6

The Importance of Maintaining the Native Language

Children who speak a language other than English enter schools in the US with similar talents of those of native English-speaking children. Additionally, these children have the ability to speak another language that, if nurtured, will benefit them their entire life. In school, these students will learn to speak, read and write in English. However, unless the parents and teachers encourage maintenance of the native language, the child can lose it. English Language Learners should maintain their native language for the following reasons: The native language is part of that childs culture and heritage. The child is able to communicate with their family and other community members. Maintaining a childs native language increases his/her intellectual development. Students who speak English and are fluent in their native language have better opportunities for employment.
(2000, IDRA)

Phases of Second Language Acquisition

Pre-Production ELLs usually know about 500 words or less. Student may parrot what the teacher says and copy words. ELLs can participate by pointing to pictures. Teacher may use gestures to assist with instruction. Assign a buddy. Early Production ELLs usually know about 1000 words in English. May use words or phrases to speak. Sometimes they may used memorized chunks of language. Student may respond to yes or no questions. Teacher uses visuals to build vocabulary and make instruction comprehensible. Supports such as grahic organizers, charts, and graphs may be used during instruction. Speech Emergence ELLs may speak using simple phrases and sentences. They may ask and answer simple questions. The student may understand stories in English. The student may read and write in English, participate in choral readings, match vocabulary words and definitions, and write about personal experiences. ELLs at this level still need suports for instruction. Intermediate Fluency ELLs use more complex sentences in reading and writing. They can express their opinions and may work on grade level content areas with supports. ELLs at this stage can synthesize what they have learned and make inferences about their learning. They may make grammatical errors in their writing. Advanced Fluency It takes about 4-10 years to master academic fluency in a second language. ELLs at this stage are near native in their content learning. (Haynes, 2005)

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

Balanced Literacy and the ESL Teacher

In order to facilitate a successful collaboration within the balanced literacy classroom, the ESL teacher will need planning time with the classroom teacher, strategic scheduling of students, training in the balanced literacy program, shared responsibility of the students, and to provide intentional language instruction using SIOP strategies. There are two major components of a balanced literacy program: writing and reading. Each component has similar features that will allow the ESL teacher to work within the classroom environment to support the students. These components include: 1) Mini-lesson: The ESL teacher can co-teach during the mini-lesson in reading or writing. 2) Independent Reading: The ESL teacher can pull a small group to do guided reading, shared reading, or a strategy group. The teacher may conference with individual students. 3) Independent Writing: The ESL teacher can pull a small group to do shared writing or interactive writing as a support. The ESL teacher can support these students by building background for the writing assignment, creating a word bank, providing resources such as dictionaries, thesaurus, or allowing oral rehearsal of the writing. The ESL teacher may bring in materials to support this learning including visuals, picture dictionaries, books, or games.