For Other Professionals
Creating Your Own Classroom Newsletter
Not only can a classroom newsletter help English language learners develop their language skills, it can help a class work together to publish their own stories. This empowering writing experience can be the just what some ELLs need to succeed.
Background
Creating a class newsletter can be an excellent way for English language learners to develop their language skills. They build vocabulary through writing and through interacting with others in the class. In addition, research shows that through repeated revisions of their own writing, students learn to become better writers. But most important of all, students learn how to work cooperatively, and they soon realize that "it's easier to do stuff as a group than on their own" (Irby, p. 53). Students not only discover the benefits of teamwork, but they also feel a great sense of ownership once they see their end result - a newsletter. This is an excellent activity that allows students from different cultural backgrounds to find common ground and to work cooperatively. Yet as educators we must remember that the writing experience should be an empowering one instead of just another assignment students are told to do. The goal of creating a newsletter should be to bring the classroom together as ELLs learn how to better express themselves orally and polish their writing skills.
Classroom suggestions
- Have students create a list of topics that they wish to write about in their newsletter.
- Allow students to work in collaborative groups.
- Assign students roles, for example "writer," "editor," "researcher," or "graphic artist."
- Encourage students to include articles in their primary language.
- Let students share their newsletter with other classrooms and with family members.
References
Click the "References" link above to hide these references.
Irby, J. (1993). Empowering the disempowered: Publishing student voices. English Journal 82(7), 50-54.
Susan Lafond (2006)
0 recommendations |
