Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Feb. 4, beginning at 2 p.m. Teachers will post a sign up sheet outside their door. If you would like to pencil in an appointment, please send me an email or a note. There will be a break for teachers’ dinners at 5 p.m.
Add comment February 2, 2010
Rebecca Raab, Rebecca Doroshenk and myself are the three teacher sponsors for the GHS International Club. Currently, we can boast of 15 members consisting of several American students, with the majority being ESOL and International Exchange students. Check out our blog site at http://www.ghsinternationalclub.spruz.com/ for our club mission statement and events!
January 18, 2010
I am currently teaching a Spanish Club at GES once a week. We have met three times and have 20 student members (grades 3-5). We are learning Spanish numbers, alphabet, colors, basic greetings. The most exciting feature of this club is that two of my GES ESOL Latino students are members of this club. I call them my “helpers.” But they do more than “help.” Their presence in the club is exciting because they are constantly being called on as “experts.” Students can pair up with my students to practice an activity. Many times, I will call one of my ESOL students to the front to “model” for the students. Most importantly, my two Latino ESOL students are my “culture” experts. We are able to draw on their cultural background knowledge. For example, when we were learning about Latino Christmas, my two ESOL students were able to share traditions of Navidad in Mexico. We discussed songs, food, and rituals during this holiday time.
The participation of both ESOL and regular GES students has been uplifting and beneficial. While we are able to impart a second language and cultural facts to American students, my ESOL students are benefiting. My ESOL students know how to speak in their first language (Spanish), however they struggle with reading/writing. Not only does this club reinforce literacy in my ESOL student’s first language, it also helps to instill some pride in their own identity. I find that being a “minority” group, ESOL students tend to hide their backgrounds. They seldom have the opportunity to share their identity with students in the regular classroom. For the most part, they remain an “invisible” minority. This club opportunity allows them to share a little of their heritage and language with others-and reinforce their “cultural identity.” And, we All are having an incredible time:)
Add comment January 18, 2010
On December 4th, my 6th and 7th grade ESOL students had the chance to present and share their knowledge and experiences about a girl’s 15th year birthday celebration- the Quinciñera. We presented two times in Ms. Ray’s 6th grade classes.
Two of my ESOL students, Beatriz Mendez and Beatriz Padilla, both came as guest speakers. Beatriz Mendez shared her journal entry in which she outlined her plans for her future quinciñera. She also shared a sketch she had created of the dress she wants to wear. Beatriz Padilla recently had her own quinciñera here in Virginia. She shared with the class what the celebration was like and described her dress.
In addition to this part of the presentation, we shared a powerpoint presentation which included pictures and a brief description of the celebration. Following are some of the elements of the presentation:
It’s a tradition. It is to celebrate a girl’s 15th birthday.
You first have a confirmation at the church (you get the priest’s blessing and you have a confession).
Then, you go to the party. First you eat. Then, you clean up. Then, people come back and you dance.
It is to celebrate womanhood. Father has a dance with his daughter. He gives her a doll to commemorate her entry into womanhood.
December 11, 2009
Parent Conferences will be held this Thursday, November 12, from 2:00 to 7:00.
I will be calling parents of certain ESOL students on behalf of regular and content teachers. I will also be participating in these conferences.
November 9, 2009
Last Saturday, November 7th, 12:00 P.M. Rebecca Raab and myself hosted another success ESOL get together at Java Jodi’s to honor the hard work and continued dedication of our ESOL volunteers.
Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture. So, last year’s picture will have to do….Our group has now grown to an additional five volunteers-who assist ESOL students through Elementary, Middle, and Highschool. We even have a Math volunteer this year who is working with some of our 7th grade ESOL students in Mr. McKenzie’s class!
November 9, 2009
Over the past marking period, I have been able to make home visits to most of the homes of my new students. I have found that home visits are important for the following reasons:
1. Making the connection with a student’s parent is essential for success. If a teacher has a personal relationship with the parent, half the battle is won when it comes to dealing with student behavior and academic issues.
2. Because I deal with ESOL parents, many of my parents have difficulty communicating to teachers/school and becoming involved with their children’s education. I use my home visits as ways to encourage parents to involve themselves more in their children’s academic endeavors and school events.
3. Introducing my ESOL volunteers. Many of my ESOL families have a volunteer placement in their home. I take the opportunity to have my volunteers accompany me on home visits. My volunteers work with my students on their homework, read with them, and assist parents with tasks that they are unable to complete because of their language barrier. Also, my volunteers are a bridge for ESOL parents and the community.
