Post 9: My Learning

Now I feel like I am not completely lost when it comes to teaching EAL students in the preschool setting. I think a lot of the strategies learned throughout my documentation panel project can be used not only for preschool students, but all elementary years students if at the beginning English earning level.

Communicating with English Language Learners

How can I communicate with a child who doesn’t speak English? Use hand gestures and facial expressions to communicate, you will be surprised at how much you can convey with these alone.

Just like any other young child, EAL students will also pick up on your body language, so be relaxed and confident, smile often, and give the thumbs-up sign when things are going well.

Speak clearly, enunciate your words, and avoid use of regional slang or colloquialisms.

Visuals

Is there anything else I can do to help my ESL student(s) understand what I am saying? Try to provide visuals and props whenever possible to help my ESL students better understand a concept. For example, for classroom rules use pictures.

When singing a song I also try to have a prop or puppet, for example if singing the song Five Green and Speckled Frogs, try to have five frog props (stuffed animal type or puppets) to help the ESL students.

Provide a thematic word wall for each of the units of study with pictures of each word and lots of hands on learning with manipulatives whenever possible to strengthen understanding.

Use student's art as a speaking prompt- describe what they drew, why they drew it, what it means to them- you are making it personal and allowing them to speak using vocabulary they already know. Ideally it would be related to a theme where relevant language was taught.

Silent Period

Help! My ESL students never talk, I don’t think they’re learning, what should I do? Don’t worry, most ESL students will go through a “silent period” that can last anywhere from six weeks to three months or more. During this time the ESL student(s) are absorbing their new language and are often afraid of speaking and making a mistake. It’s very important that the teacher or peers do not force ESL students to speak during this time or punish them for not speaking, however lots of praise and encouragement often works wonders.

Entice ESL students into speaking through the use of props and music. What four year old doesn’t love speaking into a microphone and hearing his own voice or singing along to a song with big alligator puppet? By making English less scary and more fun, ESL students are often talking a blue streak by the end of the year.

Native Language

I have several ESL students who all speak the same language and they are always talking to each other in their native language, is this bad? Should I put a stop to it? How can they learn if they don’t speak English in my class? Discouraging the use of the native language in the classroom or at home is counterproductive. Often, ESL students will discuss concepts they are learning in your classroom in their native language, thus improving comprehension.

We don’t want English to replace their native language, we want them to learn English as a Second Language. Banning their native language in the classroom will force ESL students to lose their identity and feel “bad” for speaking their native language- thus feeling bad about themselves and their culture.

Sometimes parents mistakenly think they are helping their children by banning their native language in the home, forcing them to speak English only. However, this only results in children who have no native language or cultural identity which can lead to problems later in life.

Social Interaction

The buddy system is a great way to help your ESL students adjust to their new classroom and school. Buddy your new student up with an English speaking classmate. The native English speaker acts as a shadow and a helper so you don’t have to worry about the new student getting lost on the way to the bathroom or wandering away during recess etc. Of course, you have to choose your native English speaking “buddy” carefully.

Communicating With Parents

How can I communicate with the parents of my ESL students? They don’t speak English!

I feel that it’s as important to communicate with the parents of ESL students as it is to communicate with the students themselves. In communications such as in newsletters and emails use lots of clipart for visuals and break the info up into small bites. Provide lots of real visuals at parent orientation and conferences. For example, to explain that a backpack is required, hold up an actual backpack and for our “no flip-flop” policy, hold up a pair of real flip-flops and shake my head in the no motion and show a thumbs down sign.

Ask parents to come in and speak about their culture if they are able to.

Send home books with the students so that they can practice at home, this sends a message to parents that it is important for children to still grow in their home language.

Use an interpreter if needed.

Use Natural and Authentic Materials

Enough can’t be said about the benefits of using natural materials in the ESL classroom, but with preschool learners, it is absolutely essential. You need to have a good inventory of toys, animals, plastic food items, clothes, etc…as many things as you can have. Natural materials can be used for games, drilling and even testing.

When children speak little English it’s a good idea to use as many real items in the classroom as possible. The focus should be about building on prior knowledge. We do that by using things that are already familiar to the children. If you introduce a new set of plastic shapes, for example, the children will have to spend time figuring out what they are and what to call them and they may not get to learn about sorting at all. If, instead, you bring out a basket of socks, they already know what they are so they can focus on sorting and matching skills. Then, if you use the same socks to make puppets later in the week, you will get even more mileage out of everyone’s shared knowledge and vocabulary in home languages and in English. This also helps the children learn English words they can actually use. Knowing how to say ‘socks’ will fill a lifelong need. Knowing how to say ‘little plastic shapes’ is not so useful.

Don’t Forget to Sing The rhythms, repetition, and movements of music will help you and the children build vocabulary in English and the other languages they speak. Pick songs that are authentic and familiar to you as well as to the children. It will be easy for you to learn words in another language if they are set to a song you already know.

Learn Through Movement

Three and four year olds seem to be constantly in motion and have boundless energy. Action-based activities will grab their attention and keep their interest. Children of this age group enjoy movement play. Emphasize acting out stories, repeating predictable text, puppetry, chants, rhymes, finger plays, songs, and role-playing. Have students make believe by playing house or pretending to be firefighters. Teach them to play games. Let them run jump, skip, dance and hop. These activities can be utilized to encourage verbal expression and language development. Use what these children love to do in order to help them learn.

Teach Essential Vocabulary

Develop oral language skills! Teach young ELLs to speak and understand English first. They need to learn vocabulary dealing with greetings, families, body parts, school and classroom items, days of the week, zoo and farm animals, numbers, shapes, seasons, colors, clothing, and fruit. Teach them commands such as "line up, raise your hand, and go to the circle." Use songs and chants to make learning fun.

Use Themes

It's great to use seasonal themes because they are meaningful to the children. One example would be teaching about autumn by collecting fallen leaves, decorating pumpkins, creating your own costumes or masks, making butter from whipped cream, dressing up as Pilgrims and Indians, and having a simple Thanksgiving Feast. These activities make the vocabulary more relevant to the children and, therefore, more memorable.

Build on Prior Knowledge

You will also want to build on the prior knowledge of your students. Make sure the theme is appropriate for the cultures you are teaching too. Include the children's culture in your themes as well, this way students can do the teaching and this is a great opportunity to have parents come in and share cultural content. Activate prior knowledge. Choose themes that can be linked to what your students already know. Pre-teach vocabulary and concepts that your ELLs will probably not know such as nursery rhymes.

Things to consider

• Have a realistic view on how long it takes to learn English

• Some children learn English faster than others

• Literacy is important- reading to the class, having books for children to look at in the classroom, sending home books in child's home language and in english

• Developing and maintaining the home language is important- encourage development at home Engage with families and communities

• Creating a Supportive Learning Environment

• Encourage children to play

• Model language use

• Language Learning Activities- Focusing on language functions in activity planning language rich activities activities