Spelling Challenges for Emergent ELL Students

In my last post, I mentioned that there are 26 letters and 44 phonemes in the English language. To make it even more confusing for emergent learners there are over 1,100 ways to spell the 44 sounds (Sousa, 2005). The poor correspondence between pronunciation and spelling is one reason why English is a difficult language to learn. According to David Sousa, this is called a deep orthography (2005). Deep orthography means that phonemes and graphemes do not have a direct relationship, as they do in other languages. Children must begin to recognize and remember a large number of patterns. For example, the “ough” in cough is the same spelling but a different sound than found in dough. Not only must children recall these differences when reading and writing, they must also consider the meaning of the words themselves.

Now consider a child whose first language is Spanish. The Spanish language has approximately 35 phonemes, but only 38 different ways to spell those sounds. There is a direct correlation between sound and spelling. While the Spanish language shares the same written alphabet system as English, the enormous difference between sounds and spelling presents a challenge for ELL students. When working with young ELL students we are faced with a double challenge. Building their vocabulary and background knowledge, but also providing them with the phonics skills to successfully express themselves in written language.

Sousa, D. (2005). How the brain learns to read. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Using Names to Teach Symbol/Sound Relationships

While searching for information about the alphabetic principle, I stumbled upon an article about using children’s names when teaching letter and sound correspondence.

The following is an excerpt from the article by Elizabeth Kirk and Patricia Clark, “That’s my name!” calls 3 year old Jason as he points to the letter “J” in an alphabet book. “It’s my name too!” asserts Jessica who is sitting next to Jason. Neither child seems concerned that they have chosen the same symbol to represent two different names. They do not yet know that their names each contain a distinct set of letters. However, both children recognize that “J” is the beginning letter in their names; this recognition is a beginning understanding that written symbols can be used to represent names and words” (2005).

Young children who are just learning to recognize letters and their sounds, tend to learn the letters of their own names before recognizing other words. As educators, we can use this recognition to help children make connections to other symbol/sound relationships. Research suggests that educators or parents can start with phonemic awareness activities. Asking children to clap out loud the sounds they hear in their name helps them to isolate different phonemes. Other activities to help children identify letters and sounds include using manipulatives such as sand, cereal, or blocks to spell out names, singing songs that include children’s names, and associating other words or movements to the initial sound in their name.

Making the connection between symbols and sounds is a complicated process. There are 26 letters in the alphabet, yet these letters can produce approximately 44 sounds (Kirk & Clark, 2005)! By associating symbol/sound relationships with one’s own name children feel a special connection and are more eager to learn. Other familiar names can also be used such as Mom, Dad, and the names of pets, friends, or special toys. The alphabetic principle is a valuable concept that helps children begin to make sense of their world and develop the skills necessary to begin reading and writing.

Kirk, E. & Clark, P. (2005). Beginning with names: Using children’s names to facilitate early literacy learning. Childhood Education. 81 (3), 139 -145.

Concerted Cultivation vs. Natural Growth: The Impact of Poverty on Developing Children

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/06/08/35child_ep.h29.html?tkn=XYLFseQYQvKCZGKMnj9s%2BjKrr4z8bSCRoYpK&cmp=clp-edweek

This article in Education Week discusses the impact of the recession on families with young children. The recession is not just impacting families and children economically, but socially, emotionally, and academically. It is predicted that almost “15.6 million children will be living in poverty” by the end of 2010. This is a startling number, which has grown by 3 million in the past 4 years. Young children who come from impoverished homes are at risk both academically and emotionally. Parents of poor household spend their time trying to meet the family’s basic needs of shelter, food, and clothing. The intellectual needs of developing children tend to fall by the wayside. Children from a lower socioeconomic class are at a disadvantage entering school, compared with peers from wealthier households where time and energy is spent reading and exposing the children to literacy. In Malcom Gladwell’s book “Outliers,” he discusses the differences between how wealthy and poor families raise their children. Wealthy and middle class parents practice what he calls “concerted cultivation.” In other words, they expose their children to many things in the hopes that they will be successful at one. They instill a sense of entitlement and accomplishment that allows these children to be successful academically and socially. Lower class families practice what is called “natural growth” – they assume that their children will grow into whatever talents or skills they might possess. These children tend to be submissive and apathetic towards education.

It is important to note that both of these sources point out that socioeconomic differences – not race or culture, have the strongest impact on a young child’s development. As teachers we need to cultivate in our student’s, whether rich or poor, an appreciation and understanding of literacy. The achievement gap, that we so often focus on, exists on part because of class differences. Rather than allow impoverished children to fall behind, we need to expose them to print and literacy prior to school age so as to counteract the negative effects poverty has on their educational development. Many school systems are cutting early childhood programs such as Head Start due to lack of funding. Rather than cut these programs, we should be funneling money into them to provide students with the support and exposure to literacy that can prevent them from falling behind in elementary, middle, and high school.

Welcome!

As a third grade teacher, the majority of my students are fluent readers. Our reading block tends to focus more on reading to learn, rather than learning to read. By taking this course I hope to gain a wider knowledge base about emerging readers and the process of learning language expression. By understanding where my students are coming from before they reach third grade, I hope that I will be able to help them as they continue to explore and appreciate literacy.