ESL Students
Scenario
“Prisca was 10 years old and only had limited English. She was one of several new children from the one family who were starting at the school on Monday. The family had fled from the Sudan and had been waiting for many years to enter Australia via a refugee camp in Kenya…(Prisca) was withdrawn and very quiet following Sally her new friend everywhere. Prisca was good with numeracy but struggled with her English and her written work.”
Prisca: An ESL student
The initial steps in assisting Prisca with her learning is identifying her ability level in relation to the English K-6 syllabus outcomes (BOS NSW, 1998) and the ESL Scales (NSW DET, 2004a). The ESL Scales is an assessment and reporting framework used to measure the English learning achievements of ESL students and their ESL learning progress against the levels from beginners to a level approaching first language speaker confidence in relation to the three areas of Oral Interaction, Reading and Responding and Writing (NSW DET, 2004b).
Teachers should provide ESL students with constant feedback, which includes an analytical breakdown of their work, so they know their strengths and weaknesses. This improves students confidence which will in turn boost their interest and motivation in writing and English in general (Cohen & Cowen, 2008).
In order to improve an ESL students literacy skills, the teacher could give the ESL student a framework or checklist that is genre specific for writing activities which may include questions such as ‘Will my audience understand what I have written?’ and ‘Have I used a range of action verbs?’ (Gibbons 2009).
In order to improve cohesion and sentence structure within an ESL student’s writing, the teacher should incorporate activities that require them to analyse texts in detail so that they can further their knowledge, skills and understandings related to sentence structure. Firstly, ask the student to identify a sentence and read it aloud. Secondly, ask them to explain the meaning of the sentence in their own words. Then, cut up the sentence into individual words and have them reassemble the sentence. Oral cues can be given while doing this activity. Finally, the ESL student must read the sentence aloud to ensure she has reassembled the sentence in the correct order (Gibbons, 2009). This type of activity can also be used to improve punctuation skills and strategies (NSW DET, 2007). Furthermore, to improve spelling, words can be cut into sections so that students can see each sound in a word. For example, earthquake becomes earth and quake. Then these words can be divided again into ‘ear,’ ‘th,’ ‘qu’ and ‘ake’ (Jones, 2011).
There are a many levels of vocabulary knowledge for Non English Speaking Background learners. When students understand words in a superficial way, it is referred to as fast mapping. Here students are able to read the word and understand where to use it in the context of a particular sentence. However, to extend mapping, it is essential that students encounter words in a variety of contexts overtime (Herrell & Jordan, 2004). In order to further extend an ESL student’s vocabulary, the class could complete a series of word banks. These banks of words would be displayed on the walls of the classroom for the ESL student to use during writing sessions (Gibbons, 2009). The word walls could include words relating to a particular topic or synonym word walls could be created. For example, if the word was big, other words like large, huge and massive would be included.
For more information see the "English as a Second Language Guidelines for Schools" at https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/student_serv/equity/comm_rela/d04_23_ESL_Guidelines.pdf
Teachers should provide ESL students with constant feedback, which includes an analytical breakdown of their work, so they know their strengths and weaknesses. This improves students confidence which will in turn boost their interest and motivation in writing and English in general (Cohen & Cowen, 2008).
In order to improve an ESL students literacy skills, the teacher could give the ESL student a framework or checklist that is genre specific for writing activities which may include questions such as ‘Will my audience understand what I have written?’ and ‘Have I used a range of action verbs?’ (Gibbons 2009).
In order to improve cohesion and sentence structure within an ESL student’s writing, the teacher should incorporate activities that require them to analyse texts in detail so that they can further their knowledge, skills and understandings related to sentence structure. Firstly, ask the student to identify a sentence and read it aloud. Secondly, ask them to explain the meaning of the sentence in their own words. Then, cut up the sentence into individual words and have them reassemble the sentence. Oral cues can be given while doing this activity. Finally, the ESL student must read the sentence aloud to ensure she has reassembled the sentence in the correct order (Gibbons, 2009). This type of activity can also be used to improve punctuation skills and strategies (NSW DET, 2007). Furthermore, to improve spelling, words can be cut into sections so that students can see each sound in a word. For example, earthquake becomes earth and quake. Then these words can be divided again into ‘ear,’ ‘th,’ ‘qu’ and ‘ake’ (Jones, 2011).
There are a many levels of vocabulary knowledge for Non English Speaking Background learners. When students understand words in a superficial way, it is referred to as fast mapping. Here students are able to read the word and understand where to use it in the context of a particular sentence. However, to extend mapping, it is essential that students encounter words in a variety of contexts overtime (Herrell & Jordan, 2004). In order to further extend an ESL student’s vocabulary, the class could complete a series of word banks. These banks of words would be displayed on the walls of the classroom for the ESL student to use during writing sessions (Gibbons, 2009). The word walls could include words relating to a particular topic or synonym word walls could be created. For example, if the word was big, other words like large, huge and massive would be included.
For more information see the "English as a Second Language Guidelines for Schools" at https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/student_serv/equity/comm_rela/d04_23_ESL_Guidelines.pdf
How does this relate to the National Professional Standards for Teachers?
Professional Knowledge
Standard 1: Knows students and how they learn
Focus: Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
Graduate: 1.1.1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning.
Focus: Understand how students learn
Graduate: 1.2.1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
Focus: Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
Graduate: 1.5.1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
Focus: Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
Graduate: 1.1.1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning.
Focus: Understand how students learn
Graduate: 1.2.1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
Focus: Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
Graduate: 1.5.1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.