Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Back-to-School in the ELL Classroom
In this section:
It's time to go back to school! Whether you're a novice or an old pro, we have some ideas and resources to get you ready and set for a great year!
Here, we've gathered a number of resources to help you kick off the new school year with the tools and information you need to teach the ELLs in your class.
Resources for New ELL Teachers
Working with ELLs: The First Year
The first year of teaching can be overwhelming! Fortunately, there are a number of resources to help first-year ELL teachers with lesson planning, parent outreach, collaboration, instruction, and assessment.
Colorín Colorado has compiled this list to help new ELL teachers navigate their first year in the classroom. These resources may also be helpful for veteran teachers who are new to teaching ELLs.
Back-to-School for ELL Educators
Preparing the classroom
- An ELL Teacher's Back-to-School Checklist
- Gear Up for a New School Year!
- Helping ELL Newcomers: Things Your Students Need to Know
- Creating a 'Welcome Kit' for New ELLs
- How to Create a Welcoming Classroom Environment
- Supporting ELLs in the Mainstream Classroom
Look for more great resources on ELL instruction, placement, assessment, and FAQs in our For Educators section!
Parent outreach
- Reaching Out to Hispanic Students and Families
- Bilingual Family Night for ELL Families
- Reading Rockets: Bright Ideas for Back-to-School Night… and Beyond
- Lessons Learned from Immigrant Families
Parent resources
Books
We have provided the links to Amazon.com below for your convenience. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Reading Rockets project. Thank you for your support!
Children's Booklist: ELL Stories
These stories capture the varied experiences of learning English through a child's eyes — from the shy and nerve-wracking beginnings to the joy of a blossoming new friendship. ELL students will recognize the situations and emotions of the stories, many of which were written by authors who themselves were immigrants. The books also provide valuable insight to mainstream students and adults working with ELLs in the classroom.
Take a look at our other recommended children's books!
Professional Booklist: Guides for ELL Instruction
These books offer a great introduction to working with ELLs. Each guide covers a number of helpful topics; themes throughout the guides include getting to know your students, teaching reading to ELLs, assessment, and working with parents.
More handbooks and guides are offered in our professional books section.
More from ELL Resources
From Colorín Colorado
Colorín Colorado also offers the following resources for ELL educators and parents:
- Resources for Families (also in Spanish)
- Recommended Web Resources (also in Spanish)
- Professional Development Webcasts
- Research Reports
- Bilingual Newsletters
- Colorín Colorado Community on Ning
Other Recommended Websites
Take a look at our recommended websites about ELLs! One of our favorites? Everything ESL from veteran teacher Judie Haynes.
Guides & Toolkits
Colorín Colorado — AFT Toolkit for Teachers
Find useful information about Latino cultures and values, as well as helpful suggestions for involving parents in the classroom. Parent workshops with handouts, plus video components in English and Spanish, focus on PreK-3 literacy development.
ELL Starter Kit for Educators
Provisions in the No Child Left Behind legislation require that schools be held accountable for the adequate yearly progress for English language learners as a subgroup. Here you will find monitoring forms to make it easier for you to respond when questions arise about a student's placement, instruction, special services, and grading.
Multilingual Reading Tip Sheets for Parents
Try the activities and repeat the ones your child enjoys. Some of them, like "read with your child for 15 minutes each day," are helpful no matter what age your child is. To help you reach out to the parents of your ELL students, we now offer these tip sheets in a total of 10 languages!
If you're looking for even more back to school resources, visit our sister sites:
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Your website is a wonderful source of information for me as an ESL
professional. I read all the articles for teachers and pass the relevant ones
on to my students' classroom teachers.
~ Kathryn B.
