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Bienvenida SanchezParticipant
My take aways are that explicit instruction of competent teachers are needed to foster the foundations of the language for
1- Phonics
2- Letter formation
3- Sentence structure as the building block of effective communication, including punctuation and grammar within contextOne idea that stuck with me is that all good readers are not precisely good writers. I have a good reader in my class that can write when he is actually forced to do it but refuses to do it on his own. So every case is different and we need to give utmost attention to instruction in writing – providing more time for students to write different genres.
Bienvenida SanchezParticipantI believe in exposing the kids to the language modeling its correct use through oral language, reading lots of literary and informational texts to foster formal and informal writing development through explicit instruction and students’ collaboration with each other to foster independence.
Explicit instruction within content allows students to build and comprehend the structure to transfer their thinking onto paper. Knowing the correct structure, I believe, frees the mind for creativity instead of hindering it. As an English Language Learner, I need direct instruction and so do my students. Direct instruction in English or Spanish and full exposure to the language(s) helps me a great deal in mastering the language; direct instruction within content that helps me make connections with what I know and make sense of new information makes me feel accomplished in the task of learning a language and its writing tricks.
In my opinion, the differences between formal and informal writing have to do with the social standards of the culture [what to say and what not to say according to the writing purpose and the reader], and it is embedded in the culture. Proper structure of sentences, grammar and punctuation must be present at all times – as well as the proper strokes for letter writing.
Building the foundations in a sequential structure and identifying the key elements of good writing according to the task, purpose, and intended reader is essential to create an effective writing piece whether it is formal or informal.Bienvenida SanchezParticipantWriting in another language is very frustrating and one actually feels like giving up. Unless you feel you have to do it and you have an intrinsic motivation to do so, there is no way people will put the time and effort into mastering the language. I feel the pain and frustration that my students go through. I have been there myself since English is my second language. I still feel that way many times. The desire and motivation to learn the language came from my personal motivation to do so. This tells me that I need to keep my students motivated and engaged to learn English.
Bienvenida SanchezParticipantI teach vocabulary instruction (the phonetic aspect, meaning, structure, and spelling) in thematic units during close reading, read aloud, or guided reading IN CONTEXT.
I am now using the scope and sequence guide for teaching phonics and spelling as I am incorporating these recommendations into my units. Besides that, I encourage my students during independent reading to pay attention to the vocabulary and reflect on the challenges they find or their “noticings” related to the words for meaning and structure as well as related words they can connect it to.
Teaching this well, I can tell is even adding some fun into my classroom environment since they are eager to discover new words, revise and edit their spelling and share out in class.
The progress is obvious.
Bienvenida SanchezParticipantI am currently teaching entry, emerging and transitioning students from levels -A to D seating in a 3rd. grade classroom.
It is very challenging because these students do not know how to read or write in their home language as well and their motivation to read, seating on a 3rd grade classroom, is low even when I do all that is in my power to make them feel motivated, enthusiastic about learning, valued and respected.Through guided reading I started 5 minutes phonics instruction (which must of the time gets overextended), at the same time that I guide them to make connections with the text and learn new words in context through the process of repetition, adding meaning to the words – direct instruction of roots, suffixes and prefixes. E.g. like – dislike; play – playing. Also they are encourage to match pictures with words and English/Spanish glossaries (that they can’t read) are provided.
When they come across unfamiliar words, they tend to give up if I am not working with them. One of the strategies that I am using at this level is to match the words and pictures in context, to identify cognates and words they already know for comprehension. I will reinforce phonemic awareness a lot more for which I requested additional support to my administrators.
I am an ELL myself and I know how it feels to be in their shoes; your activity brought back to me my own memories as an English Language Learner. Sometimes we forget how difficult it can be. So definitely reinforcing vocabulary with pictures and making sure they understand how important it is to listen as an active participant will help.
I find that these students are the ones less engaged and more disruptive – I know the reason or I think I know (they feel they can’t do the work) – so motivation is a must in this case.Bienvenida SanchezParticipantI have been teaching vocabulary in context, making sure students make connections with the topic to identify word meaning. I misunderstood the concept of teaching vocabulary in isolation in the form of explicit teaching. Now I understand that within context you teach both ways: explicitly and implicitly – previously planning for both (intentional vocabulary). With my EN/EM ELLs (Spanish speakers) I build a lot on cognates and sentence structure. I will be moving a lot more to teach vocabulary as a network to facilitate language acquisition as students relate words to their derivations, work on collocations, cognates and use prior knowledge.
Bienvenida SanchezParticipantTeaching vocabulary considering the principles of morphology instruction brings me to the most important part, in my opinion, which is to teach the vocabulary as a network. Students identify the variations and collocations, including cognates – making the transfer from Spanish to English, in this case, to comprehend a text as they breaking down the words, as needed to make meaningful connections as they are “contextualizing the words into varied and meaningful formats.”
Bienvenida SanchezParticipantTeaching vocabulary considering the principles of morphology instruction brings me to the most important part, in my opinion, which is to teach the vocabulary as a network. Students identify the variations and collocations, including cognates – making the transfer from Spanish to English, in this case, to comprehend a text as they breaking down the words, as needed to make meaningful connections as they are “contextualizing the words into varied and meaningful formats.”
Bienvenida SanchezParticipantI am Bienvenida Sanchez.
I am currently teaching 3rd. grade on a dual language setting at P.S.108K, Brooklyn, NY.
My students’ population is Hispanic and they mostly speak Spanish at home.
I have a vast variety of levels in my class from entry, emergent, transitioning, expanding and commanding levels which is my main motivation to take this course.
The more I learn about the subject, the better I can help my students succeed.I read the 3 articles assigned. Not sure if I should reply in this forum, but what resonates with me the most is the idea of seeing my students’ knowledge as an additive to the class body. Instead of seeing them as students who can’t speak English, for example, I can see them as students who can communicate in Spanish and build on what they bring to the community.
Oral Language in my understanding is the backbone of the linguistic knowledge students have to acquire to be successful readers and writers. Students should engage in conversations with the peers and, as a teacher, I should facilitate understanding of the language (English and Spanish) and its structures as well as similarities and differences amongst the English and Spanish languages to transition from one language to another and to build on comprehension and communication skills through the exchange of ideas and knowledge.
The goal is to improve the language building academics through the social language and incorporating opportunities to develop and practice academic language. All students can communicate through the incorporation of nonverbal language, explicit instruction, peer interaction as they speak/listen to each other, read, exchange ideas, write and revise their writing. -
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