That's great Jane, as my students are Saudi and orally very proficient but have great difficulty with spelling. I'll try it out and give you some feedback. e

Emma Bourassa
English as a Second or Additional Language/ Teaching English as a Second Language Instructor
ESAL Department
Thompson Rivers University
900 McGill Road. P.O. Box 3010
Kamloops, B.C. V2C 5N3
(250) 371-5895
fax 371-5514
ebourassa at tru.ca

>>> "Miller, Jane" <Miller_J at cde.state.co.us> 03/05/08 1:07 PM >>>

Emma,
I asked my son's middle school teachers for recommendations for on-line
spelling games that would make spelling activities challenging, yet fun.
To my dismay, they (and their tech lab manager) were unaware of any
software programs focusing on spelling! Recently,  however, I did
stumble upon a website that has a wide variety of learning games.  The
site is www.funbrain.com by Pearson Education.  Be aware if you are
working with adults that the site is for kids so the artwork is
appropriately childlike.  Have a plan for explaining that if you send
your adult learners there.  
 
Anyway, on the site you can go to the game Spell Check.   The game
displays four words, one of which is misspelled.  You check the one that
you think is misspelled and you type the correct spelling in a box.
Click on "Check" and the system checks your spelling.  There is another
spelling game Spellaroo with sentences in which two words are
highlighted.  Click on the one you think is misspelled and the system
tells you if you're right.  Another game - Plural Girls - displays words
and the user types in the plural.  The system checks if the plural form
is correct and displays the answer if incorrect.  Another game is
Grammar Gorillas - I didn't try it, but it may have a similar process.
What is good about the ones I tried is that the user can select  the
easy level or the hard level.  Words at the easy level would be OK for
high beginning, low intermediate ESL.  Words at the hard level would be
low advanced or higher.  You'd need to play around with the games at
each level to decide if they are level appropriate for your learners.
Would learners generally know the meaning and spelling of the four words
displayed or would they get frustrated by not knowing the words and
being unable to decide which is misspelled?   Feedback is instantaneous.
Learners could work singly or in pairs at the computer while the teacher
could be working with other learners in class on other tasks.
 
It's worth checking out!
 
Jane 
 
Jane C. Miller
ESL Specialist / Professional Development Coordinator
Colorado Department of Education /AEFL
201 E. Colfax Ave., Room 400
Denver, CO 80203-1799
303-866-6611 (ph)  303-866-6599 (fax)
miller_j at cde.state.co.us <BLOCKED::mailto:miller_j at cde.state.co.us> 
 

________________________________

From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Emma Bourassa
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 12:59 PM
To: List', 'The Adult English Language Learners Discussion
Subject: [ESL 2185] Spelling program


Hi, I am looking for a spelling program for ESL students. Any ideas
would be helpful. emma
 
Emma Bourassa
English as a Second or Additional Language/ Teaching English as a Second
Language Instructor
ESAL Department
Thompson Rivers University
900 McGill Road. P.O. Box 3010
Kamloops, B.C. V2C 5N3
(250) 371-5895
fax 371-5514
ebourassa at tru.ca


>>> Molly Elkins <melkins at dclibraries.org> 17/12/2007 2:44 pm >>>



Dear Jenny, 

 

You might find some helpful instruction about the Language Experience
Approach (LEA) - which is more or less what you are talking about, by
reading about it in "Teaching Adults: A Literacy Resource Book" from
Laubach Literacy Action, or from the following websites. You can also
just do an online search of Language Experience Approach. There's a lot
out there!

http://literacyconnections.com/InTheirOwnWords.php

http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/wurr/

http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/LEA.html

 

Basically, you ask the learner to tell you a story or share something
from their own experience.

The tutor writes down exactly what the learner says, using correct
spelling and punctuation. 

Ask the learner to suggest a title. 

Read the story back to the learner and ask for any corrections or
changes. 

Read each sentence aloud, tracking the words with your finger, then ask
the learner to read each sentence after you. 

Ask the learner to read the entire story. 

You can also type it up and make it into a book for the learner to keep.

 

Variations might include asking the learner to tell something about
themselves, their hobbies, their dreams for the future, their past,
their family, their job, tell about a photo or picture, tell something
they do well, describe someone they know, tell what they like to do in
their free time- the possibilities are endless! 

 

Molly Elkins
Literacy Specialist
Douglas County Libraries
Phillip S. Miller Library
  100 S. Wilcox Street
  Castle Rock CO 80104
  Map
<http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&addtohistory=&formtype=
address&searchtype=address&cat=&address=100%20S%20Wilcox%20St&city=Castl
e%20Rock&state=CO&zipcode=80104%2d1911&search=Get%2bMap> 
Phone: (303)791-READ 
Email: melkins at dclibraries.org
Web: www.DouglasCountyLibraries.org
<http://www.douglascountylibraries.org/> 

________________________________

From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jennifer Hubler
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 1:02 PM
To: EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 1977] reading, writing,conversation and
independence

 

The ideas you're all sharing are great-I'm learning many ways to improve
my instruction.

 

I am new to this job and subject (3 months). I have a small, fairly new
program (one year) with learners in small groups (3-5) with volunteer
tutors. They are very dependent on their workbooks and textbooks, and
prefer to go lock-step through the lessons. I'm coaching the tutors and
students about skipping lessons or segments that are not relevant or
appropriate. I want to introduce some creative writing and more
conversation. Any ideas about writing that won't be too intimidating for
tutors and students? I made up a story with one student using his
vocabulary words. I wrote, he dictated, and we took turns making up
sentences. He read it fluently after hearing me read, then reading with
me, then practicing once on his own. How do I teach the tutors to do
this? And how do we introduce more conversation that is relevant and
interesting to folks who have depended exclusively on curriculum texts?
I think both need to start with building the tutors' familiarity, skills
and comfort level with the processes and expectations.

 

Jenny Hubler, Adult Literacy Coordinator

 

The Women's Center

1723 Hemphill

Fort Worth, TX 76110

 

817-927-4040 x262

jhubler at womenscenter.info