There’s a lack of community in many U.S. schools today making it especially hard for teachers to integrate their students in the classroom. English language learners especially need to adjust to the cultural, linguistic, social and emotional newness of a school environment. Even so many schools do not give students that sense of belonging students initially need to feel connected with their classroom, teachers and school. And teachers are expected to figure out the best way to integrate their students. Students especially new(er) ones and English language learners can feel especially isolated culturally, socially and emotionally. And unfortunately, teachers have to work extra hard at preparing special activities and lessons that will help them with solving this problem.
There are many ways however that ESL and general education teachers can help their students including ELLs feel settled and comfortable in a new learning environment. In my new book, I’m providing ESL and general education teachers with a number of authentic activities to help them to do this successfully. Each of these activities is designed to promote the skills of word recognition, reading comprehension and oral fluency.By providing authentic instruction that is fun and also focuses on learning new words and asking questions, teacher can create a more positive learning environment and classroom community.
I’ve also prepared reading activities using authentic materials such as filling in a personal I.D. form and also around themes such as “My New School,” so teachers can help teach the themes of newness while creating a classroom community.
When it’s finally available, teachers will be able to use my book to supplement their instruction. I’ll also be providing a series of tips booklets to help ESL teachers and general education classroom teachers collaborate on creating a more positive learning environment for their ELLs.
Stay tuned for more details about how you can download an ebook with samples from my new book!