Customer Reviews

Fifty Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Over and over, I've looked for a book which focuses on practice rather than just theory. This book is just what I've been looking for! Each strategy is presented with a brief summary of the research behind it, practical methods to apply it to any classroom at any grade level, and examples of the strategy at work in two different classrooms. As an ESL teacher, I plan to use this book as a valuable resource throughout the school year. Don't be fooled by the title, though: these strategies will help all your students, not just English language learners. Teachers and tutors will enjoy using these ideas with their students.

This book was a required text for graduate classes in teaching English as a Second Language. This book while simple and has fifty strategies is really for professional educators as the "lingo" may not mean the same to a non-teacher. The strategies employed could be used in even a regular/mainstream classroom, especially if you want to do something a little different. This is not the most thrilling book in the world, but then again, neither are lesson plans. I used it for ideas more than anything.

This book was worth the money. It is appropriate for secondary teachers (and many things out there are geared more toward elementary). It has a brief introduction to the theory behind the text in the beginning and then the rest is pratctical, skill-based lessons/activites for English Language Learners. As a language arts teacher, my only minor disappointment was that some of the lessons are geared more toward general content areas like social studies and science, but there is still plenty of good stuff for me to use.

This book deals with teaching children English as a second language in public schools from age 5 up to adolescents. I teach primarily adults which this book does not tough upon. For that reason I would only recommend someone buying this book if you only want to teach large classes of children or young adolescents. Not appropriate for adults.

I agree that Herrell focuses on practice as well as theory. As a teacher in a high school with a large ELL population (I have from 12-18 kids in each class; large by ESL standards), I sometimes found her suggestions laughable. Although I became a teacher knowing that it is not, no matter what anyone says, an 8-4 job, I find it fascinating that she believes I have the time to keep organized folders and journals tracking the daily success of each student when public education demands so much mindless, useless paperwork and other duties that makes it a miracle that I can even finish grading and designing lesson plans at all. I believe Heller has some beautiful, albeit idealistic ideas, but she often seems to forget about the difficulties in classroom management and "school business" that prevents many wonderful ideas from taking place. I guess what I really mean is that I was hoping for suggestions on how to balance the "corporate" part of public education with effective, motivating strategies. Also, maybe high school is different. I think a lot of these strategies may work better with younger kiddoes, who are often much more motivated to learn.
This book could stand to be a bit more practical in meshing with the exhausting demands of a modern public school teacher.

This book is a step by step technique just as the title states. Great for any student teacher that needs a clear visual explanation on how to help ell's. For already teachers in the field it is a good refence book to help them focus on how other techniques can be applicable to thier lesson planning.

As an ESL teacher, I find this book actually to be useful for my grad school class and my own practice. Pretty happy with the purchase.

I think this book has many practical ideas, not just for ELLs, but for teaching in traditional classrooms as well.

The strategies for teaching ELL learners in a regular classroom are inspiring yet easy to implement. They would be useful in teaching all learners (not just students who lack English language proficiency). The book gives good insight into differentiated instruction that could be used to include SpED students as well as those students whose achievement level lags behind their peers.

I have ripped the book's binding off, 3-hole punched it, and put it in a binder for easy reference as I plan my lessons.

The ONLY negative about this book is the video. It is dated (there is a lesson detailing how to use Google as a search engine!) and a bit hokey. If you teach primary grades, you would get more out of the video than I did.

This book is well organized and coordinated with tesol objectives. Very user friendly, this is a must have resource for all ages.