- During the last few weeks I have been interacting with our school social working and I have presented to her the importance of Advocating for Early Literacy in ESL. As i explained and shared my plan in advocating for literacy we came to a realization that in our center we don't do enough for ELL and their families.She mentioned that all we really do is "Literacy Night" and that pretty much it. So our social worker has suggested that we look into this more and see what we could do to help staff and families in our center be more involved in literacy involvement with their children. I then shared with her that since I have been researching the importance of literacy in ESL I came upon with some important tips for teachers who work with ESL children and the information stated that teachers should focus in reading the same book or familiar versions of the book for a whole week, this will help children understand the stories more and grasp new vocabulary words, this idea helps every child in the classroom as well as ESL students. The social worker suggested that teachers should use props and dramatize stories so that children can better understand and learn to use new vocabulary that they have acquired from the stories that are read weekly. I must say that I have started doing this with my class and have observed children who don't know much English pick up new words and are more engaged in stories. I believe that this can help any child understand stories and learn new vocabulary! Another important thing that I have observed in my class is that since we have been doing dramatization, it has helped my special needs students in many ways as well in expressing themselves more and learning to sequence stories.
- I will continue to do more research in literacy and use some important findings with my own students and observe them and see if it is working for them, in the mean time I will also find more information on how we could involve the school and families in our school to be more aware of the importance of "Literacy".
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Observing and Interacting With Program Director(s) and Other Administrative Staff in Your Setting
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I think that props and music (Ella Jenkins) are a great way for any child to understand and develop their language skills. I currently work in a program that serves about 95% Chinese families and I use music and props to assist the non-English speaking children. I have also made it a priority of mine to make sure that I take a look at my Chinese language "cheat sheet" everyday. This sheet provides me with a list of common simple words that are used in an early childhood school setting. Some of the words that I have learned in Cantonese are; wash your hands, sit down, lie down, sleep, good morning, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and use the bathroom. I also have a great partner in the classroom that speaks Mandarin and Cantonese that helps me with translation to make sure that the children are not left out.
ReplyDeleteI have always encouraged, as well as provided children's families with the opportunity to take books home to read to their child. I also make sure to tell my parent's that literacy night should be every night.
I have always offered my parents resources and we also have a lending library where parents have the opportunity to help their child pick books that they would like to read at home, but sadly to say that no one really pays attention to it and only a few do check books out. I was thinking about ways in which I can change this, so if you have some ideas that can help I would appreciated. Thanks in advance :)
DeleteSandra I can say that repetition is one of the many elements to early literacy. I work with toddlers and they love to bring you their favorite book, they have learned most of the key words and they are learning comprehension as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you to both Roberto and Tan for the advise!
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