Gail,

I second your peer learning experience. Pair work and small group work really solidifies learning, as people articulate their understanding to one another. It also builds community and confidence. 

I think if your learners are reading and discussing text, odds are they can try an ESL dictionary (there are some even for low-level learners). The definitions there are deliberately limited to a small collection of words. Dual-language dictionaries vary tremendously in quality and tend to be very academically oriented- which for someone who didn't go very far in their native country's educational system is often of little help, as you mentioned.

This is my 2nd plug for ESL dictionaries, so just for the record I have no stock or job with any publisher.

Lee Sledd
Madison Family Literacy, ESL
Tacoma Community College
253-571-1887



-----Original Message-----
From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of gwendolyn.crawford
Sent: Tue 5/13/2008 9:53 AM
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2415] Re: Reading and Adult EnglishLanguageLearners
 
Gail,

 

I agree that word calling helps the students to retain the information that he or she learned.  It has also been helpful to my students who are ABE/GED students to write the words down in the notes as well.  In many situations the students are lacking confidence and when we use note cards as a way to reinforce what has been learned it really helps.

 

Gwendolyn Crawford


________________________________

From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Gail Wade
Sent: Tue 5/13/2008 7:42 AM
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2402] Re: Reading and Adult English LanguageLearners


Melinda,
 
I completely agree with you with word calling. I was doing word of the day, and as long as I was asking the student to repeat the definition they were getting 100% on the weekly test. Once I began to use jig saw sentences and  crossword puzzles with sentences they began definite steps toward better reading comprehension
 
Gail Wade

Melinda Whittlesey <whittleseym at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

	Hi Everyone:
	     My name is Melinda Whittlesy and I teach two level 3 ESL classes for Houston Community College in Houston, TX.  Most of my student are preparing for GED and require lots of reading practice to make the transition  from ESL to GED.  In my classes I find that teaching decoding skills and phonemic awareness is not really necessary.  Most of my student have basic work calling - skills by the time they get to me.  My main concern is comprehension skills.  I've found that comprehension goes up for all the students if I pair the students to co-cooperatively discuss, read, and answer comprehension questions about readings that has been read as a  whole class reading before hand. The students support each other in reading the questions, searching the material for the information, and arguing over which answer is correct.  My main challenge is the student who can word-call anything you give to him or her but has difficultly understanding the words he or she  has read even with a 
 
 second language dictionary(the student can't understand the entry in the primary language even though he or she  can word call them). What's surprising these students can discuss things with me and with other students. I give these students extra support in their small groups but  I would really love to find a dual language dictionary that is simply worded  but advanced enough for a level 3 student that functions well in all other aspects. 
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