The ESL day is a very busy one! The ESL Program consists of in-class support as well as team teaching situations. That means learning almost 650 student names as well as working with teachers across the grades and stages.
The day begins with the New Arrivals group every morning - the students are from Years 3, 4 and 5. These newly arrived students are learning to communicate in English as well as read and write in English.
Three days a week, I work in a team teaching situation with the Year One classroom teachers doing writing activities and also team teaching with the other ESL teacher at the school. What we do with the students in ESL is related to what the students do in their classroom.
* Year 3 ~ I work in class doing writing and reading activities.
*Year 4 ~ In-class support students during their literacy sessions each week.
*Year 1 Reading Group ~ This term we started off reading about dinosaurs. We know a lot about the most important ones - Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus and Tricertops. T.Rex was the scariest of all the dinosaurs and we decided we didn't want to ever meet him! We are learning to become better readers by using the appropriate levels of the Sunshine book series as well as other levelled readers. We can also read some of these books online. We have been revising and practising our sounds and consonant blends such as bl, fl, cl, cr. We are building our vocabulary and we are learning lots of new words and what they mean. We are also learning some idioms like 'It's raining cats and dogs', especially as we have had lots of rain in Sydney lately. Year One is doing a fabulous job!
*Year 1 ESL Writing three times a week, I work with all the Year 1 classroom teachers to help plan and model the writing of Recounts. The children have been learning to write a recount and including who, what, where, when, how and why-all important aspects of a Recount. By the end of this term, the students will be able to write a detailed and interesting personal Recount independently. Well done Year 1!
*Year 5 and 6 ESL Groups ~ every Wednesday for 45 mins each. This term we are learning about similarities and differences between CPS and schools in China and Korea, as we have students who have been to school in both of those countries. This gives them great opportunities to share their experiences first hand with us. Thanks SoMin, Fiona, Jasmine, Julie, Bella and Jacky. We are really interested in your personal experiences. We are also revising and consolidating our understanding of punctuation, parts of speech - different types of nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, antonyms (opposites), prefixes (un, im, in), word origins, direct and indirect speech. Year 5 & Year 6 ESL students are doing a GREAT job! Keep up the good work!