Classroom Environment

The strategy, Communication Games, lends itself to the category of Classroom

Environment. Communication games allow English learners (ELs) to communicate in a
nonthreatening way with one or two other students while playing games, which is a great
way to welcome them to a new classroom. We ultimately want their communication skills
to improve, and playing fun and content related games in small groups is welcoming and
productive.
This strategy sparked my interest because many ELs are shy because they don’t have a
good grasp on the English language. They respect and listen to teachers but are often more
comfortable socializing with their peers. This is one reason for modeling routines, behavior
expectations, and more, to mold students into responsible peer partners for ELs that may
need some additional guidance with communication.
The Reading Rockets article titled How to Create a Welcoming Classroom Environment
shared the importance of putting ELs in favorable situations to help them feel welcome,
help them gain confidence, and make them feel included rather quickly. One of the many
ways I have done this is to partner students with ELs to play fun, icebreaker games as well
as content related games ((Herrell & Jordan, 2016)). I join the games at times to be sure
objectives are being met.
Herrell, A., & Jordan, M. (2016). 50 strategies for teaching English language learners.
Pearson.

Reading Rockets. (n.d.). How to create a welcoming classroom environment for ells.
Reading Rockets. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
https://www.readingrockets.org/helping-all-readers/english-language-
learners/creating-welcoming-classroom-environment-ells