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.

My name is Lauren Bible Griffin.  I am 23 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.  I graduated from Greeneville High School in 1999 and I graduated from Carson-Newman College in 2003 with a degree in Elementary Education.  My first year of teaching was the 2003-2004 school year.  My position was a 4th grade teacher at Doak Elementary.  This past year, 2004-2005 I began the program of ESL in the Greene County Schools.  I am currently pursuing my Master's Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language at Carson-Newman.  I recently married Brad Griffin from Texas on July 1st, 2005.  In my spare time, I enjoy playing sports,dancing, and playing with my new and adorable Cocker Spaniel, 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

Accommodations!