Learning English Read Aloud Series

Learning English through Interactive, Shared-Reading Read Alouds

MaiStoryBook’s YouTube *Learning English Read Aloud Series* is part of a collaborative project funded by the Critical Refugee Studies Collective~ an initiative that addresses the concerns, perspectives, knowledge production and global imaginings of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced and stateless human beings.

Goal

The goal of MaiStoryBook’s YouTube *Learning English Series* is to produce engaging and interactive read-aloud videos to help refugee students learn English, by providing ample practice for structured language practice opportunities and growth in vocabulary repertoire  

*~Series Description ~Why these videos are needed~*

Many teachers are not equipped with the tools or professional development to address the learning needs of emergent bilinguals, and often struggle with implementing a curriculum that is accessible to all. In order to guarantee all students an equitable education, it is important to provide English Language Learners/emerging bilinguals with access to intellectually challenging, grade level assignments with the help of scaffolding and individualized support (Gibbons, 2014). Technology provides a highly motivating means of working with refugee children in an equitable, scaffolded, culturally responsive manner. Digital media can help emerging bilingual students learn and use language through collaborative interactions focused on finding and using information to construct new knowledge (Vygotsky, 1981, Warschauer et al, 1997).

This series of engaging interactive, educational read- aloud videos to scaffold English Language Development for refugee students can approximate individualized instructions for English-learning students, thus giving teachers an alternative tool to engage refugee students in core curriculum, even when current curriculum may be beyond the student’s language skills. The books chosen for the read aloud videos will be texts at a 4th-5th grade reading level, as this level has been designated to be accessible yet intellectually challenging for K-12 students.

How MaiStoryBook’s YouTube *Learning English Series* Can Help

As much as possible, read aloud texts were selected that would resonate with the students’ refugee background.

Interactive Read Aloud *Learning English* Videos combine:
  • audio – hearing the language being spoken
  • visuals – seeing the print and illustrations and using them to construct meaning to what is being heard
  • written on-screen text – emphasizing vocabulary, story elements, and language scaffolds
  • questions and commentaries throughout: providing ample verbal language practice opportunities and promoting active engagement

These elements provide students with multiple modalities to interact with and use English, including hearing it, seeing it, reading it, repeating it, and to respond and verbally practice it.

Strategies
  • Focus on building on prior knowledge with language and content: Activating background knowledge about topics helps contextualize new language in order to increase comprehension.
  • Introduce new vocabulary through the use of gestures and facial expressions: The use of gestures and facial expressions help with understanding connotation of vocabulary and create another way to create meaningful context for new language.
  • Use sentence frames to support expressive language sentence structure: Sentence frames are fill in the blank sentences that structure language for students. (For example: “I feel _______.”) Emergent bilinguals often have stronger receptive than expressive language- they understand better than they can speak. Therefore, sentence frames that pop up on the screen help them with expressive language to share ideas and participate in rich read aloud discussions.
  • Differentiate for different language levels: Emergent bilinguals have many different language levels. Having three different, color-coded, leveled sentence frames appear on screen for students at different language levels helps differentiate for these differences. Therefore, before each read aloud, readers are encouraged to choose the just-right sentence frame that appears on the screen.
  • Incorporate Reading Comprehension Strategies: These videos not only promote language development, but also literacy skills and reading comprehension. Reading strategies such as making predictions, confirming predictions, comparing and contrasting, expressing feelings and opinions, and retelling are incorporated throughout the read aloud videos.
Why a YouTube Platform

The YouTube platform allows the students to access the videos in non-school settings, which will enable them to practice English at their own pace and in more comfortable environments. The accessibility of YouTube will also encourage the students’ parents to learn English via the read-aloud videos.

Check out the *First Video* in the Series

Featuring *Anansi the Spider* by Gerald McDermott

Visit the Blog Post, *MaiStoryBook Learning English: Anansi the Spider* for additional resources.

*~Until next time, Happy Reading~*