Anyone have an ESL group?

Just found out that my class will be ESL. I'll be teaching Math, Social Studies and Literature. I know that for literature the ESL students will be going to another teacher and I'll be left with 10 students I believe. I will have no assit / help. How do you manage the other subjects when the students will still have trouble understanding what your saying? Any guidance would be great.

Re: Anyone have an ESL group?

I'm an ESL teacher.....make sure when you are doing whole group instruction that you have LOTS of visuals and don't speak too fast.

Some mainstream teachers use the time that the kids are in ESL to teach Social Studies, since that is the area of absolute most difficulty for ESL students, and usually (at least in my experience) the ESL teacher covers SS in the ESL class.

Another thing you might want to do is give the ESL teacher a heads up about what you are teaching, so she/he can preteach the background vocab and knowledge necessary, and work on it while you cover it also.

Also, I don't know what grade you teach, but have the kids label EVERYTHING in the room. I do this even in middle school and it really helps the kids vocabulary and even if they drift from you, they're stll learning!

Re: Anyone have an ESL group?

I'm a bit worried b/c it is a 6th grade group. I was told that I would have everyone for math and social studies and that the ESL group would be pulled out for literature/language arts.

I'm teaching the ancient civilizations so I do have a lot of visuals. I was also told that I'm supposed to be getting a smart board so I hope to be able to use that to help.

Can you recommend any books, etc for them. Thanks.

Re: Anyone have an ESL group?

Well, math is math in pretty much any language, so I wouldn't worry about that. Social Studies is another story...

THere's a company named Longman. They make an ESL social studies textbook, which is great. Maybe if you could get your hands on one, you could use it to supplement. There's also the Oxford Picture dictionary for the content areas, which could also be a help for beginner students. Check with your building Esl teach, they probably have these books.

NYS also publishes bilingual glossaries for Social Studies. You can print copies off the website or you school can order the more detailed one

Re: Anyone have an ESL group?

Thank you so much! I'm definitly going to look at all of these.

Re: Anyone have an ESL group?

You have some great suggestions here. I would add buddying students up (weak/strong) and looker for guided readers at lower grade levels. Longman is a great resource. I teach HS aged students but most of my readers are grades 5-7 for the beginning students. Usually if you call the compaines they will send you sample copies for free.

Good luck!