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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher

Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher

Amelia Monroe

TE 845 Language Diversity and Literacy Instruction and Assessment

Michigan State University (Online)

Dr. Patricia Edwards

June 21, 2020

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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
Abstract

This paper explores teaching strategies I learned in TE 845 and my experience observing an ELL

classroom. From course readings and observing the ELL class, I created a next lesson plan the

teacher could use I will be making references to ELL (English Language Learner) and CVC

(Consonant-Vowel-Consonant words) in this paper. In this paper, I will showcase how what I

learned in TE 845 relates to my observation experience.

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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
Documentation of Conversation

Teacher: Ms. Karasuda

Class: 1st Grade ELL small group (online with Google classroom)

Students: 4 male Marshallese, not at grade level in reading or math, still working on letter

recognition and letter sounds

Lesson Goals: To read and write grade level vocabulary with accuracy and fluency

From this information I learned that her four students are hard workers and want to

learn how to read. They are highly motivated and always try their best. She also said that the

switch from in person to online learning has been tricky and difficult to get all four focused at

times. All four of them are around the same reading levels and struggle with the same

beginning reading skills. I also asked the teacher what she knew of their reading and writing

abilities in Marshallese. She said that they could speak their home language fluently, but also

could not read or write in Marshallese. Three of the four students attended school in

Kindergarten, but had no preschool experience. The other student had no prior schooling. Ms.

Karasuda explained to me that it is typical in the Marshallese culture to wait to send children to

school until they are 6 or 7 years old. Until that age, they are considered babies still and most

come from unstructured homes, where they play all day. In the few years she has been

teaching at this school, she has seen no Marshallese students in the preschool. The lesson I

would be observing would be a phonemic awareness and phonics lesson. She starts all her

lessons with review from prior lesson. By the end of the lesson, the students would be working

on writing Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) words.

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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
Notes of Observation

 Logged onto Google classroom 5 minutes before class started, if students log on early

they can have time to chat with one another

 Class starts, she greets each student by saying “good afternoon (their name)” and they

reply “good afternoon Ms. Karasuda” (this reminds me of the importance of creating a

positive classroom community, like several of the readings this summer session

mentions)

 Alphabet flashcards (not all the letters), letter naming and sounds

o Letter naming: three of the students mixed up b/d, one student struggled with g,

j, q, one student mixed up p/q

o Sounds: teacher had to do repeat after me for all the sounds

o “Good job” “nice” “correct” to correct letter naming and sounds

 Sight word flash cards: over, new, sound, take, only

o One student did not say “sound” so she made him repeat word by himself

o “Good job” “nice” “correct” to correct words said

 Gave each student virtual high fives for participating (Positive community building)

 Told students to get a piece of paper and pencil/pen

 Teacher modeled next activity, she was going to say letter sounds and the students were

to write letters on paper to spell a word then practice blending word together (this is

explicit instruction, which was mentioned in Chapter 6 of Li & Edwards (2010))

o She modeled sounding out /c/ /a/ /t/ while writing the letters on her whiteboard

for the students to see

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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
o One student was not looking whole time she was modeling, I do not think

teacher noticed

 Students listened and wrote CVC words (this is making words, which was a phonics

activity for ELLs suggested in Chapter 4 of Li & Edwards (2010))

o Can, bat, rot, log, dad, man, fat, pig, nut

o I could not see what the students were writing, teacher kept moving on to next

word without checking work

o It looked like all the students were writing

 Teacher did small celebration for their hard work, “give yourself a pat on the back”

(Positive community building)

 Last activity, teacher said a sentence “The fat pig only likes Dad.”

o Students wrote sentence on paper

o I could not see what the students were writing

o Teacher wrote correct spelling of sentence on her whiteboard and gave the

students time to correct their work

 Wrap up

o Teacher thanked the students for working hard and logging on

o Gave them homework to read the words and sentences they wrote to someone

in their house

o She says “goodbye (their name) to each student and they each say “goodbye Ms.

