Wednesday, November 30, 2011

TESOL Teaching Tip #3 - Talking is Allowed in Class

My class consists of 19 students, of which only 1 speaks English only in his household, and even he began his life in a bilingual environment.  The other 18 speak at least one, if not two other languages in their homes.  Most of my students speak Arabic, but many also speak French.  I have 3 who speak French and not Arabic, 1 who speaks Spanish, and 1 who speaks a Philippine dialect.  All of my students speak SOME English, but to varying degrees.  My job is to teach them English, while also teaching them everything we normally teach in school (reading, writing, math, science, social studies etc.)  Fortunately, I am certified to teach ESL and have some experience with English Language Learners.  Due to my unique teaching position, I have had some readers ask for tips on teaching English Language Learners.  So, from now on, I will now be doing a Teaching Tip Tuesday geared especially towards teaching English Language Learners.  Here’s this week’s Tuesday TESOL Teaching Tip:


TESOL Teaching Tip #3 - Let students talk, a lot, ell students need to talk to each other and to you to practice their language. For how to make this work in your classroom, read this blog post at Raki's Rad Resources


ELL Teaching Tip #3:  Let Them Talk
This week’s teaching tip is a hard one for me, because my classroom is SOOOO loud these days!  There are times that I really can’t hear myself think, and I wish so badly that my students would just be quiet!  However, when I get to that point, I try to step back and ask myself – are my students speaking in English?  If they are, than even if they aren’t talking about what we should be learning, they are practicing their spoken English vocabulary, and for a class of English Language Leaners, that’s important.  (With my class, there are days that the noise is in Arabic or French – and we really talk about how we are in class to learn English, so we must use our English to practice it.)  Now, this isn’t to say you need to let your English Langue Learners talk all day about whatever they want, but do appreciate that when they are having those sidebar conversations, they are at least using their English.

In addition to that natural conversation that fills your classroom (and can give you a serious headache), it is important to give your English Language Learners plenty of time to use their English.  There are many ways to do this, including collaborative learning teams, peer tutoring, partner work, read and repeat, tell a friend what I said, etc.  Below, I will talk about my favorite way to encourage spoken vocabulary, but please know that this isn’t the only way for students to use their spoken English vocabulary.  Any place in your lesson that you can encourage your English Language Learners to talk is important!  Also, remember to talk slowly and give them ample response time while you are including talking into your lesson, but please include it wherever possible.  (See Tip #2 about rate of speed and pause time, and Tip # 21 about teaching your non-ELL’s about English Language Learning.)  When at all possible, try teaming up your English Language Learners with native English speakers for best results in language learning.


My favorite strategy for encouraging spoken English in a general classroom is to tell the students to “Turn to a Friend”.  When I do anything that requires my kids to come up with an answer to an oral question, I try to use the turn to a friend strategy.  (This is not my strategy – I learned it in a workshop somewhere, don’t quite remember where – probably SIOP).  With this strategy, I ask the question, give a 2 minute thinking time and then let them turn to a friend near them and tell their friend the answer.  After their friend has told them the answer, they switch roles and listen to their friends answer.  Then, I repeat the process with at least one (generally two) more partners.  Once they have shared with their partners, I will choose 2 or 3 students to share the answer with the whole class.  After a class is well trained in this strategy, I have even asked students to tell me what one of their partners told them, instead of their own answer.

This strategy gives your students the opportunity to talk about their answer with another student before they are called on.  Since it is easier to talk to just one partner than the entire class, this allows students to build up the confidence to answer in front of the entire class, a skill that can be hard for many English Language Learners.  Additionally, this strategy builds in wait time, so that your English Language Learners have more time to process the words they want to use.  Plus, they have heard other people’s responses, so they may pick up new vocabulary or concepts from their peers. 
Turn to a friend works best when using with open-ended questions.  One place I use it most is in coordination with my Reading Journals (works with Primary and rj2Intermediate).  Before a read aloud, I will ask a thinking question.  After a read aloud, I will have kids write down the answer to the question in their Reading Journal.  Then, I will have kids use the Turn to a Friend strategy before we all share our ideas about the answer to the thinking question.

How do you encourage English Language Learners to talk in your classroom?



