Prioritizing Learning Needs for
Beginning ESL Students
Beth Kocsis
ESL Instructor
Introductions
• “Nice to meet you!”
• Tell us one piece of language (phrase,
social exchange) that you say every
day.
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Beginning Literacy Goals
Citizenship
Functional
Literacy
High Priority
Learning
Life Skills and
‘extras’
School Skills
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Glossary of Terms
Definition
Example
Pre-literate
learner
The native language does A Bantu refugee from Somalia
not yet have a writing
knows her native Af-Maay only
system (oral society).
orally, as a written form of the
language is just now being
developed.
Non-literate
learner
The native language has
a written form, but the
learner has no education
and no access to literacy
instruction.
An older Bhutanese farmer has now
moved to the US as a refugee.
Semi-literate
learner
The learner has minimal
literacy in native
language.
Roberto attended a rural school in El
Salvador for 3 years. Although he
wanted to continue, his family
needed him to work on the family
farm.
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Beginning Literacy ESL
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Beginning Literacy ESL
6
Class Ideas
Dialogues/Conversation
Citizenship
►Social exchange
►Differentiating levels
►Personal information
questions
►Civics, reading and
writing
►The ‘interview!’
Beginning
Literacy
ESL
Priority English
Life Skills
►Money
►Time
►Numbers
►Stories
►Parent Education
►Functional literacy
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“Let’s start at the very beginning…a very
good place to…start”?
The case for not starting at the alphabet
What skills are necessary for students to
read and write one word?
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Teaching School Skills
• Class Norms: On time/late, cell phone
use, planned absences, being
prepared for class
• Watching TV for school closings!
• Learning activities: Circle,
listen, repeat, match,
underline
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Dialogues/Conversation
Social exchange
►How are you’s? Nice to see/meet you! Have a nice
weekend!
►How’s the weather?
►Excuse me’s...
Personal information questions
►Where are you from?
►Where are you living now?
►How long have you lived in Pittsburgh? Do you like
living in Pittsburgh?
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Priority Learning: The Calendar
Minimum Competencies
• Today/yesterday/tomorrow/day before yesterday/day after tomorrow
• Distinguishing day vs. date
• Next week/this week/next week
For higher level students…
• Ordinal number accuracy
• Recognizing months and corresponding numbers
• Day/month abbreviations
• “Next Monday is...” “Last Friday was...”
o Next week  Last week
o Contextualized numeric dates (appointment cards, expiration dates,
birthdays)
o Ago/in
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Priority Learning: Time
Minimum Competencies
• On time/early/late
• ‘Before/after’, ‘Every day’
• Awareness of counting by 5’s
• Proficiency with counting by 5’s
• Answering questions (when do you get up, eat lunch, go to bed)
• Awareness of am/pm
• Reading digital clocks
For higher level students…
• All middle level activities + different ways of expressing time
(’25 after,’ ‘quarter after’ ’25 to,’)
• Once/twice a day/week/month
• Reading digital and analog clocks
12
Priority Learning: Numbers
Minimum Competencies
• Recognizing #1-50 in and out of sequence
• Recognizing number 1- 100
• Writing dictated phone numbers
• Orally giving their phone numbers
For higher level students…
• All middle level competencies + recognizing and saying numbers
through 10,000
• Phone numbers (writing and reading with proper pronunciation and
pacing)
• SSN
13
Priority Learning: Money
Minimum Competencies
• Coin recognition
• Prices under $5.00
• Making correct money amounts with change
• Counting money with bills and coins
• Orally and writing prices to $500.00
• Money concepts (less than, more than, most, least)
• Shopping concepts (each, per pound)
For higher level students…
• All middle level competencies + money concepts - going shopping
• Change (too much, not enough)
• Rounding to the nearest dollar
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Life Skills
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Teaching Syntax & Vocabulary
Through Life Skills Stories
• The Goal
• The Process
• The Stories
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Functional Literacy
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Functional Literacy Skills
• Whole/sight word recognition
• Spell and write first and last name
• Monthly calendar
• Address work – memorize and recite it orally
• Birthdays (their own and family members)
• Phone Number
• Abbreviations - SSN, Phone #, DOB
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Citizenship Test
Writing
Reading
Speaking
Interview
Civics
based on N-400
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Extra Learning Opportunities
• LEARN Bus
• Volunteer Opportunities
• Field trips
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