Best Practices and Resources

Hello everyone,

Greetings from Massachusetts! My name is Jen and I teach in a community education program in a community college. In the past, I've taught Level 1 ESOL, but for the first time this coming semester I'll be teaching the Basic Literacy ESOL. As I plan for the fall I'm collecting as much information as I can about teaching literacy to English language learners. I would definitely love to hear about best practices and resources that have worked for others in teaching literacy with diverse people, especially English language learners. Maybe this could be helpful to others as well!

Thank you,

Jen

Comments

Hi Jen and welcome! You have posed an important question. I know there are many teachers in our community who are experienced in teaching literacy to adult English learners and who would love to share some ideas and resources with you. Before we respond, can you tell us a little about the class you'll be teaching?

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, Adult English Language Learners Community of Practice


 

Hi, Jen, and thanks for jumping in! I hope others will join us here with fantastic ideas and resources on your very useful questions.

As Susan mentioned, it would be helpful to have more details. You say that you will be teaching Basic Literacy ESOL. I am assuming that you will be working with students with two characteristics: (1) rank beginners and (2) students who are not literate even in their own language. Interestingly, research is clear that we learn how to read best and more rapidly in our native language. However, my ESOL students used to resist learning how to read in their native languages. They wanted to learn English and didn't see the connection or recognize the fact that the ability to read transfers from language to language. (I might not read Russian, but that doesn't make me illiterate!) What did I do? I taught them how to both speak and read in English because they were not open to anything else.

As others join us here, also keep in mind that people have strong cultural learning preferences. If you know what native cultures are represented, that would be nice to know here as well. Leecy

Leecy Wise
Moderator, Reading and Writing, and
Diversity and Literacy Communities

Hi Susan and Leecy,

Thank you for responding to me! I honestly don't know much about who my students will be. The class will start during the second week of September, so students are just starting to enroll. I'm going to talk to one of the administrators tomorrow to get a better sense of the students who usually get placed in that class, and why they are placed there (so hopefully I can post more info on that soon). I DO know so far that our book is Foundations, and that the course description is this: 

"Basic Language Literacy: This basic literacy course is for non-native speakers of English who want to improve their conversation, pronunciation, reading and writing skills. Students will practice their conversation skills by speaking about interesting topics and improve their pronunciation skills with pronunciation exercises. They will also learn basic writing and reading skills that will include letter and word recognition, spelling and reading comprehension. Students will also learn basic grammar. Total hours: 60"

More soon,

Jen 

Hi Jen,

For teaching learners with limited schooling in the first language, these are some resources I'd suggest:

ESL Literacy Network -- www.esl-literacy.com

For webinars, outcomes developed for learners with limited L1 schooling, and ESL Literacy Readers that you can use with your learners.  Materials and information correlate with the Canadian Language Benchmarks, so you'll see materials from levels Foundation to Phase III.

Multilingual Minnesota -- http://www.multilingualminnesota.org/

You'll find recommended articles for teachers and other useful links under 'For Teachers of Low-Literate Adult ESL.'  Look for the section on 'Balanced Literacy Instruction' -- I find this a useful tool for thinking about and planning instruction.

All the best with your class!

Theresa Wall

Hi Jen and all, The resources Theresa points to are great places to start. We also have many useful resources here in LINCS. For instance, through the LINCS Learning Portal you will find five self-paced ELLU online courses. If you are working with literacy level learners with limited or interrupted formal education, you may want to check out the course on Teaching ELL Emergent Readers.

You can also find reviews and links to many valuable resources in the LINCS Resource collection. For instance, if you want to read a brief summary of the research on emergent readers, you may want to check out the article by Martha Bigelow and Robin Lovrien Schwarz, "Adult English Learners with Limited Literacy," that reviews what we know from research about teaching this group of learners. Another article, "Using Oral Language Skills to Build on the Emerging Literacy of Adult English Learners," by Martha Bigelow and co-author Patsy Vinogradov outlines some of the practical considerations to guide instruction. 

There are also curriculum-related resources, and it is easy to conduct a search to locate what you are interested in. For just one example, you can find an article that explains the step-by-step process for implementing dialogue journals in an adult ESL class.

Thanks again for your question, Jen. I'm sure others will add their suggestions, too.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, AELL CoP

Thank you very much, Susan. The online course is already on my to-do list! Thanks for pointing out the other specific resources on LINCS. It's a good overview for me.

Jen 

Jen, the resources suggested here by both Susan and Theresa are excellent. Susan is right that our LINCS Collection makes a great place to consult!

Along with the resources shared here and the text that you are given, I'll just share a few ideal practices to engage your adult students, no matter what their level or the content of their textbooks:

  1. Always know your students and make sure that they can apply all of the skills they are learning into their "real" lives. That's how adults engage in learning.
  2. Stay away from teaching grammar in isolation. I noticed the mention of grammar in your syllabus and cringed a bit. Grammar is an artificial interpretation of language that makes no sense, especially among early readers. Languages structures are best acquired through practice, which, of course, can be focused on certain structures. However, practice teaches grammar, not talking about how it works. If I want to learn to play the piano, knowing about the piano and music doesn't help me to play. Only practice will. Same with language.
  3. Let students do the talking. When we are talking, we are learning.
  4. Let students do things. When we are applying skills, we are learning.
  5. Let students laugh, at you or with you. :) When we are laughing, we are learning.
  6. Have fun! Teaching ESOL is designed for fun.
  7. Oh, and make sure to have students bring and share lots of sample of foods from their countries. That's a must! 

Leecy

 

Thanks Leecy,

It's helpful to read this because these are principles that I always try to implement in my adult ESOL classes--we are on the same page! The basic literacy part is what is new for me--I'm used to teaching ESOL students who already know at least basic reading and writing.  You all are giving me some great resources.

Jen

Hi Jen,

I totally agree with a fun based curriculum and an oracy led activities to first build vocabulary and familiarity with the sounds you'll be using.

These words then become important enough for the students to learn. It's amazing how some really big words can be important in their lives while some teeny little phonics based words can have no meaning, no relevance so no place. (contrast "reception desk" with "fig" for example).

I love an app called bitsboard that allows me to use relevant words, add my own accent, or that of a friend, and show the words as flashcards on a screen. So photos of the activities you do in class become the prompt or symbol for a word. Gardening, cooking, recycling, creating.. It can all become a story and with BitsBoard, a range of games as well.

Grammar at this level is an art form of controlled practise. controlling for gender, tense, number so you practise one new thing at a time. 

I have also used Phonics for all ages. Elizabeth Claire. Students have responded well to it. And Theodora Lafkas  Numeracy and Literacy workbooks are good too. (Apels)

So good luck and have fun!