[LIT] students that do not speak english

[Bill IVEY]

"A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades."
<lit at literacyworkshop.org> on Sunday, September 10, 2006 at 11:25 AM -0500
wrote:
>any suggestions for students that do not speak english at all?

Hi!

I would contact any adult literacy centers in your area and ask them if
they would be willing to share materials with you. Juli Kendall has
published, through Stenhouse, two excellent books on teaching ESL
students. I haven't taught ESL to a beginner in a number of years, and
never to a beginning middle school kid, but as I remember Longman and BBC
have good potential textbooks.

Generally speaking, their listening comprehension will be stronger than
their speaking which will be stronger than their reading which will be
stronger than their writing. You can work that to your advantage in the
very early days by doing what's called "Total Physical Response: -
teaching them a series of commands such as "Stand up. Sit down. Walk.
Stop. Walk to..." and more. You can hang pictures and vocabulary words
around the room and have them walk to them, eventually tell you who is
standing by what pictures, and use that as a multisensory way to teach
them basic vocabulary.

Feel free to contact me off list if you have additional questions.

Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School