Having to deal with multi-proficiencies is sort of the pea among the many
mattresses involved in teaching adult ESL, isn't it?  No matter how many
other variables and challenges may lie between our instruction and students
participating in that instruction (different educational backgrounds,
different life experiences, different native languages, possible learning
disabilities, etc.), we can always count on different skills proficiencies
to keep us awake at night, rethinking our activities and strategizing how to
best meet different needs.  As teachers, while we can do as much as possible
to work smartly in addressing the needs of literacy level students in
beginning level classes, if we're going to produce responsible and effective
instruction, it's going to mean more work for us.  What I found was that
while I did eventually develop a battery of strategies and activities, as
well as files and boxes of laminated and other reusable materials,
developing instruction for a beginning level class that included some true
literacy learners required more effort and planning.  There was no denying
that.  

For example, one of the things that helped me conceptualize lessons involved
keeping a planning strategy common for multilevel classes (whole group
alternated with small group activity where groups consist of similar skilled
learners) in mind while following a standard lesson planning format (for
example, warm-up/review, presentation, practice, application, evaluation,
expansion).  Keeping both of these constructs in mind as I planned helped me
think about how to best support the literacy level students' needs within
the larger group while not always isolating them, singling them out, or in
other ways trumpeting the gap between those with more proficient and less
proficient literacy skills.  It also helped me think about ways that the
less literacy proficient could show what they could do (rather than what
they couldn't do) and contribute to efforts of the group as a whole.  

However, this enormous time and energy to plan.  I had to constantly think
of ways to differentiate or scaffold activities and worksheets for the
literacy learners.  I would usually try to make at least one of the small
skills-based group activity segments a time when I could focus on basic
literacy skills practice for the literacy level learners (sound-symbol
correspondences, sight words, fluency practice, letter formation, etc.,
because literacy level students do need regular, focused work on basic
skills).  In doing that, I would try to develop those activities to
integrate with our theme or topic (not easy, sometimes not possible, and
often, as I eventually learned, not always necessary).  I had to think of
activities with elements that might use literacy skills and elements where
students could participate through visuals, oral, or other means. It's all
good teaching practice, and at a certain point, you do internalize certain
things and do them without conscious thought.  But no matter how you slice
it, frankly, some days (and weeks) were better than others. It's very, very
difficult to maintain that level of energy.

MaryAnn Florez
Project Director
Adult Education Professional Development Center
D.C. LEARNs
1612 K Street, N.W. Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
202/331-0141, x25 (tel)
202/331-0143 (fax)
www.dclearns.org/aepdc 
mflorez at dclearns.org  

 

 

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The Adult Education Professional Development Center at DC LEARNs -
Connecting D.C. adult educators with professional development opportunities
and resources.

www.dclearns.org/aepdc 

****************************************************************************
********************

The D.C. LEARNs Mission

To work with Washington, D.C. literacy programs, learners, and supporters to
strengthen adult, family and children's literacy services, and present a
strong, unified voice on the importane of literacy as an investment in the
community.

 

D.C. LEARNs' literacy calendar lists significant literacy events or
deadlines, as well as a selected number of regional and national events that
may be of interest to the D.C. literacy community.  If you know of any
upcoming events in the D.C. region, please submit them to be added to our
calendar at info at dclearns.org 

 

You can visit our calendar at http://dclearns.org/calendar2/plans.cgi 

 

If you want to volunteer as a teacher or tutor for GED, ESL, ABE (Adult
Basic Education), Computers, or Children's Literacy, please enter your
information into our volunteer database at www.readoutloud.org 


-----Original Message-----
From: tcqmom at comcast.net [mailto:tcqmom at comcast.net] 
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 11:04 PM
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 1971] Re: Practical Strategies forWorking
withLiteracy-Level Adult English Langua

Possibly a time set aside for working on individualized writing objectives.
Evaluate what skills each student needs to work on (copying letters, writing
names, writing vocabulary words, dates, times, money, controlled
composition, adding adjectives, adverbs, clauses, free composition, etc.).
If the teacher once creates (or copies) a whole slew of writing activities,
the students can work on those they find appropriate and worthwhile
Kathryn Quinn
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Anne Ventrello" <aventrello at mcsd.k12.co.us>

> We don't have the resources or teachers to have a separate literacy

> class.  So what I want to know is how to deal with literacy students

> when I'm teaching an English class?  We place students according to

> their listening skills in English.  I often have students who can

> communicate well orally with little ability to read and write, but they

> are in my class with those who can communicate orally on the same level

> AND read and write.  

