1.5 Literacy Program Essay

1.5 Literacy Program There is an increased attention for immigrants and English-language learners (ELL) in the United States. The generation 1.5 are overlooked and misidentified in the high school level. This generation is of students who are familiar with the U.S culture because they were raised here and many were born in the United States. Even though, they appear to be native in speaking English, they are less skilled in academics, literacy, and especially in writing in their first language. Moreover, there are nine recommendations for developing a Generation 1.5 literacy program, which I will implement in my language school that I will be teaching. However, I will keep in mind that these high school students were raised speaking and hearing …show more content…
In addition, my language school will be also based on Stephen Krashen theories of second language acquisition. These involve meaningful interactions and natural communications. The first recommendations that I will implement in my language school is to establish higher track classes as opposed to lower track classes. The higher level tracking will assist the Generation 1.5 students in accelerating through scaffolds and structured reading activities to full English proficiency. In addition, these classes will have meaningful interactions for the students who need that extra help in either language. In addition, the second recommendation that I will implement is to provide a balanced approach to develop skills of academic literacy across content areas. These include, monitoring to ensure that the high school students are using these skills only to correct deviations from 'normal ' speech and to give speech a more 'polished ' appearance as Krashen states. Moreover, I will develop critical literacy with students engaging in questioning, discussions, evaluating, and writing about what they read. This will enhance their critical thinking and help them learn