Since the Cliff is an EXTREMELY diverse community with a high English Learner population, a lot of corps members have asked, "What are some strategies for teaching middle school level texts to students who don't speak English or very little?"
There are a few quick fixes:
1. Seat them beside more advanced English speakers, so they can translate some of the instructions.
2. Use a TON of pictures and hand motions.
3. Give them Glossaries for the text of all the words they might not be familiar with.
4. Differentiate the text by going through and changing some of the words and syntax to give them access to the text.
5. Make an effort to learn their language, especially some commands/questions that will be useful. (What is your name?, Where is your homework?, No, Yes, How are you?, Good Morning, Be Quiet, Please, and Thank you)
Beyond the quick fixes above that are generally only bandaids and cannot sustain meaningful English learning in the content areas, I searched for some online resources. These are the three sites that I thought had the most helpful advice on EL instruction.
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