Hello colleagues, Teaching adult learners who do not have a solid literacy foundation in their primary language is a unique challenge. Fortunately, there are resources to help teachers to provide the kind of instruction these learners need. Our wonderful colleague, Patsy (Vinogradov) Egan has written a useful article, "Maestra, the letters speak!" that addresses the instructional needs of this group of learners.
As Patsy writes, "Five general principles help us create vibrant, successful classrooms for our low-literacy students:
- keep lessons contextualized,
- combine bottom-up and top-down approaches,
- cater to a variety of learning preferences,
- tap into students’ strengths, and
- nurture their confidence."
Discussing what Patsy means by combining "bottom-up and top-down approaches" would make for a valuable conversation.
You are invited to discuss the instructional strategies that have worked for you when teaching emergent readers. Please feel free to pose any questions you have, too. There are many teachers across the US who have insights to share here on LINCS-- including YOU!
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition CoP