Hey Group,
In my practicum placement I am in a third grade class comprised of predominantly Hispanic students. Of these students, Spanish was the first language their learned. They speak Spanish at home, with their friends off campus, during recess and lunch at school, and in the classroom when their teacher is out of earshot. Unfortunately, their literacy skills are below third grade average. There are two students in particular that are sent out during language arts and are in an ELL class. In this ELL class, the ELL teacher focuses on writing and the mechanics of grammar. She focuses more on writing than on reading. These two students have been in the ELL program for two years and are not demonstrating sufficient growth and progress. Their English skills are very weak and they can barely read in English. I think a major problem is in the ELL teacher's approach. I think she should be focusing more on reading than on writing. What do you all think? What approaches should the ELL teacher be taking to help these students become literate? What adaptions or modifications can the general education teacher make to the curriculum to help build the students' literacy skills.
- Liana
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2 comments:
Hey Liana,
Personally, I agree with you. I feel that the ELL teacher should be focusing more on reading than writing. The reason why I feel this way is because students need to know word sounds, be familiar with syllables, etc. These students should become familiar with these techniques first through reading. I find this beneficial since they are ELL students. What these students need is a chance to become fluent as possible in their reading before they focus excessively on writing. If the ELL teacher takes this approach, the students will possibly increase in both reading and writing along with becoming literate. With the general education teacher, a modification that she can make is implementing the use of more visual aids or activities. Not only can this benefit the ELL students, but I feel this can benefit the third grade classroom as a whole. For example, the general education teacher can place labels on items in the classroom. These labels can consist of the names of items in both English and Spanish. This can promote the improvement in the students' literacy skills. Hopefully this is some helpful information.
When it comes to ELL students this is one of my biggest fears. I have taken years of a foreign language but it just doesnt seem to stick with me in any way. I am so afraid that when i get a student that is ELL I am not going to be able to help them. I feel that it is important to make sure that all students get the equal opportunity to learn but im afraid that I will not be able to help these students. I read in the teachers manuals of the social studies book when i was teaching a lesson and in one lesson it said that you need to explain one word that really sums up the lessson and write it on the board and make it clear to the student what it means. I thought that this might be a starting off point for me.
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