Task 2: Readings – Freeman & Freeman Chapter 8 & 9
Pre-Posting – Read both of these chapers (8-How Should We Teach Reading to Emergent Bilinguals? & 9-How Can Teacher Help Ells Develop Academic Language?) and consider what they confirm or add to your knowledge of working well with English language learners.
Posting – Review the applications section at the end of each chapter p. 223 & p. 256) identify 2 you would like to try/explore in the future. Please explain why you chose it, what its relevance is for you personally, and your plan for the application you chose. Clarify what you see as the key to English language learners
From Chap. 8 the two applications I would like to try in the future are bringing books to the classroom that would engage the students. Choosing books that connect to students’ lives will engage them in reading. Some examples of books that I’ve used in the past and would use again are books on cultural holidays, food, and family life. Providing access to books is very important especially for lower socioeconomic level families who often don’t have access to books. The use of bilingual books in the classroom is something I have not done before and would like to try. The book that I would like to use is “Rene Has Two Last Names”. This book would provide a good lesson to the class about the Hispanic custom of using both the mother’s and father’s last names. That was confusing to me until my adult students explained it to me. Also, the use of two last names happens in other cultures.
ReplyDeleteFrom Chap. 9 the first application I would like to try is helping students write cohesive paragraphs. Teaching the organizational patterns for paragraph writing will be useful in many applications for the students. I also think that this application applies to ESL learners of all ages. The use of signal words to connect sentences is one step in creating a cohesive sentence. Using clear examples of constant, derived and chained topics in writing sentences will help students in with academic skills also. The other application I would like to do is interview five teachers about the difference between social and academic language. ESL learners need to learn both social and academic language, because how peers talk to each other is very different than the talk of a structured classroom. These opportunities will be more available in student teaching.
Audrey
Audrey,
DeleteI agree with you in terms of choosing appropriate books for ELLs. This is the area that I need to work on for my later teaching. I think your choice of the books on cultural holidays, food and familay life will be a good start for me and my students:) So would you mind to share some names of the books with me? I also want to try out bilingual books even though I may not know students' languages, yet it will be a good and excited learning moment for the students to teach me their cultures with effective practice in English language. It'll be a win-win task, won't it?
Yimu
Audrey,
DeleteExcellent idea of holiday books during Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season. I did not know the tradition of 2 last names that is interesting. I appreciate you sharing and educating me.
Kathleen
Love the idea of the two names book! So many students are having two last names or different last names from their mom and dads. I think the research would also be very benafical for all of us early teachers to try. It would give us great in site into the world of being a teachers. I had to do this for Art Methods class, it was really fun to talk to my old art teacher and ask him questions about just everyday life in the classroom and also about the art classroom in general.
DeleteYeah I really liked the variety of season appropriate and bilingual books that you have chosen to use while teaching. Paragraph structure is always tough for a lot of students and I'm glad that you are really emphasizing that to the ESL students.
DeleteFrom the Chapter 8, I choose the second application which is about how to engage good “word callers” in reading in order to help them develop comprehension ability along with decoding ability. I choose this application to discover because I have observed and experienced how language learners can read accurately even with a native-like pronunciation, but have no clue about the texts at all. Reading skill development does not only focus on the fluency and accuracy, but more importantly, it should also address on comprehension. One way to trigger students’ comprehension, as suggested in the chapter, is to provide engaging texts for learners to read. The more familiar and interested the learners are with the texts, the more comprehensible the reading texts will be. This suggests me that I should allow my future ELLs to choose the readings that are interesting to them. Bilingual texts that relevant with language and cultural learning will also be encouraged if the majority of my class population shares a same language or culture. Along with the appropriate and engaging texts, I will prepare meaningful and critical reading questions. If there is no reflection and language processing on what they have read, the language learners will not improve their comprehension ability from the reading at all.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Chapter 9, I want to take up the ways to teach academic vocabulary. To help ELLs develop their overall English proficiency levels, teachers should focus on both conversational and academic language. As an ESL teacher, I should be aware that content-related academic language is a major component for my future students. Students are learning the content through their additional language, which makes the concept understanding become more difficult. Learning academic vocabulary well will be a solid foundation for ELLs to develop further content learning. I would like to try out Graves’s (2006) suggestions of the four components of an effective vocabulary program: 1) provide rich and varied language experiences; 2) teach individual words; 3) teach word learning strategies; 4) fosters word consciousness. These four components should be integrated and built up from each other. Also, I think there will be somewhat differences of academic vocabulary teaching across subjects. For example, when learning a new word, ELLs usually like to look up its definition. At this time, I will remind them to not only look at the first meaning of the word, but should also learn the rest meanings that are listed. Then, I will show them examples of how a same word means differently in literature from a scientific text. Likewise, when teaching the students adding prefixes or suffixes, I will focus more on nominalizations for science, but will teach them how to switch between an adjective and an adverb in English Language Arts content.
