TeresaTeaches
New member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2015
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
Hello. I am currently a first grade teacher in a general education English class. I have 25 students and 21 speak another language at home in addition to or instead of English. In my class this year, half of the students speak Spanish while at home while the remainder speak a variety of languages from their families homes in Africa. As the number of ELL increases each year, I have decided to get a masters in English Language Learning and Teaching.
I am hoping you can share an informal language assessment that I can use to identify the needs of my students. Our school has a Dual Language program to learn English and Spanish and we have ESL services. Each year we have some parents that feel their child would be better served in a general education English class and write English on the Home Language Survey. There is a student in my class that began first grade identified as at risk. After working with her, I realized she did not understand what I was saying. It took several meetings with the mother before she shared that her daughter had attended preschool in the Santa Domingo and Head Start program receiving instruction in Spanish. I feel that I did not do the best I could as a teacher because I was unable to identify her needs. I asked if she could take the incoming assessment and was told this was not possible as her Home Language Survey stated English.
Can you please recommend a resource I can use in the class informally to assess a students language proficiency? I am hoping to use what is learned with the assessment to develop small group or individual learning centers to support language development with the first grade curriculum.
Thank you in advance for your help. I am open to all suggestions. Even though we only have two weeks left, I will be teaching summer school. Many of our summer school students are ELLs and hopefully what I learn here can be used to support them also.
I am hoping you can share an informal language assessment that I can use to identify the needs of my students. Our school has a Dual Language program to learn English and Spanish and we have ESL services. Each year we have some parents that feel their child would be better served in a general education English class and write English on the Home Language Survey. There is a student in my class that began first grade identified as at risk. After working with her, I realized she did not understand what I was saying. It took several meetings with the mother before she shared that her daughter had attended preschool in the Santa Domingo and Head Start program receiving instruction in Spanish. I feel that I did not do the best I could as a teacher because I was unable to identify her needs. I asked if she could take the incoming assessment and was told this was not possible as her Home Language Survey stated English.
Can you please recommend a resource I can use in the class informally to assess a students language proficiency? I am hoping to use what is learned with the assessment to develop small group or individual learning centers to support language development with the first grade curriculum.
Thank you in advance for your help. I am open to all suggestions. Even though we only have two weeks left, I will be teaching summer school. Many of our summer school students are ELLs and hopefully what I learn here can be used to support them also.