Topic: ESOL--Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

10-second review: The author summarizes what he has learned after ten years of teaching English to speakers of other languages.

Title: “A Decade of ESOL Experience in about a Thousand Words.” Alex Dailey. English Journal (September 2009), 127-129. The secondary school journal of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary:

Experience the experience of being immersed in a language different from your own. You’ll understand how the ESOL student feels in your English classroom.

ESOL students must feel a need to learn English and be accepted in the English language community.

Extracurricular activities are valuable additional exposures to the English language.

Don’t focus on the rules of the language. Focus on meaning.

ESOL students learning the social use of language occurs in one to three years. On the other hand, learning the academic use of English requires up to seven years. ESOL students need to learn academic skills in their native language as well as in English.

ESOL students need to develop literacy skills in the fist language as well as in English. These skills reinforce each other.

Demonstrate to ESOL student their progress.

Recognize that all cultures do not accept the strictures in writing that we do in English—in which we don’t accept run-on sentences and do emphasize the thesis. “Not all cultures want you to get to the point quickly.”

Comment: Worth thinking about. RayS.