Entry Five
The Great Fuzzy Frenzy, by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel
This children's book is a wonderful example of all six traits for writing. The figurative language and voice in the story are excitement examples for students to have as a model for their own writing. The four areas that might be an issue for ESL learners are some of the vocabulary, figurative language, text structure, and the dialogue. All of these areas would need to be scaffold for the students before the reading and some during. It would be important to pre-teach some of the vocabulary words with real life examples or even models. For example, fuzzy is a word that you could have the students touch a tennis ball to feel what fuzzy meant. Figurative language can be a difficult skill for ESL learners because it cannot be taken literally. It would be important for the teacher to explain that these terms are meant only to create a visual picture for the reader and not a literal definition. The text structure is very unique. The font is different sizes for a specific reason and the text also bounces around the page. Explaining to the students that this was done for a specific reason and explaining why will help them develop an understanding of text structures. This could take place during the read aloud.
Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg
Zathura is a science fiction story. Again ESL students can have difficulties with ideas that are not literal or are not real life. The first component would be to go over elements of a science fiction story. The illustrations are a key aspect to the comprehension of the story. Helping the students to make that connection from the pictures to the text is a key element. You could discuss how the author uses imagery to create a picture like the illustrations but using words. Drawing conclusions is a major element in the story. This is an inferring skill that ESL students need help to develop. Finally, I would make sure to cover the different literacy devices used during the story. While reading I would make sure to draw the students attention on how the author created suspense and humor.
The visual representations you speak of do indeed support all learners-not just the ELL. Discussing imagery and drawing conclusions support the ELL in acquiring literacy and more important, in feeling comfortable with reading, writing and speaking.
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