Hints and Tips for the Beginning ELL Teacher
and reminders for the experienced teacher (with book recommendations)
Get your students talking. Language is learned best by using it. Create opportunities for your students to speak with each other. Have them work with partners and in small groups. Rotate the members of each group periodically. Give them tasks that require communication. Give them structures that will support their speaking with each other, sentences starters, key vocabulary and common phrases can be extremely helpful. Very few, if any, students will learn a language well from lecturing.
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Learn to draw cartoons. I know, I know, you can't draw. I can't either, so I learned how to draw a few characters from a kids cartooning book. Having these characters and an understanding of how to draw action has helped me dozens of times in the classroom. Often the quickest way to explain something is a simple drawing. Having simple drawing skills also helps when making posters and other reference materials.
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Challenge yourself to learn some of your students' languages and learn more about languages in general. At one point, I had students with 7 different home languages. I told them I would try to memorize one word, both spoken and written in their language. My Egyptian students laughed as I tried to write Arabic from left to right. My Indian students shook their heads with smiles as I tried to distinguish between the text of Gujarati and Hindi. Beyond the laughter, this activity acted as an incredible leveling force. It gave my students a chance to be experts and to laugh at the challenges of learning a language.
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Use a diversity of materials and activities. Your students will have an incredible variety of educational and life experiences. Not all students are prepared to sit at a desk and copy notes from a board. Not all students want to speak in front of the class. A friend of mine teachers ESL to refuges from Myanmar. Many of them had never owned a pencil. Consider all of these things, and read over Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
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Don't chain yourself to one text. There is no perfect text for English Language Learners. Sometimes it is more productive for me to create materials as opposed to searching textbooks and internet sites. Also, clip art is your friend, your best friend.
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Reflect: When the students have left, take a moment and sit in one of their chairs. Look at the board and the room. Relive the lesson and think about it. How does it appear from their perspective?
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Key Resources
Ever wonder why your Chinese students aren't including articles in their writing? Did you know the Chinese language doesn't have articles?
ESL Tips Sheets by Ann Raimes offer information about how your student's native language may affect their acquisition of English. The Guide to Transfer Errors provides further examples of how first language can affect the learning of English Stages of Language Acquisition Characteristics of each stage and suggestions of what teachers can do to engage students on varying levels. Tips for Teaching ESL Beginners and Pre-Literate Adults great suggestions.
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Favorite Sites
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