

I wanted to do another post about the TESOL Technology Standards because there are still plenty of ways they can be helpful to you. Here is one more way the text can be super helpful to you. In the middle section of the book (pp. 175-217), there are three different rubrics at which I recommend you take a look. The three are as follows: Technology Standards for Language Learners, Technology Standards for Language Teachers, and Program Assessment. I think you will find all three of these tremendously helpful. They are actually a great starting point if you are interested in using the standards but don't know where to start.

The first rubric (for Learners-pp. 176-188)) covers all of the goals and standards and can be administered to your students as you seek to find out how proficient they are with technology, what areas you need to address, and which areas are already strong. Administering this rubric to your students allows them to self assess their technology skills and also allows you to move forward with instruction that is geared specifically to your students.

The second rubric (pp. 189-205) for teachers allows you to self assess and see how well you can use technology and what areas you might need to work on in order to teach from a place of knowledge and strength. The rubric also serves to illustrate in what ways you are utilizing technology both for professional development as well as teaching and learning.

The third rubric (pp. 206-217) is intended for program assessment. This allows administrators to analyze use of technology in the curriculum and informs decision making.

I hope you find these rubrics to be helpful to you as you implement the TESOL Technology Standards in your classroom. Let me know how it goes!