Do you want more TESOL Teaching Tips – check back each Tuesday for more.  Also, check out previous TESOL Tips by clicking HERE.

signature_thumb1

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Primary Problem Solving Center

psbirdsMy newest math center is working so well, I just had to tell you about it.  I have been feeling the need to build in some problem solving, but so many of my 1st graders are either non-readers or beginning readers, that I’m been scared to add in a complete problem solving center, like I would’ve used with my 3rd graders.  So, I started making these little problem solving cards, which are simple, and pictorial.  Kids pick four cards out of a bucket and glue them onto their problem solving paper.  Then, they work together psballoonsto solve the problems.  Here is a link to some that I uploaded to my TPT store for FREE – these are half addition and half subtraction.  I also made some that are specific to subtraction.  I use the problem solving sheet with these – but they could easily be glued into a spiral bound notebook or a math journal.  I have a math journal on my TPT store, but this group I have this year, isn’t quite ready for it.  Isn’t it strange how each group is so different? 

signature

Monday, November 28, 2011

Top Ten Reasons I Am Thankful

I know Thanksgiving is technically past, but I just celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, since I am overseas and was teaching while my friends in the US were feasting on turkey, so I decided to go ahead and post what I am most thankful for this year today.  Thanks for bearing with me while I’m a little behind.

This year, I am thankful for/that:

10.  YOU are reading this post!  Yes, I am thankful for YOU, whoever you are who is taking the time to read this post.  Growing up, I actually wanted to be a writer, but I could never quite finish a story.  So, then I wanted to design computer programs, but I hated finding those stupid missing semi-colons!  Finally, I decided I want to be a teacher, which is what I love doing, so I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.  However, every once in awhile, I wish I had become a writer, and through this blog I am able to do that – kind of!

9.  I LOVE my job.  Not many people can say that they love their job so much that if they won millions of dollars, they would continue to go to work the next day, but I do.  I love teaching and I couldn’t imagine my life where I didn’t get to help little people (or big people) learn new things every day.  I am so thankful to have a job that I enjoy.

8.  The internet What an amazing invention the internet is! I know it sounds silly, imagebut because of the internet, I am sitting at a cafĂ© in Morocco, writing a blog post that will be seen by many teachers living in the US. When I click publish, they will be able to read it within seconds. This is an amazing thing, and I am truly thankful for it. (Plus, it allows me to be thankful for numbers 4 & 5!)

7.  I live in a country where I don’t speak the language.  I know this doesn’t sound like something I should be thankful for – but I really am.  Not only am I learning more Arabic and French than I ever did living in the US, but I have a much better appreciation for how my ELL students (and parents) feel.  This understanding is something that will make me a better teacher to these students.

6.  My students are learning to read!  I teach first grade, so the fact that my students are learning to read should be a given.  However, this is my first time teaching first grade, so I was slightly scared walking in that I wouldn’t be able to accomplish this feat for them, especially when only half of them knew all of their alphabet on the first assessment.  However, 10 weeks into the school year, more than half of my kids are reading “on level” for first graders, and the others are working hard to get there!

5.  Selling Resources on Teachers Pay Teachers  I know it sounds silly toraki's-rad-webcc be thankful for selling my products, but I really am.  Like most teachers, I work really hard to make good products for my students, so to recoup any extra money from all that hard work is amazing.  However, to make enough to buy a plane ticket for my Grandma is really what it’s all about.  If you don’t sell on TPT yet, but want to – here’s a link to find out more.

4.  Being a part of the Teacher’s Blog Traffic School program.  For those of imageyou who aren’t aware of Charity Preston, she’s amazing! She has a set of videos to help those of us who are bloggers be more efficient at what we do.  Her program has helped me increase my sales on TPT enough to pay for a plane ticket for my Grandmother to come and visit us for Christmas!  If you’re a blogger and haven’t checked her out, click here (and be sure to tell her I sent you!)  Her program’s on sale for Cyber Monday too!

3.  Being in Morocco.  For those of you who don’t know, my family moved to Morocco this year.  While there have been some challenges, there is so much to be thankful for about being here.  My sons are learning Arabic and French, we can go to the beach any time we want, we have tea and croissants every afternoon – I really love living here!

2. My husband.  There are so many reasons to be thankful to my husband, Khalil.  rakisignatureThe one I am most thankful for is his devotion to our family.  Right now he is being a stay at home dad to our youngest son, Samir, which is  a job I couldn’t do.  He does it without complaint and loves every minute he spends with his kids.  I am thankful to have a wonderful husband and father to my sons.  (He also makes wonderful French and Spanish resources to post on TPT.)

