Hello! I am hoping to find some good advice from my Adult ELL expert colleagues. :)
I have several senior ELL students in my program that really don't seem to progress. They have great attendance and make efforts to participate. However, they don't appear to be making any significant language gains. The instructors that are teaching them seem to think they are having trouble with retention.
Does anyone else see this happening? Any suggestions for helping these students to progress?
Thank you for any input you might have.
Laura Araujo, Carroll Community College, Westminster, MD
Comments
If the students are older they might be on medications that impede retention of the material. I encourage my students to use their smart phones to look up vocabulary words that are unfamiliar and then use the word in sentences throughout the class or week, etc. Students also are encouraged to use new vocabulary in writing assignments.
Sometimes, I give review material the following class that reminds them of what they learned during the previous class.
Another reason for older students having trouble retaining information may be that they are not able to read it in the first place - and not because they can't read (although that could be the case with some); it can also be because of the layout of the page and the size of the print. Being older myself, I routinely expand my email print size to 14 points when possible. Graphics are helpful, but you don't want too many different things going on on the page,
This resource is not new, but I think it still holds true. Check out this digest by the late Gail Weinstein. Growing Old in America: Learning English Literacy in Later Years. http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/grow.html. It lists several issues with older learners and makes suggestions for some strategies. There may be newer works, but Gail's' work on older learners was seminal. Some of you may be familiar with her Learners Lives as Curriculum, (2002) where she describes how to use students lives as the basis of the class content.
This curriculum, based on work at six program sites in California, explores the use of learners’ lives as the basis for English language and literacy development. The video shows learners and teachers as they work on activities that incorporate stories from the learners’ own lives. The teacher text outlines the concepts behind the curriculum and describes ways to use the video and activities in instruction. 2002.
Miriam
SME, Adult ELL CoP
Several years ago (in 2006) I worked with a colleague from the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) and with Senior Service Americ, Inc. www.seniorserviceamerica.org to publish a guide for working with immigrant seniors. The target audicence was non profits and other organizations that hire immigrant seniors.
Although written to help make workplaces more supportive of older immigrants, the advice, activities and resources in Engaging Immigrant Seniors in Community Service and Employment Programs: A Guide for Providers could be useful for educational programs working with this population as well.
You can download the entire resource at http://www.seniorserviceamerica.org/research-reports/, at Engaging Immigrant Seniors in Community Service and Employment Programs: A Guide for Providers (2006).
I recommend you check out the scenarios - espcially the one on literacy issues page 58-60.
Let me know if it resonates with any of you who work with immigrant seniors.
What other issues do you find and how do you address them?
Miriam