I am such a new ESL teacher that I don't know what to ask
 

Hello,
I am a new ESL teacher and I have been appointed to a high school in New York.
The school year is about to start and I want to put together a curriculum but I don't know how.
The school is also new so they don;t have textbooks. I am very lost. Help!!

Re: I am such a new ESL teacher that I don't know what to ask
 

Creating a curriculum or syllabus for a class is a complex and involved process. You need to begin with a Needs Analysis and move on from there.

If this is the case then I would STRONGLY recommend you take a TEFL course which will teach you these things. The students will otherwise suffer!

Re: I am such a new ESL teacher that I don't know what to ask
 

Hi OP,

If you are in New York, then they may very well have their own curriculum. Ask your boss. If not, well, you came to the right place for advice!

Re: I am such a new ESL teacher that I don't know what to ask
 

Thank you for your suggestion. One thing is sure , I dont want my students to suffer. I am particularly interested in finding at least a sample of a curriculum or some titles of textbooks that can be used in public high schools.Any ideas?

Re: I am such a new ESL teacher that I don't know what to ask
 

I agree that your school principal, the previous ELL teacher or some curricular director at your school SHOULD be able to direct you to an acceptable and useful curriculum.

Barring that, and I KNOW from experience that if the district/school has been unused to having ELL students, they may not be prepared at all.

I was in this situation last year. No curriculum, a minimum of texts and materials available, and no one who had a clue what an ELL classroom should consist of.

If you are at your wit's end, try Longman Publishing's website and see if you can obtain money to purchase their books/curriculum. I do NOT work for them, and I am sure there are other good publishers around, but I have found their materials really, really helpful. It's a start.

I hope you are doing ok!

Re: I am such a new ESL teacher that I don't know what to ask
 

I thought it happened only to me. in the high school I teach I am their first ESL teacher ever. There are no materials for Esl there ....nothing that I could use to get an idea.
Somebody told me about Milestones ?
DO you know anything about it ?

OUCH...I left some good links to other websites, but unfortunately the moderator here removed them...perhaps those "free" places, or sites hosted by other ESL teachers are "off-limits" to link to...

If you want some other suggestions... pm me.

Milestones is very comprehensive, but kind of expensive. It is in tune with new methodologies, but I think it is really geared more towards kids with disabilities. I'm not sure if it is the best thing for ELL...but it certainly "aligns" with NCLB...so that will make it popular with the administrators!

Also...Milestones is really geared up ONLY for teaching reading. If you have students from a country/languge that doesn't use the same alphabet (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Ethiopian, Arabic), there will be other fish to fry before you get to reading!