Teacher Discussion Forums

Could you be more specific? What area are you in? For example, if you live in the south or southwest, you will be working primarily with Hispanics. You may find that the college courses are too theoretical unless you're lucky. You will learn much more from teaching and working with other esl teacher...

I assume that you are in a public school. Under No Child Left Behind, you are the one in charge of ELL's. If not, then you're the victim of politics as we all are at one time or another. Check with your ESL supervisor and or get a copy of the state ESL standards. Thie standards will give the exact i...

It depends on where they come from to a certain extent. Those who have another alphabet have a tremendous amount to overcome. All of my students are Latino. Not only do they have the same alpha, the also share a number of cognates. My students can already read in English. So their problem can be alm...

I teach 50 Mexican students and 1 Peruvian. In addition to English, I also teach them social studies about their country. Many of these students are part Native American. I've been told that some Latinos do not like to be linked to Native American culture, i.e. refering to "their" Native American he...

There are two things that you have to do. One: Follow policy and procedures in order to keep your job. Two: Fullfill your sacred obligation to teach children. However those two don't always work together. Find a curriculum (state, national, or local system). make a copy and post it in your classroom...

Does your state have an ESL curriculum? Contact the State Dept of Ed.
You can also look at this website
http://www.cal.org/eslstandards/

I have a few esl students with learning disabilities. They seem to respond well to computer activities. I am trying to find out about a few good cd's or websites with phonics. I already use Starfall. One thing that I am doing is to make books for these students on my computer with Photoshop. I use t...

My kids like to play the Geosafari Jr. games. They're expensive -$100 and you need at least 2 or 3 of them. If you are innovative, artistic or know how to do computer graphics, you can design your own games based on your curriculum to go with the Geo game. So far my students havn't gotten bored with...

As an experienced inner city public school teacher, I knew this already but thanks for the response. A lot of what you get in ESL school is bs. Just wanted to get some input from this site.
Well said.

I am a new elementaty ESL techer in the US. I have not yet studied assessment and am researching info. What are the most common tools? Thanks.

Hello. I am starting to teach elementary esl next week. I have university credits in esl and tutoring experiance. I would like to get an idea of what type of instruction is commonly being used. For example: Audiolingual Method, Natural Approach, TPR, Role Playing, Problem Posing, Content Based, game...

Hi Theresa. I'm also interested but when I clicked on that link, I got a "Page not found" message. I'd love to hear from you.

I am an elementary school teacher earning an endorsement in ESL. I've taken half the courses. Wednesday night I will begin volunteer tutoring some Afghan refugee children who speak no English. I will have a translator for the first meetings. Being a school teacher, I can ceratinly figure out a numbe...

I am a new ESL teacher and am interested in getting ideas from experienced teachers about correcting students' attempts to speak English. Some textbooks have given lesson plans which say let students use English without constantly correcting. Is it better to let them speak and not correct everything...