1. My children.  I have three sons, Khalil, Zaiyd and Samir, and they are the light 300344_2202331789903_1595606972_2322916_7165024_n(1)of my life.  They make every day worth living, and are the motivation behind everything I do.  I cannot be thankful enough for all the gifts they fill my life with.  I love being a mom and watching them grow and change.




signature

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Cyber Monday Sale on TPT

Sales, giveaways, contests – wow!  I try hard to blog about other important things for your classroom (TESOL Teaching Tips, Resources Lists, Classroom Tips), but the sales, giveaways and contests just keep coming along, and I’d hate for you not to know about it – so here’s one more.  (I promise to have a good resource Top 10 list for you tomorrow, and some cool stufimagef that’s going on in my classroom next week.)

So, what’s the latest news?  Well, Teachers Pay Teachers is giving out a Cyber Monday Code that will save you 10% all day on Monday.  The code is:  CMS28.  Then, of course, I couldn’t let that be all there was to the sale, so I joined up with other TPT sellers, and put my entire store on sale for an additional 20% off.  This is valid on Monday, November 28th only, so, hop over to my TPT store and load up on everything you’ll need to get you through the rest of the school year while it’s at such a high percentage off!

signature

Friday, November 25, 2011

And on to Christmas…….

Okay, I know it’s just one day after Thanksgiving, but I couldn’t hold out any longer.  I have been waiting and waiting to tell you about the coolest Christmas promotion that’s going to happen really, really soon.  However, I really hate seeing Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving (or Halloween, lol!) so I waited.  Now the wait is over – so here’s the scoop.12daysofXmas

Twelve teachers who sell on Teachers Pay Teachers have come together to bring you the 12 Teacher Days of Christmas giveaway.  Each of us have contributed a product (not a freebie, but a real, paid product from our store) and Charity Preston of the Organized Classroom Blog has organized it all for us, which is what she does best!  All you have to do to get these 12 gifts is sign up for her newsletter before December 1st and you will get all 12 presents sent directly to your email address.  Here is a link to her post about the 12 Teacher Days of Christmas giveaway, which features a list of all twelve of us who contributed and a link to sign up for the newsletter.  There’s some really great stuff in these stores, so I can’t wait to find out which one we get.  No, I don’t know any of the prizes but mine – and I’m not telling what mine is!  Though you’re welcome to guess!!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend, and enjoy the 12 presents coming your way!  Oh, and don’t forget to get your 20% off for my Black Friday sale, happening right now, and ending at midnight EST tonight (Friday, November 25th).

signature

Thursday, November 24, 2011

And the Winners are……..

contest1    contest2    contest3

Using Random.org, I found the 3 winners of our Thanksgiving contest.  The winners are:  Dana Elting, Heather Whetham and Brian Hopkins!!!!!  All 3 of these winners will receive a $15 TPT gift certificate in their email box.  Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all who entered!

If you weren’t the winner, or missed your chance to enter, it’s okay, because I have a prize for you too.  As 15 was the number of the game, remember – 15 ways to enter, $15 gift certificate – now I am going to give everyone 15% off of everything in my sale for today and tomorrow (November 24th and 25th).  Enjoy some Black Friday fun and save some money!!!

Thanks again to anyone who entered or promoted this sale!

signature

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

TESOL Tip #2 - Slow Down!!!!

My class consists of 19 students, of which only 1 speaks English only in his household, and even he began his life in a bilingual environment.  The other 18 speak at least one, if not two other languages in their homes.  Most of my students speak Arabic, but many also speak French.  I have 3 who speak French and not Arabic, 1 who speaks Spanish, and 1 who speaks a Philippine dialect.  All of my students speak SOME English, but to varying degrees.  My job is to teach them English, while also teaching them everything we normally teach in school (reading, writing, math, science, social studies etc.)  Fortunately, I am certified to teach ESL and have some experience with English Language Learners.  Due to my unique teaching position, I have had some readers ask for tips on teaching English Language Learners.  So, from now on, I will now be doing a Teaching Tip Tuesday geared especially towards teaching English Language Learners.  Here’s my TESOL Tuesday Teaching Tip:


TESOL Tip #2 - Speak Slowly! ESL or ELL students need you to speak slowly in order for them to understand what you are saying. Stop by this blog post for a video explanation of why we need to slow down. ELL Tips from Raki's Rad Resources



ELL Teaching Tip #2:  Speak Slowly
If you’ve ever tried to speak or understand another language, the first thing you notice is how fast every seems to speak.  Actually, most native speakers of any language speak at about the same rate, anywhere between 150 and 200 words per minute, (give or take some, depending on dialect and whose doing the counting).  However, when you are learning a language, and you don’t know all the words, your brain processes what you are hearing at a slower pace.  In TESOL Teaching Tip #23, we will talk about why it is important to experience being the language learner when you are a language teacher.  For now, though, let’s do a simple experiment.  Watch these two videos.  The first one is a student who is just learning Arabic.  The second one is a native speaker of Arabic.  Which one are you able to understand better?

