Matching Books with ELLs Description of the Chosen Book

pages book Titles Barenstain Bears (fiction)

It is the classic story of Barenstain Bears. Lots of children love it. They particularly pick out the little bear that creeps into a box.

Interestingly, this adventure is told from a set of vocabulary of only twenty three words.

Berenstain S, Berenstain, J. (2007), Inside, Outside, Upside Down. London: HarperCollins Children's.

Contextualize the ELLs you intend to use the book with: Who are they? You can discuss their age/grade, cultural backgrounds, background knowledge, language proficiency levels, interests, etc.

I intend to use this book with kindergarten learners. These learners are at their critical period (3 to 5 years). During this period they can best acquire language skills and therefore it is very important to prepare them adequately for the task. Additionally, these children have not experienced language from many users apart from their family members. Therefore, their language proficiency level is extremely low.

According to the 2006 publication, The Kindergarten Program (as cited in Ontario, 2007), it is emphasized that the experiences in the early learning stages of children affect their all-round development (p1). The book explains how children develop their own knowledge based on their recent encounters and previous experience (p2). These insights are also applicable to Kindergarten English Language Learners (ELLs). The challenge faced by the Kindergarten teachers is the kind of experiences each of the learners may have had, and how these experiences continue to influence their present learning processes. Past Experiences form the basis for acquiring new knowledge and skills for children and cannot be misconstrued as it involves the learner's identity (Ontario, 2007)

It is important for the Kindergarten language teachers to present the learners with some basic words in the form of comprehensions in oral and written forms. The teachers should engage the students in different activities that establish a relationship between the oral and written forms of the words (Lado,...

Firstly, it is necessary to empower the ELLs with the ability to understand before they attempt to express themselves in the language. ELLs, thus, identify words from phrases and sentences and acquire their vocabulary from concrete ideas in visual perception and imitation as distinct elements.
The Rationale for Selecting the Book and the Cultural Connection

Any child who is born healthy and is brought up in an environment in which people use oral language for expression and communication, soon grasp the spoken language. However, it is a not an easy task to decipher written language. The writing skills are developed through structured formal instructions. Off late, it is observed that many young children develop commendable level of reading and writing skills even before their schooling. (Goodman, 1986; Sulzby, 1985).The difference between the children becoming adept at oral and the written language is proportional to their exposure to it, through the increased familiarity towards it. A key reason for the difficulty in developing literacy is the differences between oral and written language (i.e., informal vs. formal and context-embedded vs. context-reduced). To bridge this gap, a book with visuals, pictures, textual and pictorial illustrations has been chosen as the assumption here is that Kindergarten learners will be able to learn quickly and efficiently with visuals due to lack of written text (Nessel & Dixon, 2008).

How the book is culturally connected to the lives of your students? How is the content appropriate and accurate for the age and interest level of your students? How is the language and structure accessible to your students? In what way do the visual (in available) and language in the book support your students' language development and reading comprehension?

Development of reading and comprehension ability is observed to be more difficult than learning communication through oral language. The use of reading materials that make the development of reading and comprehension ability easier is therefore fundamental for very young English language learners. This book has textual and pictorial illustrations that…