English Language Learners are students for whom English is not the primary language they speak at home. These students think in another language and are required in the public schools to read in English, with all of its unique phonics rules. They often don’t want to read aloud because they are worried about how it sounds and don’t completely understand what they are reading.
One method for helping students learn to read better in English is to write a shared experience story. The students are “writing” a story using their words which they can then read to others.
The Shared Experience
The first step is to have an experience which is shared by both the student and the teacher. The experience can be as simple as a movie watched together in class or a book read together. These stories would probably take no more than one page to write. More complex shared experience stories can be written after field trips. These stories could possibly take many pages and one or more meetings to get on paper.
The Shared Story
Once the experience has been shared it is time to write the story. The teacher and student need to find a quiet place where they can discuss the experience and get the story down on paper. The student dictates to the teacher the story of the experience. The teacher can ask questions while going through the story to remind the student of parts of the experience or to clarify something the student has said.
When the dictation of the story is finished, the teacher takes the story and types it into the computer. A printed copy of the story is presented to the student for him to read. The student, with the teacher’s assistance, reads through the story. The student can tell the teacher of any changes he feels need to be made. The teacher and the student can also decide where good places to break the pages would be.
The teacher returns to the computer and edits the saved story, reflecting the changes the student wanted made. The story is then printed again, leaving space on each page for a picture to illustrate the story.
The Published Product
Once the teacher is finished turning the story into a book, she and the student conference again. This time each page is read by itself. The student should be more familiar with the words this time and not need as much help. The student adds an illustration to each page. This step can take many days depending on the number of pages and the complexity of the drawings the student makes.
The finished product is now available for reading. The student could start with reading the whole book independently to another adult in the building, such as the principal, reading specialist, or librarian. The student would also enjoy sharing his book with his classmates who may or may not have shared the experience.
Helping ELL students feel successful in reading is something all teachers desire. Using a shared experience story is just one way to help give them success. The shared experience story plan could be used with any student who is struggling with reading, not just those designated as ELL.