Language Learner

Native Speaker

Now, I know you saw a difference in the speed of these speakers.  Remember also, that when you are being taped, you tend to slow your rate of speed.  Imagine that the native speaker wasn’t talking for a video camera, but was having a conversation with a friend, I am sure that his speech would then get faster.

Now, I am a non-Arabic speaker living in an Arabic speaking country, and I can tell you that Arabic feels to me like it is spoken a million miles a minute.  However, I know that my students tell me that they feel that English goes a million miles a minute.  Truly, it is just part of learning a language, the language we are learning, whichever language it is, travels by us faster because we are not understanding every word.  Now picture the English Langue Learners in your classroom.  Every day they sit and hear the language traveling around them so fast they feel that they miss more and more words each time you talk.  Frustrating – right?  Frustrating enough to make them start to tune you out, and maybe act up a little?  Frustrating enough to make them give up on understanding?  Frustrating enough for them to start daydreaming or talking to a friend in their home language?

Those are the behaviors I’ve seen in my classroom (both here in Morocco and in TESOL Tip #2 - Speak Slowly! ESL or ELL students need you to speak slowly in order for them to understand what you are saying. Stop by this blog post for a video explanation of why we need to slow down. ELL Tips from Raki's Rad Resourcesthe US) when I talk too fast.  So, how do we help make their learning a little bit easier?  SLOW DOWN.  Don’t’ over-exaggerate your speech.  Language learners need to hear real language flow, but they also need to understand what you’re talking about, so pretend there’s a camera in front of you and slow down to a solid 130 – 150 words per minute.  Also, give a nice solid pause between sentences and an even longer one when you ask a question.  (Try counting to 50 or 100 in your head after you ask a question.)  Language learning students are often still processing the words of the question when we are sitting impatiently waiting for an answer – give them a chance to finish processing before you move on and give them the answer.  (You may also want to train the other students in your class to be patient during this time.  I have some suggestions for this in Tip# 21.) 

Do you want more TESOL Teaching Tips – check back each Tuesday for more.  Also, check out previous teaching tips by clicking HERE.
signature

Monday, November 21, 2011

Thanksgiving Contest Details

My last year has been so amazing, that I have a lot to be thankful for. One ofimage_thumb the things I have to be thankful for is 150 followers on Facebook. I am blown away by that number, and so I want to thank each of you. I will be doing a Thanksgiving contest, starting today, Monday, November 21st, and ending on Wednesday, November 23rd, with the giveaway of not one, not two, but three, Teacher’s Pay Teachers gift certificates, each worth $15.

Here are the details.  Because you are trying to win a $15 gift certificate, the lucky number for this contest is 15.  There are 15 different ways to enter, so you can enter up to 15 times.  However, for each entry, you must come back and fill out the entry form, so that I can keep track and don’t lose your entries.

15 Ways to Enter:

1.  Post a comment to this blog telling everyone one thing you are thankful for.

2.  Follow this blog

3.  Follow Raki’s Rad Resources on Teacher’s Pay Teachers

4.  Like Raki’s Rad Resources on Facebook

5.  Follow Raki’s Rad Resources on Twitter

6.  Follow Raki’s Rad Resources on Pinterest

7.  Blog about this contest on YOUR blog, with a link

8.  Post about this contest on YOUR FB Fan Page, with a link

9.  Post about this contest on YOUR Personal FB Page, with a link

10. Tweet about this contest on YOUR Twitter, with a link

11.  Recommend this blog post using Goggle Plus

12 - 15.  Tell someone at your school about this contest (You can enter using this one 3 times, but please be sure to tell 3 people.)

Don’t forget – for each entry you MUST fill out the entry form below.

[googleapps domain="docs" dir="spreadsheet/embeddedform" query="formkey=dEhhYklOX2FKRHc2LU5UMmpXNV9lS0E6MQ" width="760" height="633" /]

Good Luck Everyone!  Entries are due by Wednesday, November 23rd at 11:59 p.m. EST.  I will post a winner on Thanksgiving morning and email those winners their gift certificates.

signature

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Top 10 Holiday Books

As we approach the Holiday season, I started thinking about all of the books I like to read to my students this time of year.  So, I decided to do this week’s Top 10 post on the Holiday Books I like to use for Read Aloud.




