Welcome to ELD

             Mrs. Clarkıs Schedule                        

             ★Montgomery School:  270-6718                        

                                               Mondays and Tuesdays 7:30-10:40, Wednesdays-Fridays 7:30-3:30

                                     ★Tom Matsumoto School:  223-4873                                                                                  

                                               Mondays and Tuesdays 11-3:30

                      julieclark@eesd.org    

                Up-coming Dates

                     TM ELAC: Tuesday, January 15, 6:15 p.m. Matsumoto Forum

                     MO ELAC: Thursday, January 17, 8:00 a.m. Montgomery Rm. 15

                     DELAC:  Wednesday, January 30, 6-7 p.m. District Office Teachersı Center

                                     March 19 and May 28

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Fluency involves the following four aspects:

 

Listening strategies are closely linked to reading strategies; they enable a person to focus on comprehending what they hear.  Therefore, just like in reading, it is important to establish a purpose for listening.

Some purposes for listening include enjoyment, retelling, summarizing, finding facts or cause and effect, understanding vocabulary, hearing a persuasive argument, or answering specific questions.

       Focusing on a specific purpose helps us understand and retain information.  

 

Speaking is the cornerstone of fluency.  What one can say, one can write.  It is therefore hugely important that English learners be given time to practice their communication skills.  Through practice and correction, and not just modeling, English learners will learn to use English correctly.  First model, and then practice, practice, practice.

 

Reading involves not just correct pronunciation, pacing, and tone, but comprehension. 

Some older students will intuit pronunciation, but many will not.  Phonics must then be explicitly taught.

Picture walks, pointing out key organizational features of the text, and front-loading vocabulary will help English Learners comprehend the material.

Pre-teaching vocabulary should include background knowledge and simplified meanings with relevant examples.  Key vocabulary should also be used within a sentence frame.

Teaching reading strategies will also help; model predicting, questioning, and clarifying as well as compare/contrast and summarizing. 

 

Writing may often be the most difficult aspect of fluency.  While the complexity of English spelling rules plays a role, verb forms and plurals are the most common errors.  The present, present participle, past, past participle and future tenses must be taught, and students must practice using them.  Have students verbalize sentences before they write them.  Corrections can then be made and correct usage can be reinforced.