Yimu,
DeleteYou always provide such excellent summaries of the readings. With so many resources for reading today it provides limitless possibilities for allows ESL students to read something that interests them. The point you made about looking up all definitions of the word is very important. We do this all the time in the adult ESL classroom since the same word has many meanings. The steps you listed will work very well in the classroom.
Audrey
Always allow students to pick their own books, it makes them want to read it. I struggle with that idea in the art classroom when it comes to painters and painting. I had a list of painters and painting and had the students pick from that. but some didn't care for it at all. But I wanted to narrow down the number for them to look at with out over lapping. Do you guys have any ideas to help with this?
DeleteI found the "word caller" concept very intriguing as well. I think as language learners we all start out as "word callers" at some extent. I remember sitting in 1st or 2nd grade and asked to read a paragraph. Reading it wasn't too bad, but when the teacher said "now explain what you read in your own words," my heart would always sink I remember thinking to myself, "so you want me to read aloud and comprehend at the same time? Are you kidding me!" Very good analysis of the chapter and I really liked how you added the Graves four components.
DeleteTask 2: Readings – Freeman & Freeman Chapter 8 & 9
ReplyDelete8-How Should We Teach Reading to Emergent Bilinguals?
This week while I was tutoring AVID students, I had an experience to see a student who was struggling with geometry in English his second language. This student A is a refugee from Somalia. The small group I tutor has a mix of seasoned AVID students and new AVID students. Student A is new. He presented his question about a proof in geometry and became defensive when student E tried to help. I tried to explain through questions how to guide student A through this proof. My questions supported student E’s efforts. Student A was a good “word caller” and stuck to the 3x5 note card he made in class as if this was the order he had to use every time he solved any proof. We eventually called an AVID Math teacher in to be sure we understood how to solve this proof. Through her guided questions it was clear that student A was struggling to identify the triangle within the proof. This math teacher and I spoke about how defensive he was. I suggested that he could be struggling because of his lack of academic language. She agreed and was going to ensure he received additional help.
9-How Can Teacher Help Ells Develop Academic Language?
I taught word learning strategies to the students at Owatonna Junior High School during my 3-Day thematic unit. Both Lithosphere and Asthenosphere are layers of the Earth’s interior. They overlap the traditional layers of the Earth because they are based on function not material. The traditional layers are: the Inner Core, which is solid metal, the Outer Core is liquid metal, the Mantle is hot rock, and the Crust is cool rock and loose material. The Lithosphere is made up of both the Crust and the Upper Mantle. The Asthenosphere is directly below the Lithosphere and is made up of just the Mantle. The roots of these terms are Greek. In both cases the base root “sphere” in Greek mean’s “rock.” The term “litho” has a Greek root meaning “stone.” So Lithosphere means, “stone rock.” The term “astheno” means “soft.” Therefore Asthenosphere means, “soft rock.” When the student understands the word root it helps the student to understand each part of the new term individually. Once they understand each part of the term they can use the root meanings to understand the full meaning of the entire complex term.
Kathleen,
DeleteThanks for sharing these stories. I understand that when language learners are new to another country, they would behave defensively because they do not want people see their strugglings. He may try to find some learning strategies that make sense for him but which in fact could be inappropriate, such as the note card you mentioned. I agree that his academic language ability is the barrier for his understanding in math. It is good for him that you and his math teacher realized this and were willing to provide more help. Sometimes with ELLs, you may find that when the students overcome their language obstacles, their academic performance will be improved so fast.
I like how you teach word roots to help students understand complicated science terms. This reminds me to teach some word roots and prefix and sufix to establish the students a sense of lexical knowledge. It will prepare ELLs' academic learning in other subjects.
