Teaching of English as the Second Language - Essay Example

Titus Rock Manickam Order No. 234080 07 August 2008 The SIOP Model: Strategies and Input Introduction Teaching of English as the Second Language (ELS) is done best in an environment comprising activities the learners are familiar with and could relate to. For this purpose, it is necessary to be acquainted with two important features of teaching and learning. First of all, learners of ELS must have an initiation where they are totally comfortable, confident and capable of comprehending exactly the course of study they are supposed to undergo and how fast they will progress and complete the course.

Secondly, the tutor must take pains to understand the students' background so that s/he is able to put together a course of study comprising oral, physical and participative activities. It is important to bear the time frame in mind while organizing the study course within which the course must be covered. It is also important for the tutor to be familiar with the syllabus so that s/he the communication flow is flawless and effective when the students are being taught. (Gisela Ernst-Slavit & Margaret Mulhern)Indicators of Instruction: Comprehensible InputThe SIOP model advocates use of inputs associated with the students' first language for them to connect with and transfer in course of learning the second language.

The syllabus must ideally consist of bilingual lessons and text so that the student could read and comprehend the lesson in his or her own language first and then attempt reading and comprehending the same lesson in the second language.The use of the students' first language in teaching of second language is a powerful tool to achieve quick results by means of systematic, step by step approach involving variety of orals, visuals and group activities. Depending on the age group, gender, culture, the students' general knowledge and grasp, study material consistent with the students' faculties and knowledge level are chosen in the students' first language and supplemented with the second language s/he is about to study.

The students will have the opportunity of reading the lessons in their own language, and subsequently read through the same lessons in the second language. This way they are capable of proceeding with the same lessons in the second language and confidently grasp the second language mostly by their own attempt. (Judy Haynes) Indicators of Instruction: StrategiesThere is greater awareness, expectation and discipline in the classroom when the students are aware of what they are being taught and what they are supposed to do to maximize their learning.

The SIOP model solves more than half of the learning problem by addressing the lessons in the mother tongue first. Obviously, the tutor must be familiar with the students' first language so that s/he knows what to do and how to help the students make maximum gains in their learning efforts. One way of achieving best results is the use of "props" (any visual or mental exercise used to support learning abilities) by which students learn to progress from using of these "props" to gradually begin learning without the "props" by surrendering them one by one in the course of the study.

Under the SIOP model, the first language is the best form of "prop." The awareness by the tutor and the students of their goals and their understanding of the study material even before they have studied them in the second language is a clear indicator of the successful results awaiting them at the end of the course. Iliana Reyes, p3) Sources:Gisela Ernst-Slavit & Margaret Mulhern, Bilingual Books: Promoting Literacy and Biliteracy in the Second Language and Mainstream Classroom, http://readingonline.

org/articles/art_index.aspHREF=ernst-slavit/index.htmlIliana Reyes, University of Arizona, USA, Exploring connections between emergent biliteracy and bilingualism, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Copyright 2006, Sage Publications, London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi, Vol 6(3) 267-292, DOI 10.1177/1468798406069801, http://www.fcd-us.org/usr_doc/ReyesExploringConnections.Judy Haynes, SIOP: Making Content Comprehensible for ELLs, everythingELS.net, http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/using_siop_model_08621.php.php