Listening and Viewing for ELLs
Completing ESL courses or an English Language Learners certificate does not always mean you are fully prepared to jump right in and be the best ESL teacher you can be (although that is the wish). Growing your pedagogical practices and learning how to meet the literacy needs of ELLs takes time, resources and collaboration. This blog is a response to someone reaching out to their fellow educators and online ESL teachers community and asking for help.
I have spent 3 years collecting resources and asking for help, because I have been there too: feeling unprepared, confused about the discrepancy between my training and the reality of my classroom and ELLs and discouraged. Don't worry, your feelings are valid and common. It will get better and that starts with reaching out and asking for help.
Beginning ELLs (with little language acquisition) participate mainly in listening and viewing activities as they build comfort to explore oral and written English output. If an ELL is in a "silent period" it does not mean they're not learning and acquiring language skills, but it is important that teachers continue to provide a language rich environment for their listening and viewing. Here are some resources to use and offer to your ELLs:
Resources for ELLs to Practice Listening:
Interesting Things for ESL Students
Randalls’ ESL Cyber Listening Lab
English Language Listening Library Online
English Videos for ELLs:
ESLVideo: English lessons, listening activities, and online conversation classes
If you haven't checked out my Pinterest board on Supporting ELLs in the Classroom, you can check it out here
So nice to see TedTalks in there!
ReplyDeleteTedTalks is great and can be an effective way for ELLs to listen and watch a variety of speakers and speaking styles.
ReplyDelete