Karasuda” (Building positive community again)

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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
Lesson Plan with Supporting Materials

Phonics Lesson
Grade Level: 1st
Language Objective: Students will read a story. Students will retell the key details of a story.
Content Objective: Students will be able to retell a story
Materials:
 Projector, speaker or laptop
 The Bugs Run by Mary Alice Cooper

 Vocabulary Pictures

 Whiteboard & Marker

 Pencil
 Retell Worksheet
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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
Lesson Hook (3 minutes) Watch and sing along to Phonics Song 2
https://youtu.be/BELlZKpi1Zs

Warm-Up (10 minutes) Alphabet flashcards for letter recognition and

Book Introduction (5 minutes)
Pre-Reading/Writing (15 minutes)
letter sound fluency
Sight word flashcards: the, see
Introduce The Bugs Run
Picture walk
Ask students to make predictions on what the
story might be about
Give students whiteboards
I Do: I can write my sight words (the, see)
We Do: Write the sight words with me (the,
see)
You Do: Now erase and write the sight words
by yourself (the, see)
Do not erase!
I Do: Write letters as I say the sounds (a, m, s)
We Do: Write letters with me as I say the
sounds (a, m, s)
You Do: Now you write letters as I say the
sounds (b, g, s, u, r, n)
Do not erase!
I Do: I can make words from these letters
(sound out bug as I write)
We Do: Make a word from the letters (bug)
You Do: Write the words bugs and run using
the letters

Vocabulary Pictures (ant, spider, beetle,

Reading Task (10 minutes)
ladybug, bee, caterpillar, kitten)
 Show students pictures and ask what
the name of each bug and animal is
 Tell the name if they do not know, say
word in Marshallese: kallep (ant),
kaulalo kadeoeo (spider), kein
kanamnam (bug/beetle), pi (bee),
kutantan (caterpillar), kuuj (cat)
Read The Bugs Run
 Read page together aloud
 Call on one student to reread page
 Ask students what was running?
 Repeat for all pages
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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
After reading questions:
 What bug do you see run first? What
bug do you see run next?
 Who runs after the bugs?
 What does the kitten do at the end of
the story? Why?
Reading/Writing Assessment (10 minutes) Give students retell worksheet
 Have students fill out which bug runs
first then next without looking back at
book
 Students can look back at book after
trying without first
Wrap-Up (5 minutes) Students share what their favorite bug is. Give
them sentence starter “My favorite bug is
a______”

Reflective Essay

From my experience with talking to Ms. Karasuda and observing her teach her English

Language Learners (ELLs), I learned the importance of creating relationships, building off

students’ background knowledge, and explicit instruction. “In 1990, 1 of every 20 public school

students in grades K–12 was an English language learner (ELL), that is, a student who speaks

English either not at all or with enough limitations that he or she cannot fully participate in

mainstream English instruction. Today the figure is 1 in 9. In 20 years, demographers estimate

that it might be 1 in 4” (Goldenberg in Li & Edwards, 2010, p. 16). My kindergarten classroom

had six language learners out of 21 students. Now more than ever, schools have more and

more ELL students and it is essential for all teachers to be prepared to serve those students

needs. By taking this course, TE 845, and this final project, I was able to see the research from

the course readings in action.

Creating a positive and safe classroom environment can benefit all learners. In Jones &

Jones (2016) Chapter 3, they say that “students preferred and responded best to teachers who
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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
possessed three sets of skills: (1) establishing caring relationships with students; (2) setting

limits and creating a safe environment without being rigid, threatening, or punitive; and (3)

making learning fun” (Jones & Jones, 2016, p. 56). Having a comfortable learning space can help

students be more open to sharing out loud and talking to their peers. Ms. Karasuda had a very

welcoming presence to her four students and I could observe the mutual respect between

them all. By having this already set relationship, the transition into their learning was easier.

