Teaching ESL Students

Reflections

4/16/2013

    It has hard to believe that my time working with B (as well as with the rest of my class) is coming to a close. The past few weeks have really shown me what it can be like in my own classroom if I have another ESL student.
    Unfortunately, I wasn't always able to work with B as often as I would have liked thanks to changes in scheduling and other events which interfered. My mentor and I both felt that it was important for B to stay in the classroom when they were participating in activities which he would be able to do and understand (especially Mathematics). This showed me just how difficult it can be as a regular teacher trying to aid an ESL student grow in language while trying to teach an entire class at the same time. It is possible to differentiate and give them different work than the others, but there isn't always time for that one on one instruction.
    Overall I was very proud of B's progress. I noticed not only that he was willing to try new words and succeed in the language, but he was forming sentences by the end of our time together. Whether this was partially from our work together or simply from socializing with his peers is unknown however. According to the research, socialization was more likely the key factor, however, as he is constantly around English speakers and is fully immersed in the language while at school. The one on one instruction still proved to be useful, however, as he began to try to speak more to me during class time (including volunteering more answers) and would try to speak to me more frequently and openly than when we first began.
    When I could, I tried to encourage B's language development during class time too. I gave him positive reinforcement whenever he tried to answer and modified work for him whenever possible (for example, on a math worksheet, he was not expected to answer word problems without help. He was also constantly given explanations using lots of visuals and gestures.) Although I haven't found much research to back me up on this, I do feel that my experiences with French definitely helped me to help B. Knowing how English students feel in French class and some of the activities which help my students, I was able to adapt these to fit an English lesson.
    I can see the pros and cons to working with ESL students in the classroom vs one on one or using the pull-out strategy. While they require constant attention and support as well as structured language lessons, they also require class time with the rest of the class so they can socialize as well as keep up with the work expected of their grade levels.
    If I was a teacher working with B in a classroom for the full year, I most likely would have given him a proficiency test to show his work a little better. We do have worksheets and a small workbook which shows what he completed, but I felt that testing would not prove useful for one small topic in such a small period of time. I would also attempt to set-up a program in which he would work in class on topics such as Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies, but would spend English working on a word set in English. The word sets would be pulled most likely from the French curriculum but adapted to fit English needs. This takes some of the guess work out of it and provides a structured
unit for the student to follow. Ideally there would be one on one work whenever possible, but without an aid, this is not always possible. I would also encourage the class to work with B (or any other ESL student) on playing language games and encouraging his vocabulary growth. This could be done in a rotation or as sponge activities whenever student's work is done.
    Overall, I feel that this project was extremely beneficial to my own growth as a teacher. I am much more aware of the challenges that face ESL students as well as teachers and feel that I would be more prepared to face a similar task in the future. I recognize that I was only able to cover a small portion of the huge topic of ESL, but it is a beginning for growth in an area that is (I believe based on statistics) only going to grow more and more important over the years.
   Thank you for reading and following along with B's progress and our work together! I wish this website may help you in any future endeavors (as a beginning step/resource) with ESL students.

-Miss Gloge

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Memory Retention

4/11/2013

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    After having such a long break (Easter break was just last week), I was worried that B would not remember all of the vocabulary fully from the week before. He quickly proved me wrong as we went through the words and he had no problems save for the same two as before (ruler and crayon).
    It was time to add to his vocabulary and I introduced a set of 8 new words. As before, the words were introduced using flashcards. He was able to name them all after a round of 5 repetitions.
    To practice recognizing the words, B was given a wordsearch. It contained the new words as well as those he knew from before. Once that was finished, he was then given the task of writing sentences with "I have" or "I have a". This time the sentences were not modeled for him. He chose to write the words which were unfamiliar to him and he was very successful in this task.
    The other activity we worked on this week was a game of "Go Fish" using flashcards. It took some time and some demonstrations before he fully understood how to play, but once it got underhand he thoroughly enjoyed it. It encouraged the repetition of various vocabulary words and encouraged him to use sentences such as "Do you have...".
    Finally, we practiced using words with letter blocks (I used Bananagrams, but Scrabble tiles would work just as well). I would name a word and he would try to recreate it. Often he had to refer to the written slips, but he attempted shorter words like "pen" on his own. Next time I would have him take the words he has learned, and make a crossword which he would have to then draw.

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Writing

3/27/2013

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    This week I decided to shift our focus from the connection between the images and the words to working simply with the written vocabulary. To begin, I had B read out each of the words I laid out. Once again, the only words he had troubles with were "crayon" and "ruler". I suspect that this may be a result of a difficulty with the letter "R".
    To practice with the construction of the words, I had B complete a word scramble. This was presented as a fun game, but is intended to present the vocabulary in another way to practice writing it. What was interesting was that B did not recognize the letters in the words as a whole. He counted the number of letters present and began to count the number of letters in the words he knew. This tells me that he recognizes the word as a set of letters in one specific pattern. As soon as those letters are moved in any way, the word disappears.
    For the other activity, we continued our practice with the coin flick game. He was just as enthusiastic about this as before and was quickly choosing where he would aim the coin. Once again, he copied the sentence that matched the image and read it out loud. He does have some problems with the word "have" but is able to recognize the rest. I also noticed that he is beginning to write down some of the names of objects without referring to the word slips provided.
    When we return from the break, I intend to introduce a new set of words. We will complete some activities which mix the two word sets, while others will deal exclusively with the new words. A couple of games I hope to introduce is a version of "Go Fish" as well as a version of the word scramble using letter tiles from "Bananagrams".

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Games, Games, Games!

