My curriculum is organized around an analytical skill. I organized my curriculum in a way that leads to instilling in my students’ analytical skills, this relied on none other element but grammar (Graves, 2000, p.135). In this curriculum, learners received suitable program support to allow them to participate productively in class. In order to provide the best possible programming for English language learners, I offered curriculum models that take into consideration the analytical skills provided by grammar.
Grammar as an element of achieving analytical skill helped me come up with a curriculum which targeted the first-grade level. In this level students usually learn the “fundamentals” of letters, sounds, and words. In this case, it would be hard to organize lessons around anything other than grammar. My lesson is organized in sequences where each new skill builds upon previously learned skills (“A” provides knowledge or skills required to do or understand “B”), a concept which Graves’ calls “building” (Graves, 2000, p.136).
To make this approach more effective I use “A is more controlled; B is more open-ended” (Graves, 2000, p.136) kind of approach. In that case, if I am handling verbs in parts of speech, I use A to discuss several selected verbs and B to discuss with my class more information concerning verbs, for example, students may be free to state those words they think are verbs with reference to what we have learned. Organizing a lesson in this way is beneficial for ELLs because it allows them to gain new knowledge by building on previous knowledge while having the freedom to explore by themselves.
Success in this curriculum can be achieved in a number of class build customs for example workshops, flyers, handbooks, mentorship and web newsletters that connect newcomers with students already in the school organization. Effective use of human resources facilitates and efficient orientation may include the involvement of designated guidance counselors, appropriate school teams, ESL teachers, classroom teachers, worldwide language teachers, school maintenance staff, student ambassadors, the public elders, and parents or parent associations.
There are several materials in this curriculum that I would consider to be effective for teaching ELLs. The first is the read-aloud anthology. Read-aloud anthology gives lower-level/ELL readers the opportunity to hear a story read to them as they follow along in the book. Once they have listened while following along, they can read along with the recording. I especially like this tool because it is not only beneficial for the reader but for the teacher as well because it offers students an opportunity to work independently.
I usually supplement the information and skills from the new media to convene the needs of students and effectively hold up their continuing academic accomplishment. In our class text, Graves’ emphasizes that activities and materials should integrate four skills; speaking, listening, reading and writing (Graves, 2000, p.153). The read-aloud anthology incorporates three of these four skills and a writing assignment could easily be added. I also like the ELL extra support kit which offers lower-level readers and workbooks for ESL students.
Reference
Graves, K. (2000). Designing language courses: a guide for teachers. Boston, MA: Heinle, Cengage Learning.