In 2014, Judge John Dietz ruled Texas fails to provide sufficient funding for schools to effectively serve a growing population of ELLs and low-income students. – See more 

English language learners…have the lowest graduation rate of all subgroups at 71.5 percent statewide. English language learners are one of the fastest-growing student groups in Texas with almost 1 million students, making up 18 percent of the school population. San Antonio was home to about 38,000 English learners in 2014-15.
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A snippet of content from web site

When I cracked open the Welcome to Computers for ESL Students , I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would this be a resource that would offer watered down computer concepts and vocabulary? And, I wasn’t thrilled by the cover (nice design, though) since the content referred to topics that some might deem a bit dated:

  • Basic Computer Concepts and Vocabulary
  • Microsoft Windows (7 and 8.1)
  • Word Processing (WordPad & Word 2013)
  • Internet Explorer
  • Webmail
Then, I realized that this might be helpful for English Language Learners (ELL). In fact, I remembered many of the parents I worked with who would benefit from this book (and workbook), many of whom would have found the information quite helpful. Some of the key aspects of the book include the following:
  • Clearly delineated learning objectives
  • Images that represent the target ELL population
  • Online resources (I didn’t link to them since you probably need to own the book)
  • Picture dictionary for computer terms along with parts of speech and example sentences.
A snippet of content from their online resources
When you switch your perception of this being a book about computer terms and vocabulary to a language teaching book that happens to use computer topics as the content, you immediately grasp the genius of the text. With clear illustrations, easy to follow instructions and exercises, the book scaffolds language learning for ELL students of any age.
The companion workbook provides fill in the blank activities, word banks, paired conversation scripts and much more to enable practice for ELL learners.

With such rich activities and content, teachers of ELLs will want to take a serious look at books that enable language learning around a relevant subject such as computer related vocabulary and skills.

Labyrinth Learning…publishes easy-to-use textbooks that empower educators to teach complex subjects quickly and effectively — and enable students to gain confidence, develop practical skills, and compete in a demanding market.

Find out more via their web site.

Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure