The Road to Reading

Learn to Read on Starfall.com

http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f

This site is great because it offers a mix of activities for students to learn to read and write. From playing games in which students create words given a few letters (as well as a picture to help them visualize) to short “book” offerings, to movies and word hunts – starfall.com really does seem to have it all! Additionally, the site is visually appealing and is divided up nicely, making it easy for students to navigate.

Reading is Fundamental – Game Station page

http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet/gamestation.htm

Reading is Fundamental is a goldmine for ESL teachers in my teaching context! There are simple activities that students can engage in like creating bookplates and illustrating a story to more involved activities. The latter of these can be found on the “Game Station” page. My favorites include “Writer’s Block” in which students create one story with the help of other students, “Poetry Splatter”, where a poem comes to life through the splatter of words on the computer screen, and “Story Maker”, where students create stories all on their own. There are also a couple of bilingual activities in this section, which makes it all that much better for my context.

Storyline Online

http://www.storylineonline.net/

If students have the Internet at home, this site offers wonderful stories for them to read and listen to – the stories are read aloud by actors who are part of the Screen Actors Guild. Inclusively, the illustrations from the book are streamed into the video so the reader has a chance to better visualize the happenings. This site offers a wide variety of stories to choose from as well as activities that accompany these stories.

Clifford Read and Write

http://www.scholastic.com/clifford/read/index.htm

My teaching context is 2nd grade bilingual students so this site is perfect for them. Clifford is very popular in this age group and the activities on this page offer them a place to make words, letter match, sound match, write letters and read stories to earn a “reading license”. Again, I like that there’s variety and that it’s nicely structured thus making it user friendly. This site also offers a “make and do” page in which they can make calendars or engage in seasonal activities.


Colorin Colorado

http://www.colorincolorado.org/

I really love this site because it’s completely dedicated to families and educators of English Language Learners. From newsletters to articles to webcasts and featured books, this website offers a plethora of resources. What I like most here is that there is a “This Month’s Highlights” section where specific topics and questions are addressed. One this month is a very popular question that parents of non-native English speakers have: “Is it OK for me to speak to my child in my native language?”. A couple of answers are provided – enough to get both the parent and teacher thinking of how to address this topic both in the classroom and out.

Some Things Listening

Colorín Colorado

http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/13280

This site has a lot of resources for students whose first language is Spanish. One of those resources is a page dedicated to possible listening exercises for students learning English. The focus is on music integration – from playing soothing music to enhance the writing process to modifying a modern, catchy tune to help students learn the English language alphabet.

My favorite activity offered on this website was the one used to expand vocabulary and learn synonyms. By playing soft, classical music for students and having them jot down adjectives that come to mind and then sharing this list with their classmates, they are not only exercising their listening skills, but their oral ones as well. This activity can be used with a variety of music and the discussion between classmates can be more advanced depending on the ESL level of the group.

Songs for Teaching

http://www.songsforteaching.com/store/esl-efl-esol-songs-c-399.html

This site offers lyrics, CDs, books, DVDs, and downloads of exercises that are designed to advance ESL students’ basic language skills, oral production, vocabulary, language development and grammar.

I like this site because it’s a one-stop shop for ESL instructors to browse lyrics and books as well as download CDs and DVDs to be used in their classroom. With activities for students of many age groups, teachers can use this site to browse materials that will aid and challenge their English language learners.

You Tube

There were three activities that I found and really enjoyed for my learning context on this site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVyk9BIxapQ&feature=related - to learn about transportation, house and family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ul4rfuLtw&feature=related - to learn about fruits and colors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQw3bUEvYLg&feature=related - to learn about numbers

I really like these activities for my context as they are just long enough (the longest was about 7 minutes) thus easing possible information overload, have bright and entertaining visuals to accompany the auditory portion and provide ESL students with practical information they can use in their daily routines.

Finding these activities on You Tube came as a surprise as I never really considered You Tube to be such an educational resource outlet. There were many other videos that were available – in a wide array of topics. If a teacher has sufficient time and bandwidth, s/he could easily compile a revolving list of activities for the classroom.

ESL Young Learners

http://younglearners.eslreading.org/youngerchildren/home.html

This site offers short passages and/or songs that students can listen to and then check their comprehension by answering questions and engaging in short writing exercises.

I liked that this site has a good range of activities that can be interesting to students (cats, bears, catchy songs) but feel that the topics offered and the tasks asked of the students can be a bit too advanced even for the age group for which they’re designed.

There are so many resources floating out in cyberspace - which sites do you feel speak to your teaching context the most? How many hours a week do you envision spending online finding resources for the classroom - listening or otherwise?

Building Blocks

A former second grade bilingual teacher in Houston, my passion for Bilingual/Bicultural Education developed when I met my first group of students.  They were a mix of excitement, anxiousness, nervous smiles and giggles, milling around the classroom wondering just how their first day with their new teacher was to unfold.  

Armed with a summer's worth of teacher prep courses through the HISD Alternative Certification Program and a classroom management boot camp provided to me by my best friend, I honestly didn't really know how my first day, let alone the whole year would unfold with them either.

What I quickly discovered as the days marched on, was that there was so much that my budding bilingual students were bringing to the classroom to share with myself and their peers.  Though they initially hesitated a bit when speaking English, they had a foundation of English listening and speaking skills and experiences which they used to engage in conversation and build a stronger skill-set.

This didn't happen magically happen, however.  It took a few weeks for my students to feel completely comfortable with me - to know that they could trust me.  I built a classroom community for us by sharing lots of myself with them through stories I would tell, books I'd bring in, music I'd play - how could I expect them to comfortably share with me and their peers if I didn't model this for them first?  Community building was thus the focus of the first couple of weeks of the school year - with academic instruction happening as a result of our community building efforts.

This community technique was emphasized and taught to me by my best friend and mentor, a graduate of the Bilingual Ed Master's program at the University of Houston and a veteran teacher of five years for HISD.  Through this mentorship I learned how to look for and tap the resources that my students brought to the classroom - their language and culture brokering skills, their experiences as a second-generation Mexican-American in a large, urban US city, their likes, dislikes and hobbies ~ all components that I incorporated into my time with them.

My goal for this blog is to offer fellow primary bilingual education teachers a space where they can share their own tools, techniques and stories so that we can create our own online community of exchange and support on how to best build bilingual/bicultural learners. Bilingual education teachers are tasked with not only creating a content subject curriculum for their students, but an ESL curriculum that ushers them into the dominant culture while preserving their heritage culture.  

Through this online exchange of resources and discussion of bilingual education theories and background (Freire, Cummins, Crawford, Krashen, etc.), I hope this blog will serve not only as a sharing space, but one of professional development as well. 

Additions, comments and questions are encouraged!