ELL's and Reading

This article made a couple very important points when adjusting instruction to meet the needs of 2nd language learners. All of these are critical to succesfully teaching ESOL kids. The following are some of the most interesting points to consider:

1. Teachers need to be aware their ESOL kids language structures. Spanish phonetics and sentence structure is similar to English in many ways, but many Asian languages are very different in not only their sounds but their writing styles. This can easily hold back students until they can associate an English sound with a letter.
2. Read alouds are very important as they model intonation and expression. These kids need to hear fluent readers as much as possible.
3. Reading instruction must have connections with prior learning or with real life. These kids need to make connections to facilitate the reading process.
4. Finally, Students must receive direct vocabulary instruction by the ESOL teacher.