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ESL StrategiesStrategies for Teaching ESL students

+Activity

Please pay special attention to our speaker. You will have a quiz on the information she gives you at the end. You will need to pass this quiz in order to do your tutoring.

+Responding…

What is your response to this activity?

What emotions did you feel during her presentation?

What was frustrating?

How was this useful in helping you understand ESL student experiences?

+Let’s try it again…

+Response to Activity 2…

What was different about this lesson?

What was helpful?

What emotions did you have?

Did you feel successful?

Why is this important?

+Who are Refugee Students as Language Learners??

They may not be literate in their first language They may have NO FORMAL educational

background They may have difficulty understanding

academic vs. social English They may compensate for failure with apathy They may have difficulty with academic

inference They may feel completely overwhelmed

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+English Language Acquisition:English is Crazy! There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;

neither apple nor pine in pineapple. We take English for granted. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Why do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Park on driveways and drive on parkways? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on. -Unknown

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+LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

“Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language – natural communication – in which speakers are concerned not with form but with the messages they are conveying and understanding. The best methods are therefore those that supply ‘comprehensible input’ in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are ready.”

-Stephen Krashen

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Stages of 2nd Language Acquisition 1- Pre Production

Silent period Repeat (not

producing/parroting) TPR/listening activities

2- Early Production One or two word phrases Short language

chunks/memorized Yes/no questions Pictures/realia Key vocabulary

3- Speech Emergence Communicate in simple

phrases and sentences. Able to do content work with

support. Match vocabulary with

definitions Two-step directions

4- Intermediate Fluency Complex sentences Express opinions

Should be able to participate in regular content with support.

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+How is Language Acquired- All Levels

Attention is given to background knowledge /‘schema’

The context and language are real and purposeful

Language is made comprehensible

Anxiety is low

Interaction is high—Active Participation!!

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+Is this Reading?

A kinklejup was parling a trisltbin. A barjam stipped. The barjam grupped “Minto” to the krinklejup. The krinklejup zisked zoely.

What was the krinklejup doing?

What stipped?

What did the barjam grup?

How did the krinklejup zisk?

+What can you do?Strategies to provide language support:

Wait Time

Comprehensible Input

Modification of Speech

Reading and Questioning

Vocabulary Support

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+WAIT TIME Length of time between utterances during an interaction

The length of time a teacher waits for a student to respond before interrupting, answering a question themselves, or calling on someone else to participate.

The average length of wait time in a US classroom is NOT sufficient

Teachers/Tutors are often tempted to FILL the silence!

Effective language teachers/tutors consciously allow students to express their thoughts fully, without interruption.

EL’s need extra processing time- process question in English, think of answer in their first language, and then formulate their response in English

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+Comprehensible Input

Use visuals, realia, gestures, facial expressions, and body language

Build on prior knowledge—and build new academic background knowledge.

Contextualize ideas in real life ways “just like yesterday with…”

Repeat and rephrase key conceptsMaintain low anxiety levelEncourage active participation

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+MODIFY YOUR SPEECH!!! HOW????... Speak clearly, using authentic natural speech

Use shorter, less complex sentences for students in the earlier stages

Use a slightly slower rate of speech—being careful to maintain the natural rhythm and flow of the language

Use fewer pronouns

Use intonation, volume, and pauses to aid meaning.

+Questioning Strategies Ask questions with the answer in it. “Was he scared or

angry?”

Ask, “What is one thing you understand from this,” or “What is one thing you have learned?”

DON’T ASK: “Do you understand?” (Students often smile and say yes).

Reading Strategies Use a bookmark to cover up the text so the student sees

only one line at a time

Check for comprehension every so often

It’s okay to summarize passages for students

Rephrase academic questions into simpler forms

+VOCABULRY Vocabulary –lack of it—is often one of the biggest challenges for

English Language Learners.

During content lessons/tutoring (Math, Science, S.S.) focusing on key vocabulary is essential for accessing the content.

Your job as tutor is MORE IMPORTANT than helping them complete homework.

Identify the key vocabulary for the students.

Repeat the key vocabulary at the beginning, middle, end of the tutoring session—students need minimally 4 exposures to new content no more than 2 days apart to best ‘store’ new information (Marzano).

Have the students repeat the key vocabulary in context throughout the lesson!

Quiz/Question/Converse with students at the end of a lesson to convey their understanding!