Phonemic Awareness:
Playing With Sounds in a First Language
One question that I had as someone new to working with ELLs is, “Should children learning English also be encouraged to do similar activities in their heritage language?” The answer is, “YES!” Research suggests that parents should “draw on their stronger home language to engage their youngsters in activities that foster sensitivity to sounds in speech, even when the children are participating in English reading programs at school” (Yopp & Stapleton, 2008). We also know that once children start making connections between letters and sounds in their first language, they can transfer that understanding when learning to read in English.
For teachers who have ELLs whose native language is Spanish, there is a link on the Links page which might be of interest. See the link to 169 tongue twisters in Spanish - this would be a great webpage to recommend to parents who want to support their children in playing with sounds.
One question that I had as someone new to working with ELLs is, “Should children learning English also be encouraged to do similar activities in their heritage language?” The answer is, “YES!” Research suggests that parents should “draw on their stronger home language to engage their youngsters in activities that foster sensitivity to sounds in speech, even when the children are participating in English reading programs at school” (Yopp & Stapleton, 2008). We also know that once children start making connections between letters and sounds in their first language, they can transfer that understanding when learning to read in English.
For teachers who have ELLs whose native language is Spanish, there is a link on the Links page which might be of interest. See the link to 169 tongue twisters in Spanish - this would be a great webpage to recommend to parents who want to support their children in playing with sounds.