Background: I am completing an online J/I ABQ course through Trent University, Module questions and discussion points I am coming up with will be posted here...Why not?
Educators can support ELL learners through a number of ways. I am no expert but I have been doing this for the last two years, a lot of what I had read are things that we practice on a regular basis and need to continually practice and harness as students are becoming privy to language dodging technology.
There are apps out in the app stores that allows people to take pictures and translate specifically highlighted words with their fingers at which point the app will translate the words in the picture into whatever language asked for. This is helpful as well as damaging. The pros to technology like this are the ease of access of materials and that could be important in serious situations or scenarios. With that being said though, there will be a dependency on technology like this if students cannot first learn how to differentiate between a “must have translated for me”, and a “learning point”. There are situations in the classroom or reading tasks with students that they will innately grab at their cellphone for without practicing or appraoching the word verbally first. In these highschool students, we can see a crutch already present in students who are less familiar with English speaking or reading.
As teachers we can offer assistance and support in a number of ways. Just as the French immersion schools work to teach French with a strict rule of French speaking only in the schools, our international school strives for that using English as the immersion language. In this environment students usually revert to native tongue when speaking with different individuals around the school but they know that most of their teachers do not speak Chinese. Classroom norms of tem building and cooperation between students is important because they will continually rely on one another in class throughout classroom activities and further understanding of the work.
Teachers offer tutorials which is an hour or so after school in which students can receive 1:1 assistance with homework or areas of challenge assisted by the teacher, students with more familiarity in the subject.
Personally, strategies in reading is where I am working on assisting my students the most. The BC curriculum pushes to have students complete “cold writes” which is something we know students struggle with, they need to be able to read a prompt and/or text and respond accordingly depending on the type of essay asked they write.
Grammar help through technology, websites, apps, things I can introduce them to 1:1 that they can use at home to assist them is one way I choose to support my language learners. These students do not have WIFI in their dorms and usually travel long distances to go home for weekends and holidays. Technology offers them chances to complete work and realize that their technology is not merely for game playing and messaging friends. It has been a struggle but I have also been teaching the students how to work on technology to complete essays and other assignments, offering small skill testing tasks in English to help them improve their abilities to read and comprehend instruction as well as communicate with other students using the Edmodo.com classroom I setup for the class.
For ELL students their fall back is usually websites, resources, and research that stems from their mother tongue. The students should be completing the work in English, they often times are unsure where to find or even how to start research in the second language (especially when Google is blocked). Baidu and Navier are examples of search engines in other languages that the students fall back on. As a teacher, one can offer a list of places to a) find resources in English; and b) a few beginning resources to use.
In Math students are introduced to vocabulary and not only number solving problems but also word problems. In class the best cases are when students find themselves confused by Canadian iconic names, and cultural references such as “The top of a medium Tim Hortons cup has a height of 6cm and a radius of…” Students will not only be learning the basics of math conception but the cultural knowledge of Canadian (former Canadian at least) brands and concepts. These are class learning points that when divided up throughout a unit can be empowering and enlightening or students emigrating to Canada or planning to study in Canada at the very least.
No comments:
Post a Comment