Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Teaching & Instruction
Good teaching can be the difference between success and failure for a young reader, especially one who is learning to read in English as a second language. All teachers need to have a large repertoire of methods and strategies at their fingertips if they are to help their students develop the reading and writing skills that will allow them to become successful learners. The articles in this section offer a variety of strategies that cover all components of reading instruction, as well as information on how to design an effective reading program.
This section contains 58 articles.
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Honoring Family in the Classroom
In this article excerpt, Alma Flor Ada and Rosa Zubizarreta suggest an innovative but practical technique for helping parents engage in a meaningful way with their children and their children's schools. Teachers send home questions or dialog prompts designed to encourage parents to share stories about their own life experiences with their children. These stories then become the basis for classroom discussions about students' cultures, and they can also be used to generate meaningful classroom curriculum activities.
Math Instruction for English Language Learners
Language plays an important part in math instruction, particularly for ELLs. This article offers some strategies for making language an integral part of math instruction, and for ensuring that ELLs have the tools and language they need to master mathematical concepts, procedures, and skills.
Tips for Educators of ELLs: Reading in Grades 7-12
These tips offer some great ways to help your regular and newcomer English Language Learners become confident and successful readers. Add a new language strategy each week, and watch your students' reading improve!
Tips for Educators of ELLs: Reading in Grades 4-6
The tips below offer some great ways to help your English language learners (ELLs) become confident and successful readers. Add a new language strategy each week, and watch your students' reading improve!
Tips for Educators of ELLs: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12
Research shows that vocabulary development is one of the most important skills students need to acquire to become English-proficient. This article provides some strategies to help you get started.
Tips for Educators of ELLs: What To Do First in Grades 4-12
Before you begin to work with your ELLs, these preparation strategies will make your reading instruction more productive and effective.
Culturally Responsive Instruction for Holiday and Religious Celebrations
The first step in implementing more culturally responsive instruction is recognizing how our own cultural conditioning is reflected in our teaching. This article shows teachers how to bring rich cultural content into their teaching in a way that expands students' knowledge and interest. The article offers suggestions that teachers can use throughout the school year, as well as when observing cultural and religious holidays and celebrations.
A School Year Start Up Checklist
Gear Up for a New School Year!
Starting a new school year positively is very important. It is likely that most teachers will have newly enrolled students in their classrooms, as well as students who do not speak English as their first language. For this reason, there is a lot for teachers to think about as they start the new school year.
It's time to go back to school! Whether you're a novice or an old pro, we have some ideas and resources to get you ready and set for the best school year yet!
Selecting Vocabulary Words to Teach English Language Learners
Which words should you teach first? Use this guide to Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 words to effectively build your students' vocabularies.
Reading Comprehension Strategies for English Language Learners
Explicit teaching of reading comprehension skills will help students apply these strategies to all subject matter.
How to Develop a Lesson Plan that Includes ELLs
This roadmap can help you teach content knowledge to ELLs through comprehensive lessons that develop background knowledge and build academic skills.
Cooperative Learning Strategies
Cooperative Learning is a great way to engage ELLs in learning both language and content. This article has several ideas for small group activities that build skills and promote teamwork.
Introducing a Text Before Reading
Teachers can help motivate students to learn by activating prior knowledge and pre-teaching difficult concepts and vocabulary before starting a new unit.
Oral Language Development for Beginners
Teach vocabulary and communication skills by having students act out simple activities. This strategy, called Total Physical Response, helps students in the early stages of language development.
English language learners have to learn content with their native English-speaking peers, but they have the added challenge of learning English at the same time. Here are some ways to support ELLs in learning academic content.
Using Children's Television to Learn Literacy and Language
Television can be another good way for English language learners to learn new words and improve their overall English skills.
Regardless of what reading program or strategies you use in your classroom, reading needs to be fun! There are many ways that you can help promote the joy of reading.
Standards-Based Writing for ELLs
Writing is a social process, and each culture has its own conventions about sharing narratives. Help ELLs become successful writers by fostering self-expression and explicitly teaching English writing conventions.
Knowing vocabulary words is key to reading comprehension. The more words a child knows, the better he or she will understand the text. Using a variety of effective teaching methods will increase the student's ability to learn new words.
Reading In Middle and High School
English language learners (ELLs) enter U.S. schools in all grade levels, and with a wide range of backgrounds, reading skills, English language proficiency, and content knowledge. These resources address some of the unique challenges of working with older ELLs.
Reading in Second and Third Grades
Reading is a process of getting meaning from print. Children must have basic knowledge about sound-symbol relationships, vocabulary, and reading prosody. These form the basis for decoding, reading fluency, and reading comprehension that students will need to learn content in the upper grades.
Reading is a process of getting meaning from print. Children must be able to distinguish between different sounds and have basic knowledge about the written alphabet, sound-symbol relationships, and concepts of print. These form the basis for decoding and reading comprehension.
