Informational Essay

English learners are continuing to increase in number and play an integral part of
the classroom. Teachers need to know how to serve these students and be aware of
how to teach them content and give them good quality education. There are many
different strategies to help English learners to be excited and interactive with their
writing. It is essential to know the differences between the different characteristics of
each proficiently level to be able to group these students by abilities properly.
Vocabulary use plays an integral role in what students include in their writing. Students
can participate in various writing activities that allow them to enjoy writing.
Teachers must create strategies to assist English learners with their writing. The
use of culturally responsive instruction and native language allows English learners to
feel more confident about writing when they first begin. Sentence walls provide
opportunities for ELLs to become familiar with vocabulary and sentence structures in
their reading (Carrier & Tatum, 2006). Teachers can display a sentence wall in a
location similar to a word wall. Sentence frames are very beneficial when students are
first beginning to write sentences. They can easily create them by first writing sentences
that express the chosen vocabulary with blanks and then, finally create a word bank or
a list of the words that were eliminated from the original sentences. (Donnelly & Roe,
2010).
When the school year starts, students come in to the classroom with unique
backgrounds and knowledge. As a teacher, it is vital to know the differences between
the levels of your English learners. Beginners often choose to draw, refuse to write
independently, and dictate stories rather than write and read in the classroom (Samway,
2006). It is important to give them the proper accommodations and modifications that
they need in order to be successful in their learning. It is important to compare students
abilities in their native language and new language.
Creating writing instruction that is interactive and inquiry based allows English
learners to be excited to write. The teacher arranges this environment by asking opened
questions and promoting literature rich activities (Guccione, 2011). Students practice
this by the use of oral language development, and completing drill practices activities to
help with their decontextualized skills (Williams & Pilonieta, 2012). Teachers need to
develop activities that reflect excitement and practice the necessary skills to be
successful. Literature rich activities need to model the correct way to include reading
and writing activities.
Vocabulary learning is necessary for students to be successful in their reading
and writing. Parents and teachers can work together to help their children while they
come across an unfamiliar vocabulary word in a given text. A great way to do this with
English learners is to activate students background, connect unknown vocabulary to
known cognates, give opportunities to orally practice this vocabulary, granting multiple
exposures like utilizing a sentence wall or sentence frames and emphasizing on higher
level knowledge using effective questioning (Wessels, 2011). English learners may
have different or little background experiences, but as a teacher, it is important to not
make these students feel left out.

English learners need the practice of writing reflections on a text. There are
several ways to do this including sketching, journaling, writing letters, logs, blogs, and
books. Alphabet, pattern books and sketching all reflect a beginning level of English
learners (Tompkins, 2012). Drawing and use of native language is encouraged. More
advanced students can participate in the journaling and logs. By including these in the
curriculum, English learners get the option of choosing which one best suite the their
individual interest and level.
In conclusion, educators need to make writing interactive and exciting because it
helps improve the English learners confidence in their writing ability. ELL and native
speakers can both benefit from all the instructional strategies and techniques.