Hello Everyone!
I am a student currently studying Elementary, Early Childhood, and Special Education at Arcadia University in Glenside, PA. For one of my major requirements, I must take a course on the instruction of English Language Learners, and as a part of this course, I must tutor ESL students once a week. During my initial observation of the students (K-2), I noticed that most of their work was being done through worksheets, and that-- in turn--they were fairly quiet throughout the lesson. With this observation in mind, I decided to teach my first lesson using a more kinesthetic approach, which seemed to have had a positive effect on the students (they were much more talkative, smily, and engaged in the activity).
What I am wondering is this: How effective / necessary are using worksheets when working with ELLs? Also, has anyone had any other positive teaching experiences with ELLs while performing a more hands-on lesson that they would care to share?
*Note: In response to Sally Olsen's post, I feel the need to apologize for any negative implications my message may have had. I DID NOT mean to imply that my host teacher was bad at her job, neglectful of her students, etc. She is actually a FABULOUS teacher and I can tell that her students are very comfortable around her. Additionally, I did not mean to "put myself on a pedestal" by saying that my hands-on lesson seemed to have a greater effect on the students than the teacher's worksheets did... I simply noticed that they seemed more engaged in this lesson. I understand that worksheets are a part of the ESL curriculum and that my teacher uses them because 1) she has to and 2) is busy with her students and cannot always create her own hands-on lessons to use. Once again, I am sorry if I sounded rude in any way... I completely respect my host teacher and definitely did not mean to sound "above her" or to demean her work.
Using the Kinesthetic Approach While Instructing ELLs
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Using the Kinesthetic Approach While Instructing ELLs
Last edited by kgoerlach on Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sally Olsen
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What you are describing also goes under the name of Total Physical Response and is one method of teaching that is usually very positive, especially for young children. You can read more about it if you Google TPR or go to the search button above in Dave's and find people's comments on the method.
It always worked better for me than any other method but I have never used it alone. You can't do it forever and need other things, probably including worksheets.
If you are just doing it once a week though you should be OK.
You are implying that the teacher where you are you doing your practicum is not doing the best with these children. Before you are critical, perhaps you should really take note of her/his workload and what is feasible for one human being and 25 ? children. It is great that you are there to work with these children and that maybe how she/he copes by having extra help. When you are not there, worksheets may be the only way she/he can help these children. Funding for ELL is not usually great and is a small but essential part of the day for these kids. Try to think of ways that your type of teaching can be continued or enhanced so they get the best education possible when you leave or are not there but keep in mind that the teacher is a human being with many responsibilities and a right to a life after work.
It always worked better for me than any other method but I have never used it alone. You can't do it forever and need other things, probably including worksheets.
If you are just doing it once a week though you should be OK.
You are implying that the teacher where you are you doing your practicum is not doing the best with these children. Before you are critical, perhaps you should really take note of her/his workload and what is feasible for one human being and 25 ? children. It is great that you are there to work with these children and that maybe how she/he copes by having extra help. When you are not there, worksheets may be the only way she/he can help these children. Funding for ELL is not usually great and is a small but essential part of the day for these kids. Try to think of ways that your type of teaching can be continued or enhanced so they get the best education possible when you leave or are not there but keep in mind that the teacher is a human being with many responsibilities and a right to a life after work.
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Sally Olsen
- Posts: 1322
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:24 pm
- Location: Canada,France, Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, Greenland, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia next
Sorry too. Sounds like I was too assertive in bringing up the topic of how to do a practicum and how to deal with your new training and the reality of the classroom, plus the ethics of talking about your experience.
Our professors always told us to suspend judgement of the teacher and students because we were only in the classroom for such a short time and would never get the background information that the teacher had. We could and should ask him/her,"Why did you do or say such and such?" without any accusing tone, just interested.
The advice rose out of an incident when some foreign student teachers went into a classroom and sympathized with the foreign students who thought teaching should be drill, teacher fronted, teacher directed and teacher corrected. The foreign student teachers actually went to the dean and complained about their practicum teacher along with these students. It was eventually sorted out in favour of the teacher who along with our professors presented evidence and research that the "new" methods they were using were much more effective in the long run.
You will be learning "new" ideas in your courses and it is fun to try them out but usually you are doing it in a very false situation. The classroom teacher is there to deal with discipline, sick kids, irate parents, fussy principals, school politics, curriculum issues, etc. and will give you only kids that are amenable to your type of teaching or the kids will do what you say because you are new, etc.
I have been in teaching for 50 years and have found that nothing works for every child. The Total Physical Response method really works for many children but what about that little girl/boy who is reading science magazines at home and talking about physics with her/his mother. She/He is not keen to stand up and flap her/his arms like a bird or jump up and down like a kangaroo even if they don't speak English. Or the autistic child or the disabled child who is left out because she/he can't jump.
Some student teachers feel very uncomfortable doing this as well. They have never sung "Ring Around the Rosy" with a group of kids and fallen down. That takes a certain type of personality and doesn't mean they are going to be a bad teacher.
I have seen and am friends with very strict teachers who come to school in suits but who love their students, are passionate about their subject. Their students loved and respected them and learned.
That is why I love Dave's forums. You get posts from all personality types and can chose what you are going to do from the experience of many voices.
You can tell I am the type that falls down with a "flourish". At one point I took theatre lessons and learned to take a prat fall without hurting myself.
Please don't stop asking questions because I came down too hard on you.
Our professors always told us to suspend judgement of the teacher and students because we were only in the classroom for such a short time and would never get the background information that the teacher had. We could and should ask him/her,"Why did you do or say such and such?" without any accusing tone, just interested.
The advice rose out of an incident when some foreign student teachers went into a classroom and sympathized with the foreign students who thought teaching should be drill, teacher fronted, teacher directed and teacher corrected. The foreign student teachers actually went to the dean and complained about their practicum teacher along with these students. It was eventually sorted out in favour of the teacher who along with our professors presented evidence and research that the "new" methods they were using were much more effective in the long run.
You will be learning "new" ideas in your courses and it is fun to try them out but usually you are doing it in a very false situation. The classroom teacher is there to deal with discipline, sick kids, irate parents, fussy principals, school politics, curriculum issues, etc. and will give you only kids that are amenable to your type of teaching or the kids will do what you say because you are new, etc.
I have been in teaching for 50 years and have found that nothing works for every child. The Total Physical Response method really works for many children but what about that little girl/boy who is reading science magazines at home and talking about physics with her/his mother. She/He is not keen to stand up and flap her/his arms like a bird or jump up and down like a kangaroo even if they don't speak English. Or the autistic child or the disabled child who is left out because she/he can't jump.
Some student teachers feel very uncomfortable doing this as well. They have never sung "Ring Around the Rosy" with a group of kids and fallen down. That takes a certain type of personality and doesn't mean they are going to be a bad teacher.
I have seen and am friends with very strict teachers who come to school in suits but who love their students, are passionate about their subject. Their students loved and respected them and learned.
That is why I love Dave's forums. You get posts from all personality types and can chose what you are going to do from the experience of many voices.
You can tell I am the type that falls down with a "flourish". At one point I took theatre lessons and learned to take a prat fall without hurting myself.
Please don't stop asking questions because I came down too hard on you.
Thank you for your honest responses to my initial post / question. I truly appreciate your input and am actually VERY glad that you brought my accidental judgements to my attention... I would never intentionally "put down" a professional educator, especially not one who was as fantastic as my ESL host teacher! I will be much more careful with what I say in my posts from now on! 
Kinestetic is one avenue that will lead to the goal
My first year teaching, I did so much hands on learning and inquiry based lessons! My kids really got their hands dirty and we spend all day (sometimes) just using the countless learning tools that were available in the classroom.
When it came time to take the state test, my students performed average. I was happy with that! What I realized a couple weeks before the test, during review time, was that my students did not know how to answer the multiple choice questions because it was a totally different format that my open ended inquiries to be solved at the start of the day!
Linking your Kinestetic lessons to actually reading, writing, and speaking (I am assuming they are listening to you a lot) is vital for all educations, especially ESL!
One idea is to create a kinestetic lesson, but just stop every 5 minutes: OK, lets practice writing up, down, left, and right... after another 10 minutes, OK, lets practice reading there words...... And the grand finale, unfortunetly, OK, lets see a test question with this word...
Kinestetic learning, especially when combines with the other teaching methods I am sure you are learning in your coursework, will help your students release tension and learn some of the targeted language on a cellular level. Nice work!
When it came time to take the state test, my students performed average. I was happy with that! What I realized a couple weeks before the test, during review time, was that my students did not know how to answer the multiple choice questions because it was a totally different format that my open ended inquiries to be solved at the start of the day!
Linking your Kinestetic lessons to actually reading, writing, and speaking (I am assuming they are listening to you a lot) is vital for all educations, especially ESL!
One idea is to create a kinestetic lesson, but just stop every 5 minutes: OK, lets practice writing up, down, left, and right... after another 10 minutes, OK, lets practice reading there words...... And the grand finale, unfortunetly, OK, lets see a test question with this word...
Kinestetic learning, especially when combines with the other teaching methods I am sure you are learning in your coursework, will help your students release tension and learn some of the targeted language on a cellular level. Nice work!
Interesting posts. I use a lot of TPR activities in my classes. It's a big part of all of my children classes. However, my teaching situation allows me to focus on communicative methods, exclusively if I wanted to.
I had this conversation with a teacher not to long ago. But the worksheet method might be very important if what the students need is test English more than communicative English. Here in Japan almost 100% of students will need English for entrance exams to get into high schools and then colleges. Only a very small percentage of these students will go on to use or need English in their adult lives. So using grammar worksheets plays a big role in these classroom environments.
Anyway, balance is important, just as with most things in life.
Happy teaching,
Mark
certificate templates | printable cards | printable calendars
I had this conversation with a teacher not to long ago. But the worksheet method might be very important if what the students need is test English more than communicative English. Here in Japan almost 100% of students will need English for entrance exams to get into high schools and then colleges. Only a very small percentage of these students will go on to use or need English in their adult lives. So using grammar worksheets plays a big role in these classroom environments.
Anyway, balance is important, just as with most things in life.
Happy teaching,
Mark
certificate templates | printable cards | printable calendars
Kinesthetic Learning
In my opinion, we need to try and avoid worksheets if possible. The students do not enjoy them and the best way to engage them is through active learning. As someone else posted, TPR is an excellent method. I teach vocabulary with pictures and gestures and in 7 years I have never had a negative experience with this. Good luck!
ESL/ELL Approaches to Learning
Engaging your students and allowing them the room to share about their culture is an important aspect to ELL. As an elementary school esl/spanish teacher I try to incorporate where the student's family is from in my lesson planning. You can have them bring things in from home, read books about their countries or culture- especially books that show great photos of a place or holiday, and go on-line for a virtual tour of the country. Feeling confident is a huge part of a willingness to produce language and opportunities to feel proud of where one comes from is a great way to engage your students.
It seems to me that TPR/Kinesthetic Learning is both good for learning, and for keeping the classroom involved. Personally, I am a kinesthetic learner and that has always worked well for me. However some people do learn differently and it is always good to put a bit of other writing and listening exercises in both for students who learn best other ways and simply because (at least where I am) the students will get testing out of your class, and it won't be through TPR! Testing is stressful enough without at least being very familiar with the format of the testing.