English Language Learner Strategies

Visit my ESL teaching tips blog post to learn about pronunciation, spelling, grammar, decoding, and listening strategies. Also, come back to my blog soon to see the launch of my new YouTube channel where I will be demonstrating decoding strategies using a tablet and screen captures!

Specific strategies taught elsewhere on my blog can also be accessed here:

New Educational Literacy App for Children (Part 1)

Reading Horizons just launched a new educational app available in the Apple App Store called Card Match. This game helps students recognize words by matching a word card with an image card. Card Match is one of the games featured in the Reading Horizons Discovery software that was released last fall. I admit that the game is a little addicting--even for adults. Challenge yourself to complete a level in as little time as possible for three stars (versus the one- or two-star alternative rewards). This app is available at the Apple App Store. Soon to follow is the release of an additional educational app: Whack a Word. Stay tuned!

(See Part 2 of this blog post here. Also, see other Reading Horizons apps here.)

Free Online Professional Development for Adult ESOL Educators

I was just introduced to a fantastic free online resource for ESOL professionals. ELL-U is a National Adult English Language Learning Professional Development Network that serves as a free professional development portal for Adult ESOL Educators. Below is an announcement that was distributed through a Listserv that I thought I would include since it provides a clear introduction to current courses, as well as instructions for joining. I just signed up for two study circles myself.

Online Vocabulary Game to Promote Literacy

I thought I would re-post information about a free online vocabulary game that students and interested individuals can play to practice vocabulary while simultaneously participating in a good cause. (A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about an event held to promote this cause here.) Lemons for Literacy can be accessed online at http://www.readinghorizons.com/lemonsforliteracy/lemons.html.

Phonics for Middle School and High School Classrooms

Middle School

I am in New Jersey this week working with teachers and students at the local High School and Middle School. I have been impressed with the teachers' responses to the opportunity to improve their students' literacy, as well as the students' enthusiasm to learn new strategies to improve their reading and spelling. I visited ten high school classrooms yesterday and introduced the purpose of learning Reading Horizons strategies. Today and tomorrow I'm visiting the Middle School to observe and model teacher instruction. In this process, I have been reminded of why phonics has a place in the classroom for older learners and how these skills fit into the "big picture" of learning to read. I thought I would highlight some specific reasons why phonics has relevance beyond Kindergarten to third-grade classrooms.

First of all, we know that reading is a critical skill. We also know several students need to learn how to read better. We know that reading at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension is necessary. So for struggling readers, including students who are non-native English speakers, what role does phonics play in this goal to acquire fluency and comprehension? 

Decoding Skills Posters Hanging in the Hallway

Fluency: When students come across difficult words, what happens? Their eyes stop on the word. They reread the word. They reread the sentence. They reread the word again. They may decide (after multiple, unsuccessful attempts to read the word) that they will ultimately just skip the word. Sometimes that may be necessary, and using context to determine the meaning of the unknown word is sufficient. But if that scenario is reoccurring frequently in a student's reading, is that fluent reading? No. Fluency is compromised when students get stuck on a word. And if a student is getting stuck on multiple words in a text, is that student comprehending what he or she is reading? Probably not. If the student is having to use so much of his or her "brain power" to decode the word, there isn't enough "brain power" left to glean meaning from the text. Students need to learn strategies to decode difficult words that they come across in their reading. And these strategies need to become automatic so that students are able to decode words quickly and effortlessly. 

On the Journey to Read

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I have the privilege of working with a gentleman in his sixties who has never learned how to read. As you can imagine, his illiteracy has affected his ability to find and keep a job, which has become quite a discouraging problem for him. There aren't a lot of jobs out there that don't require at least a minimal level of reading ability. And when you can't read AT ALL, which is this gentleman's case, your ability to compete for jobs that are available is definitely compromised.

Yesterday I worked with this gentleman for two hours on just five letters of the alphabet. I admit that I thought we would get through more content than we did. But that is where he's at right now, and he's comfortable with that. He was soaking it in. We practiced the names and sounds of the letters, practiced the concept of the slide, and began to sound out three-letter words. We would exchange high-fives to celebrate his successes, and we discussed vocabulary meaning and real-life application with each word as we went along. He is definitely motivated to learn, and he's already talking about what he will be able to do in another couple months after getting some more reading skills down. But I recognize that consistency and self-motivation will be a key to his success. He's committed himself to review and practice on his own at home (he offered to do that before I even had a chance to make that suggestion), and he will continue to do some independent work on the Reading Horizons software program to supplement our one-on-one instruction time.

