Effective Teaching Strategies for English Language Learners Lisa

Effective Teaching Strategies for English Language Learners Lisa Marie Amabile EDU 329 Professor Sills

Overview � This article involved effective strategies for early childhood teachers to use with children who are English Language Learners. � 10 teachers from two different districts in Massachusetts which are linguistically and culturally diverse, were interviewed. � Teachers were asked two questions: **What are the effective strategies and Why did they work? **

Overview � Language ability is key in a diverse classroom � Many teachers don’t have the resources to help ELL students meet their needs. � These teaching strategies seek to help ELL students make connections between content and language, and support their communication and social interactions.

Challenge � 20% of students speak a language other than English at home. � Challenge: Emerging the language of the children into the teaching environment. � Each student is an individual and may require different accommodations and needs. Not every strategy will work for everyone.

First Theory/Approach � “Natural Approach” : This theory gives a framework for children who are ELLs. � Broken into 4 subcategories: • • Preproduction Early Production Speech Emergence Intermediate Fluency

4 Most Effective Teaching Strategies � Gestures and visual cues � Repetition and opportunities for practicing skills � Use of manipulatives, props, and hands-on materials � Multisensory approaches

More Effective Strategies � Connecting with parents � Personal conversations with their students � Choose stories that have one repetitive phrases or sentence to expand on knowledge of that word or phrase. (Comes through the multisensory approach) › Ex. Short Train, Long Train – they will master the meaning of “long” & short”.