Reading is a process of getting meaning from print. Children must be able to distinguish between different sounds and have basic knowledge about the written alphabet, sound-symbol relationships, and concepts of print. These form the basis for decoding and reading comprehension.
Assess the fluency skills in your ELL students by finding the right reading level, tracking reading rate, and paying attention to expression and comprehension.
Using Informal Assessments for English Language Learners
Informal assessments provide continual snapshots of student progress throughout the school year. By using informal assessments, teachers can target students' specific problem areas, adapt instruction, and intervene earlier rather than later.
Placing English Language Learners in a Program of Instruction
After gathering information on a student's level of English proficiency, educational background, and academic content knowledge, your next step is to come up with a plan for placing the student in an instructional program that meets his or her language and academic needs.
How to Reach Out to Parents of ELLs
English language learners (ELLs) benefit just as much from their parents' involvement in their education as other students.
How to Create a Welcoming Classroom Environment
The Diversity of English Language Learners
The schooling experience of ELLs is impacted by many factors such as time in school, quality of instruction, transiency, home environment, and past emotional experiences in school. The following vignettes illustrate some of these differences.
Reaching Out to Hispanic Students and Families
In this section, you'll find ways to effectively reach out to English language learners (ELLs) and their families.
Reading Rockets has produced a number of videos about English language learners and reading in general that you may find helpful.
Using Cognates to Develop Comprehension in English
Cognates are words in two languages that share a similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation. For Spanish-speaking ELLs, cognates are an obvious bridge to the English language.
Capitalizing on Similarities and Differences between Spanish and English
Fortunately for Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs), there are many similarities between English and Spanish. Here are some of them – as well as ways to address common problems for Spanish speakers learning English.
Instructional Programs for English Language Learners
One of the major decisions in the field of teaching English language learners (ELLs) is which program of instruction to use. These programs range from bilingual education to English-only immersion.
No Child Left Behind and English Language Learners
Title III of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires that all English language learners (ELLs) receive quality instruction for learning both English and grade-level academic content.
What Is the Difference Between Social and Academic English?
Social English, or the language of conversation, may develop very quickly, but mastering academic English, the language of school, can take years. Use these tips to lead students toward full language proficiency.
Common Questions About English Language Learners
Here are some common questions that teachers have about English language learners (ELLs).
Increase Student Interaction with "Think-Pair-Shares" and "Circle Chats"
Peer interaction can play an important role in a student's language development. In order to increase opportunities in which students can interact, try some of the strategies listed in this article, including the "think-pair-share" and "circle chats."
Suggestions: Working with ESL Students Who Have Special Needs in Reading
Teachers are in a unique position to create positive attitudes in English language learners. These suggested children's texts can help ELLs open up about the struggles, ambivalence, and rewards of learning a second language.
10 Things Mainstream Teachers Can Do Today
These ten simple tips can help make school more welcoming and more successful for the English language learners in your class.
Fostering Literacy Development in English Language Learners
Researcher Karen Ford offers some insight on how ELLs use their native language skills to learn to read and write in a second language, and how teachers can help facilitate the process.
A Unified Model of Language-to-Literacy Intervention Approaches
This model introduces a variety of strategies for teachers and parents that: 1) help to identify the child with language-based emergent literacy problems, and 2) assists in the remediation of those problems.
Find ways to help English language learners with learning disabilities who are struggling in math. Strategies for working through mathematical problems, questioning, and assessment are included.
Integrated Vocabulary Instruction: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners in Grades K-5
An integrated and comprehensive approach to vocabulary instruction is important for all students, particularly English language learners.
Closing the Achievement Gap: Focus on Latino Students
This policy brief provides a snapshot of the current demographic and achievement trends of Latinos, some of the specific barriers to closing the achievement gap, and presents a set of recommendations to improve educational opportunities for Latino children.
English Language Learners and the Five Essential Components of Reading Instruction
Find out how teachers can play to the strengths and shore up the weaknesses of English Language Learners in each of the Reading First content areas.
Teaching English-Language Learners: What Does the Research Say?
The Latino population is the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States. This policy brief provides the data and context to support a call for increased attention to the condition of education for Latino students.
English Language Learners with Special Needs: Effective Instructional Strategies
Students struggle in school for a variety of reasons. Unless these students receive appropriate intervention, they will continue to struggle, and the gap between their achievement and that of their peers will widen over time.
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Colorín Colorado is a free web-based, bilingual service that provides information, activities, and advice for educators and Spanish-speaking families of English language learners (ELLs, also known as students of English as a second language).
Colorín Colorado is produced by Reading Rockets — an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital. Original artwork by Caldecott Award-winning illustrator David Diaz is used with permission.
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Colorín Colorado receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers. Additional funding is provided by the National Institute for Literacy and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
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