Teacher: Maree Jeurissen
This unit was designed for primary school students but is appropriate for elementary level secondary school students.
The student booklet, booklet (RTF 852KB) , my classroom has been designed to be used with new learners of English, when they first arrive in a primary school. It is most suited for students who enter the New Zealand school system in years three, four, five, or six.
It is most important that the student booklet be used in conjunction with the teachers' guide. The teachers' guide provides guidelines for supporting students in their initial attempts to learn and speak English, and become familiar with the school and classroom. The student booklet is only a small part of the unit of work outlined. The teachers' guide gives ideas for lessons and tasks which incorporate the activity sheets in the student booklet. The most valuable learning will occur in the listening, speaking, reading, and doing which will occur before and after each page of the booklet is completed. The writing requirement in the booklet is minimal, as this unit of work is designed for students who have little or no ability to write in English. It is not necessary that the lesson plans be followed exactly as outlined. Indeed, wise teachers and teacher aides should modify the lessons to suit the individual needs of their students.
This booklet and unit of work was initially designed by a qualified ESOL teacher, who used it with a group of 8 students when they were withdrawn from the mainstream classroom for extra language support three times a week. It is intended that classroom teachers or teacher aides could use the material with small groups of students who have similar language learning needs.
The length of time required to complete all the lessons and the booklet will vary from group to group, and depend on how often the booklet is used. As a general guide, if the unit of work is re-visited three times a week, four to six weeks could be spent on the material in the booklet and the teachers' guide.
This student booklet and teachers' guide is intended to support teachers and teacher aides who, when faced with the responsibility of teaching new learners of English say, "Where do I start?!" If it seems overwhelming for the education professionals, imagine how the students are feeling! The guidelines which follow are intended to introduce students to vocabulary and structures which they most need to know. It is intended that students are given access to survival language required to interact in and understand the classroom and school environments.
The curriculum document states:
"Although students from language backgrounds other than English should work towards the same objectives for English as native speakers, they will approach the objectives differently and may at times be working at different levels from most of the class." (Ministry of Education, 1994)
This unit of work is designed to assist students to begin working toward the following achievement objectives from the NZ English curriculum.
Published on: 09 Jan 2018
