Gibbons Chapter 5

For TE250 two years ago, I did my field in an ELL room. On the first day I worked in the room, a the students were being tested to see how much English they were familiar with. The students all worked quietly. Five minutes before the end of class, a small boy from China raised his hand. When I went up to him, he whispered that he hadn't started his test because he couldn't read the directions. This chapter made me reflect on this incident, because the situation probably could have saved this boy an hour and a half of stress had more detailed information been given before the test was handed out. In any reading- any form of literacy- it is very important for ELL students to have before-reading activities. I've often heard about giving a small discussion before reading a book or using a book to introduce an activity or skill, but I hadn't given much thought to how I would introduce a book. What I liked most about this idea is that it helps all learners: it gets those familiar with the genre and background knowledge thinking about what they will be learning and it gives a more even playing field to those who may not be as familiar with the language or culture for any number of reasons. I also thought the during-reading activities were important because they were teaching reading strategies. I'm taking CEP 301, which is like TE 301 in special education, and they brought up the fact that a big difference between good readers and poor readers is that good readers are familiar with and use more reading strategies. By teaching students how to skim and scan, to summarize, and to listen to books to get an idea of voice inflection, students learn strategies that will help them to be better readers. I feel like ELL students, because they are often quiet and it won't always be obvious they are falling behind, will benefit greatly from learning strategies to reading in English. I feel like many of the activities listed would give students more direction, and leave them to flounder less. I was surprised to find out recently that it is language rather than culture in many cases that keeps ELL students feeling so alienated in the classroom- giving students rich texts and activities that will aid in comprehension may help the classroom to be more cohesive and give all students a more well reounded experience.