Imagine going to South Africa for a set amount of time and needing to attend school while you were there. Do you think anyone would be able to speak your language? What would you do if there was no one speaking English? How would you get by? What would you expect a teacher to do in order to teach you? These are all potential things that could be in play when dealing with dual language learners or English language learners. A dual language student is anyone that speaks two or more languages and is learning to speak a new language while furthering their own. It can be intimidating and frustrating to have to learn another language, which is why we as teachers need to provide as much support as possible in the classroom for students who are doing so. A few in house ideas that can be used to help ELLs or dual language learners grow, are word walls, labels, and hand signals. Since there are an endless amount of words that are used in the English language, it can be very helpful to have a word wall and either add sight words, vocab words, or even just words that were heard throughout the day where a meaning is unclear and the students want to know more. Students can learn better when they are the ones that put words up on the wall and figure out what it means rather than when a teacher stands up and calls out vocab words. Next, it can be very helpful to label everything because that then puts a picture or an object with every word that they can see. Another thought is having hand signals for questions like, "Can I go to the bathroom?" "I have a question" or "I would like to add to that." On top of these, it is always a good idea to use visuals for the students and sit them within either groups or partners for progress in communication. No matter what you are doing, you will need to differentiate for them!
There are so many apps and resources available to help with teaching dual language learners, but here are a few I have heard about:
1. Duolingo (Free) - an app that helps them to (and tracks them as they progress) do mini lessons that involve speaking and listening to the English language.
2. Tiny Cards (Free) - corresponds with Duolingo. Animates the vocabulary words for better remembrance
3. Endless reader (Starts out free, but must upgrade to get full capabilities): This app introduces sight words or common words often seen in children's literature. For every word there is a puzzle and monsters to interact with.
4. Bussu (Free) - Allows students to speak, read, and write English based on different levels (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) and can even be used when Wifi is not working.
5. Youtube! - EnglishSingSing, Rock' N Learn, Hooplakids
No comments:
Post a Comment