Introduction
Purpose:
To investigate and share on-line sites to expand our repertoire of resources to support the learning of teachers and students.
Task
Teacher Resources Webquest
This webquest is designed to help us build a better understanding of how to find useful resources on the internet for teaching and learning English as a Second Language. When finished, you should be better able to find interesting lessons, games and information to guide your teaching. Try to select pieces to share that you think might be different than others so that we can maximize our learning. Enjoy the treasure search!
Compose a summary of your learning (use the questions to guide you) onto a single page and post it on the discussion board for Apply E-Tivity #7 called, "Webquests".
Place summary in Evaluation section.
Process
View 3 of the 6 provided ELL resource webquests: I have chosen #1-3
NUMBER 1
There are a number of excellent resources for teachers and for students on the following three sites and are available to teachers for free. Investigate all three and answer the questions below:
http://www.eslcafe.com click on stuff for teachers
click on stuff for students
http://www.linktolearning.com/esl.htm
ideas for teachers for ESL
http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/ell2/rssfeedell.html#
NUMBER 2
Help! You are the ESL teacher and therefore are considered a teacher leader within your school. The classroom teachers at your school need more information about how to teach the English Language Learners in their classrooms. Each of them have a different question and you are to find information and present answers and research at a series of lunch and learns.
Investigate the sites below to find information, articles, video clips or anything else that might help you.
http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/
research articles on a whole range of topics
http://www.reading.org/General/Publications/Podcasts.aspx
IRA pod casts on a variety of literacy topics
Booklists
Teaching ideas for reading and writing at different levels
Lesson plans
Other links to support literacy
What might you use in a lunch and learn? Are there any podcasts you might use to help teachers learn how to use good literacy program to support all students in their classrooms? What articles might you hand out to teachers? Select 2-3 key things to share.
NUMBER 3
Read alouds are highlighted at a staff meeting as a high yield literacy strategy because it helps students to here the patterns of English Language in an enjoyable way. The teachers agree to ensure they are incorporating more read aloud experiences within their teaching time, but the English Language Learners would benefit from even more of this. Investigate the sites below to find 2-3 appropriate read aloud stories on line that would be inclusive choices for English Language Learners.
http://thornwood.peelschools.org/dual/index.htm
Dual Language resources
http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
International books and reading…
http://www.storylineonline.net/
read aloud picture books
interactive stories read to children…
Evaluation
Number 1
Dave's ESL Cafe is an eclectic mix of resources for teachers, ELL students and students in general. The list is not exhaustive, but is helpful in a referential sort of way. There are pronunciation guides, grammar and idiomatic language guides and Q & A forums for teachers and students. I would say that this site comes with a couple of caveats. First, the resources are not content/curriculum centred. Second, a considerable amount of information presented on this site pertains to teachers seeking overseas positions, rather than curricular assistance for teachers and students. Finally, as a result of the previous point, there is unrestricted access to some rather frank discussions between overseas candidates on the discussion forums.
Link to Learning is an incredibly useful site for teachers, ELL students and mainstream students, as well. This type of site used to be called a "jump station", allowing you to jump to other sites. There are activities for students, organized by subject area and then further by either strand (Language) or by grade and then strand and subtopic (Social Studies). There are links provided for activities specific to ELL students and a number of useful links for teachers, including lesson planning ideas and tips for assessment and evaluation. All links support Ontario curriculum.
EduGAINS is a site specific to teachers and administrators. There is a lot of information at the theory level, documents like we have used in this course as well as information on initial and ongoing assessments and monographs. Specifically for the ELL teacher, initial assessment, math and literacy strategies, kindergarten support. There is also a fair amount of information needed for teacher professional development.
Number 2
Center for Applied Linguistics was an interesting site to explore. There were a handful of useful lunch and learn style ideas. I would focus on assessment and evaluation, starting with Alternate Assessment and Second Language Study: What and Why? It is an academic study, so drawing discussion pieces out may be valuable. Might look at Creating Drama with Poetry: Teaching English as a Second Language Through Dramatization and Improvisation. The possibilities are far too numerous to name here, but beware, there are few concrete "hand out some quick lessons" types of articles here. Lots of theory and research. Kind of remind me of ERIC. Definitely not for everyone.
International Reading Association more effectively lends itself to the L&L format. Instruction, assessment, motivating readers, fluency, shared reading are but a few of the podcast topics. The idea of podcasts is simple: access relevant topics, presented by experts, in a format that's universally accessible. I would definitely choose this over CAL for the purpose required here.
Number 3
There was limited information at Thornwood Public School's website except a link to Tumblebooks. Tumblebooks is very useful for ELL students as there is a lot of high interest/low vocabulary type read aloud books. It's great for special needs students, as well.
International Children's Digital Library is a wonderful resource. It is practically organized to find dual language read alouds by age, interest, language and so on. Similarly, Storyline Online. The challenge with all three of these resources is to search and read to find books that will be appropriate for your students. Storyline Online is presented by the Screen Actors' Guild and it's fun to see some familiar personalities reading the stories.
Conclusion
There is a plethora of resources available to assist the ELL teacher and ELL students alike. Theory, monographs and journals are at your fingertips should you be looking to get some answers to the many "why?" questions burning in you mind as you face a room peppered with ELL students. Web-based activities, downloadable templates and read alouds galore for those particular students, and students in general, can be found in the resources mentioned in Webquests 1-3.
Credits
Well...me.