Katharine Davies Samway

This useful guide presents frequently asked questions from ELL educators, and then provides targeted strategies to address each question. Topics include sociocultural issues, listening, speaking, reading, writing, parent communication, and classroom management.

While the instructional material in this follow-up to the elementary guide written by Samway and Taylor contains a fair amount of overlapping questions and strategies with the first book, there are a number of sociocultural themes covered that are particular to older students. Relevant topics include gender roles, student responsibility, slang, and cultural conflicts.

When English Language Learners Write helps educators connect language acquisition to everyday classroom practices. Samway explains numerous important factors affecting nonnative writers and then she shows educators crucial steps to take for instruction that's responsive to language learners' needs, such as: understanding the literacy practices of non-mainstream cultures; discovering what ELLs can do as writers before they become fluent in English; and providing a print-rich environment to cement the reading—writing connection.