Activities

What are some fun ways to teach sight words to K-2 ELLs?

Word banks are a great way to teach sight words, especially for ELLs who are also working on building English vocabulary, and there are lots of ways to use word banks that are really fun for kids.

A word bank is a child's individual collection of known words, written on small cards and kept together in a bag or envelope so that the child can read them and play with them regularly. To collect word bank words, choose 6-10 words from each book a child reads and print them neatly on small cards. The words can represent the specific phonics features the child is studying, or they can be high frequency words, such as "what" or "then." The word cards for each book can be kept in a pocket that has been glued to the inside cover of the book so that the same cards can be used again and again with different children.

After a child has read the book at least two or three times, take out the word cards and see which ones the child can read automatically, that is, without having to spend time decoding. For each word that is read automatically, make a new word card, and add it to the child's personal word bank. As new books are read, repeat the process, adding new words to the word bank.

The word bank then becomes a source for familiar words that can be used in a variety of ways:

• Play Concentration — make a duplicate set of cards. Take turns turning cards up two at a time to find matches.
• Play Bingo — make cards with selected words from the word bank in the boxes. Call out words, and as each is read, have the child cover it with a token. Then switch places, and have the child call out the words as you cover them.
• Play Pick-Up — lay out 6-10 words from the word bank. Have the child pick up the words you name or describe. For example, "Pick up the words that rhyme with 'bat.'" or "Pick up the words that start like 'top.'"
• Do Word Sorts — find words in the child's word bank that have something in common, either related to meaning or to word features. Take out two or three groups of such words, and have the child sort them. For example, have the child sort words that refer to animals as compared to words that refer to plants, or words that start like "which" as compared to words that start like "that."

How can you explain to ELLs who are just starting to read why the capital "I" looks the same as a lower case "L"? Even on a keyboard they sometimes type the "I" as a lower case "L".

This can be confusing for any beginning reader, and English language learners may have particular difficulty since the sounds that these letters make in English may also be very unfamiliar to them. Nevertheless, I think that this situation provides an excellent opportunity for your students to work on both letter recognition and sound-letter correspondence. For example, you might create an area on the classroom wall for collecting words that begin with "i" and words that begin with "l."

For each letter, make a card that has the letter written in upper and lower case, along with a picture of a familiar object whose name begins with that letter. Use these cards as headers for two columns on the wall. Students can then become detectives, keeping an eye out for "i" and "l" words as they read.

As each word is encountered, write it clearly on a large card and then have one or more students add an illustration. The card should then be placed on the wall under the appropriate header.

As new words are added, have students read through both lists orally. The illustrations will provide a scaffold for those who have difficulty with the words. The class can also discuss how the word is written in the source text, giving an opinion on whether they think the "i" or "l" is written correctly, using the cards on the word wall as a reference. I think your students will enjoy becoming "letter experts!"

What is "scaffolding" and how does it help ELLs?

Scaffolding is a method in which the teacher supports a student to work just beyond the level he could achieve on his own. Psychologist Lev Vygotsky called this area the "zone of proximal development." As the student becomes more competent, the support is gradually removed until the student is able to perform the task without assistance.

The benefits of using scaffolding are numerous. Scaffolds help students build on prior knowledge and internalize new information. The goal of the educator when using the scaffolding teaching strategy is for the student to become an independent and self-regulating learner and problem solver.

In addition to facilitating learning, the scaffolds:

• Motivate the child's interest related to the task.
• Simplify the task to make it more manageable and achievable for a child.
• Help the child focus on achieving the goal.
• Clearly indicate differences between the child's work and the standard or desired solution.
• Reduce frustration and risk.
• Model and clearly define the expectations of the activity to be performed.

For a discussion of scaffolding research and strategies, see the Scaffolding as a Teaching Strategy document from Condor's Scaffolding Website.

For a variety of instructional activities using scaffolding strategies, visit EDTech Projects.

Many of the ELLs in my class are able to decode English text, but continue to struggle with reading comprehension. How can I help them develop comprehension skills?

It is important to remember that comprehension instruction does not just occur after reading is completed. Assigning "comprehension questions" for students to answer after they have read a passage may test comprehension, but this is not a strategy that teaches comprehension. In order to be effective, comprehension instruction must include activities that occur before, during, and after reading.

The goals of "before reading" activities are to activate prior knowledge and to provide a purpose for reading. Research suggests that the brain stores information in a series of schemata, or mental frameworks. The more we know about a particular subject, the more complex our schema for that subject becomes. For example, an adult would probably have a very well-developed schema for the topic "income taxes" while a third grader would probably have a very limited schema for that topic. Effective "before reading" activities help access and expand students' schemata for the topic being studied. Anticipation Guides, ABC Brainstorming, and Carousel Brainstorming are three excellent strategies for before reading (See links below).

"During reading" activities teach students to monitor their comprehension as they read and help them to focus their attention on important ideas, themes, and vocabulary. English language learners who are having difficulty with English comprehension, like most struggling readers, often do not self-monitor. Instead, they continue to make their way through the words of a passage, even when they don't understand what they are reading. Activities that cause students to stop and make sure they understand what the passage is saying can be extremely helpful to these students. Some excellent examples are the Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) and journaling.

"After reading" activities encourage students to synthesize and reflect upon what they have read and to organize the information they have gathered in a logical and meaningful way. There are a number of graphic organizers that can be used effectively as after reading activities. Class discussion and writing activities are especially effective after reading strategies.

Here are some useful links on comprehension strategies:

• Guided Comprehension: Previewing Using an Anticipation Guide
• Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Carousel Brainstorm
• Strategies for Reading Comprehension: ABC Brainstorm
• Write Design Online: Graphic Organizers
• Writing Teaching Strategies
• Directed Reading/Thinking Activity (DRTA) * This link will open a PDF document.

What resources are available for teachers of ELLs that are 2, 3, 4, and 5 years old? We have quite a variety of languages in our school.

You might begin by exploring the TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) website, which offers ESL standards for PreK through 12th grade. The Texas Education Agency has also published very detailed curriculum guidelines for PreK, which include guidelines for ESL students.

Explore the Colorín Colorado website for activities to use in the classroom. The Families section has many resources that would be excellent for use in the PreK classroom with ELLs from any background. The section called Fun Reading Tips and Activities, for example, has links to lots of activities that build phonological awareness and other important early literacy skills. In the Educators section, the page on Reading in Kindergarten also has many resources that would be great for PreK, as well as Kindergarten.

You can also find a wide variety of excellent activities on the PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) website. In the Activities section, under Instructional Resources, you can click on skills such as "phonological awareness" and "writing" and then choose "Prekindergarten" or "Kindergarten" to find activities specifically designed for students at those levels.