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Welcome!
What
is ESL?
ESL
stands for English as a Second Language. According to
No Child Left Behind, every
student should have a chance for optimal learning.
ESL
is a pull-out program. The students are pulled out of the regular
classroom to work on English skills such as listening, speaking, reading,
and writing.
Activities
for ESL students in regular classroom!
Beginner
Students:
Students
coming in to the United States for the first time, really need to be encouraged.
Here are a few ideas to teaching these non-speakers.
- Label everything in the room in their first language and in English. After teaching the students how to pronounce the words, have them write the words and match them with pictures.
- Give the new student a "buddy" and have that buddy be responsible for getting the student to their classes.
- Soon after the student has progressed to knowing the basic vocabulary, introduce simple sentences such as "This is a pen."
- Try not to translate everything for the students because the goal is to learn English.
Students that are labeled as "intermeidate" students can speak fairly good English and communicate with peers easily. They know the language, but reading, reading comprehension, and writing can be quite difficult. These students need to be working on the same things as the rest of the class, but at a slower pace and a lower level. These students are allowed to have accommodations in the regular classroom. Here are a few helpful websites:
- Word Search Builder: http://www.pedagonet.com/words/fs.wordfinder.php
- Read Aloud Stories: http://www.rif.org/readingplanet/content/read_aloud_stories.mspx
- Higher level thinking skills: http://bogglesworld.com/hypotheticallyspeaking.htm
- Games: http://www.teflgames.com
- http://www.manythings.org This website is really for all levels and can be adapted
Advanced
Students:
These students
may not need very much help at all. They might have a little trouble
in reading or in writing, but succeed in every other aspect of the regular
classroom. They may need help with spelling and may need for some
parts of tests to be read aloud to them. Accommodations may be made
in the regular classroom for these students, but may be dropped according
to the progress of the student. Here are a few websites to reinforce
the work in the classroom.
- http://www.manythings.org This website is really for all levels and can be adapted
- Games: http://www.teflgames.com
Classroom teachers are very busy with paperwork and other students. Hopefully these websites will give good information on how to handle having an ESL student in your classroom.
Accommodations!
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Partnerships!
Last
year, the ESL program was delighted to be selected to participate in the
Backpack Program. This program is set up through Second Harvest National
Food Bank. http://www.netfoodbank.org/The
Food Bank delivers food to me once every two weeks. The food is packed
in backpacks provided by Second Harvest and then they are delivered to
my happy students! This was a wonderful program and we thank Second
Harvest for the work they do!
For
two years now, the children in the ESL program have been given bags during
the Christmas season. These bags are filled with wonderful goodies
for the children and age-appropriate books. These gift bags are donated
to the program by the Literacy Council of Greeneville and Greene County.
http://cls.coe.utk.edu/abe/greeneville/
Tusculum College http://www.tusculum.edu/
also provides students during the year who work with my students to further
the learning process. These college students range in majors, ages,
and ethnicities. This is a good opportunity for the ESL students
to work one-on-one with an adult and it is also a good experience for the
college students.