Tips for Supporting English Learners in WordGen Classrooms

Provide as much first language support as possible. If you can communicate in the student’s first language, use it to preview/review, clarify concepts, elicit the student’s background knowledge and perspective, and help place the focus words in the context of the unit topic. The student can use the first language to express their thoughts and perspective orally with someone who understands, as well as in writing. If a student has limited writing skills in the first language, allow for sketching and/or having the student dictate a response for someone else to write.

Partner the student with a peer who can communicate in their first language. While the instructional tasks mentioned above (e.g., preview/review) should not be the responsibility of the peer language partner, they can be an enriching support throughout a Word Generation lesson during turn-and-talk activities, in explaining teacher directions, etc.

Be mindful of rate of speech and diction while teaching. In a second language classroom, students are exposed to countless unfamiliar phonemes, graphemes, words, and expressions. Teachers usually need to use clear diction and to speak more slowly than most proficient English speakers find reasonable. This allows students to identify patterns in sounds and to distinguish words as they are making meaning.

Provide visuals (e.g., sketches, photos, word cards) and/or realia (actual objects) to contextualize key aspects of the lesson.

Use gestures and dramatization to convey meaning. For example, while reading a text aloud or teaching the focus words, convey meaning through facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice. Props and miming are helpful, too. Assign a gesture to each word that represents its meaning and use this gesture during word chants and when you use the word.

Chunk the reading of text to check for understanding, and scaffold comprehension.

To enhance understanding, use the focus words and their various forms repeatedly throughout the unit and, if possible, in other content areas. If the focus words are available in the student’s first language, be sure to print and post the word cards.

Actively promote awareness of cross-linguistic relationships, especially with the focus words. Explicitly teach the features that make the words similar and different in the student’s first language. For example, the word transportación in Spanish shares the prefix “trans” and the root word “port” with English but has a different suffix. Even students who are only familiar with the English language enjoy learning about how it compares/contrasts with other languages.

Find ways to help the student personally connect to the topics and themes in Word Generation to enhance engagement. The Word Generation curriculum includes many opportunities to integrate student voices, experiences, and perspectives. By closely observing the student, you may find ways to incorporate their home and cultural experiences, interests, and talents in Word Generation lessons.

Last but not least, it is vital for the teacher to take time to build a relationship with the student, even if the first language is not one the teacher understands. A safe learning space, one which allows for risk-taking and shows that the teacher cares, is very important in a student’s learning.