Strategies for New Arrivals
Supporting ESOL students in the Classroom
Compiled and written by Jennifer Costar and Louise Turner
Essential Background Reading
Introduction
When a new arrival comes into your class, it may seem as if he or she can
do nothing at all and will be unable to participate in any
normal activities. You need to remember that these students
have already acquired one language, have developed many concepts in this
language and may be literate in it as well. It is important that you
remain positive towards the new student and his or her language, and that
at every opportunity you display confidence in his or her ability to learn
English.
The new student is likely to be fearful of many things: you, the other
students, expectations and his/her inability to communicate. Being friendly
and showing empathy will help allay these worries and encourage
co-operation.
ESOL students have a range of educational needs. These may relate
to student competency in their first languages, their previous
life experiences, disrupted schooling patterns or other factors.
What to do Prior to the Arrival of your New Student
- Find out as much as you can about your new student. Information
should include languages spoken, previous schooling and family
situation. Use
bilingual information gathering forms.
- Have interpreters available at enrolment.
- Have an Ethnic Box ready for use with the student and the class.
- Organise desks, chairs, tables etc. ready for day one.
- Set up a Buddy
System to help new
student in both the classroom and playground. Initially it's important
to have 'buddies' who can speak the student's first language. Train English
speaking buddies.
Train the buddies to:
- talk clearly;
- talk in small bites;
- use simple sentence structures;
- repeat and rephrase;
- use body language.
- Create an atmosphere of acceptance
Encourage positive interaction between class members and new students so
that they become part of the class "family".
- Sensitise
your mainstream students
You want your newcomers to be accepted.
Sensitise mainstream students to the challenges that new learners
of English face.
- Display bi-lingual labels (plus visuals) around the room,
corridors, toilets, office, window, books etc. Sentences are more
beneficial than isolated words.
On Arrival
On Arrival: Guidelines
Tried and True Communicative Strategies That Help Students Develop Language Skills while Learning New Concepts in Curriculum Areas
Shared Dictation
Students revise recently learned vocabulary, structures and genre by dictating text
and filling in missing words.
Strip Stories
Students work together to sequence a strip story.
Combining Tasks
Students communicate with each other to
fill in missing pieces of information.
Barrier Games
A speaking and listening game that allows students practice vocabulary.
Half-and-Half Sentences
- Write the key ideas of your lesson in sentences on strips of card.
- Cut the strips in half.
- Give sets of strips to pairs of students and have the
partners match their halves.
- The students take turns to read the sentence to their partners.
Information Transfer
An information transfer activity involves the changing of information
either from a diagram to words or vice-versa. The interpretation
of text, diagram or tables is a skill that is very useful both in academic
and everyday life.
Example of information transfer.
Putting Topic Words into Sentences
- In pairs the students are given groups of words relating
to the topic being studied. These words must be familiar to the students.
- The students use these words to construct sentences.
- They read these sentences to their partners.
Ranking Tasks
- Each student in the group independently ranks the items.
- The students then work in groups to try to persuade one another of
the correct order.
An example of a ranking task
Describe and Draw
- Put the students into pairs.
- One member of the pair draws a simple outline picture related
to the topic and then describes the picture to their partner who attempts
to draw the picture as described.
Say It!
A role-playing activity that motivates students to try new structures and
vocabulary.
Resources