3/22/2013

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    This week we started practicing B's vocabulary words using a coin-flick board game such as the one in the photo. He would flick a coin and whichever picture it landed on would determine which sentence he had to say and write down.
    The images showed the classroom objects he has already practiced along with either a checkmark or a 'x'. The checkmark means "Yes, I do have _________" while the 'x' means "No, I do not have _________." For example, if the coin landed on a pencil with a 'x', B would say "Yes, I do have a pencil." He would then have to find the corresponding words and write it down in his notebook.
    B really enjoyed playing the board game. He would get excited about each shot and even started making goals for himself. He attempted to follow a "yes" "no" "yes" no" pattern in his sentences and would purposefully shoot at the words which still gave him trouble.
    As before, B still has troubles with the words "crayon" and "ruler". He can identify a "textbook" and a "notebook" now, but occasionally mixes them up. He still repeats the words to himself to try and fix them in his memory. After a final review of the words next week, I plan to introduce a new word set.

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Sentences

3/14/2013

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To start off this week, we had a review of the words B went over the week before. He did better than before and only had difficulties with ruler, textbook, and crayon. B has demonstrated that he is not guessing as much and is making the link between the words in oral and written form.

To introduce something new this week, I decided to introduce the idea of sentences. This was something he seemed little more uncomfortable with. He says the sentences after I say them, but hardly does it other times due to an apparent lack of confidence in his understanding. The sentences were "Do you have....", "Yes, I do.", "No I don't", and "Do you have...?". We practiced saying them a few times before moving on to something new.

Studies have shown that students who are learning a new language respond well to games. I found a board game which would encourage B to practice his sentences, but he would only say them with encouragement. This may change over time and we will continue to work on his sentences.

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Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

3/7/2013

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   For the second session with B, I decided to continue with what he learned the other day in order to enhance his comprehension. We again matched the words with the pictures in various ways. B showed much more confidence with the vocabulary words and was able to match most of the pictures with the proper words. The ones which still pose a problem are ruler and crayon. In addition, he understands the word book but has difficulties distinguishing between the two different kinds.
    In order to practice the writing of the vocabulary words, I gave B a crossword to complete. The clues were the photos of each object. He would tell me the word and then write it into the space provided. When stuck for spelling, B would look through the words until he found the matching one and copy it down. He did this with no problems.
    We rounded off the session with the addition of two more words to his vocabulary book. I gave him the choice of which words he would like to add and was pleasantly surprised when he chose to copy the two variations of book which have been giving him difficulty. He is displaying his want to do better and to enhance his own understanding of the language. To continue next week, I plan on introducing sentences which including yes/no answers, a question, and phrases worded with "I have".

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And so it begins...

3/5/2013

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Hello!

My name is Miss Gloge and I am a university student who is currently completing my final practicum in order to graduate and become a fully certified teacher. As a part of the final practicum, it is mandatory to do a professional development project. We are given the option to choose an area that is applicable to our situations and to fully research it. We then must present our findings to show our learning process.

Back in December, I briefly met the class I was to spend the next four months teaching. I was very excited and my brain was already buzzing with idea after idea. Once I found out that there was an ESL student in my class, I couldn't help but think about how I could help him develop his language skills. I have always been a language person (my major is French) and I remembered the little bit of work I had done with a couple of other ESL students in a grade five class I observed in my first year. Once the idea was set, I couldn't help but be excited about starting this project.

In order to fully understand what level he is at, it is important to know a little about his background. I questioned his teacher and the following is a brief overview of what I have gathered. (I will from hereon in refer to him as B).

B moved here from a refugee camp just this year. He did not speak a word of English and his parents knew very little. In addition, he was never given the opportunity to read or write in a school. Today, B can speak some simple English words, but no full sentences. He did some work with another student teacher in the fall with the names for farm animals and colours, but these words seem to have disappeared somewhat from disuse. He was also exposed to some phonetic work, but seemed resistant to it. He tries to mimic others and is willing to copy and learn, but becomes frustrated from time to time when he can't communicate.

I decided that my schedule would be to work with B two or three times a week for minimum half-hour sessions in order to attempt to develop his language skills (similar time frame to the French classes I teach). I have learned from my observations that he has very limited knowledge of the language (especially with reading and writing) and therefore I felt that a proficiency test would not be much use.

After hearing about the disappearance of the words from the fall, I decided to start with a set of vocabulary words he would be able to use almost every day - classroom objects. He does have an advantage here as he does have some words he knows such as pencil, eraser, and sharpener. This sets a good base for developing his sentences as he will be given something new and something familiar.

I began today by showing him images of various classroom items and their corresponding words. These included: pencil, pen, pencil case, pencil sharpener, eraser, ruler, schoolbag, notebook, textbook, and crayon. We did various matching activities such as finding the picture that matched the word, concentration, and reading the word then placing it with the corresponding picture. Through learning and teaching French, I have learned that repetition is key when learning new words. This is why I decided to choose these activities as our starting point.

He guessed on a few words and pictures and only recognized the words school, book and pencil. As we repeated the various words, he practiced saying them out loud and he repeated many of them under his breath to try and help with the memorization.

After doing this for half an hour, he was able to match almost all of the words and could understand most pictures, but still had troubles remembering which words read pen, case, sharpener, eraser, crayon and textbook. He was also given a little book in which he could write the words and draw the pictures of the objects he learned. Today we added pencil and ruler (one word he knew and one he did not). The next day we will repeat some of these activities and add a couple more words to the book.

I am confident that B is going to do well and am excited to see his progression over the next few weeks.

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Reflections

Memory Retention

Writing

Games, Games, Games!

Sentences

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

And so it begins...

Miss Gloge

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