Entry #5 - 2 Popular Children's Books That Can Be Difficult for Young ELLs

             Young students work so hard when reading because they are focusing a lot on decoding and will miss details necessary for comprehension like vocabulary and voice.  Here are two children’s books that young ELLs many struggle with and why;

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy  by Mo Willems

            -This book has a lot of voice; it is full of exclamation points and question marks.  This can be difficult for a ELLs to maintain fluency or have comprehension when so much punctuation.  I do think this is a great book for young children however, there are just a few steps the teacher, or parent, should take first before the student reads it on their own. i.e. picture walk, adult model reading

            -The main character is a pigeon and some ELL may not be familiar with that type of bird.  The teacher would need to help develop their background knowledge by identifying a few characteristics of pigeons and show the students real pictures of them.

            -The story has no identifiable setting.  The setting is a major component of a story and usually helps students with comprehension.  Not having a clear setting my be difficult for ELLs who have used its identification as a strategy when understanding text.  The teacher should go through the story elements with the students and possibly identify a setting together.

            -The pigeon’s behavior may be foreign to a few ELLs making it difficult for them to identify with the story.  It seems the pigeon is throwing a tantrum and that may be hard to understand unless the actions and cause is labeled for the students.   The teacher can also explain to the students other instances when that behavior may be displayed.

The Mitten by Jan Brett

            -Some ELLs may not be familiar with the word “mitten” or the process of knitting.  The teacher could use this opportunity to bring in realia and explain the process of knitting.  A mitten and a glove can also be used for a compare and contrast activity.

-The setting of the story is in the forest in the winter.  Some ELLs may be unfamiliar with snow and the teacher should build background information by identifying characteristics of a snowy climate, geographic information, and possibly even things that can be done in the snow. 

            -There are some vocabulary words that should be identified for ELLs like, burrowed, kickers, jostled, fast, silhouette, etc.  The teacher can define these words for the students and use them in another context.

            -The animals in the story may be foreign to some ELLs.  The teacher should identify each animal and a few facts about them, i.e. what they look like, where they live, and what they eat.

            

Entry #4 - My Experience Reading as a ELL

            In order to better understand some of the difficulties faced by my ELL students I tried to read an article written in an Italian online magazine.  I felt like an article written about entertainment would be an easier read versus a scholarly article.  Based off of the title, and the picture, I know the article is about actor Paul Walker.  With my intermediate level understanding of the Spanish language, I was able to make out a few basic words; first, one, for, etc.  Before reading this article I already knew he died in a car crash and that background knowledge helped tremendously.  With the information I was able to piece together from “reading” the entire article I also believe he was in Los Angeles and the car was a Porsche.

            Next I tried to focus on just the beginning paragraph of the article.  I figured with the basic information that I already knew maybe I could fill in some blanks.  I combed through the first paragraph identifying words that looked similar to Spanish or English words.  The only additional word I could pick out was “legal”.  I focused next on just the first sentence, “La vedova del conducente dell’auto nella quale e morto l’anno scorso l’attore Americano Paul Walker (noto per I film di <<Fast and Furious>>) ha fatto causa alla Porsche.”  To me this sentence says something about a deadly car accident with American Paul Walker from Fast and Furious in a Porsche.  My translation is very poor and I could not decode any additional words so I used a translator and came up with this; “The widow of the driver of the car in which he died last year and the American actor Paul Walker (known for films The Fast and the Furious << >>) filed a lawsuit against Porsche.”  WOW!  Was I off or what!?  I had a very basic understanding compared to what the article was truly about. 

            This exercise has really aided me with my putting my self in my ELL students’ shoes.  As a teacher it is imperative that I utilize as many sheltering strategies as possible when teaching academic content to my students.  It is also important for me to check for understanding throughout the activity/lesson and provide additional support in the students native language whenever possible.  This was a good learning experience for me.

Paul Walker, la vedova dell’amico:  “Faccio causa alla Porsche”

http://www.affaritaliani.it/cronache/paul-walker-la-vedova-amico-porsche130514.html?refresh_ce

Entry #2 - How I Was Taught To Write

Just like with reading instruction, the philosophies related to writing instruction have changed over time and vary by school, classroom, and teacher.  When I was first learning to write my teachers used a traditional writing process or learning view.  My teacher’s goal was for me to produce a quality piece of writing and her method was to teach each component of the individual piece of writing.  While I do not, and will not, use this technique with my students; I do think it worked well for me.  I can remember being taught how to write a report step by step and then being required to produce a report.  As a student I had no complaint as to the way I was taught to write. 

            As a teacher I can see a few things wrong with the learning view method of writing instruction.  For students that may have learning disabilities, or are ELLs, this method lacks support.  The process writing method provides students with understanding the process as they move through writing the piece with the teacher.  The students are also provided the opportunity to get feedback from the teacher as well as their peers.  I believe this method would be especially useful in the early grades.

Entry #1 - Old School Philosophy

I recently spoke with a more “seasoned” teacher, and took the time to ask her what her philosophy is on literacy education for English Language Learners (ELLs). What she said actually surprised me. Her philosophy included starting with teaching the letters and sounds and then teaching sight words for native English speaking students. She felt that the ELL students would need to learn to speak English before any other literacy instruction would be beneficial.  Her method of teaching includes a lot of teacher talk, students repeating phrases, and little to no writing by the students. 

This philosophy, didn’t quite sit well with me.  Her method did not match what I consider best practice and it leaves out key components of language development.  Research has shown that young ELLs can learn to read and write while they are learning to speak.  Since I teacher ECE/pre-k, I consider all of my students to be ELLs because they are all still learning how to speak English properly.  I believe it would be counterproductive for me to only focus on oral language development and ignore their literacy development.  I wonder how many teachers that have been teaching for many years have a similar philosophy to this teacher?