Realia is usually easy to get hold of, easy to plan with and powerful in creating understanding. They’ll be empowered to learn faster and more accurately, which in turn will motivate them to continue learning. Perhaps the most effective use of visuals is done through the use of realia. He made several passes through the parking lot using slow, exaggerated moves. ELL students can sometimes feel powerless in an environment where they aren’t communicating in their first language, but self-monitoring helps them take back some of this control. Similarly to imagery, using role play as a learning strategy can help your students to use the target language as they would do in real life—communicating with others. Once the topic has become personal, of course, it’s more interesting and applicable. The great thing about classifying is that your students can do it in whatever way works best for them in terms of other learning strategies. As an educator, the last thing you want to do is waste time—your students or your own. Classifying is a great learning strategy that most of us use without even thinking, but it’s particularly useful for ELL students who have the daunting task of learning about various subjects in a language different from their own.Classifying involves grouping information together in a way that will help students understand and remember it. Ever notice that, despite teaching a well-thought-out lesson that’s geared towards a whole group of students, only some students will grasp the concepts straight away while others will really struggle? You’ve probably attended one, or at least seen one on TV. Encourage your students to create their own storyboard as they progress in the plot, using great websites such as StoryboardThat. All Rights Reserved. This one speaks for itself. However, if they create timelines using different written sources, or they have access to other students’ timelines from different sources than theirs, they’ll be equipped with various ways of describing the same events. “Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know.”, Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), real-world videos from the Politics and Society section on FluentU English, Cloze Encounters: 10 Clever Cloze Activities for the ESL Classroom, 5 ESL Listening Exercises to Sharpen Your Students’ Ears, How to Teach 100 ESL Vocabulary Words in One Lesson, 5 Ways to Find Great ESL Teaching Materials on a Budget, 7 Best ESL Textbooks for Teaching Students Both Young and Old, 10 Creative Ways to Use Popular Movies in Fun ESL Lessons, Teaching English with Music: 4 Effective Ways to Use Music in the ESL Classroom, 7 Irresistibly Fun ESL Video Activities to Teach Listening Comprehension. As the skill level is strengthened, the supports can be methodically eliminated until the student is comfortably succeeding on their own. The acquisition of learning strategies is particularly important for your ELL students, because they’re likely to already have a lot of natural abilities in their own native language which they can draw from. During an upcoming history lesson, you might require students to write an account of the American Civil War. This way, you’re giving them control and allowing them to use the language in the correct context. Think about an American wedding. ESL classrooms often have students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds … As the students become more familiar with the language, the visuals can be removed. There are certain times in life when it may pay to gamble. You’ll probably already be aware of the similarities between some words in English and other European languages if you’ve studied them. That’s what makes them such a great tool for use with your … We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs for products and services we believe in. Click here to get a copy. It was then my turn. FluentU is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. ... English Language Learners (ELLs) face the double challenge of learning academic content as well as the language in which it is presented. It’s these experiences, beliefs and attitudes that help to determine a student’s level of prior knowledge in a particular area. Working with peers creates a low-pressure, confidence-building environment optimal for progress. You can start simply by asking students to reflect after small tasks on their performance. It’s often helpful to introduce the word using some sort of visual. Something as simple as presenting students with a seed being planted, and asking them to predict what will happen to the seed over time, can be extremely effective in this situation. Not only do you not know how you’re progressing, but you can’t tell how you compare to other people’s scores! Students learn the nuances of language through simple conversations with friends. What the Flip is a Flipped ESL Classroom? Click here to get a copy. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. Learning in a foreign language is incredibly difficult and it can sometimes seem to ELL students that there are simply too many gaps in their language knowledge to grasp a subject. Encourage your students to examine words and grammar patterns closely to see if they can notice any similarities with words in their own language. Cooperative learning can take on many different forms. Her passions include early childhood education and language acquisition in our youngest learners. A favorite of drama teachers, role play needn’t be confined to the more theatrical subjects where your ELL students are concerned! A different friend tells you about an Indian wedding she recently attended. Asking them to keep track of their confidence and performance in this way will encourage them to address any gaps in knowledge so that they can rate themselves higher in there future. Please check your email for further instructions. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. In the above example you might select the words solar system, miles and planet to explicitly teach. It’s also helpful to be familiar with what your students already know about a topic. It would be more helpful to watch someone do this before trying it together and, ultimately, doing it yourself. This I do, We do, You do theory of teaching is called scaffolding. I would write them out, over and over, until my writing hand hurt and my brain was fried. These are videos that your students already love watching, so they’ll be beyond excited to interact with them in the classroom. Here are 8 strategies to help you with your ELL … I’d guess that most Americans wouldn’t have nearly the same amount of experience with this cultural celebration (though of course there are plenty of exceptions to this). Hearing about this would produce a completely different perception, one that’s probably a lot more vague. 11 Useful Tips to Boost Your Intermediate ESL Students’ Reading Comprehension, 7 ESL Video Activities That Your Students Will Love. Imagery is particularly useful for ELL students as they can struggle to really connect with the language when it’s presented on a page or in the spoken word. But guess what? FluentU brings language learning to life with real-world videos. Imagery helps to solidify meaning and reassure students that they are following the language correctly. This helps your students to take responsibility for their own learning and become much more autonomous! Planning is always important. The good news? When explicitly teaching vocabulary there are a few things to remember: By establishing and planning for both content and language objectives, your lessons will be clear and impactful, resulting in a greater success for your students. What connections can be made? You could even implement an earlier-taught learning strategy such as self-evaluation before and after the task, to help students measure how confident they were about the language (or the task of debating itself) before and after, hopefully showing them how effective the role play learning strategy might be for them. This can lead to a lack of confidence which could eventually shut down the learning, resulting in a frustrating and unsuccessful experience for everyone. All Rights Reserved. Scaffolding is effective with ELL students because it introduces skills and tasks in a slow and manageable manner. Then, when you introduce the more scientific vocabulary, you and your students can use their predictions as references to help put the concepts in context. What do you know about this? There are many ways to use scaffolding in the ELL classroom. The term “scaffolding” was originally coined by psychologist Jerome Bruner in the mid-seventies. They begin thinking about their personal experiences with the topic at hand. Want to work from home? We have put together the list below based on professional experience, research (including White, Schramm & Chamot (2007) and Rubin, Chamot, Harris & Anderson (2007)) and also with ELL students in mind.