Giovannangelo Blog Post # 5



The article from my Google alerts that I explored this week was very interesting to me, especially since I currently try to cover current events with my Study Skills classes that I teach right now. I love integrating news because I think it is an interesting for the students, and it is a nice way to incorporate real-world events with important reading and writing skills. In the article by Myanez, she lists four news sites that are great for integrating current events into the ELL classroom. She includes the links for all four sites, which allowed me to explore them and deem whether or not they are actually sites that I would use in my classroom. I really enjoyed all of them and think that they would be a great resource for ELL students.


Site 1: “Breaking News English”


This site provides news articles and lessons based on very updated current events. What I found very helpful is that it offers the lessons based on levels. Total, there are 6 levels. The website does a nice job of explaining what each level is, and what age and reading ability is recommended for that level. Certain articles are recommended for certain levels. This is a great differentiation tool, as we may have many different levels within our classes.



Site 2: “Time for Kids”


This news site discusses current national and global topics. This site gives you the ability to change the reading level of a given article. This could be more useful than the previous site, because it gives the teacher the flexibility to read the same article with the whole class, but give each student a different level of the article, rather than having different students do different articles. I think both could be useful in various situations. Once I explored the site, I enjoyed the set up and the news topics that it covered. I also found it easy to navigate. My only issue is that it only goes up to grade 6. Since I teach 10th-12th grade, this could get tricky, but it could be useful for students on a lower grade level of reading. It all depends on who is sitting in my class.



Site 3: “Smithsonian Tween Tribute”


This is another news article website that breaks down the articles by both grade level and lexile. I think this is helpful because most of our students in the resource room English have been tested and we are aware of their current lexile score, so it should be easy when selecting an article for a student. Once you open article, you can change the article by selecting the student’s lexile score. This is another way that a teacher can differentiate using the same article with all students, however, providing them the reading at their level



Site 4: “News in Levels”


I thought this one was very interesting because it allowed students the opportunity to read and listen to the article. This was the first site that provided an audio version of the article, which I think is extremely helpful for auditory learners, and L2 learners. It also provides the articles in 3 different levels, although it was unclear to me which age range/ reading level each level corresponded to.



I would recommend using any of these sites when working on current events with ELL students. I think they were easy  to navigate and use, allow for differentiation and flexibility, and lastly, they are current and up to date news stories that are interesting for students.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Giovannangelo: Blog Post # 3

Blog Post # 3: This week I explored the article about 10 ways to use modern technology in the ELL classroom. It caught my eye, because of the word “modern”. Just because we are incorporating technology into our classrooms, it does not mean we are using up to date technology that our students are familiar with. I think it’s important for us to try to use up to date technology and features with our students, since they are always (for the most part) up to date themselves. The first suggestion that Zakhareuski makes is the use of cell phone applications with the students. Since most students will have Smart phones, and are fairly skilled with navigating them, these apps are a great way to engage students, help support them, and keep them on the learning app and off Snap Chat. One app they mention is “Grammar Up”. I haven’t explored this app, but the article describes it as an app for practicing grammar skills and keeps track of student progress so they can see what skills they’v
Read more

Giovannangelo: Blog Post 2

               This week’s google inbox delivery was extremely helpful in terms of tips and information for using technology when working with English Language Learners. I feel as though this is applicable to me because while I will most likely never teach an ELL class, I may have an L2 learner in my class. At that point, I would need to make sure I know what resources I can use to support them in my class. The article explains the importance of utilizing and combing graphics, video, and audio within the curriculum in order to meet many different learning styles, and to support English language learners. The article explains that research shows that it can take more than five years for the average child to acquire the academic language necessary to succeed in school. Since I never really thought about how long it may take, this was a bit shocking, but it definitely shows that students may need accommodations for years in order to support them. The first technological support the
Read more

Giovannangelo: Blog Post # 1

After my first week of alerts, I may need to adjust the alerts that I originally set up due to that fact that I didn’t get that many articles delivered to my inbox. The first article that was delivered was very interesting to read through. It highlighted the University of Wisconsin and how it partnered with a few local school districts to use the $112,000.00 grant that they received to help develop their ESL programs and educate bilingual teachers through a 16 month training program. The project allows 20 teachers to enter the training program. Within the school districts, 1,540 EL students are served, and more than 58 languages are spoken.    I was so intrigued reading this article because I never realized how many grants are out there and available, and how helpful and useful they can be. I was also shocked to hear how many different languages are spoken within the district. I think training programs for teachers are extremely valuable, especially when you take into account how
Read more