MUSTANG MOMENTS
Dean Middle School
ESL INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
English-Language Learners are one of the fastest growing student populations in the United States. 18.8% of Dean's student population is ESL. Many teachers worry about effectively teaching English learners while still meeting the needs of their other students. Here are some classroom strategies that are actually good for both types of students.
Interactive Word Walls
To improve instruction for English Language Learners and the rest of your students, make vocabulary active – play charades where students act out the vocabulary words, and use a word wall. Increasing vocabulary is crucial to students’ future success, and it’s especially important for English learners.
Visual Aides
Many students need help making sense of what they are learning. For ELL students, a visual aide and/or organizer also helps them to understand how information is organized in English. Use anchor charts, graphic organizers and writing frames to provide students with the structure for their content.
Sentence Stems
ELL students benefit from speaking practice and by hearing their peers using the academic language they are struggling to learn. To encourage participation, give students questions or talking points to prepare in advance, or have students work in pairs or groups to share their answers with the class. This allows English learners to practice their answers in English and increases their chance of success.
TEACHER REFLECTION
As educators, we are so often consumed by the busyness of delivering first time quality instruction. We are also aware that all good teaching takes serious thought and consideration. These are some of the reasons we use the RTC as a campus wide instructional alignment tool. While it's main use is for instructional adjustments and notes, many teachers often use it for documenting behaviors, SPED modifications and much more. Here are just a few examples of some of our teachers taking the time to check and reflect using the RTC!