The student who is an 8- year-old from Spanish-speaking country might face the totally new environment different from what the student was used to. Every single day at the school would be a challenge because the student couldn’t understand what’s going on in the classroom. And also for me as a teacher it would be a difficult time to help the student understand the new world.
If I were this child’s ESL teacher, I would help the student with patience and faith. I could try to develop their BICS first, explain daily routine through pictures. Drawing pictures together, the student can talk things out in Spanish first, and I tell them in English. And they could practice English explaining pictures. And show books with pictures, the student tells a story she might guess first and I could read it later. To develop their CALP, I would recommend the student to write diary. It doesn’t need to be too long, doesn’t need to be perfect, either. It’s just about what happen in the student’s days. They could put drawing into diary together and write short comments. And then with me, the student could make sentences with her comments.
I think it’s important to make them think English is fun and helpful. If students make mistakes, it should be acceptable. And teachers help them feel confident, so we should encourage them.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
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