[mirwin]

I am a 2nd year teacher at a small rural school. (There is one class per grade.) Our/My resources are very limited. We have two new students from Puerto Rico - and I now have the additional title of ESL instructor. One student is in 6th grade the other student is in 10th grade. They speak limited English, and I don’t speak any Spanish. Where do I begin? Any help would be appreciated!

[mesmark]

Can you tell us what you plan to do? And then we can offer you some suggestions.

What have they done previously?

In general it's easier to pick a theme, target language, or target vocabulary and then move from there forward.

[EngliPatrick]

Mirwin,

The great thing about the ESL community is that there is a lot of good material out on the web, you just need to know where to find it.

For example, one of the best FREE sites teachers' resources online is the person who posted right above me. He's got close to 2,000 flashcards at your disposal along with other cool ESL resources, which include generators, stickers, certificates, etc.

I think your best bet is to come up with a game plan of attack for your lessons and then if you don't know where to find the resources for your game plan, ask your questions here. There are a ton of teachers in this forum who have 5+ years teaching experience that know the internet and its ESL resources pretty well.

Good luck!

[mirwin]

These are some of the things that I’ve done; created ‘name cards’ and had students place them on the correct object, create & write sentences with those ‘name cards’, used dual language books, used trade books to measure comprehension, dolch word flash cards, played vocabulary building/learning games – It doesn’t sound like much. (As I said I’m struggling.) I feel like I’m doing a lot of hit and miss with out a plan of action.

[sunhelen]

It sounds like you are doing well. Basically, you are teaching a new subject, and it takes a while to become comfortable doing that. Are there any experienced teachers in your school district? If so, you might want to watch them teach or have them come and watch you and give you advice. Also, your school board should give you some support.

Are they a part of the regular classes? If so, what problems do they have? Were they good students back in Puerto Rico? Start with their immedicate problems, and go from there.

Can they read in English? If so, "English through Literature" is a good textbook. Also, there are science books available for second language learners.

Good luck

[Siddhartha]

From a practical standpoint, with an eye towards helping them get on well in their regular academic studies, you might:

1. Go over and practice with them all of the basic classroom language which teachers use to direct class

2. Stay abreast of what they’re doing in their regular classes so you can devise lessons to make sure they fully understand the subject matter and are equipped with relevant language they’ll need to contribute in class and complete any assignments