4. Encourage literacy. When I make a home visit, I bring my students and their entire family books. Thanks to many book donations and Reading A-Z, I have been able to collect many books on different reading levels. I emphasize to the ESOL parents the importance of reading to their children-even the ones who aren’t in school. I also encourage them to read to their children in their native language. The primary indicator of how well a child learns a second language depends on their literacy and academic background in their first language. I always take advantage of home visits so that I can relay this important information to parents.
5. I use home visits as a way to meet my student’s entire family. The majority of my students have extended family that live at home. These members are inextricably linked to my student’s lives. When I meet an aunt or uncle or a grandparent, it is almost as important as meeting an immediate family member.
October 29, 2009
With my new ESOL Kindergartner, it’s been amazing to see the progress and strides he’s making in language acquisition. Through my observations, I find that in the span of two days, he has acquired a surprising amount of words/phrases. Being a child without inhibitions, he didn’t spend even one day in the silent receptive phase of language acquisition-but jumped into exploring and talking immediately. The following are observations and things that I noticed that makes his environment (kindergarten) one of the best places for ESOL students when learning a second language.
1). PROXIMITY Ms. Jones is the kindergarten teacher for my ESOL student. On the first day of school, she made sure to place the ESOL student at the same desk/table of students who are “on top of their game” and who are eager to show my student what they are learning/doing. It’s so funny to watch my ESOL student and his desk partner share a conversation-each speaking a different languages-but fully believing that they are communicating to each other in their primary languages. This close proximity allows messages to get across to another by mere means of actions, gestures, and facial expressions, and most importantly, no inhibitions….Another proximity technique is when Ms. Jones keeps my ESOL student close to herself during class activities. It is so neat to walk into class and see my ESOL student perched next to Ms. Jones’ lap or chair, or holding her hand at the front of the line when they are walking down the hallway. I believe that this simple technique of maintaining close proximity between teacher/ESOL student is extremely helpful when it comes to behavior management and helping ESOL students feel acclimated, safe, and part of the group. Check out Vygotsky research on the zone of proximal development and how it is directly related to a child’s learning..The same applies to language learning. Proximity and language learning go hand in hand.
2). THE USE OF PICTURES AND MANIPULATIVES: We all know that kindergarten teachers use pictures and other manipulatives to help their students learn. Not only are pictures and manipulatives helpful for mainstream students, they are also wonderful tools to help ESOL students learn. They provide the extra scaffolding needed for comprehension. Following is a picture of my ESOL students working on the beginning sounds of the alphabet by associating the letters/sounds. He is then writing the letters and drawing pictures that begin with the letter sounds into his own alphabet book.
3. KINESTHETIC LEARNING: Kids never stop talking when they play! Playtime can turn into kinesthetic learning if a teacher creates and implements language objectives into the activity. What a better place for an ESOL student to learn a second language than during playtime! For this reason, I dedicate at least 10 to 15 minutes each day to play with my student on “Thomas the Train” mat with little cars, play man, and dog. Every other day, we review the same vocabulary words (school, church, pond, house, factory, gas station, train track). We review the colors and numbers with the cars. We also review the same prepositions (around the bush, up the hill, into the pond, on the car, on the road). Finally, we review the same present progressive words (he is swimming, he is driving on the road, he is jumping up, he is going to the gas station). Each day, I have been documenting the words that my ESOL student has learned when playing on the mat. I have been amazed at his progress. When we started three weeks ago, he was unable to communicate, much less repeat words/ phrases. Now, he can independently remember and say almost every vocabulary words we have reviewed during this activity. In addition, he is repeating numerous words/phrases- with full comprehension of what we are doing because our actions correspond to our conversation (see research by Kagan and Kinesthetic learning, and Total Physical Response (TPR).
If we as teachers can learn to implement a few of these few strategies in class, we will find that they can make a difference in language acquisition for ESOL students.
October 9, 2009
As an ESOL teacher, on of my goals is to find opportunities to use the classroom as a venue to impart my knowledge of international cultures and languages to others in the school and community abroad. We live in a global community, so why not share it with others? For this reason, I seized the opportunity to visit Ms. Lewis’ World History class to be a guest speaker on Wednesday, September 30th and to share my experiences of traveling to Turkey with the family of my two Turkish ESOL students.
Following are some pictures from the keynote presentation I made to the class. Also, attached are the Turkey_present_notes that correspond with the keynote pictures.
September 30, 2009
This past weekend, I attended the 2009 National Book Festival in Washington DC. Authors who were available to sign books and speak were some of the following: Julia Alvarez, Judy Blume, Ken Burns, Paula Deen, and Lois Lowry.
Here is a picture of the festival and another of the GMS teachers who I accompanied on the trip.
September 30, 2009
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jan | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |