Literacy Success for English Language

Learners

New Jersey Department of EducationDr. Gilda Del Risco

Kean University of New Jersey

Many English Language Learners:

•Come from countries where they have received less than age appropriate education.•Some are illiterate in their native language.•Some have never attended school.•School has been interrupted by war or political

reasons.

Sheltered Instruction

• “The term sheltered indicates that such instruction provides refuge from the linguistic demands of mainstream instruction, which is beyond the comprehension of English-language learners.” (Echevarria & Graves 1998).

Meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visuals.

•Make your instructional talk more understandable by speaking clearly.•Repeat key points•Define essential vocabulary in context•Pair your talk with nonverbal communication cues:

objects, pictures, graphs, and gestures.

Verbal and nonverbal communication • When we pair these two communication channels, words and meanings

become discernible to the learner.

Strategies

•Try to make the information relevant to their lives - Learning occurs best when connections are made to existing knowledge. •Make the students a part of the situation.•Acknowledge their input – Positive feedback is a

powerful influence on the brain’s chemistry. It is essential for the development of a good self-concept (Sylwester 1997).

Comprehensible Input

• Language that is used in ways that make it understandable to the learner even though second language proficiency is still limited.• use visuals, realia, manipulatives, and other concrete materials.• use gestures, facial expressions, and body language.• repeat, rephrase, and/or paraphrase key concepts, directions, etc.• build on what students already know.• be careful of idioms and slang.

READING IN A SECOND LANGUAGE

•Creating a literacy-rich classroom environment.•Books, books, books…•Daily routines:

-morning message-wall dictionary

•Reading aloud to students•Word Families

Classroom strategies for beginning readers:

•Thematic Approach•Literature Circles •Language-experience approach• Patterned books• Illustrating stories and poems• Direct Listening-Thinking Activity (DL-TA) • Reader’s theater• Story map

Classroom strategies for intermediate readers:

• Cognitive mapping• Literature Circles• Direct Reading-Thinking Activity (DR-TA) (Fluency)• Literature response journals• Developing scripts for reader’s theater. (Fluency)• Adapting Stories into plays and scripts for film and

videotape)• Literacy Centers

(NJCCCS 3.1)

Literature Circles

• Students are assigned one role for each discussion period.• The groups stay together for one novel.•Major roles for each discussion team include Questioner,

Passage Master, Word Wizard and Artful Artist.• Roles can change depending on the book and the level of

the students• Students take different roles for different discussion days.• All the students take different roles for different discussion

days (all learn to look for vocabulary, all learn to develop questions and serve as Discussion Director, etc.)

(Daniels, 1996 & Daniels and Bizar, 1999) (NJCCCS 3.2)

StrategiesReflecting on Text

• SAY SOMETHING and SAVE THE LAST WORD FOR ME – To help middle grades students make personal connections to the texts they are reading.• Goal of the activity – To establish clearly the need for

personal engagement and commitment when reading.• SAY SOMETHING

- Students read in pairs- When they have read a section of the text, they turn to each other and say something about what they read. They may summarize what they think is most important, they may connect with a character or raise a question for their partner.

Pantomime

Mimicking without words• Helps students deepen their involvement with the text• A way for students to respond as they read• Students stand up at intervals and transform the story being read by

the group into a physical image.• Class first reads a section of the story, then each small group meets

and creates its own pantomime of that section.• Share one at a time with the whole class.• At the end, the teacher asks each group to create a prediction for

what will happen in the next part of the story which can be pantomime by the groups again.• As a way of retaining vocabulary – Ask the students to pantomime

vocabulary words.

(Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001)

Readers’ Theater

”This form of oral reading that deepens students’ understanding of characters’ emotions and personalities and helps them to communicate to an audience.” • Text is turned into dialogue and divided into parts for

different readers.• Some parts should be reserved for the narrator. (Middle-grade students can create their own Readers’

Theater scripts).• Prompts can be used – hats scarves, etc.• Students sit on chairs or stools as they read their parts

(Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001)

Choral Reading

”We have found that for students who speak dialects of English or who are second-language English speakers, participating in both choral reading and Readers’ Theater helps build their familiarity with standard English pronunciation and makes learning this school dialect more enjoyable. Even attention to aspect of grammar comes more naturally through these activities.” • Works well across grade levels.• The group reads a text together.• Reserve some parts for individual voices and small groups.• All students practice rereading the text individually before they

determine where special inflections should be places.

(Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001)

Choral Reading

Recommended Poems:- Harriet and the Promised Land by Lawrence, 1968.- Paul Gleischman’s collections of poems about insects and

birds: Joyful Noises: Poems for Two voices, 1988. I Am Phoenix, 1985.

- I Saw an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly.

(Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001)

Developing Word Awareness

“Teachers need to structure classrooms that develop Word-aware learners. … motivation is an essential prerequisite for all learning.”• “Word of the day”• Posterboard “Word Wizard Walls” – students enter new

words. Heighten students’ receptivity for learning new words incidentally.• The more playful vocabulary activities can be, the more

learning is likely to take place.

(Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001)

Thematic approach

• Choose a theme – Incorporate multiple curriculum areas.• Allows all learning experiences to be interrelated and more

meaningful to the students.• It can incorporate higher-level thinking skill, open-ended activities,

cooperative learning, writing , research, and individualized learning.

Thematic approach

Example - Rainforest• Language Arts/Social Studies/Technology/Art • Science/Art/Language Art• Art/Science• Social Studies/Technology/Language Arts-Webquest• Mathematics/Technology• Health

Writing in a Second Language

•Strategies to assist beginning writers:•Oral discussion•Partner stories using pictures and wordless books•Personal journals •Dialogue journals•Buddy journals•Free writing (NJCCCS 3.2)

Strategies to assist intermediate writers

•Show and not tell - Provides descriptive details about what the writer wants to convey. •Sentence combining •Sentence shortening•Sentence models•Process Writing: -Prewriting

-Drafting -Revising

-Editing -Publishing (NJCCCS 3.2)

KWL +

• Recognizing what they have learned by making a graphic organizer.• Select categories and list facts under those categories (rethinking

what they have learned)• Write an essay (additional opportunities to consolidate learning)

Phonics Instruction for English Language Learners

• The purpose of phonic instruction is to help students recognize words independently, not to have them state rules. • Principles:

- Provide ample time for students to read and write for meaningful purposes, allowing. students to develop their own understanding of sound/symbol correspondences.

- Teach phonics within a meaningful context. Enjoy the story or

poem for meaning first, then teach the skill. - Remember that phonics and other word recognition strategies

are a means to an end: comprehension.

(NJCCCS 3.1) (Peregoy and Boyle, 2000)

Recognizing Words Independently

• Poems and song lyrics written in large format on chart paper (to teach sight words, to develop word recognition and phonics

knowledge).• Predictable books with repetitive patterns and phrases to teach or

reinforce sound/symbol correspondences, including consonants, vowels, and letter sequences found in rhyming words.• Ask the students to write their own stories following the pattern in

predictable books that they have heard several times. This will provide a chance for the students to put their phonics and sight word knowledge into meaningful practice.• Older students who are new to literacy – Same strategies. Short texts

with age-appropriate content. Fortunately by Remy Charlip.• Song lyrics and poems – Good sources of predictable texts.

(NJCCCS 3.1)

First Language

• “During the initial years of exposure to English, continuing cognitive and academic development in first language is considered to be a key variable for academic success in second language.”

(Garcia 1994; Tinajero & Ada, 1993. In Collier, 1995)

• Later on, apply the techniques used to teach English as a second language.

Quiero leer y escribir en mi idioma

Initial Strategies to Teach English Comprehension to English

language LearnersPre-reading Strategies • Background Knowledge• Necessary to construct meaning from text.

• Development of key vocabulary • Background Knowledge – Teacher builds upon the

language, culture and experiential background that students bring to the classroom and relate knowledge to new information provided in the text.

(NJCCCS 3.1)

•Students may experience difficulties due to lack of prior knowledge on the particular topic to be read. •Background knowledge can often be

accomplished through a sharing of the groups’ knowledge. • It may be recorded in a graphic format.

Guided Reading Strategies

• Use questions before and during the reading to help the students to get meaning from the reading.

• Hypothesizing or predicting questions. What do you think this story is about? What do you think will happen next?

• Data acquisition questions

• Summary questions

• Reading aloud – Teacher model predicting, inferring, and connecting mew text to prior knowledge.

(NJCCC 3.1)

Post-Reading Strategies

• Retelling a story after reading

- Offers a means for reinforcing and supporting comprehension. - Provides a means for integrating writing into the program. It can be done in cooperative learning groups, paired writing, or individually.

• Building on the knowledge gained through the prereading activities.

•More reading (NJCCCS 3.1)

Language Experience Approach

- discussion bases on the content of the text - review vocabulary found in the reading - students summarize the reading or story for the teacher, who acts as a scribe and writes sentences on the board or chart paper.

(NJCCCS 3.1, 3.2)

ERRORS

• Teacher should take into consideration:• The student’s English language developmental level.

• The prevalence of the error type• The importance of the error type for communication.• Teacher’s specific goals for the students in terms of

English language development• Should be corrected in a non-threatening way.• Repeat correctly what the student has said incorrectly.

Assessment

• Portfolio Assessment• Multiple Measures for Assessment - Do not assess only through written tests. If you do not assess the English language learners in many different ways, you will not find out what they really know.• Observations - Anecdotal records - Check lists - Concrete materials. Opportunities to demonstrate that they understood the information.

References

• Blachowicz C. and Ogle, D. (2001). Reading Comprehension. New York: The Guilford Press• Daniels, H. (1996). Literature Circles: Voice and choice in the student-centered classroom. York, ME:• Stenhouse. • Daniels, H. & Bizar, M. (1999). Methods that matter: Six structures for best practice classrooms. York, ME: Stenhouse.• Echevarria, J. and Graves, Anne. (1998). Sheltered Content Instruction Teaching English-Language Learners with Diverse

Abilities. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.• Friedlander, M. (1991). The Newcomer Program: Helping Immigrant Students Succeed in U. S. Schools. • http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/ncbepubs/pigs/pigs.htm• Carrasquillo A. and Rodriguez V. (2002). Language Minority Students in the Toronto: Multilingual Matters Ltd.• Coolier, V. (1995). Promoting academic success for ESL students. NJTESOL/NJBE• Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.• Krashen, S., and Terrell, T. (1983). The Natural Approach. Hayward: The Alemany Press.• Peregoy, S. F. and Boyle, O. F. (2000). Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL. New York: Longman.• Rothman, B. Practical phonics strategies to build beginning reading and writing skills. BER. • Sternberg, R. J. (1994). Allowing for Thinking Styles. Educational Leadership 52, 3.• Sylwester, R. (1997). The Neurobiology of Self-Esteem and Aggression. Educational Leadership 54 (5), 75-79.• Tomlinson, C. A. The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. ASCD.• Willis, S. and Mann, L. (2000). Differentiating Instruction. In Curriculum by the Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development.• Weinberger, S. (1992). Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.