10.  The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice by imageWendy Pfeffer – This is a great non-denominational book, that links science to the holidays. 

9.  The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore – The imageclassic holiday book!  I love to talk about the images created in your head while reading this book – great for visualization!

8.  Hanukah Moon by Deborah da Costa – We’re familiar with books imageabout how Christmas is celebrated around the world, but this is the first book I’ve read that talks about how Hanukah is celebrated outside of the US.  This cute story about how a girl celebrates Hanukah with her aunt in Mexico.  Great story for diversity!

7.  Home for Christmas by Jan Brett – I love Jan Brett any time of the imageyear, but this cute Christmas story about Rollo the troll who learns that home is the most important place to be is always a favorite of my kids.

6.  Li’l Rabbit’s Kwanza by Donna L. Washington – Love, love the imagecharacter lesson here about helping others.  It also connects to Bre'r Rabbit, which connects in with folktales.

5.  The Legend of the Poinsetta by Tomie dePaola – Another imagefolktale link, this “legend” stresses that it’s not the gift you give but the thought behind the gift that’s important – a fact too often left out of Christmas celebrations.

4.  Light the Lights!  A Story About Celebrating Hanukah and imageChristmas by Margaret Moorman – Candles are a way that so many Winter Holidays are celebrated.  This book talks about how both holidays celebrated by the little girl include candles.  As a mom of bi-cultural children, I love books that talk about how it is okay to celebrate many holidays.

3.  The Little Christmas Elf by Nikki Shannon Smith – Great holiday imagestory about not giving up.  I actually have fond memories of reading this story when I was a little girl!


2.  How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss – I’m a big Dr. Seuss imagefan, and this is one of his best.  I love the message behind this book and the message that community is more important than material things.
1.  The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg – The quintessential imageChristmas story!  I love to read this book and hand out bells on ribbons to each child, proving that each child believes!



What holiday books do you use for read aloud?  Post us a comment to let us know!



signature

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Phonics Videos

As a first grade teacher, phonics is a key skill we work on.  Since so many of kids are visual and musical, I have found that videos are a GREAT way to get my kids interested and learning phonics.  Here are a few I have used with my kids:

 

1.  The Leap Frog Videos – My personal sons have used these Leap Frog Videos to learn phonics, and they were well worth the money (My middle son literally went imagefrom knowing 2 letters to 26 in 3 weeks of repeated viewing!), especially as  I then turned around and brought them to my classroom.  There are 3 different videos, The Talking Letter Factory, The Talking Words Factory and The Code Word CaperimageThe Talking Letter Factory just does letters, and each letter has a silly memory device to help kids remember what sound the letter says image(my kids like to go u, u, up!).  The Talking Words Factory puts together cvc words, and does a little bit on blending.  It also talks about vowels being the sticky glue that holds words together, so I used it when introducing vowels.  The Code Word Caper talks about complex words, with digraphs and silent e’s, which is where my kids are now, so it is our new favorite.

 

 

 

2.  You Tube Videos – I know that many of you don’t have access to YouTube in the classroom, but if you do, these are both AWESOME videos that my kids love.  The first is a jazzy song that talks about the short vowel songs.  My kids love to dance to it, but they sing along too and now they all know short vowel sounds!!!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnVhx3vk1Jg]

 

The second song is called SuperE.  I wasn’t sure of this one at first, but the kids LOVE it, and they are so excited when they find a word with a “super e”, that I’ve come to love this video too. 

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHO1aJyxWIE]

 

 

3.  Starfall – If you aren’t aware of Starfall, you are missing out on the biggesstarfallt and best FREE source of phonics material I’ve ever found.  It is an interactive educational website that I love to use during literacy centers.  There are 4 levels on Starfall, ABC’s, Learn to Read, It’s Fun to Read and I’m Reading.  The first two levels include songs and games for letters, books where the computer will sound out words clicked on and creating words games.  The higher two levels and a variety of e-books and activities for students who are past the phonics level.

 

Hope these resources help you with phonics in your classroom.  Do you know of a great phonics site?  Post us a comment and share with the group!

 

signature

Friday, November 18, 2011

Thanksgiving Contest

My last year has been so amazing, that I have a lot to be thankful for.  One ofimage the things I have to be thankful for is 150 followers on Facebook.  I am blown away by that number, and so I want to thank each of you.  I will be doing a Thanksgiving contest, starting Monday, November 21st, and ending on Thanksgiving Day with the giveaway of not one, not two, but three Teacher’s Pay Teachers gift certificates, each worth $15.  Check back on Monday to find out how to win!

signature