Tips for Working with ELL Students

By Learning Leaders Staff

Learning a new language at any age is a very demanding and sometimes frustrating process. When working with a child, natural motivation and interests are the best way to go. Here are a few tips to help make the road to English proficiency a bit more fun.

• Comic books and magazines are great tools for any level of proficiency. A child can hunt for words, letters, numbers, and pictures and sound out or write the words that correspond to each picture. You can even create your own flash cards.

• Everyone loves food! Have a child talk about, describe, and if possible, write out recipes for his/her favorite dishes. Using the pictures on food labels, ask him/her to talk about the ingredients and figure out what those ingredients are called in English.

• Collect restaurant menus to help children learn the names of what they like to eat. It’s also fun to teach them how to order.

• Have a child bring in a family photo and discuss it. You can also help him/her write about what is going on in the picture. It helps if you bring in your own family picture and model what you would like your child to do.

• Have a child pick out a place he/she would like to visit, then help your child find it on a map. Your child can write or talk about why he/she wants to go there, what form of transportation is needed to get there, what the weather will be like, etc.

• If you find yourself running out of ideas and have access to a computer, you can look online for help. Here are a few good sites: www.eslcafe.com, www.a4esl.org, and www.manythings.org.

Remember: Don’t try to teach everything at once, and use visual clues whenever possible. Keep it simple, keep it clear, and most important, keep it fun!