As I think about the beginning of his journey to learn how to read--something he has never been able to do up to this point in his life--I think about some things I need to keep in mind as I continue to work with him that hopefully could be relevant to you in your particular educational and life-learning contexts. I'm sure you have your own list of ideas, as well, so feel free to share them.

ESL Teaching Tip: Common Suffixes

The previous blog post discussed spelling with the suffixes -ing, -ed, -er, and -est. There are other common suffixes that would be helpful for students to learn. Learning common suffixes helps students determine the meanings of unknown words. Students can use their knowledge of word parts with Latin and Greek roots, specifically prefixes and suffixes, to pull an unknown word apart and determine its meaning. Following is a list of commonly used suffixes.

Suffix   Example Words

-able    capable, notable, desirable

-al        central, coastal, general, hospital

-ant      pleasant, important, distant, constant

-ance   continuance, allowance, abundance, balance

-ee       employee, trustee

-en       harden, sweeten, golden, driven

-ence   excellence, evidence, difference, reference

-ent      innocent, confident, ardent, eloquent

-ful       cheerful, careful, wonderful, shameful

-hood   manhood, statehood, womanhood

-ible     possible

-ice      justice, service, notice, practice

-id        timid, solid, valid, frigid

-ish      finish, vanish, punish, abolish, perish

-ine      engine, famine, genuine

-it         limit, deposit

-ite       definite, infinite, opposite

-ive      relative, possessive, active, effective

-ize      realize, fertilize, specialize, apologize

-less     shameless, careless, restless, blameless

-ment   assignment, department, apartment, agreement

-ness    happiness, sickness, brightness, darkness

-ward   awkward, downward, upward

-cian    Grecian, politician, musician

-ciate   appreciate, emaciate

-cient   proficient, efficient, sufficient

-cial     racial, social, facial, crucial

-tial      partial, initial, essential

-sial     controversial

-cious   gracious, delicious, vicious

-tious   facetious, pretentious, ostentatious

-xious   anxious, obnoxious, noxious

For additional ESL teaching tips:

Click here to read about the pronunciation of -ed.

Click here to read about pronouncing plurals.

Click here to read about voiced and voiceless sounds.

Click here to read about rising and falling intonation in questions.

Click here to read about syllable stress and the schwa.
Click here to read about adding the suffixes -ing, -ed, -er, and -est.
Click here to read about teaching common prefixes. 
Click here to read about decoding multi-syllabic words. 
Click here to read about spelling words that end in S, F, and Z.
Click here to read about other sounds for c and g.

English Teaching and Learning in the Middle East

The first morning after I landed in Doha, Qatar, I was awakened at 4:30 in the morning to the sound of a Muslim call to prayer over a loud speaker. I awoke a little disoriented, but then was reminded quickly where I was. I was in the Middle East, where I was going to be spending the next two weeks meeting with students, teachers, and administrators to discuss their English needs. I would also be presenting the Reading Horizons program, a phonics-based approach to learning English. I was looking forward to the people I would meet and the opportunity I would have to share these exciting strategies that I have grown to appreciate.

What Research Says about Teaching Vocabulary to ELLs and ESL Students

This blog post highlights a few points that resurface in the research about teaching vocabulary to ELLs/ESL students. Feel free to add your thoughts and share your own experiences with teaching vocabulary!

What the Research Says about Teaching Vocabulary:

•         Explicitly teach vocabulary.

•         Provide repetition and practice of new vocabulary.

•         The use of pictures and context sentences is effective.

•         Provide access to word definitions while engaged in a reading task.

