4 Essentials of Teaching Writing to English Language Learners in Preschool
I have been looking for resources for years to support my English Language Learners (ELLs) in my preschool classroom with little success. Standardized preschool curriculums don’t target ELL’s needs in my classroom. I had to figure out a way to teach writing to support language development that did not cause my ELL students to lose interest in my writing lessons. These are the four tips I used to develop writing strategies to support my ELL students in writing.
Incorporating Visuals and Props
Build your connection with your students by creating visuals from stories with props. My students love reading stories with rhyming words and characters. Ask your students their favorite characters and find stories they enjoy reading in class. Creating activities with visual props is easy by just scanning images in the book or using clipart. I use popsicle sticks and paper bags to create puppets to narrate my story during my read-aloud. The puppets can provide visual interest for students to engage with and practice vocabulary. Students can also use puppets to recreate the stories, which emphasizes recall and vocabulary development. The more students interact with engaging visuals
Model Writing
Choose words with letters that students are familiar with, or words covered in the curriculum. Students can write the words better if they are familiar with the letters. I do plenty of independent practice writing letters independently. I have students watch me first and then trace the letters on the paper themselves. Students have three different colored pencils to write with when they are writing. I use colored pencils as a segway to build the fine motor skills to learn to hold a pencil. Students write in red when I am modeling writing the letters. Students write in green when they are writing independently for the first time. I encourage students to trace the letter slowly with a focus on where to start and end. Students trace the word the third time in blue independently. Teachers can do the same routine with any word or letter. My Emergent Writing Paper contains many words and letters that can be used in centers, small group lessons, and whole group lessons.
Provide Scaffolding
Multisensory writing strategies are best done before writing on paper. I have students practice writing shapes with sand to make individual letters. If you are teaching students the word “the”, have students write the letters t, h, and e independently using sand and then have students write the letters together. Make sure students are saying the letters aloud as they are writing to develop language through sounds. When students can write the words independently, then teach students how to write on lines. Do not teach students to write on lined paper until they learn the shapes involved with the letters.
I am not a fan of writing using traditional handwriting paper. My students struggle to keep the letters on multiple lines. I created my version of handwriting paper that is more appropriate for my ELLs. Some ELLs struggle with writing on dotted lines and letter formation using handwriting paper with dotted lines. I created an Emergent Writers Paper with lines for students to understand the height difference between uppercase and lowercase letters. Ensure your writing paper contains lines and modeled versions of the words.
Incorporate Native Language
ELLs have their cultural competencies and familiarity with their native languages. Teachers can capitalize on the language they have developed through their native language to build new English vocabulary. In preschool, students are learning foundational words they may already know in their native language.
I teach all of the emergent writing skills your preschooler, kindergartener, or first grader needs to know to be successful in developing their writing skills. I developed Solve Smart Tutoring to meet the needs of my students.
Check out the Multilingual Writers Workshop for Preschoolers to learn more about how to meet the needs of multilingual preschoolers to reach their potential to read and write.
