Lauren's ESL page

Foon ying

, Bienvenue,Willkommen, Aloha mai, Benvenuto, Irashaimasu, Oso oseyo, Bem-vindo, Dobro pozhalovat', Bienvenidos,
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.

All About Me!

<>My name is Lauren Bible. I am 25 years old and the daughter of Larry and Donna Bible. I was born and raised in Greeneville and plan to stay as long as I can! I have one brother, Seth who was married in July of 2003 to Kristy Shumate Bible. In December, my first niece entered the world. Her name is Chloe. She is precious! I graduated from Greeneville High School in 1999 and I graduated from Carson-Newman College in 2003 with a degree in Elementary Education and in 2006 I graduated with my Master's in Teaching English as a Second Language. My first year of teaching was the 2003-2004 school year. My position was a 4th grade teacher at Doak Elementary. In 2004-2005 I began the ESL program in Greene County Schools. In my spare time, I enjoy playing sports,dancing, and playing with my adorable Cocker Spaniel, Colby.

colby

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.

Intermediate Students:
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

Tips for Teachers:
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!

ESL and Special Education have a lot in common. One of the ways they are similar is that both sets of students may receive accommodations in the regular classroom.The ESL students may receive accommodations when TCAP time rolls around. However, making these accommodations in the classroom before TCAPs begin will help to ensure that the students will have success on the tests later on. Click on the American flag for a brief explanation of the ESL testing policy. Click on the Mexican flag for a brief explanation of the ELDA.
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My students!

I was able to take some pictures during the past few years of some of my students. I will post more as I take more.

cecilia

group

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.