ESL Lessons - Listening and Speaking Activities - Classwork and Homework

I was going through some old files and came across a handout I prepared for an ESL training I conducted in Hualien, Taiwan on Listening and Speaking activities. On the handout, I included different ESL lessons, activities and exercises that can be used both in class and for homework. I've included the table below:

Listening and Speaking Skills and Activities

Skill	Activity Types
	Classwork	Homework
Listening	Listen for: the main idea details vocabulary in cloze activity Classmates’ presentations: take notes selective listening Games: Activities on the chalkboard	Listen to English: TV programs, the news, movies radio, English songs internet (i.e. radio stations, NPR) Communicate in English: Talk to native speakers, other English-speakers, classmates
Speaking	Group work/Pair work: Generate interview questions; interview classmates Flashcards (vocabulary words, pictures of vocabulary words) Categorize Identify Pronunciation practice Games Student presentations in class	Talk to native speakers: Interview Survey Narrate/share experience
Vocabulary	Pictures: Picture prompts Internet Flashcards: Categorize by topic, parts of speech, etc. Worksheets: Identify words you know and don’t know	Worksheets: Cloze Categorize Matching Identify words you know and don’t know
Pronunciation	Pronunciation points taken from context of listening activities: Explicitly identify in listening samples Explicitly integrate into speaking practice Flashcards	Integrated into: Speaking activities Listening activities
Grammar	Grammar points taken from context of phrases learned: Explicitly identify in listening samples Explicitly integrate into speaking practice Phrasal verbs and idioms	Integrated into: Vocabulary worksheets Speaking activities Listening activities Phrasal verbs and idioms

In the presentation, I also presented a "process" or routine that could be followed in a listening/speaking lesson. The process in skeletal form is listed below:
1. Introduce the topic (such as "introducing yourself")
2. State the objectives
3. Provide listening practice (via sound/video recordings or in-class lecture/presentation)
4. Vocabulary/Phrases practice
5. Grammar review
6. Targeted pronunciation practice
7. Speaking practice (applying the skills just learned in a real-life context)
8. Listening review
9. Assign and discuss homework: vocabulary, speaking, and listening practice

Of course, this process can be adapted to meet the individual needs of students and teachers, but the process demonstrates the need to integrate the teaching of vocabulary and phrases, grammar, and pronunciation in an ESL listening/speaking lessons.

What Works for Adult ESL Students

I came across a great online article that documents an interview with Heide Wrigley entitled "What Works for Adult ESL Students." Heide Wrigley was a principal researcher of a study funded by the US Department of Education in conjunction with American Institutes for Research and Aguirre International. In the documented interview, Heide discusses her findings and implications for curriculum development. The article can be accessed here, but I will highlight a few excerpts that illustrate some key points below. I think these are elements to keep in mind when creating reading and literacy curriculum for ESL students.

Literacy Development - Lemons for Literacy Awareness

I participated in an event on Saturday that promoted literacy awareness that I thought was worth mentioning. Reading Horizons sponsored an event to promote literacy awareness and help raise funds for a new literacy center opening up in Utah valley. Passers-by were invited to donate a few minutes of their time to a good cause by playing an online game called Lemons for Literacy.


Laptops were set up on the grass outside the new literacy center where individuals played the Lemons for Literacy game. To play this game, individuals select the correct definition for a randomly-generated vocabulary word. With each correct answer, or "squeeze" of a lemon, ounces of "lemonade" are produced. For each ounce of lemonade that is earned, Reading Horizons makes a cash donation to a site in need of literacy assistance. The site in focus is a new literacy center called the Superhero Training Center located in Orem, Utah. Free donuts and lemonade were offered to those who stopped by to check out the event.

Individuals who participated in the event were happy to take part in a good cause. They commented on how they enjoyed the "fun" aspect of it--that they didn't know that helping to make a difference could be so much fun. Individuals were encouraged to continue to help by playing the Lemons for Literacy game on their computers at home.


The Superhero Training Center hopes to be able to serve individuals ages pre-school to adult learn literacy skills needed to contribute to a life of life-long learning. To "make lemonade" for the Superhero Training Center, go to www.readinghorizons.com/lemonsforliteracy.

Tricky Words: Usage and Spelling Help

Do any of these sound familiar?

"Which do I use: affect or effect?"
"Is dessert spelled with one s or two?"
"Which is correct: raise or rise?"

If you can relate to any of the above, then you're not alone. Even though I am an ESOL professional, I admit that I have had my fair share of moments when I have had to think twice before using these words. I found a great resource that I have referred to on occasion to clear up some confusion that I used when teaching writing in American Samoa.

