Teacher Discussion Forums

I teach 3-5 years old preschoolers. Half of them are ELLs who speak a second language at home. Each year I have at least two students who do not speak English at home since their parents are only fluent in the home language. At this age the students can be very quiet at the beginning of the year bec...

I totally agree with you. We should always give our students a feedback on their school work in general. I think this should be done all year around and not only at the time of year when we assess them. The students need our encouragements and support all the time. However, we will have students tha...

I think that one of the challenging tasks of an ESL teacher is to get your Level 1 Entering or Level 2 Beginning students to speak and participate in your classroom. I believe that the students will feel comfortable talking once they feel safe in a learning environment where they are not going to be...

I believe that teaching listening is a fundamental aspect when learning a language. It is by listening that students can hear and analyze the spoken language around them. As teachers, we have to be aware of how to teach listening skills amongst the other skills to our English language learners. When...

The practical steps to test construction are every helpful. I never had to create a test before for my preschoolers as I usually asses my students informally after and during each lesson I teach them, or I use the assessment packets that are provided to us by the department. Using the objectives as ...

There are different ways of testing your children’s understanding after you teach them a lesson or lessons. Aside from testing or quizzing your children to measure their understanding on the subject taught, you can assess them informally. This is done by asking your students’ questions on a specific...

I use interactive group work in my classroom a lot. At the beginning of each year, a lot of my students refuse to talk to me or to answer my questions. I usually have survival phrases translated that I use. I also noticed that the ELL students do not talk to me but talk to their classmates. This doe...

I totally hear your concerns. Classroom management is the key to successful teaching in a classroom. It is hard at the beginning of the year especially that you don’t know your students or their learning levels. Talking to the regular education teacher might be helpful as she/he will tell you more a...

I use technology as a teaching tool in my classroom to support the different subjects I teach my students. In the computer center, I put different software games like Bailey’s or Millie’s Book House for the children. I have them both in Spanish and English. I also put stories in the computer and the...

Lesson planning can be a very tedious task, yet rewarding at the end. It makes your teaching go smoothly and it is also there to guide you. Every morning, before I start teaching, I review my daily lesson, activities, goals and objectives for the day. I think that all teachers will agree that writin...

When teaching ELL children we shouldn’t neglect their age group. In the classroom, we might have children of the same age group, or children of varied age groups. These children might be at the same level of English proficiency or might be at different levels. Some of them might be at the beginning ...

I totally understand your concerns. Teaching in itself is very challenging, and teaching ELL students can be more challenging. I remember my apprehensions before starting to teach in my classroom. When planning, always keep in mind the audience (students) you are planning the lesson and activities f...

When teaching ELL students, I will keep in mind the principles of language learning. My teaching approach will be based around the teaching principles that I will apply in my classroom with my ELL students. Successful teaching of ELL students depends not only on me, but also on their hard work and c...

I know that it can be challenging to teach ELL students especially if they speak little of no English. Most of my preschool children in my classroom are ELL learners. At the beginning of each year, I have at least one or two students that do not speak English. Throughout the school year I teach my s...