In Transition 678: Settling Down

School is in full swing. Kids and families are back into their routine and so are our classrooms. For me, the beginning of school is challenging at best. My beginning ELL's cannot speak the language. They're trying to figure things out and I'm trying to help them understand what they can only learn through routine and practice, and through making mistakes. Falling, unfortunately, and time, are powerful learning strategies.

My intermediates get frustrated with the beginners. They want to move forward, but training the beginners in our classroom /school routines and policies is vital for their success. My advanced students, are mainsteamed, they've moved on. Those that remain become disappointed and wonder why they're still in the program, are they not smart enough? The varying emotions that come with each level, coupled with the anxieties of the families dropping their kids off in an American school, not to mention the details, all the details, that must be addressed at the beginning all add to sheer exhaustion. The silver lining is, things do settle down. And, we are finally settling.

One of the highlights of the new school year is seeing how much progress the kids actually did make the year before. Although many of them still remain in our program, they have come a long way and are working towards that goal, to be mainstreamed! My beginners from last year are speaking to me in English! WooHoo! They are writing their journals in English! And, they are professionals in my classroom. They work all the online learning programs better than I do. In small group, we are moving forward much quicker than our slow pace last year. I'm stoked! I love, love, love to see my kids grow and learn and speak English and become bilingual. There is no greater feeling.

I found this great website

ManyThings.org Audio Sentences

I'm working on sight vocabulary with my beginners, the first 300 High Frequency Word List. This site has examples of sentences using high frequency words. The best part, they are also recorded. My kids love it. They read it, play it, and repeat it. This is great speaking and reading practice, and a great homework assignment.

I also found a fun oral activity on Pinterest,

"I have . . . Who has . . .?"

I used it to practice vocabulary recognition and pronunciation. It also helps ELL's practice using "has" and "have" which is not as easy as it sounds.

For the first few days, we just added the words.

We decide what the first word will be and begin. Each student reads his or her two sentences. Each day we'd scramble the cards so students received a different word each day.

The next week we added the definition. This was more difficult and still is for some. But, it gets the students speaking English which is our goal. With repeated practice we'll get there.

This card ends the activity. This card says "needing", but yours obviously will have different word.

Students stay engaged because they do not know when their word is coming up next.

The game sort of takes on a rhythm and no one wants to be the one to break it. It lots of fun and quick. I would recommend two cards for the intermediate students and one for the beginners. I use it as a whole group activity right before we rotate to our group rotations a few times a week.

Help yourself to my blank templates. Click here.