Phonemic Awareness and Phonics for ELs English Learner Elementary Program Consultant Stephanie Cobin scobin@washoeschools.net Julie Lucas jlucas@washoeschools.net

WIDA Framework For all teachers who instruct ELs ELD standards Levels of Language Acquisition (1-6) Assessment (WAPT, ACCESS) Tools for providing access to academic language (The Can Do Descriptors, Performance Definitions and built in Supports for ELs)

Four Domains of Language Description Listening process, understand, interpret, and evaluate spoken language in a variety of situations Speaking engage in oral communication in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes and audiences Reading process, interpret, evaluate written language and symbols, and text with understanding and fluency Writing engage in written communication in a variety of forms for a variety of purposes and audiences Receptive How we acquire and process information. Not “observable” Productive How we express or communicate information. Easier to assess. What do you notice in these descriptions? What do the different colors indicate?

The Struggles ELs Have With Phonemic Awareness and Phonics “The phonemes of any individual language are those sounds that make a difference in meaning between words.” (Pauline Gibbons) ELs need to learn 44 distinctive sounds in English (22 consonants, 20 vowels and 2 semi-vowels: yellow and window) ELs may not hear or be able to produce a new sound because it is unfamiliar. (Cannot hear or produce = cannot relate them to letters or they will just use closest.) Not all languages use rhyming words Phonemes in different languages are often not the same. Some African languages have 141 phonemes Since phonemes are rarely exactly the same, EL learners will use the cloest sound in their own language when the English phoneme is unfamiliar. (like substituting f or s for the th in think) 1st – ELs listen to English, Next they distinguish distinctive sounds. Finally, they produce the sound/or an approximation. That is Phonemic Awareness in ELs. No wonder there’s a silent period!

The Struggles ELs Have With Phonemic Awareness and Phonics How to help: ELs need time, repetition and practice to listen and distinguish Focus on meaning: words that differ in only one sound (phoneme) have very different meanings. (ban, ben, bin, bun, been) Spend time modeling and practicing sounds in all word positions Match pictures of words with same sounds in same positions Use short words students know in English and then build

The Struggles ELs Have With Phonemic Awareness and Phonics The relationship between a sound and its corresponding letter. Crucial for understanding that letters and letter patterns represent sounds. Sounds are different in different languages. ELs that have not learned to read in L1 may not have the understanding. Students learn to read at different ages/grades in different countries. MOST CURRENT RESEARCH – BABIES MAKE MANY OF THE SAME SOUNDS (MORPHEMES) WORLD WIDE

The Struggles ELs Have With Phonemic Awareness and Phonics How to help: Begin with concrete activities (hands-on, realia, visuals, music and rhymes) Use meaningful texts (teach sounds in context) Connect new learning to prior knowledge (Children are more likely to internalize the language when they have a connection, L1 to L2) NEW WORDS ARE EASIER TO LEARN IF YOU ALREADY KNOW THE PHONEMES (SOUNDS) AND HAVE A CONNECTION TO THE CONTENT.

Language Supports Reading Development Meaningful Context helps ELs guess the meanings of new words Supportive books for ELs: Have repetitive language Have repetitive events that build into a story Universal themes Visual Supports – illustrations, text features The purpose of this slide is to return to the notion of meaning being primary for English Learners—phonemic awareness to phonics to reading.