[LM_NET] ELL Best Practices

[SUZANNA SIMSON <zannyzanna@YAHOO.COM>]

  I struggled with this topic last year with our growing ELL population.
I have done a years worth of research to answer this question. We have 550 
students, 200 of them are ELL students. They come from many different countries, 
backgrounds and speak about 10 different languages. So I had to research how to 
serve all of these students, not just our Spanish speaking ones. The big problem I 
found is that there is not any research on how to serve this population in a school 
library.  So I researched within my school, county, and talking with others on 
LM_Net. Here are some of the results I have come up with. 

 You don't have to speak Spanish to be a great librarian to these children. Most of 
your students will not be reading Spanish yet so investing a lot of money on 
Spanish books is not practical. I have bought about 50 Spanish or bilingual books 
in paperback for the few students that want to take them home for parents to read 
to them. Scholastic has good deals on them. The bulk of my money has gone to Low 
level non-fiction readers. You want to keep the reading levels around PreK-3rd 
grade. The photos in the books help erase any stigma of a baby book. The series I 
liked are from scholastic,- Rookie Biographies, Read About Science, Blast Off 
Readers, and Welcome Books.  Pull these books to the side on a separate bookshelf 
or in a bin. This will make them easier to find for your ELL students. These books 
are also great for your special ed students. The concepts are on things they are 
learning in class so you are reinforcing topics they are already familiar
 with. I make my student take at least one of these readers when they are checking 
out. Then I let them take 2 more books from where ever they want around the library.

During your classes make sure you have plenty of visuals. Make a picture word wall 
with words from the story or units you are talking about. I beam them on a screen 
or a wall with a multimedia projector so I can change them easily between classes. 
Your new students will not talk for along time. They are just absorbing the 
language. Every child is different, but the silent period can last a year. 
Try to do a lot of group or partner work pairing up your ELL student with a native 
speaker or a strong English speaker. Make sure your ELL student has a job to do. It 
could be coloring, drawing, or labeling a diagram from the word wall. Just include 
them in the group any way you can.

If you can get to  Richmond, Virginia on Nov. 6 I am presenting on this very topic 
at our state VEMA conference. 

If you have any questions or just want to discuss this topic further please contact 
me.

Suzanna L. Panter, M.Ed

Library Information Specialist
Dumbarton Elementary School
Henrico County Public Schools
Richmond, Virginia
slpanter@henrico.k12.va.us



      

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