Here are just a few combinations of challenging words, instruction of which would prove helpful in an ESOL classroom, which I've adapted from The Essentials of English: A Writer's Handbook.

accept/except
Accept is a verb; except is a preposition.
Examples: Please accept my apology.
Everyone except Sam went to the party.

affect/effect
Affect is a verb; effect is a noun.
Examples: Her decision will affect the rest of us.
We hope it will have a positive effect on us.

amount/number
Use amount with noncount nouns. Use number with count nouns.
Examples: That property is worth a large amount of money.
A large number of investors are anxious to buy it.

borrow/lend/loan
Borrow is a verb that means to use something that will be returned later. Lend and loan are both verbs that mean you give someone something that will be returned later. (Loan can also be a noun.)
Examples: May I borrow your book? I will give it back to you tomorrow.
Will you lend me your book?
Will you loan me some money?

desert/dessert
A desert is a large area of hot, arid land. A dessert is a sweet treat usually eaten after a meal. (When I was learning the different spellings of these two words, my teacher taught this pneumonic: "You spell dessert with two s's because you want two desserts!"
Examples: My hometown is a desert.
I would like some pie for dessert.

loose/lose
Loose is an adjective that has the opposite meaning of tight. Lose is a verb that means "unable to find," "not have anymore," or "not win."
Examples: My seatbelt feels loose.
I will lose my keys if I don't put them in the same place everyday when I come home.

passed/past
Passed is the past tense and past participle forms of pass. Past is a preposition or adverb that means "farther/later than." Past is also an adjective or noun meaning "before now."
Examples: I passed the test.
We drove past the scene of the crime this morning.
I have worked for this company for the past 12 years.

raise/rise
Raise (raised) is a transitive verb and always has an object; rise (rose, risen) is an intransitive verb and never has an object.
Examples: If the student does not raise his grades, he will be suspended.
My grandmother raised 10 children.
The sun always rises in the east.

set/sit
Set is a transitive verb and always has an object. (Set can also be an intransitive verb, as in, "the sun sets in the west.") Sit (sat) is an intrasitive verb and never takes an object.
Examples: Could you help me set the table?
Please set the grocery bags on the table.
Please sit wherever you feel comfortable.

they're/there/their
They're is a contraction of they are. There is a word that indicates a place. Their is possessive.
Examples: They're coming at 5:00.
Let's go over there.
My grandparents love their neighborhood.


Reference: Hogue, A. (2003). The Essentials of English: A Writer's Handbook. New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

Web-based Tool for Vocabulary Development

In a previous post, I mentioned a couple of online tools that I am using in some curriculum projects I'm currently working on. This week as I was using the vocabulary profiler link mentioned in my previous post, I visited the home page of which this link is part, and I found several additional links to a variety of other vocabulary tools relating to morphology, spelling, and high frequency words (to name a few). This web tool, developed by Tom Cobb at the University of Québec in Montréal, extracts detailed information about vocabulary used in text. Not only did I enjoy entering text from some of the curriculum I'm developing to see what interesting information I could extract, but exploring the links on this site also prompted some ideas regarding how these concepts might be adapted in the classroom to promote ESOL vocabulary.

Parts of Speech - ESL Grammar Skills

The following information serves as a quick reference to parts of speech. The information provided is certainly not comprehensive, but it touches on basic grammatical principles that go hand-in-hand with the learning of English vocabulary in your course. This information can be referred to and built upon as needed while teaching vocabulary. Doing so can enhance your students’ capacity to use English vocabulary beyond the word level.

Nouns

A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea.

The horse galloped across the field.
The speaker talked about happiness.

A common noun is a noun that names a general person, place, thing, or idea.

The dog wagged his tail.
A horse eats hay.

A proper noun is a noun that names a specific person, place, thing, or idea. Proper nouns are capitalized.

The Nile River flows through Egypt.
Mary is flying to St. Lewis.

Compare common nouns with proper nouns:
common nouns - City, Girl, Store, Teacher
proper nouns - San Francisco, Sue, Macy's, Mr. Smith

A singular noun is a noun that names one person, place, thing, or idea.

The camel sniffed the air.

Dad rode in a car.

A plural noun is a noun that names more than one person, place, thing, or idea.

Camels carry heavy loads through the desert.

Can camels travel through sandstorms?

Compare singular nouns with plural nouns:
singular nouns - camel, desert, dress
plural nouns - camels, deserts, dresses*

* Notice that if a singular noun ends in s, z, x, ch, or sh, the suffix –es needs to be added to the end of the word to correctly form the plural.

A possessive noun is a noun that names who (or sometimes what) possesses something.

The king’s crown glittered with jewels.

