Teacher Discussion Forums

The most important thing to be aware of is: your goal. Some teachers just let kids play games to fill time. That's not an effective goal. It's much better to have goals that include not just having fun, but also practicing specific language points that have already been introduced and mostly underst...

Depending on their tolerance for writing, you might continue to use some simple written labels/words, on the off chance they'll pick it up and find it useful. But try to use mostly other visual aids, instead. Pictures are good. Real objects are good. Also, get them to perform skits/dialogues or char...

ESL is certainly a growth industry in the US, with more and more kids from other language backgrounds needing to access the public school curriculum in English. No matter what you end up specializing in, you can't go wrong with a solid foundation in TESOL because even if you're not an ESL teacher bu...

You came to the right place, and I think you'll find many welcoming people here. But perhaps you should change your approach to posting. Try asking the specific questions you'd like answered; I suspect the responses you get will be more useful.

All the best,
-EH

You're so right that you can't use standardized English language tests to diagnose learning disabilities in a child like that. But actually, you do have other options along those lines. First, you can contact a bilingual speech-language pathologist in your state. Find one in the right state, with th...

There are IQ tests in languages other than English, and bilingual psychologists who administer them. What are the children's dominant languages? However, as valuable as IQ testing is, I think speech-language testing would be even more necessary if the primary concern is language learning skills. I'd...

Wow. What a tough thing--for you and the child. Have you had the child's hearing tested? I haven't dealt with any kids who have been as neglected as this child apparently was. But in my experience when kids get that far in life yet know that little, it's either because they 1) couldn't hear the inpu...

Try a word that doesn't have any alveolar sounds in it--"cling" is too hard. Try "king" or better yet, "gong". Having the student pronounce "gong" while keeping the tip of the tongue firmly against the lower teeth. The /ng/ should come out correctly. If the student can't do this on her own, then use...

Don't wait. Start working on concepts of print, first of all. Has he been read to? Read to him, in both languages, all the time; at least three books a day. Before he learns to read on his own he has to understand the basics: letters correspond to sounds and words, books are read from front to back,...

Good idea, Joshua2004. Also, since she may be making the same mistakes in her speaking as in her writing, you could focus on the speaking as well. If she can't internalize rules, then how about focusing on examples instead? Like memorizing dialogues or whole skits, then perfoming them together. Some...

Nope. Only SLPs are qualified to diagnose language disorders. Other professionals can add their two cents and often have useful info to contribute to the process, but only SLPs can diagnose.

Alexis, I sent you and email. Let me know what your schedule looks like.

surgeries, i.e. clipping the lingual fremulum. Yeesh, don't get me started. As if that would help! Can you believe people do that? If a kid can stick his/her tongue out past his lips, then there's no tongue tie, and no need for surgery.

That's my rant for the day...

You need a bilingual speech-language pathologist. You cannot assess a child for language disorders if you are an ESL teacher. You can know in your heart what the child's level is, since you have a background dealing with lots of different ESL speakers. But only an SLP can quantify the child's abilit...

You've found one thing that motivates them: games. At the beginning of each class write the name of the day's game on the board. Then spend 5 minutes teaching a single language point that will help them play the game more successfully. Make the 5-minutes-then-game structure a reliable thing that hap...

I agree with lolwhites. (b) sounds best, but "What's he like?" is even more natural.

And if you actually want to get information, rather than just a two word reply, ("He's okay..."), then change it to an open-ended question:
"Tell me about him."

-EH