EFL Class

I just recently learned about the Learn Reflect Share visible thinking routine and decided to practice it during my grade 2 English as Foreign Language lesson. My students had to answer two questions about what they learned and why it was important for them. The third question was about what their friends learned. Children had to work in pairs and ask each other to fill in the answer to the last question.

I prepared a substitution table for my beginners with some words and expressions for them to use when building their sentences. My intermediate ELLs used the same scaffold but only for ideas as they had enough language to express themselves.

It was a good choice of activity and my scaffolds worked well. Most importantly it was at the right level and my children felt confident and comfortable doing it.

In the end we had a sharing circle and everybody had a chance to exchange what they and their friends learned during this unit.

Mollymoon and Maly were parters and enjoyed learning and sharing.

Kim Veng is  waiting for Sak to come back and continue. Samir and Jayden, Maly and Mollymoon were partners

Developing Reading Skills with EAL Beginners

We continue to develop the reading and thinking skills of our EAL beginners in Grade 3. Today we had a very productive guided reading session. We read a story about a boy in a wheelchair and my students were quick to make connections to children's rights. One of the guest speakers during the unit talked about the rights of disabled children and our students learned a lot and were very impressed.  

First we discussed the cover and talked about the author and the illustrator. We also looked at the pictures and made predictions about the story.  After that we read the story taking turns and stopping to discuss unfamiliar words or interesting or challenging ideas. Next we talked about how to make retelling easier and what tools can we use. We discussed mind maps and how to make them and decided to make one. Most of my beginners never had a chance to make a mind map so I modeled it for them. We talked briefly about what a symbol is and how to use it in your mind map. Finally our mind maps were ready and we practiced a shared retelling. All my students were engaged in this activity and even those that were shy had to speak and share their thinking about the story. We also practiced reading out loud and the students greatly benefited from this.

We all enjoyed our class. My plan for the next session is to ask my students to retell the story with the help of their own mind map. We will see how they manage.

Jade was the first one to make the connection between the story and our unit about children's rights.

In Class Support

This week was like harvest time both in Grade 3 and Grade 2 as we enjoyed the last week of our units, sharing with peers and parents, and reflecting on our learning and teaching.

In Grade 2, I supported my EAL students while they were getting ready for the summative assessment presentations and sharing sessions. 

Miss Anita's students are creating their posters.

Visal researched old and new trains in Cambodia.

Maly is writing her reflection with two stars and a wish.

In Grade 3 our ELLs were involved in cooperative practicing of their presentations and creating their Google doc. reflections.

Miss Michelle's students enjoyed cooperative learning.

Yubin and I are making sure everything is just right on the poster.

Yubin and Dyna are typing in their reflections.