Classroom Strategies
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Building Background Knowledge through Picture Books
Hey educators! Welcome to today’s training. This week has been amazing. As the year is at the halfway mark, I am starting to see the work and lessons I did at the beginning of the year payoff. For example, I was teaching my students sentence structure. This week they were doing such a great job. This is important because my goal is to have the students write varied sentences. Today I am going to share with you how you can use picture books to teach complex topics. A lot of times our ELLs might not have the background knowledge around topics and events that will help them comprehend complex texts.…
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Increasing ELLs Listening Skills
Has there ever been the situation where you have had to repeat yourself over and over again for your ELLs? There have been times when I have been like “I know have said this 5.5 times, and they still are not listening and understanding. If this is you, my fellow teachers you might have a problem in your students listening comprehension. This can affect the students comprehension skills and assignments if they are struggling in this language domain. I always thought the listening domain was the easiest for students to achieve high scores and success. I mean all it is students listening and following directions. This is where my thought…
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ELLs and Data Binders
First I want to thank you so much for stopping by to learn how you can implement data binders with your ELLs.. There is so much data thrown at us as teachers. There are instances when we as teachers can feel as if we are doing an assessment a week. One struggle is presenting this data to our students, so they can break it down to hone in on their strengths and areas of growth. Three years ago I was so frustrated with how much we were testing. I felt as if every three weeks I was adjusting my schedule to accommodate the testing schedule. Furthermore the students were asking…
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The Power of Field Trips and ELLs
If you haven’t planned a field trip before…brace yourself. In most cases there is a lot of red tape that goes along with planning a field trip. There have been moments when I have been planning trips and thought this is A LOT of work! I am not saying that to scare you, but I want you to know that it is was worth every permission slip gone missing, every student who paid at the last minute, every piece of paperwork I had to submit. To help with the process I have included a ESL Teacher Field Trip Checklist that will help with your planning. The link to the guide…
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3 Ways to Save Time Preparing for your ELLs
I truly understand how preparing for your class can take so much time. That is why I want to share with you some strategies that you can use to save time in your planning and prep. It is easy to get lost in the details, so use these tips and strategies to guide you. Implement Novel Studies in your Lessons Novel studies allow you as a teacher to introduce so many topics. You can have non-fiction articles to build background knowledge. There is also the opportunity to incorporate projects and other engaging activities for your ELLs. Novel studies also have tons of supporting materials already made for the book. You…
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Beginning of the Class Routines every ESL Teacher Should Use
Some teachers may think that the routines that you have at the beginning of your classroom are not important. I am here to tell you that they are having beginning of the classroom routines sets the tone for your day. By having routines you will have a calmness to your room because the students are not confused about what to do next. You can spend more time on teaching versus giving directions on what to do. Having routines also allows you as a teacher to do any administrative duties that you need to do. Beginning of the classroom routines creates independence with your students. I am going to share my…
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Supporting ELLs in Math
Something magical happened at my school three years ago that opened my eyes to one of the true needs of English Language Learners. Our school piloted a program that was completely unheard of in our school district. I had the honor of being a part of this life changing experience. We took part in the first newcomer program. During the day 50 newcomers in grades 6-8 we a part of sheltered instruction. In our school setting, newcomers had a science, social studies, and an ESL class from an ESL teacher. Math was taught to by grade level math teachers, who had an interest and desire of supporting English Language Learners.…
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Supporting ELLs in Social Studies
Social Studies was always one of my favorite subjects. I loved hearing and learning the history of others. However social studies can present a challenge to many of our English Language Learners. I think it is the perfect connection to English Language Arts, and to extend some of those same strategies in Social Studies. Take time to build background knowledge Social Studies requires a lot of background knowledge for English Language Learners. It is key that you take time to build background knowledge about the topics that they will be encountering. For example, if students are learning about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, you would want to…
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Supporting ELLs in Science
The English Language Learners that I have taught have always loved science! It was their favorite subject, and it is easy to see why they love science. Science is filled with visuals, diagrams, and hands on processes. Out of all the subjects I found science the easiest to support ELLs for this very reason. Over the years I have picked up some strategies of supporting ELLs in Science that I would love to share with you today! Take advantage of the diagrams and processes that are available in science. If you can use a diagram or visual of a process with your ELLs do it! This is a great scaffold…
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Setting up your ESL class for the new school year
My first year of teaching I had a lot of random items all over my room. Posters in my room were not hung, and the who area was in a disarray. I tried “decorating” my room, but I was told by veteran teacher in what’s the point of doing that when you have more important things to be doing. However that view took a drastic turn when my teacher mentor came in and explained to me why the thinking and statement of that teacher was incorrect. My mentor teacher explained that students see the classroom as a safe space. If a teacher has a disorganized classroom and items have no…
