Larry Ferlazzo is an English and social studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif.
The new question-of-the-week is:
What are effective teaching strategies for newcomers?
Newcomers to the United States often have low-proficiency in English but, depending upon their age, might have had considerable education in their home language.
What are the most effective teaching strategies educators can use with this population, which is certain to grow under President Biden’s immigration policies?
Before we get to today’s guest contributors, I’d like to share a few of my favorite strategies:
1. Picture Word Inductive Model (PWIM)
In the PWIM, students and teachers first label an image with words, then categorize them, followed by using the words to write sentences about the picture. They next categorize the sentences, turn them into paragraphs, and finally, write a title.
You can’t go wrong with games. In the classroom, zillions of different ones can be played with mini-whiteboards, and they can be modified for online use by using a tool like Whiteboard.fi . Quizizz is also great for online use, and it has countless games already premade for just about any topic you want to teach!
3. Dialogues
Providing students with funny dramatic dialogues, which they perform and also record , is an excellent strategy to build reading and speaking fluency—and confidence. They work well as a differentiation strategy, as well, since students can also modify them.
4.Freire’s Learning Sequence
The Peace Corps adapted this strategy from the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. You can read more about it here. Basically, students are shown an image illustrating a problem and are first asked to describe the picture. Then, they are asked to say what the problem is, if they or someone they know have ever experienced that problem, and discuss potential solutions.
5. Language Experience Approach (LEA)
Irina V. McGrath, Ph.D., works for the Kentucky education department as an education recovery specialist. She is also a co-director of the Louisville Writing Project (LWP) and the University of Louisville and Indiana University Southeast adjunct who teaches ESL/ENL instruction as well as assessment, literature, and cultural- and linguistic-diversity courses.
Michelle Shory, Ed.S., is a district ESL instructional coach in the Jefferson County public schools, Louisville, Ky. She is passionate about literacy and helped establish Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Louisville.
Teaching students who are newcomers (students in their first year of enrollment in a U.S school) is a privilege—it changes an educator’s outlook, practice, and heart forever; however, working with newcomers requires a lot of cognitive, physical, and emotional energy. But we challenge you to find a more rewarding experience in all of education. Where else do you get to see such incredible growth and change? And you will probably keep relationships with these students long after they leave your classroom.
Learning about newcomers will help you connect with your students and their families, give you ideas on how to make your curriculum culturally relevant, and help you address your own assumptions and misconceptions.
Relationships, Self-Advocacy, and Routines
Before starting with the first “real” lesson, begin with relationships, self-advocacy, and routines.
When focusing on relationships, start with names. Teachers should know how to pronounce student names—and students should know how to pronounce each other’s names. Also, students need to be fully seen. Educators must take time to learn about their students’ interests, families, and topics they love to study. Teachers should also share about themselves—share hobbies, family pictures, etc. Classrooms (especially newcomer classrooms) need to feel safe because we are encouraging students to be vulnerable each day when they are using a new language.
Dr. Stephen Krashen instructs educators to “lower the affective filter” as a way to increase comprehension. Lowering the affective filter includes helping kids feel comfortable by speaking more slowly, using gestures, and including high-interest materials. All of this is most effective when classrooms are warm and comfortable.
Educators will want to begin by teaching independence on day one. Show students how to use technology like Microsoft’s Immersive Reader, Google Translate, or Socratic from Google. Demonstrate planning and organization skills (like using a digital calendar or Google Keep). It is also a good idea to make sure that students know how to ask for help from a teacher when they don’t know the answer to a question.
Instructional Supports and Considerations
One last addition is to set up strategies to support interaction. WIDA researchers found that ELs spend on average less than 10 minutes per day speaking in class. This is unacceptable from a social-emotional and academic lens—ELs need to engage frequently in classroom conversations. When thinking about structures, consider Kagan structures or QSSSA from Seidlitz.
When facilitating lessons, always remember to include visuals, gestures, and repetition. ESL consultant and teacher Carol Salva’s students report these strategies as the most helpful.
It is also important to consider teaching themes. Krashen’s research demonstrates the power of “deep reading” on a topic and how it supports ELs in acquiring language. Themes boost engagement and confidence because students are continually building their expertise about a topic. Additional research (highlighted in Natalie Wexler’s work) has proven that reading comprehension is largely based on background knowledge. So, whenever teachers build students’ knowledge of the world, they are also supporting comprehension.
Finally, when teaching newcomers, educators should not discount the expertise in the room. Be sure to tap into students’ “funds of knowledge,” a term coined by Dr. Luis Moll that represents cultural resources and knowledge that students bring to the classroom. Always include at least one entry point for newcomers to bring in their cultural and linguistic expertise. One example might be a unit on religions, holidays, or education systems around the globe.
In conclusion, teachers play an important role in ensuring social, emotional, and academic success of newcomer students. The more effort teachers put into getting to know their students, teaching them self-advocacy skills, and building on their funds of knowledge, the greater chance their students will have of reaching their highest potential and succeeding personally and professionally.
