Welcome to Adventures in ESL

file://localhost/Users/tiffanybaczek/Desktop/BLOG_podcast.mp3

Lesson on Listening

This would be a great lesson to do with all students not just ESL for a practicing good listening skills.  Lets be honest with all the distractions we face in just a 5 minute time period in our tech savvy world we could all use a lesson in listening.

courses-accredited-tesol-tefl/150-hour-level-2-tesol.

The "Silent Period"

As a general ed teacher it may seem obvious that a child that has just moved from another country and speaks another language is not very chatty the first few days of school.  It is important to know that there is something called the "silent period" with ELL students.  Particularly the students who have recently moved from their home country or from a very different region.  This time period can last from a few days to a few months because all students will acclimate at their own pace to a new school, new community, new town and new culture in general.  The best thing you can do during this time is respect what the student must be going through and be sensitive to their situation while creating the safest and least threatening learning environment possible.  This is a great time to lean on your ESL teacher for advice on resources to help the student acclimate to your classroom so the student can continue to grow and learn.

Wiki's and Blog's can ramp up engagement and participation for the ESL population

Wiki's and Blogs are great online tools that can and should be used with ELL students.  Students are more likely to participate in these formats because they are less threatening and can help the students gain confidence in their reading and writing.  Blogs are particularly good for the purposes of letting students create a place that is theirs for them to communicate freely with people from home and school. Wiki's are good for collaborating because some students may feel timid to make corrections on someones paper.  When they can do it online and at their own pace the participation rates go up as well as the quality of editing and positive collaboration.  Both Wiki's and Blogs can be used as evidence for AYP(adequate yearly progress) and used as a type of portfolio. This can mean less work for you if they are done correctly. Who doesn't love that?

Wiki - it is an online tool that can be used for collaboration. The wiki is created for a purpose for a specific group of people.   It can be changed and edited as the group members see fit.  The work is instantly published and sent out into the world wide web for all to see.

Examples of how to use them in the classroom

• Research Paper collaboration
• Webquests
• Planning a class or school event
• Online study groups
• Sharing Works of Art, Music, Writing

Blog - a website that is created by an individual or group where they post their opinions, ideas or information on a topic.  The types of blogs are endless, they can range from cooking tips to time travel.

Examples of how to use them in the classroom

• Class Debates
• Poetry Collections
• Creative Writing
• Novel or Story Reviews
• Writing journals or diaries

Note: When using these types of resources it is important to set clear goals and expectations with the students.  The students should know that it is a working educational format and should be respected and treated with the same appropriateness expected in the classroom.  If everyone is on the same page from the beginning it will make the project go much smoother and you are more likely to have successful outcomes.

Both Wiki's and Blogs can be used as evidence for AYP(adequate yearly progress) and used as a type of portfolio. This can mean less work for you if they are done correctly. Who doesn't love that?

Using Wordle or Tagxedo with ELL Students boost confidence

  There are many great resources to use online to integrate technology into the classroom.  I really like using Wordle and Tagxedo as a means of creating a visual about a topic.  There are a variety of ways to use these websites to engage your students.  Basically you insert the copy of an article into the program and it pulls out the words that are repeated the most and makes them larger.  This automatically creates a visual that will tell you what the main points are in a topic.  For example the tagxedo I have pictured above was created out of text I copied from wikipedia under English as a Second Language education. Both sites do the same thing, however, I prefer tagxedo because you can put your text into different shapes which will enhance the meaning of your visual.  The students can enter words about themselves and create a wordle that describes their strengths and interest.  Its really neat if you have each student create one and hang them together in a common area.  The students are able to see what things they have in common with other students as well as learn about each other differences.  There are many websites that list uses for wordle/tagxedo, here is the one I felt was most useful:

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_157dpbsg9c5&pli=1

Happy Wordling!!

Tagxedo

http://www.tagxedo.com/

Wordle

www.wordle.net