I hope I am doing this right in creating a new topic. I love working with our adult ESL learners. I often teach them Braille as a tool along their path to learning English. In the Braille curriculum I have developed, there is a word list and then sentences for each lesson, focusing on one or more letters. I can often be seen acting out or finding real life objects for new words. We read the word, use it in a sentence, and act it out if necessary. Connecting words with experiences can be so helpful for students. A student from ten or more years ago I’m sure would still remember the time when i brought in my popcorn popper. Popcorn kept coming up in the lessons we were reading. When he experienced the freshly popped corn coming out of the air popper, he told us he did have popcorn in his country, prepared over an open fire. He would also remember the apple pie we had. He did not know what Pie was, and Apple pie came up a lot when teaching the letter P, as well.
With the reliance on pictures and visual content in so many ESL programs, we are working hard at our agency to change the way things are done. We have an individual tutor working with our ESL students. I also support them with Braille which really goes a long way to improving their literacy. So, through the use of everyday objects, experiences, Braille and individualized tutoring, we are making progress. I’m just curious how others are working with ESL students, and what adaptations they are using to add to the student’s literacy.