Hi Everyone, In my program we have started to get a number of ESL students who have virtually no English language ability and sometimes are illiterate in their own language. We have struggled to find instructional materials that are basic enough for these students. I would love to know if any you have faced this issue and what materials you have used.
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I have had many students without any formal education in any language, including their own. Many had never been inside a school and had preconceived ideas what learning was. They had not "learned how to learn". To my knowledge, there are few, if any, age- appropriate materials for this group of learners. I decided to make my own materials focusing on listening, responding, and speaking.
Typically, I start by introducing colors and objects that they encounter in their daily living, such as blue chair, red sofa, etc. This becomes a challenge to find a variety of ways to keep learning interesting and fun. Future lessons can include body parts and numbers. Many of the students want to read, but they do not have the language foundation to begin decoding.
Hi, the best resource that I have found for ELLs with limited or interrupted formal education is "Learning for Life: An ESL Literacy Handbook" available at http://www.esl-literacy.com/node/767. The handbook was used as the text for an online course at ELL-U which is now part of the LINCS online course offerings, though in an abbreviated version, I believe. I found the theoretical background, the practical ideas and strategies and the sample activities very useful in working with a newly arrived group of refugees with very little formal education. The curriculum for "LIFE" - learners with interrupted formal education, is separate and apart from ESL curriculum for those who have literacy in their native languages and is leveled across 4 phases. It includes development of all 4 language skills and strategies for learning. I only wish we had the ability to offer separate classes in this manner in our regional program!
Our customers tell us that Laubach Way to English 1 can be very helpful with these students. The teacher's guide gives step-by-step instructions for using Laubach Way to Reading Skill Book 1 to teach the basic sound-symbol relationships. The Laubach method starts with the known--the spoken word--and moves to the unknown--the written word. The teacher's guide provides conversation and vocabulary practice to support the language acquisition. To see sample pages, go to: http://www.newreaderspress.com/Items.aspx?hierId=0100
Terrie Lipke
Editorial Director, New Readers Press
Important question. I'd like to suggest these resources:
Vinogradov, P., & Bigelow, M. (2010). Using oral language skills to build on the emerging literacy of adult English learners. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. Available: http://www.cal.org/caelanetwork/resources/using-oral-language-skills.html
Wrigley, H.S. (2003). What works for adult ESL students. Focus on Basics, 6(C), 14-17. Available: http://www.ncsall.net/?id=189
www.leslla.org This is an international organization called Low-Educated Second Language and Literacy Acquisition dedicated to the learners you referenced
www.esl-literacy.com This website was developed by Bow Valley College in Calgary, Alberta, and has a large collection of resources for teachers of this level.
www.multilingualminnesota.org click on "For Teachers of Low-literate Adult ESL."
And also an article that I wrote with my colleague Nancy Krygowski. We wrote this after facing this same issue and researching best practices for this level. LOW LEVEL LEARNERS: PRIORITIZING TEACHING TOPICS found in http://www.leslla.org/files/resources/leslla_2011_Proceedings.pdf
I also mentioned the www.esl-literacy.com website. It's great. I used to work there and made some contributions to it. You need to dig around sometimes, but it is really helpful and has a great Numeracy Toolbox.
I like OUP _Foundations_, including the reproducables that come with the Teachers Book CD, and the Activity book pages. There are exercises for letter tracing and copying, word matching, word to picture matching, etc., and a colorful thematic picture-heavy text. The listening activities on the cassette that comes with the workbook are good, too.
Great suggestions so far, everyone. I am going to suggest looking at a couple of resources that, well, are not very new. They are:
Linda Mrowicki's Starting to Read, available from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Read-Linda-Mrowicki/dp/0916591115. I like the way she always shows respect to the students, builds on their background, and gives them real tasks to do.I think she wrote the book in the 80s, so you might have to overlook a mullet or two, but the content is good, as are the strategies she employs.
I also like Laurel Pollard et al.'s Zero Prep for Beginners: Ready to Go Activities for the Language Classroom. Alta Book Center, 2001. (okay that one is in this century, at least!) You can also find that at Amazon, or at Alta: http://www.altaesl.com/Detail.cfm?CatalogID=1297
By the way, teaching real beginners, those with limited or not literacy in any language, is the hardest thing to do, I think. I salute those of you who do it well. I'll never forget facing a roomful of Hmong adutlts who had never been in class before, Wow. The whole teacher- student paradigm, as I knew it, just wasn't operative, at least not in those first months and years. Talk about cultural dissonance. But that's another topic for another discussion.
Maybe there will be some new resources at TESOL. Let's look, those of us who will be there, and report back.
Miriam
SME Adult ELL CoP
When I taught low/no literacy ESOL learners, I particularly enjoyed this resource: Making it Real: Teaching pre-literate adult students
Hi Adrienne:
I think this is a very common issue that teachers face when they are trying to teach people that are illiterate. The materials that some libraries and organizations are using before they introduce students to ESL, is a pre-ESL online course called Leamos found at leamos.org. This is for Spanish speakers only though. This helps the student to first learn how to read and write in their own language in order to be able to learn english.
Also anoher resource online is Pumarosa.com. Great ESL online course.
I hope these help.
It's true, there are not many quality materials for this group out there! Thanks for the suggestions everyone!
To add to the list -- I've recently self-published some materials that I've used with low-literate adult ESL learners for many years. The books are intended to take learners from the "pre-abc level" up to basic reading, and are specifically for adult English learners that are not literate in their native language. See www.teachabcenglish.com for previews of the books and to download free samples, abc flashcards, and other resources.
I'd like to find about a dozen teachers from a variety of areas that would agree to be "test classrooms" for these books and give feedback about them. If you'd be interested, please email me at jennifer@teachabcenglish.com and I'll send you a free sample of the book and teacher's guide in return for your feedback!
With my class I found a book called Access: Fundamentals of Literacy and Communication . It's no longer in print (I think?). Here is the link to it for Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Access-Fundamentals-Communication-Steven-Molinsky/dp/0130042358/ref=sr_1_28?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397074456&sr=1-28&keywords=Access+to+Literacy It is simple, logical and provides a good frame work for introducing the alphabet, to which you can add more exercises for additional practice. My refugee students were very slow learners and needed LOTS of repeating practice. I took the individual pages from the book and put them in plastic sleeves. Then I gave them dry-erase and overhead markers so that they write on the page again and again. Also, just as with young learners, it was easier for them to manipulate the fatter markers than skinny pencils :). We had drills - L says, "la", T says "ta", etc. As the letters were presented five at a time, just as in the book.
I teach Adult Ed. in TN and we had an online teaching course for teaching Preliterate Learners given by the Center for Literacy Studies. Sorry, I could find the exact link, but this should get you started http://eff.cls.utk.edu/products_services/online_courses-mini.htm#omc-esl
Hope this helps,
Rachel
I have taught low literacy ESL to adults for a few years now, and wanted to add to the discussion a great website. It's from Bow Valley College in Calgary, Canada. They have cutting edge ESL programs for all levels of literacy, and this website has some great resources.
www.esl-literacy.com
There is curriculum ideas, a toolbox for NUMERACY and LITERACY, and much more.
As far as books go, I have been using the English- No Problem! (Literacy Level) book with some of my students, and there are some good things in there. Also, Grass Roots Press is a good place to look for some easy read books.
I hope this helps! I'm excited to try some of the other resources mentioned in these posts.
Margie Nicoara