Language Learning in the Lower Grade Classroom

¶ … Peregoy and Boyle (2013) show, both native English speakers and ELLs undergo the same reading/writing processes when developing these skills, as both come to a gradual understanding and ability to read and write. Social interactions are a major key in assisting the development of these skills, so any classroom organization should be based on the idea of promoting social interaction among the students, whether young or old.

Thus, desks could be close together or replaced by tables, where groups of students share space; or chairs could be arranged in circles or clusters to facilitate interaction. I would also use signs on the walls that promote vocabulary words, sentence structure, grammar with pictures and diagrams that illustrate the concepts stressed in class. Thus the surroundings would constantly reinforce what the students are learning, and be updated appropriately.

Moreover, the visual aids should offer cues to activities and concepts that they are familiar with, whether themed for holidays, cultural events, or basic universal/social activities that are age-appropriate.

These will help the students (especially younger ones who have never been in a class before) to feel more comfortable in the new surroundings, as they will see things that they recognize, whether it is a picture of a fire truck, a swimming shark, basketball -- everything is fair game because all students come from the outside world and have tangible connections that can be exploited for the sake of drawing them more closely into the class.

Students would begin reading and writing after reviewing basic connections with words, speaking the words and identifying the words by pictures and activities.

Just as native speakers begin with books that are simple in the sense that they depict pictures and the words beside them which are read aloud by an adult, then they progress towards sentence books and then to learning to write (all the while learning the alphabet and how to spell), so the same methods may be employed with young ELLs entering the classroom for the first time.

The first priority, however, would be to develop oral language skills and phonetic pronunciation so that the young learners can hear the words, the language, and make connections between what they hear and what they see. This builds confidence as they gradually become familiar with the language.

The activities I would use to promote literacy development would be oracular activities and socializing: I would challenge the students to point out objects in the room and identify them, to see how many they could name, how many they could spell, and so on. They could do this individually and in groups, helping one another to learn. I would make this a clear first objective for the students -- that they should learn to know everything in the room, as this promotes learning (Himmel, 2012).

It is also important to point out that the way in which words are spoken is not always correct, as WhatYouOuttaKnow (2008) states. Letting young learners know this can help them to avoid confusion when they are learning phonics lessons. Most importantly, using the SIOP model can be an effective way to help young students develop the keys to language learning (Pearson, 2014). This model allows the teacher to prepare, execute and measure the approach utilized.