Adult Emergent Literacy (LESLLA) Teaching Toolkit

When preparing for a celebration, learners can contribute according to their talents, interests, or abilities.  Teachers may do this activity near the end of the course. A celebration of their hard work and achievement enhances LESLLA learners' confidence in learning. Procedure: The whole class think about the following questions: * Who are we going to invite? * What are we going to eat? * What are we going to do? * What are we going to bring? You may find page 84 of the blue Collaborations book (Huisenga & Weistein-Shr, 1996) useful. In small groups, learners think about what they are going to do. They may show, teach, cook, or do something. Have learners fill in a chart. Each group reports to the class what they are going to do. (Teaching points: Grammar "going to" & pronunciation gonna ) Learners make a list of all the people in the class (including the teacher). Write down what each person is going to do. (Huisenga & Weistein-Shr, 1996, pp.84-8...

After teaching vocabulary, the teacher may tell the class that they are going on a scavenger hunt  (e.g., in the park, in the campus library, in the neighborhood). Before going out, the teacher asks learners to create scavenger hunt worksheets for their classmates. To create the worksheet, each learner writes or copies vocabulary words, which are items that their peers have to look for. Then, the class goes out and learners look for items on their handout. When they find the item, they can draw or take pictures. The activity helps learners associate print with real-life objects. It also allows learners to practice reading print in a relaxing setting. Some learners spend most (if not all) of their life in their neighborhood only. Arranging field trips to places outside of their neighborhood can broaden their horizon and understand the city/country more. Sometimes, it even gives them insights into what life they want to live and motivates them to learn English to engage in social a...

Photo by Rachel Lynette French on Unsplash There are many benefits of using writings written by learners (Parrish, 2004, pp.142-144; Peyton, 1993, pp.60-62): Learners can relate to the texts easily and are engaged in reading and writing in a meaningful way. This motivates to express their thoughts and feelings. Using learner-produced texts allows learners to see that their thoughts and experiences are worthy sharing with others. This empowers them to take on an active role in their community. Writing drafts and reading texts written by their peers allow learners to actively think about what good writing is. When revising their drafts, learner writers think about language use, grammar, punctuation, and discourse in a meaningful way. The peers' writings are good models to show emergent readers that they can also become successful writers. Emergent readers need to read extensively in order to acquire the language. Using learner-produced writings provides a substantial q...

The Language Experience Approach (LEA) centers around learners' experiences and allows learners to talk about and write their own stories and also listen to, read, and be inspired by their peers' stories. Photo by  1866946 on Pixabay Features: Materials are learner-generated. (see " Using Learner-Produced Texts ") All communication skills--reading, writing, listening, and speaking--are integrated.  Difficulty of vocabulary and grammar are determined by the learners own language use.  Learning and teaching are personalized, communicative, and creative. Sometimes, teachers ask learners to tell a story or an experience instead of writing it, and then they transcribe or write about it. (Taylor, 1993, p.48) Possible activities for the class: Making French toast  Making a salad Making cards (thank you notes, get well cards, holiday cards) Interpreting signs in and around school Mapping the neighborhood Taking a trip to the bank, city hall, ...

Self-access boxes contain activities or materials of different skills and levels and allow learners to supplement their learning with activities/materials of their own choice. The teacher organizes the materials (e.g., color coding for level and skill) and teaches learners how to use the boxes. Self-access boxes offer flexibility; learners can go to the boxes for more learning anytime. They can get more exercises when they finish classwork early, or redo an exercise if they feel they need more practice. They can also look for activities that suit their level when they find a class activity too challenging. This is helpful especially for big classes, where the teacher may not be able to address every learner's needs in each lesson. Self-access boxes also promote learner autonomy, helping learners become independent learners, who are confident that they are capable of taking care of their own learning. Photo by  moreharmony on pixabay What can be put in a self-access...

Everyone likes music. Teaching English through songs allows learners to relax (lowering their affective filter) and absorb the language. If the teacher or some students play musical instruments, singing with live music will create fond memories for the class, thus building up a pleasant environment for learning. According to Abbott (2002), using music in the literacy classrooms has also the following advantages: Music and culture are intertwined . Listening to music also means to listen to someone's stories. This also encourages learners to share theirs. Music increases retention as lyrics are often repetitive. Increased exposure to the same language helps automaticity. Music and related classroom activities appeal to different learner styles and preferences . Obviously, musical learners enjoy listening to music. Emotive, intrapersonal, or interpersonal learners can be attracted to the emotions and thoughts expressed in the lyrics. If it is dance music or an action song, kin...