Strategies and Resources for Supporting English-Language Learners
Being an English-language learner in the United States is no honeymoon. Efforts to support ELLs have often been well meaning but misinformed. Indeed, a lot of assumptions about how to serve ELLs need to be checked.
UC Berkeley experts Margaret Bridge and Bruce Fuller offer three examples of these faulty assumptions:
- The expectation that Mexican-American English-language learners would enter U.S. schools with inadequate social competence turned out not to be realized.
- Just because ELLs are quiet, don't assume that they understand the material. With respecting elders being a common cultural norm, many Mexican-American children may think that asking questions of their teachers is disrespectful. Also, classrooms should not be English-only zones.
- It's a mistake to disallow non-English talk in the classroom. Instead, help facilitate learning by permitting students to use their home language. This develops vocabulary and concepts in the ELLs' first language, boosting their cognitive skills and English development.
What About Grammar Drills?
Everyone agrees that ELLs need help in mastering "the basics" of grammar usage. However, the ways that those basics are taught varies widely. Don't drown ELLs in worksheets and grammar drills, warns Judie Haynes, co-founder and owner of the website everythingESL.net. "Research has shown that 'out-of-context' grammar drills do not work with students of any age . . . Read predictable books. Teach thematic units. Any mention of a grammar rule should be within the context of those texts."
Non-Negotiable Vocabulary for ELLs to Study
Beside focusing on developing communication and reading skills, Marilee Sprenger -- an expert in brain-based instructional strategies and author of Teaching the Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core -- recommends that ELLs learn high-frequency academic language terms that are embedded in the Common Core State Standards. This strategy should raise their standardized test scores, since researchers estimate that "85 percent of achievement test scores are based on the vocabulary of the standards." What are those critical CCSS nouns and verbs? Sprenger lists them on her website.
Below are a list of websites and books that suggest ways to support ELLs. The strategies will also benefit other students in your classes.
Websites to Support English-language Learners
- English Grammar Word Builder offers printable lesson plans, grammar rules, and online exercises.
- Google Translate is a free text-to-speech translator.
- 365 ESL Short Stories are texts for intermediate ESL/EFL students.
- PinkMonkey offers free G-rated literature study guides, with notes and chapter summaries.
- Casa Notes provides note templates for field trip permissions, student contracts, invitation to parent-teacher conferences, etc. Users are given the option of printing the notes in Spanish or English.
Online Articles Discussing How to Support ELLs
- Free Apps to Support Vocabulary Acquisition by Monica Burns - Burns always comes up with a creative mix of tools. In this Edutopia piece, she discusses apps like Kids' Vocab by MindSnacks, Futaba, and Flashcardlet.
- Do's & Don'ts for Teaching English-Language Learners by Larry Ferlazzo - In this Edutopia piece, Ferlazzo covers wait time, modeling, non-linguistic cues, and more.
- 50 Incredibly Useful Links for Learning & Teaching the English Language by TeachThought -This curated blog post contains a great collection of resource tools, printables, and other materials for ELL educators.
- Judie Haynes' Seven Strategies for Classroom Teachers of ELLs - Haynes concisely describes comprehensible input, visual lessons, and making testing and homework modifications.
- 10 Ways to Support English Language Learning With The New York Times by Holly Epstein Ojalvo- This piece from The Learning Network recommends creative approaches to using one of the best newspapers in the world with ELLs.
- ELL coordinator and SIOP trainer Erica Hilliker has created a Remarkable collection of ELL resources for teachers, including information on SIOP.
How do you support ELLs in your classroom?
Click to download a "PDF of Strategies to Support English-Language Learners" (77KB)