Conversational English in the Classroom

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Teaching English Language Learners Pre-Conversational Stage What the Student Might be Able to Do: The pre-conversational stage describes students who are newly arrived to English-speaking contexts. Students at this stage may be experiencing what Stephen Krashen calls a “silent period” (a period during which an English language learner may not produce any utterances in English for a period of days to months). Students at the pre-conversational stage may even have developed enough of a vocabulary to speak in one- or two-word sentences. They are not, however, at the point where they are able to carry on a conversation. Their comprehension of English develops before their ability to speak, read, or write. They are often able to understand more than they are able to communicate. Teachers should encourage parents to speak and read to their children in their primary language. Research indicates that this experience and practice encourages English language development. “If your English learners are literate in their primary language, they may bring knowledge, skills, and attitudes about reading and writing that transfer to the task of English reading. In fact, research and theory consistently support the benefits of teaching children to read and write in their primary language first, not only because it is easier to read and write a language you already know, but also because literacy skills transfer from the primary language to English as English language proficiency develops” (Peregoy and Boyle in Reading, Writing and Learning in ESL, 1997, p.140). On using proper English: Have you ever tried to learn a new language and had someone correct most of what you said? The result is often a “clamming up” rather than a confidence to try harder. English Language Learners will make grammatical errors. This is a normal part of language development. It is also an opportunity for

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