EL Folio
English Learner (EL) Tips: Folio #2 - Comprehensible Input
Audio Input Strategies for Enhanced Comprehension
How do I add listening skills to my lessons for ELs?
1. Audio recordings within lessons of text or vocabulary.
2. Videos with audio (especially if you can slow down the speech); turn on closed caption
3. Text to Speech!
4. Speech to Text!
Why are oral language skills important for ELs you ask?
In order to learn literacy, humans have to be taught the system or code of each language. Spanish, for example, is one-letter one-sound. but English - as you well know - is nothing like that! We have all different patterns, sounds, spellings, and crazy exceptions, right?
Teaching academic English means we teach the meaning, decoding, and spelling of words and phrases.
Text to Speech helps English Learners to make those connections
Speech to Text and class interaction helps ELs use/practice academic language
Teacher2Teacher EL Tips
Middle School Teachers Krista Sommer and Samantha Lurch offer this EL tip:
Why? Some English Learners acquire oral skills before literacy skills while others are more comfortable learning literacy skills before speaking.
Your fellow teachers suggest you incorporate audio files, audio response options, and teach students these Text to Speech, Speech to Text tools for enhanced oral language development in your class and beyond!
How Do I Find the Chrome Extensions?
CULTURAL CONNECTIONS
Collectivist vs. Individualist Cultures: Parent vs. Teacher Roles
As you read in EL Folio #1, we are all born into a society that espouses either individualism or collectivism in varying degrees. How do these deep-rooted, learned perspectives influence our interactions with parents and students?
Parents do NOT see themselves as adjunct school teachers; therefore, they typically do not assist their children with school work like individualistic parents are expected to do. Parents' educational level does not effect this social norm; collectivist societies stress roles that contribute to the community. For this reason, cultural experts Elise Trumbull, Carrie Rothstein-Fisch, and Elvia Hernandez contend that collectivist parents see education as the role of the teacher!
Here at CCA: As a school and as individual teachers, we need to guide collectivist parents toward increased involvement in their children's education as learning facilitators.
- Show them "how" not just "what" to do as learning facilitators.
- Provide checklists and resources to enable their role as learning facilitators
- Remind them, in their language as needed, their role in cyber education is to assist the teacher including monitoring their children's attendance and participation as part of expected behavior in this school's learning environment.
Together we can help collectivist parents become an effective educational partner no matter what level of English or education they have!
NOTE: The unique human element: this information is not meant to stereotype anyone in any way, but it may shed light on why humans interact they way they do.
Thank you for taking the time to read and learn more about the assets our diverse school population brings to broaden our world as global citizens!
Want to learn more?
Send an email to Eugenia (Jeannie) Krimmel to set up a time to talk.
My cubicle is always open - literally!