ESL Acquisition

1
ESL Acquisition Social Studies

• Allison Cater
• Gentry Jr. School
• ESL 6-8 Science SS
• GHAWP 2004

2
ESL POEM(taken from In The Middle)

• English As A Second Language
• The underpaid young teacher
• prints the letters t, r, e, e
• on the blackboard and imagines
• forest and gardens springing up
• in the tired head of her students.
• But they see only four letters
• A vertical beam weighed down
• By a crushing crossbar
• And followed by a hook,
• And after the hook, two squiggles,
• Arcane identical twins
• Which could be spying eyes
• Or ready fists, could be handles,
• Could be curled seedlings, could take root,
• Could develop leaves.
• Lisel Mueller

3
MYTHS

• Students can learn a language quickly and easily
• Students automatically learn another language
  when immersed in an environment where everyone
  speaks that language
• All students learn a second language the same way
• Students have acquired a second language once
  they can speak
• Students need to learn grammar and vocabulary
  before they can speak

4
Four Stages of Second Language Acquisition

• I. Pre-production
• students do not usually produce their own
  language
• students understand language that has been
  comprehensible
• II. Early production
• students have a small, active vocabulary
• they feel ready to speak in one- or two-word
  phrases
• III. Speech emergence
• there is a noticeable increase in listening
  comprehension
• students will try to speak in short phrases
• they will begin to use the social language
  necessary in the classroom
• IV. Nearly fluent
• students understand what is said in the
  classroom
• they can express their ideas comprehensibly in
  both oral and written communication
• they will be able to read most grade level
  material

5
Literacy Development for ELL (ESL)

• Speed fluency with a new language will vary
  from one child to the next
• Language acquisition is a very complex process
  that may not always follow a straight path
• Oral language must come first for ELL students.
  Once they have developed oral language skills in
  English, they can begin to learn about writing
  and reading in English

TIPS
6
Music and Poetry (Multiple Intelligences)

• BER Institute presentation by Jo Guzman
• Guzman uses Dr. Howard Gardners multiple
  intelligence theory to show one of many examples
  of how music and repetition are like glue to a
  brain
• (POETRY)
• Charlie Browns teacher (example)
• It is important to permit the new student to
  watchand listen without demands at first.
• Comprehensible input is vital for success. You
  could look at Chinese writing for 100 years and
  never learn it, if someone did not explain it.

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Lesson The 7 continents
8
Learning Through Poetry
The Seven ContinentsNorth America, South America
joined in the West.Europe and Asia meet
together, and on Africa they rest.Australia
stands alone, floating down below.And Antarctica
is the loneliest, where no one wants to go.
www.teachers.net
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YOUR TURN
Create your own poem of either the 7 continents
or choose 1 continent. It can be any rhyming
pattern.
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Bibliography
Department of Public Instruction
Myths www.everythingesl.netFour Stages of second
language acquisition www.bnkst.edu Literacy
Development for ELL BER Institute Jo Guzman
multiple intelligences www.teachersdesk.org
Austrailia