Teaching Pre-Literate

Adults: A Treasure-Trove

of Resources

Andrea Poulos, University of Wisconsin- Madison

Jen Sell, Literacy Network of Dane County, Madison

Patsy Vinogradov, University of Minnesota

Agenda for this session

•Clarifying “pre-literate” learners•Balanced literacy•Student generated

writing and reading materials•Extensive reading•Published materials•Teacher resources•Where to find these treasures?

•Pre-literate? •Non-literate? •Low-literate?

•We prefer: emergent readers, or more specifically- emergent adult ESL readers

Our approach: Balanced Literacy Instruction:

•Phonics is important and needs to be taught explicitly to low-literate adult ESL learners, but it is best taught in contextualized, meaningful lessons.

•Adult learners have tremendous resources for learning; teachers need to tap into their life experiences, strengths, and interests in order to develop language and literacy effectively.

Whole-part-wholeMethod of teaching reading that starts with a whole text then pulls out specific parts (ex: vocabulary from thematic unit or a story) to analyze for phonics/phonemic awareness skills, then goes back to the text to practice in context.

6

NIFL/NCSALL ALRWG Webcast

After Scarborouth, H. (2001)

Balanced literacy with adult emergent readers

•In every lesson, keep going up and down the ladder.

•Remember that phonics should only be one part of a much larger, engaging, comprehension-focused reading curriculum.

Student-generated writing and reading

• Language Experience Approach (LEA)• Literacy Network “HOME Project”• Life Writing and Literacy Narratives wiki• Journal entries and responses• Picture stories and photo books• Student newsletters

Language Experience Approach (LEA)

• Students tell a story (often a shared experience)

• Instructor (or another scribe) writes the story down verbatim

Why do it?▫Connects the spoken and

written word▫Values life experience;

versatile and motivating▫Provides material for

countless reading activities

Making it Real: Teaching Pre-literate Adult Refugee Students, by Alysan Croydon

http://literacynow.info/Page.aspx?nid=58

Literacy Network “Home Project”

Life Writing collaboration and wiki

•http://literacynarratives.pbworks.com

Extensive Reading

Published materials

Look for published resources that feature…

•research-based, systematic instruction• top-down and bottom-up activities• text that is free from stereotypes•content that is interesting and meaningful

to adults

Published Student Books• Very Easy True Stories, Sandra Heyer

• Ventures, Cambridge University Press

• Picture Stories, Fred Ligon and Elizabeth Tannenbaum

• Sounds Easy, Sharon Bassano

• Tailored Tales, Lia Conklin

• English for Everyday Activities, Lawrence Zweier

Decodable textbooks• Talk of the Block Ann Haffner

• Sam and Pat Jo Anne Hartel, Betsy Lowry, Whit Hendon

Teacher ResourcesTeacher training video: Building Literacy with Adult Emergent

Readerswww.newamericanhorizons.org

LESLLA: Low-Education Second Language and Literacy Acquisition (for adults)

www.leslla.org

2011 LESLLA Symposium• September 29 – October 1, 2011• Minneapolis, Minnesota

Proposals being accepted NOW until May 25, 2011.

Conference website: http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ci/LESLLA/default.html

3 Key Readings:• Bigelow, M., & Schwarz, R. (2010). Adult English

language learners with limited literacy. National Institute for Literacy. Available: http://nifl.gov/publications/pdf/ELLpaper2010.pdf

• Vinogradov, P. (2008). "Maestra! The letters speak.” Adult ESL students learning to read for the first time. MinneWITESOL Journal, 25. Available: www.minnewitesoljournal.org

• Vinogradov, P., & Bigelow, M. (2010). Using oral language skills to build on the emerging literacy of adult English learners. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. Available: http://www.cal.org/caelanetwork/resources/using-oral-language-skills.html

Treasure map?

•www.multilingualminnesota.org

•Click on: For Teachers of Adult Low-literate ESL

Visual on next slide!

www.multilingualminnesota.org

Questions? Comments?

•What treasures can you add to our collection?

Thank you!