Reflections of YOED 6020—ESL Methods and Materials

I thought the information, methods, and strategies presented in the ESL methods class were very helpful. I especially liked learning how to create a CALLA lesson that incorporated language learning strategies with content instruction. I also was glad to see the Oral Language Development rubric. As a Kindergarten teacher, it is hard to always know at what level my students begin. Even though they come to me after being assessed by our ELL office, it is good to have the OLD to use later on in the year.

As I think back over all of the items I created for this class, there are several I can use with my students this coming year. The choral reading activity is one that I can definitely use. The writing prompt and anticipatory guide are also good tools that I can use with my students. The cloze procedure would be hard to use with my Kindergarten students, though. The CALLA lesson plan that I created is on subtraction, which I teach every year in the Spring. I was glad to find some new books and activities for teaching this skill.

For those teachers just beginning the ESL journey I would say be patient and flexible. I had taught Kindergarten for many years before teaching self contained ELL students this past year. I knew I would need to do some things differently for my ELL students. I did not realize how differently I was teaching until I had a class of English speaking students for a while during a team teaching day. I also was not prepared for how excited my ELL students were about the things we did. Everything was new and interesting to them. It was a very rewarding year!