I have a interesting situation in my service learning exercise, and I hope to share insights and updates about it on this blog.
As I mentioned in class before, my ESL learner is illiterate in not only English but in her native language as well. She has been in the US about 10 years, and can communicate in English with some difficulty, but is really striving to learn to read and write English. She has three children and her husband remains in thier native country. I can only imagine how difficult it must be.
Last semester I worked on teaching her phonics and that worked well for a while, but she has become tired of that and wants to read texts (the Laubach book). She still cannot sound out a word and relies on chunked memorization and association (saying "dollar" as "money"). I am still working to get her to increase her phonetic realization.
Many of us have students who can't read, but not in their native language. This presents a unique challenge which I hope you can occasionally help me out with by providing ideas, advice, etc. I will also post progress on here sometimes as well. If any of you have students in interesting situations, I'm sure we'd love to hear those too!
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Well, I don't really have an answer (although I promise to think about it more and post something when I have an idea). However, my student is on the opposite side of this situation. She has lived in Arlington for 25 years and speaks English very well. However, she can barely read or write in English, and through our time together, she is hoping to learn to read & write so she can take her GED. We have only met once, but I am guessing that teaching her how to read and write in English will be similar to a native child speaker learning to read and write, which leads me to my question about Sean's situation.
ReplyDeleteWe talked in class about how reading in a second language is different than trying to read in a first language in part because of the number of words you know. Although Sean's student is determined to learn to read and write in English, would it be more beneficial for her to learn a lot of vocabulary first so that she might have that "whole word" reading experience we talked about in class?
Lori makes a good point. Sean's student also lacks vocabulary. However, I think that you might want to try giving her what she wants, Sean. Start reading through the Laubach book with her. Then, perhaps, as you begin and she struggles through it she will understand why you thought it best to continue a study of basic phonics. She might also, however, feel more accomplished because she is working through the book that the other students she sees are working through.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Laubach book is not perfect and often gets a bad rap, I have come to appreciate it for its focus on teaching the pronunciation of English vowel sounds. It may actually be of more use to you then you think. While she may not understand or get through everything, she will at least be taught a different written representation of a particular vowel sound each week and will be given good reinforcement of those sounds as the weeks go on. (And you won't have to create your own input. AND you can use it as a tool to teach her vocabulary along the way.) She does not have to understand everything and you don't have to do every activity in the book. Also, this way you won't have to fight against her.
Going through the Laubach book has greatly helped my student recognize the written forms of the long (or free/tense) vowel sounds (we are in book 3). Each time the story to read is very full of the lesson's vowel sound. The grammatical principles and content may not be consistent from week to week but that is not your concern.
ELI of UTA needs some more substitute teachers right now. Why not apply for the jobs to get some much more valuable experiences for your future resume??
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for your comments!
ReplyDeleteLori - Yeah, I'm not sure how many vocabulary words my student knows. Every time she'll come out with something new, but then there are some basic words she's unfamiliar with.
Kari - Yeah, we have been progressing through the Laubach book and I really have less problems with most about the book, but I'm not too fond of the many names (and some old fashioned) in the book. Because my student tried to memorize all words, she focuses on memorizing words like "Fran".
Ruby - I am currently a substitute teacher for ELI. And for the past four years I have taught English in Japan at all levels from Pre-K to adult. Actually, my resume right now is all English teaching experience :)
Good for you!! Keep on going!! Life is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI may have overlooked it, but I didn't find the ages of her children. If some are young, PBS children's programming might be a thought as reinforcement or additional exposure when she is at home. She could watch programs with her children and perhaps pick up some of the basics. I am thinking of Sesame Street, Electric Company or Word World, which while they are "too young" for an adult, in the context of parenting her children it might work. They would have to be fairly young as Electric Company is ages 6-9.
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