They all knew what Ms. Karasuda expected of them and showed they wanted to do their best

for her by participating. From Working with English Language Learners (2007), the author states

that “Helping students at any age and from any background treat one another with courtesy,

concern, and respect takes some doing, and usually some tough doing. Adding a variety of first

languages, second language proficiencies, and cultures into the mix can make the job even

tougher” (Cary, 2007, p. 153). I did not see the beginning stages of building their small group

foundation, but from my observations, I could tell the students were comfortable with each

other and even friends. They all responded out loud and when Ms. Karasuda had them read out

loud by themselves, they all spoke with confidence. All four ELL students speak the same first

language and most of the Marshallese community lives very close to each other. This

background probably added another sense of safety to Ms. Karasuda’s already welcoming

environment. The course readings and Ms. Karasuda’s small group lesson deepened my belief

of the importance to creating strong, positive relationships with students.

Building off students’ background knowledge helps students learn new material and see

how previous learning is connected to new learning. McIntyre (2010) says that “teachers should

learn as much as possible about their students in order to value the students’ background
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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
knowledge and skills to avoid a deficit view” (McIntyre in Li & Edwards, 2010, p. 65). Ms.

Karasuda demonstrated using her students’ background knowledge by referring back to

previous lessons when they got stuck on a letter sound. She gave several hints to some

previously made memory strategy for certain letters, like b and d, think of a bed. By doing these

techniques, her students could remember and give the correct response. It was cool to observe

one student when he did not know the answer looked so sad, but after Ms. Karasuda’s helpful

cue, his face lit up with the answer. Using students background knowledge and skills can create

more meaningful learning for students.

Explicit instruction is a clear, focused teaching method that can lead to more successful

learning for students. Ms. Karasuda used the I do, we do, you do explicit instruction model. By

using this method, students can see exactly what their teacher expects of them, they get an

opportunity to practice with the teacher, and then show the teacher their learning

independently. Allison & Harklau (2010) state that “it is therefore crucial for ELLs to continue to

receive explicit and targeted academic literacy instruction” (Allison & Harklau in Li & Edwards,

2010, p. 132). When students are taught with explicit instruction, they have an exact idea of

what they are supposed to learn and what they need to do to reach that learning goal. Ms.

Karasuda used explicit instruction so that her four ELL students can be successful during their

small group work time. Explicit instruction is a good tool to have when teaching any student,

especially English learners.

This project has made me see that the course readings provided strategies and methods

that truly do benefit English language learners. Ideas that I had read were demonstrated when

observing Ms. Karasuda’s small group. I have learned to focus my instruction on explicit
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Option 2: Observe an ESL Class and Talk with the Teacher
instruction, so that my teaching is clear and students can better understand what I want them

to learn. Also, to always scaffold knowledge from what students previously know, so that they

can make those learning connections themselves. And most importantly, to spend time building

positive relationships with every student. Most of the ideas from this course and observation

can be implemented in my classroom next year and I am excited to try new techniques out.

Everything that I do for the ELL students in my class can also benefit all the other students too. I

hope when school returns to normal that I have the opportunity to observe Ms. Karasuda again,

but in person.

References
Allison & Harklau (2010) in Li & Edwards (2010), chapter 6: Teaching Academic Literacies in
Secondary School (pp. 129-150)
Cary (2007). Working with English Language Learners: Answers to Teachers Top Ten
Questions. Second Edition. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Goldenberg (2010) in Li & Edwards (2010), chapter 1: Improving Achievement for English
Learners: Conclusions from Recent Reviews and Emerging Research (pp. 15-43
Jones, V., & Jones, L. (2016). Comprehensive classroom management: Creating communities of
support and solving problems (11th ed.). Pearson Education.
McIntyre (2010) in Li & Edwards (2010), chapter 3: Principles for Teaching Young ELLs in the
Mainstream Classroom: Adapting Best Practices for All Learners (pp. 61-83)