Yimu
Kathleen,
DeleteYou've provided us with great examples of how ESL students deal with the changes in their lives. Teaching academic language to ESL students can be a big challenge. Recently I've had a conversation with the H.S. ESL teacher about a student that is really struggling in 8th grade. She has had minimum formal education and is so far academically that it is a big struggle to include her in the classroom.
Collaboration will need to occur between the academic class teacher and the ESL teacher.
Audrey
Great idea of teaching the root words. I try to do that with my lessons as well. Or some times I use a bigger word (No art based) and students will ask me what I mean by this. Its hard for me to sometime back track and find the root word for those words that I use everyday. But by simplifying everything, this will help all students understand and maybe refresh their memories as well!
DeleteOh bravo Kathleen!
DeleteI think root words are so important to really provide context for words being used in science. Once enough root words are understood, deciphering scientific literature becomes a much easier task. I really think the Asthenosphere is a tough concept for many students to grasp, but it sounds like you did an excellent job of describing it's true properties.
From chapter 8 I would like to try using books that students are already engaged in. I think that would be a great idea for my students, using a book they they already know and have them come up with a visual concept around the book would be a great way to get students (ELL students especially) interested in learning and reading more books to allow them to make visual concepts around them.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 9 I would like to try the different ways to teach academic vocabulary. For me, it would be a great way to see how different students respond to different teaching methods and be able to see what works best for each classroom. Each student learn differently and you need to be able to adapt and help each student out.
Megan,
DeleteI think utilizing books in an art class seems like a meaningful teaching approach. I remember when we were in the class last time, you said something like "everything in an art class is literacy." To help students improve awarenss in art language, reading content-related books will be a good start. The students then can read authentic art texts and can understand an art concept better through reading as well. This does not only improve students' art literacy, but also can cultivate comprehension ability, especially for the ELLs.
Yimu
With the use of technology and books the students are already using there could be great art projects created. As you said Megan, this would be especially helpful for ESL students. Also having them create art projects about their culture. The example I think of is when girls turn 15, Quinceañera.
DeleteAudrey
Being able to assess each student and adapt to fit their needs is a tough, but necessary skill in teaching. I think you will do a great job in really investigating how to student's can be successful in your classroom Megan.
DeleteI firmly believe that engagement is key for student success and application one is all about engagement. Finding books that relate to a bilingual student in some way really go a long way to facilitate engagement. In biology we get to explore a wide variety of topics, but being able to relate to an ELL student through native fauna or flora of a previous place they might of lived can really spark interest. I think it is important to show pride in where our ancestors called home or even our historic culture.
ReplyDeleteThe second application that I would like to employ is number 3 on page 223. It talks about the different stages of a gradual release in reading responsibility. In chapter four Fisher and Frey (2009) describes the different stages of a working though a lesson that is very similar to this application. The idea that the lesson moves from “I do it,” “We do it,” “We do it together,” to finally “You do it alone.” The application suggests that you move in a similar pattern of read-aloud, shared reading, interactive reading, guided reading, and finally independent reading. In my opinion this approach to learning can be a very effective learning tool, but that independent study and reflection is really important to solidifying the lesson. The military uses the same type of approach to learning tasks which is called the “crawl, walk, run” methodology.
Andrew,
DeleteBelieve or not, your military terms "crawl, walk, run" makes me understand the four stages of a gradual release better. It is a natural process that people learn from unknown to mastered. Engagement is very important throughout the learning process. New learners may easilty get off the task if they don't feel any fun and challenge there. Also, I think that to actually release the reading responsility, the four stages should be deliberately created and connected. In other words, we as teachers should be aware to how explictly we should model, to what extent we should release after each stage, and to what degree we expect our students to accomplish when working independently. We cannot merely ask the students simply mimic what we have modeled, but need to decide how we can boost their knowledge and ability within the gradual released process.
Yimu
Andrew,
DeleteThe idea of using books that engage the ESL student is very important and you have provided good examples. The four step method is similar to what my mentor teacher is using in the classroom. It is a great way to engage the ESL student.
Audrey
Great job working chapter 4 into chapter 8 and 9. I agree with everyone, the crawl, walk, run methed helps me understand the levels better and we need to remember this with students as well... sometime we just need to simplify what we are doing and break it down to help them!
Delete