Be there for them (:

Some thoughts about teaching ESOL successfully - Begin with your Philosophy of Education! Here, I share some of my ideas:
*The purpose of teaching is to enlighten individuals and to prepare them for the next steps in their lives.
*The classroom should be conducive to relaxed learning through an atmosphere of acceptance.
*Basic facts should be presented clearly and reinforced with relevant examples.
*Being prepared, yet flexible, and being happy to teach is everything.
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The high school ESOL students that I have worked with benefited the most when they knew that they could “try again”. Non-English speakers are often very quiet at first, hesitant to speak or write for fear of making mistakes. Constant encouragement creates positive results. They need to be praised for opening and using their duel-language dictionaries.
Understanding reading development helps instructors teach these major areas of reading skills: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. Each skill builds upon the other. Students who arrive in our classroom with little, or no, English vocabulary must start with the basics. I have to sound out the letter-sound relationships in words, and pronounce blended sounds. When students have had sufficient back ground in education, they usually have a smoother transition than the youth who have been working in the fields or at home after very limited schooling. The class always has a variety of levels working at different paces.
A very important strategy has been keeping writing journals. Daily thoughts of the day, or questions, must be responded to. The change in grammar and sentence structure over time is sometimes amazing. Most students look forward to the correcting, and/or, praising comments.
One really interesting approach to combining reading, writing, and oral skills is to use the Scholastic Action Magazine stories and articles. The plays are particularly attention grabbing. Students enjoy having speaking parts. Even the shy students (who you have to help read word for word) like being included. After discussing the vocabulary, the play
is read, with pauses for clarification. Then, students answer questions and do some short written response work.
Using different mediums, like the computer software program, The Rosetta Stone, is very important. Students need differentiated instruction, since not everyone learns in the same way. The Rosetta Stone allows students to listen to correctly spoken English vocabulary, practice speaking it, transition from pictures to words, and practice typing.
Having plenty of visual language and print helps reinforce vocabulary. Making “word-jars” is a hands-on project that helps students have ownership in their learning experience. Students are given a large jar shaped poster paper that has a specific title, for example, “Sports”. Students will look up and write as many words related to the topic as is possible. Then, they may decorate their work. The jars will be part of a class word wall.
Well, as you know, there are many strategies and projects that help increase students’ language skills. Knowing you are there for them is certainly a main ingredient.
(: