Linda Tong Essay

The teacher, Linda Tong, is a first grade bilingual teacher in a classroom of Chinese-speakers with limited English proficiencies. She incorporates both Cantonese and English in her daily instruction. A specific time is designated in which students focus solely on English language development. During this time, students participate in a wide range of literacy activities to reinforce important skills of writing, reading, speaking and listening.
Ms. Tong uses a choral reading strategy in a whole group setting to support students language development and reading fluency. She prompts only willing participants to orally read portions of the fictional text in unison. If students do not feel comfortable participating, they are invited to listen and follow along. This is particuarly beneficial for students in the early stages of English language. Choral reading is also helpful to those students who take risks while reading along as they are able to make minor mistakes without being sigled out. For …show more content…
Tong is observed explicitly teaching English language spelling patterns to students both in a whole group setting and individually. After a review of the “silent e” rule, sudents participate in a guided reading lesson where they are encouraged to apply their understanding of the skill. For example, students were called on individually to share “magic e” they were able to find. Ms Tong provided repeated exposure reading the target words as well amble opportunities for students to practice pronuncing them. For instance, Ms. Tong has students whisper “magic e” words to themselves at different times in the lesson. It is essential for teachers working with ELLs to provide direct instruction and word attack straties to support reading development. This is especially important when spelling patterns vary from those found in English. As we know, the integration of learning stratgies into instruction can be linked to Chamot and O’Malley’s Cognitive Academic Language Learning