Episode Summary
Reading is always a hot topic, and teaching reading to English learners presents its own set of challenges. It has to do with grade level, with English proficiency, and other factors. So today, I wanted to share with you how I have been implementing novel study this school year with my middle schoolers in particular, and that has allowed my students to be engaged in and motivated to read.
I realized last year that we have a good chunk of time together, and even though we work quite a bit on homework and class work in general language development and building up the academic language, we have been missing a crucial opportunity to develop English language skills in a way that would be meaningful to my students and would help them move forward. So this year, I decided to do a novel study with them. So I will share with you the 2 books that have captured my students’ attention, how I incorporate vocabulary instruction, as well as how we work on higher order thinking skills with my students. It is still a process at the time of the recording of this podcast, but I’m very happy with the progress and can’t wait to share it with you.
What you will hear about in this episode:
- Implementing a novel study in the classroom
- Challenges of teaching reading to English learners
- Selecting appropriate books based on student proficiency levels
- Balancing educational and enjoyable aspects of reading
- Enriching students’ vocabulary through contextual usage in the book
Resources Mentioned:
- The ESL Teaching Roadmap – membership community for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. As a thank you for listening, use code ESLPODCAST for 10% off when you join.
- Simply Ieva ESL Teachers Pay Teachers Store
- 1:1 ESL Teacher Coaching Session
- Essential Lesson Plan Bundle
Related/Previous Episodes:
- Episode 22 Teaching reading with Kristen Vibas
- Episode 17 – a peek into my middle school classroom
- Episode 85 – a peek into my high school classroom
Connect with Ieva:
- Instagram – @simplyievaesl
- Website – www.simplyieva.com
- Join the – Simply Ieva Facebook Group