Customer Reviews

Children With Limited English: Teaching Strategies for the Regular Classroom

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I read an earlier edition of this book (1994) with just 62 pages. It definitely earns five stars just for its contribution to raising general awareness of the needs of children who do not yet speak, read and write fluent English. The average teacher already has their hands full looking after the more mainstream kids, and may wonder what can be done for children with special language needs, beyond sending them off to ESL class. Kottler shows how these children in fact offer unique opportunities for everyone to learn from each other and grow together. Her suggestions are highly practical ones that can be instituted in any classroom situation, such as assigning "buddies" to children with limited English to help them with their learning and routine daily needs. The main thing I would add is an even stronger emphasis on how much we ourselves can learn from people from other cultures, or indeed, from anyone different from us in any way, including those with handicaps, so children come to prize diversity rather than feeling that everyone must try hard to fit into the same cultural and social mold. This should be required reading for all teachers.