Boost Reading Skills With One Small Change

                                                         

An OSU study found that making one little change to reading aloud--referencing print--boosts children's reading skills later on. Interesting! Is this something you do when you read aloud to your students? your children?

InfOhio Resources

                          



InfOhio offers free Webinars that would be great to use with ESL students.

The live webinars are from 3:30-4:30, but each webinar is archived so you can view it anytime. A couple of interesting ones are:

• INFOhio - we're not just English anymore! Enrich, Enhance, and Extend Curriculum with New Digital Language Content
• The K-12 e-reader: Uniting students with e-reading devices
• How 2 Engage in 2.0 Tools.

Many others look good, too!  Enjoy!

Digital Literacy and Online Safety Resource

                                    


This site has great resources for teaching digital literacy & ethics/safety online. Curriculum is divided by grade levels: K-5, 6-8 and 9-12.

Common Sense Media offers this FREE Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum to help educators empower their students and their school communities to be safe, responsible, and savvy as they navigate this fast-paced digital world.

For ESL teachers, I think it is critical that we teach our parents and students how to safely navigate the internet as it may be completely unfamiliar territory for them--especially our newly arrived families and those from regions with little or no access to technology.

Autism and Somali Children

Minnesota researchers began an ongoing study into whether or not there is a higher incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Somali children.  With funding from the CDC, the National Institute on Health, and Autism Speaks, they began conducting the Somali Autism Surveillance study in July of 2011.  They are only studying children in public schools, which is a potentional serious limitation because many Somali students attend private schools.  Researchers also indicated that they've had issues getting access to medical records-- because parents are refusing access and the majority of the children who were born in Somalia have no medical records prior to entering the U.S.  Here is a link to the Minnesota study.

Also from Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Health created  Autism resources in Somali.

For those of you who work with Somali students, this information will hopefully serve as a starting point for important conversations.

Using 365 Projects to Promote Learning for ELL's

Many of my friends have gotten into a 365 Project or two, and while I've admired their work, I never considered doing one myself until today.  First of all, what is a 365 Project?  Usually, it is a "photo a day" project...an individual's documentation of daily events and memories, or a photographer's portfolio of great photos, day by day.  This idea has been expanded to include portfolios of different sounds, quotes and videos.  I've even seen a "Quilt a Day" project!

So, how could ESOL teachers use 365 Projects to facilitate language instruction?

• Teachers can use the "Photo a Day" idea to begin a collection of photos for vocabulary instruction.  How often do we look online for an existing photograph to use, only to settle (often hours later) for a photo that doesn't quite capture what we want to teach? 
• Create a teaching portfolio, using a photo or video clip of a great lesson you teach each day.  This is a great way to share teaching ideas with colleagues.
• "A Piece of Realia a Day"--Make a list of items you wish you had to teach core content concepts and vocabulary.  This list would, of course, be ongoing!  Every day, collect one item on the list to build up your collection.  As you find the items, you might also want to photograph them so you have a catalog of your items that is easy to access while you plan lessons.
• "A Word a Day" lessons are nothing new, but they can be updated for the 21st century!  Have students create an e-dictionary of social or academic vocabulary that they encounter daily.  They can use your 365 photo collection to illustrate their dictionaries!
• If your students have access to a digital camera, they can start their own "Photo a Day" projects.  This could be done individually, in a small group, or as a class.  Students can use their photos to inspire writing ideas.  Emergent level students could use their photos to participate in Shared Writing activities.

These are obviously just a very few of the ways a 365 Project could be used as a tool for language learning!

I'm starting my Vocabulary Photo a Day project tomorrow!