Jill’s bag fell off her bike.

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of one or more nouns.

Mr. Hall climbed the rocky cliff. Angie and Tyson flew to Florida.

He carried a camera. Abbey watched their children for them.

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun.

Mother cooked a delicious meal.

She served fresh vegetables.

Verbs

An action verb is a word that names an action. It may contain more than one word.

Small boats carry people up the river.

The cat is climbing the tree.

Transitive verbs are followed by an object.

Jon answered the phone.

Aaron hit the ball.

Intransitive verbs are not followed by an object.

The children laughed.

A crowd gathered.

A linking verb is a verb that connects the subject part with a noun or adjective in the predicate part. It tells what the subject is or is like.

Joel is my brother.

The flowers are pretty.

A helping verb helps the main verb to name an action or make a statement.

The Smith’s have arrived in Florida.

Barbara was helping her sister.

The present tense of a verb names an action that happens now.

My students ask many questions.

Linda leaves for California today.

The past tense of a verb names an action that already happened.

The boys entered the theater.

Harry waited on the sidewalk.

The present perfect tense of a verb names an action that happened at an indefinite time in the past. The present perfect tense also names an action that happened in the past and is still happening in the present.

The workers have started the machines.

Father has returned to his job.

The present progressive tense of a verb names an action that is continuing now.

The music is playing loudly.

The couple is dancing happily.

The past progressive tense of a verb names an action that was continuing at an earlier time.

My sister was building a table.

My brother was reading his book.

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs sometimes end in the suffix –ly.

Jane silently walked into the room.

She whispered softly to Brad.

Prepositions

A preposition is a word that shows the relation of a noun or pronoun to another part of a clause. The following words are commonly used prepositions:

about - at - for - of - through

above - before - from - on - under

across - behind - in - onto - with

after - below - inside - to - without

around - by

The moon travels around the earth.

My cat is under the table.

A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun.

The president of the company gave a speech.

Jane’s bird was in the cage.

NOTE: Information adapted from the Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development manual published by Reading Horizons and is used by permission.

Sight Words Vocabulary List

Sight words are words that should be easily recognized by sight because either: 1) they are not decodable, so they must be memorized; or 2) they appear so often in reading that students should not have to stop to decode them. The latter is of particular importance because if students can easily recognize the most common words in a language, they will have fewer words to decode. Overall, memorizing sight word vocabulary helps improve fluency.
There are several different sight word vocabulary lists that could be taught. The following list* was generated by averaging the frequency of words found on a few different popular high frequency word lists, including Dolch's list, Frye's list, and Paul Nation's list. Some high frequency words that are decodable were removed.(For ideas on how to teach sight words, visit my post entitled, "Ideas for Teaching Sight Words".)

List 1 the to a and in you that of it not for I is an	List 2 on with he at are be this but have we as they will her	List 3 one do was were all am from his my there about out me so	List 4 would she very your some go when don’t said good by look too little	List 5 where then every what no or know their see which any like people into
List 6 down many year has around saw how been could them come put than now	List 7 who much think only two its our here over also walk back other after	List 8 boy use three before new work first may way again ever never seven want	List 9 because eight these today give more such through pretty four away brown yellow round	List 10 goes great says move does mother build father should answer learn eye thought together
	List 11 both carry friend once sure color enough always young though talk	List 12 door heard early toward love money done beauty nothing busy laugh	List 13 weight brother gone buy floor view lose guess shoe woman women

(*This list is published in the Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development manual produced by Reading Horizons and is used with permission.)

English Dictionary Skills for ESOL Learners

A dictionary is a very useful resource for ESOL students when learning new English vocabulary. A dictionary not only provides information about word definitions and parts of speech, but it also provides information about the pronunciation of a word, including the phonetic sounds used to correctly produce a word, word stress, and syllable division.

It is important, however, that you teach your ESOL students that in language learning, the English dictionary is not intended to be used as a crutch: Students should not look up every unfamiliar word without actively using their knowledge and cognitive skills to predict spelling, pronunciation, and meanings of words first. Using a dictionary appropriately to confirm these predictions, however, may be quite instrumental and at times necessary to facilitate, rather than impede, the learning of new vocabulary. For example, not all words in English decode perfectly, but 94% closely follow the dictionary pronunciation; therefore, using the dictionary can be a useful tool to confirm students’ pronunciation predictions.