We sometimes forget that learners are at different points along the learning continuum. Our students range from beginning to advanced, and all points in between. While we pitch our lessons to the middle, and expect our students to meet the objectives, the students at the lower end of the continuum tend to get left behind. Yet, these learners present us with the greatest opportunity for teaching and learning in the use of differentiated instruction.
Continue reading
Hands down, foundation literacy is the most challenging level to teach in language instruction. In fact, it’s a completely different universe from the other CLB levels, even CLB 1. If you’ve ever taught a literacy class, along with a CLB 1 class, as I did this year, you’ll see how dramatic the differences are between the students. A teacher sees that the approaches, strategies, and pedagogy they use for the other levels don’t apply to a literacy class. With that in mind, here are four hard-earned principles I learned from my past year teaching literacy.
Continue reading
Learners often come to me with questions about their English reading materials. They wonder if the books they’ve chosen are good for practicing English or why certain expressions differ from what they hear daily. For instance, one of my students asked why “you shall” was used in a text. This highlighted a common issue: many learners struggle to distinguish between reading for pleasure and reading to learn English as a second language. This leads to a vital question: How does one choose a book that benefits English learning? However, selecting the right materials involves more than just finding any English text—it requires careful consideration of the learner’s proficiency level and the regional variation of English they are exposed to.
Continue reading
Lesson planning can be a time-consuming endeavor, especially for educators teaching students with lower levels of English proficiency. Adapting materials to meet the needs of these learners requires careful consideration and often entails significant effort. However, with the assistance of tools like ChatGPT, this process can be streamlined and made more efficient.
Continue reading
I was taking the chairs down from the desks and putting them on the floor before the morning class, when a student came in and said:
“Teacher.”
She shook her head and pointed to herself.
“Me,” she said.
She motioned for me to sit. Since that day, the students have put themselves in charge of the chairs.
Introduction
In 2018, Beth Beardall posted that reading advances learner grammar comprehension, vocabulary, writing skills, critical thinking skills and speaking fluency in the post Reading, Reading, Reading. Why it is so important! One way to assist your learners with reading is to encourage them to use the Microsoft Immersive Reader tool.
Continue reading
Guest Contributor: Zainab Almutawali
In Part One and Part Two of this series I’ve talked about issues that may affect attendance for literacy learners, as well as some best practices I’ve picked up over the years. In this post, I’ll pass along some more effective teaching practices for literacy learners and tips on PBLA.
Guest Contributor: Zainab Almutawali
In Part One, I talked about the background of literacy students and issues regarding their attendance. In this post, I’ll be listing some of the best teaching practices that I find useful from my personal experience teaching literacy students.
Continue reading
Guest Contributor: Zainab Almutawali
These tips and guidelines are meant for instructors and volunteers who are new to the field of literacy and intend to work with adult literacy learners. What makes this document different is that it is not based on research papers and teaching theories. Rather, it is based on my experience teaching literacy students from diverse backgrounds and various levels of literacy. It is also based on other teachers’ experiences and my learners’ feedback, which I always consider when planning my lessons. Despite the challenges, I find that teaching literacy is very rewarding and fulfilling.
Continue reading
Since Extensive Reading (ER) is a crucial part of language learning, I have compiled some important ER resources to help you promote ER in your classroom. ER can build learners’ confidence, enjoyment and autonomy.
If you missed my first blog post, The Role of Extensive Reading in Language Learning, please read it when you get a chance so that the resources below will be most helpful.
Continue reading