> 

> Anne Ventrello, Program Coordinator

> Montrose Adult Basic Education Program

> P. O. Box 10,000

> Montrose, CO  81402

> 970-249-2028

> aventrello at mcsd.k12.co.us

>  

> -----Original Message-----

> From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Mona Curtis

> Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 10:23 AM

> To: 'The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List'

> Subject: [EnglishLanguage 1958] Re: Practical Strategies for Working

> withLiteracy-Level Adult English Langua

> 

> My biggest challenge is when there are both literacy level students and

> students with intermediate to high literacy levels in the same class.  

> 

> Mona Curtis

> ESL Coordinator

> Treasure Valley Community College

> 650 College Blvd. 

> Ontario, OR 97914

> www.tvcc.cc

> 541-881-8822 x 316

> fax 541-881-2747

> 

> Ever since the morning Time came and sat on the world, men have been on

> the run as fast as they can go, with beauty flung over their shoulders.

> Eudora Welty 

> 

> >>> "Betsy Wong" <betsywong at comcast.net> 12/10/2007 6:56 AM >>>

> Happy Monday, Everyone!  And welcome to this discussion on working

> with

> literacy level learners. As teachers and mentors to adult ESL teachers,

> one

> of the questions that we frequently hear is, "What can I do with my

> literacy

> learners?"  We hope that the discussion that we will all have this week

> will

> address that question and more. 

> 

>  

> 

> Where to start?  How about the way we start a class, by activating

> prior

> knowledge and experiences and clarifying some of the expectations and

> goals

> of our discussions over the next few days?  Following is the

> description of

> a representative adult ESL literacy level class.  We offer it as a

> discussion starter.  Take a look at it and think about what questions

> and

> comments it brings to your minds.  For example: 

> 

>  

> 

> - What would be running through your mind, as the teacher walking into

> this

> class?  

> 

> - What pieces of information do you think are important here?  

> 

> - How would you find out the students' needs and goals?  

> 

> - What would you do the first night? 

> 

> - What would you do to make students feel comfortable and secure? 

> 

> - How similar or different is this from your experiences with literacy

> level

> classes?  

> 

> - What other points would you add or revise in a scenario like this,

> based

> on your experiences?

> 

>  

> 

> The Class/Classroom

> 

> The class is offered as part of a lifeskills-based curriculum.  It

> meets in

> a high school classroom two nights a week for two hours each night for

> a

> total of twelve weeks.  Learners buy a textbook and workbook at the

> "literacy" level of an integrated textbook series used by the program. 

> They

> have access to class sets of picture dictionaries and the teacher has

> access

> to a variety of reproducible literacy materials and flashcards. The

> classroom walls have a lot of high school-oriented print, so much so

> that

> the adult ESL teacher often uses flipchart paper to cover it up, so

> students

> don't experience overload.

> 

>  

> 

> The Students

> 

> The students all tested as literacy level students, but still exhibit

> important differences.  For example, Amina has never been to school in

> her

> native Somalia, does not speak any English, and does not read or write

> in

> any language. Gustavo went to school for three years in El Salvador.

> He

> speaks almost no English and has minimal literacy skills in Spanish. 

> Maria

> also went to school for three years in El Salvador, but she converses

> easily

> in English and has a wide vocabulary. She can sight-read some

> high-frequency

> words in English and Spanish but cannot sound out words in either

> language

> that she does not know. Laxmi is a professional from Nepal who speaks

> and

> writes Bengali, but she doesn't know the Roman alphabet and speaks

> very

> little English. Alemseged is a senior citizen from Ethiopia and while

> he

> says he studied English among other subjects in his native Ethiopia, he

> was

> unable to read or write responses to even the simplest placement test

> questions. Rena was a language teacher in her native Tunisia. She has

> strong

> oral English language skills and is very comfortable and happy using

> her

> speaking and listening skills with her less accomplished classmates.

> However, when asked to read or write, she becomes more hesitant and

> less

> confident.

> 

>  

> 

> As we said at the beginning, this is a way to get the conversation

> started.

> Think of it as that picture that starts out most units in ESL

> textbooks---there are all sorts of possibilities!

> 

>  

> 

> Looking forward to our discussion.

> 

>  

> 

> MaryAnn Florez

> 

> and

> 

> Betsy Lindeman Wong

> 

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Adult English Language Learners mailing list

> EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage

> Email delivered to aventrello at mcsd.k12.co.us

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Adult English Language Learners mailing list

> EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage

> Email delivered to tcqmom at adelphia.net


----------------------------------------------------
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