Talking with English Language
Learners about Their Writing
by Tasha Tropp Laman
A writing conference is one of the best ways to help English
language learners grow, both in their knowledge of the
English language and as writers. In a writing conference
(Anderson 2000; Calkins 1994), the teacher interviews a
student to help the student decide what they wish to
communicate and provides specific instruction to help the
student do so.
This article is one of the many
articles, books, videos and
resources from Heinemann authors
available in Heinemann’s Digital
Library.
For more information visit:
Heinemann.com/PD/DigitalLibrary
or call 800.541.2086 x1100
A writing conference, like any authentic conversation, can feel awkward. Many teachers don’t even
allow themselves to attempt a conversation with English language learners, particularly with
newcomers to English. However, to learn a language, students need to use the language in an
expressive context, through talking and writing. When we do not speak the languages our students
speak, we worry about the messiness of trying to communicate. But without that messiness, these
students don’t get an opportunity to learn. By listening and talking to children in writing conferences,
we let them know that they matter and that their writing matters, too. Regardless of the level your
multilingual students are at in learning English, you can help them grow as writers. Following are
some communication tools that help facilitate communication with students who are new to English.
Communication Tools for Emerging English Language Learners
•
Learn key phrases in your students’ languages in order to convey that we are all language learners
in school.
•
Demonstrate drawing for the student so they know that this is an important way of communicating
when you do not speak the same languages.
•
Point to the drawing and say words in English and ask your student to say the names of the objects
in their language(s).
•
Sit next to the child and smile while talking. This simple gesture does a lot to ease anxiety.
•
If your student is literate in other languages, use Google Translate (www.translate.google.com) or
BabelFish (www.babelfish.com) to translate directions. The translations aren’t perfect, but they can
be helpful for students who speak languages you don’t.
Because multilingual students are too often on the periphery of classroom life, we need to invite them
into the center of learning by engaging them in writing conferences. In every writing conference with
every student, we are engaged in understanding our multilingual students as people and as writers.
Next are some examples of strategies and specific language you can use to reach and teach
1
Heinemann.com/PD/DigitalLibrary • 800.541.2086 x1100
multilingual writers, which are designed to help you create a vision of what writing conferences can
look and sound like with multilingual writers.
Before You Confer: Get to Know Your Students
All writing and all learning involve identity work. When we sit down next to a writer, no matter her
English level proficiency, that writer needs to understand that we know and value her, not just in
school, but also her interests, habits, and worries outside of school.
“Getting to Know You” Strategies
•
Ask multilingual families to complete surveys regarding students’ interests. Surveys should be
translated into the language(s) parents are most comfortable communicating in. You can always
have their answers interpreted. While Google Translate is not a perfect tool, you can use it to help
translate answers if you don’t have access to an interpreter.
•
Conduct home or community visits in order to see your multilingual students in the context of
their everyday lives and to learn about their families, friends, and outside interests.
•
When you prepare minilessons, incorporate examples from your multilingual students’ writing,
lives, and interests.
•
Share literature written in each child’s language in order to demonstrate the power of multilingual
texts and the importance of developing literacies in more than one language.
Noticing What Students Are Doing: Naming Writing Identities
Peter Johnston (2004) explains how essential noticing and naming is to student learning. By
identifying students’ growth, we help students recognize that daily writing time is worthwhile and we,
as teachers, see it. These words and statements convey a learning trajectory to the child—marking a
learning past and a present and noting the change along the way.
Examples of Language You Could Use to Support Students’ Writing Identities
•
“You are writing a lot.”
•
“You told your story in Spanish first, and that helped you write even more on the page. Sometimes
telling a story in the language you know best first, makes writing easier.”
•
“You are writing more words in English than you used to. Your English vocabulary is really
growing.”
•
“You are like [this writer] because you keep writing about _________.”
2
Heinemann.com/PD/DigitalLibrary • 800.541.2086 x1100
Identifying Audience: Helping Students’ Writing Reach Others
Too often multilingual children are subjected to formulaic writing instruction consisting of prompts
and grammar exercises (Samway 2006; Fu 2009). But writing workshop, in general, and writing
conferences, in particular, are steeped in meaning. When we confer with multilingual children, we can
reinforce that the writing work they are doing is not being crafted for a single reader (the teacher) and
an evaluative grade.
Ways to Identify and Expand Audiences for Multilingual Writers
•
Encourage students to write in the languages they speak and to share their writing with family and
community members. Multilingual literacy development is valuable and should be encouraged.
•
Ask children, “Who you are you writing this for?” to encourage students to think about audience as
they write.
•
Celebrate students’ writing and invite family and community members to publication celebrations.
•
Publish multilingual student writing in a variety of venues—local newspapers, class and school
newsletters, school library displays, internet sites, and so on—so that others can read and respond.
Inspiring Revision: Helping Multilingual Writers Return to Their Writing
Inherent in all writing conferences is the expectation that the writer will delve back into the writing in
order to revise, rethink, and reshape their writing. When conferences are inspirational, the writer
returns to the work with more energy and the feeling that this writing project is worth exploring
further. This idea is especially important when we think about multilingual writers. If conferences are
focused on grammar and editing, our words and actions are focused on error, and we deplete
enthusiasm rather than replenish it.
Comments that Encourage Revision
•
The topic you are talking about is important because__________and when you revise__________it
will__________.
•
I thought the way you described__________was original. I hadn’t thought of that before, but it makes
sense because__________.
•
What do you want the reader to take away from reading your piece? Show me a place you do that
well.
•
Where do you want help?
3
Heinemann.com/PD/DigitalLibrary • 800.541.2086 x1100
Extending Writing: Supporting Multilingual Students as They Expand Their
Writing Repertoire
Though the majority of writing conferences should not focus on grammar or punctuation, conferences
often afford teachers the time to talk about idiomatic expressions and other nuances in the English
language. Some conferences can provide timely support and specific language instruction that
multilingual students may need. These coaching conferences (Anderson 2000) offer more explicit
instruction in supporting students by verbally extending what a student may not yet be able to do on
their own. For some multilingual writers, this may entail helping them hear sounds in words or
demonstrating an aspect of grammar, and other times it may entail helping students write dialogue, or
create a scene. Comparing children to authors they admire and showing children how their writing
moves are similar to the author’s, helps build a foundation for guiding students as they try new craft
moves and improve their writing. It is important to include your students’ favorite authors and to draw
on mentor texts written in the language(s) your students speak in order to encourage and foster
multilingual literacies.
Feedback to Extend Students’ Thinking in Writing
•
Let’s read this author’s work and notice how she uses metaphor in her writing.
•
[Author Name] writes a lot of nonfiction just like you. Let’s see how he structures his books and see
if there is anything you may want to try in your own writing.
•
Remember when we talked about how writers sometimes show us what they are thinking about and
how we call that internal dialogue? Where is a place you could try that in your writing?
•
Carmen Lomas Garza writes many of her books in Spanish and English. Would you like to make this
book a bilingual picture book also?
•
This part where you showed__________is called__________, and writers use it for many reasons, just
like you. Are there other places you might do that again?
Writing is hard work, but it can be joyful work, too. The conference can be a joyful time for you and
your multilingual students, a time where your teaching is tailored specifically to the child sitting next
to you. It’s an opportunity to acknowledge what your multilingual student does well, has learned to do
well, and what she can learn to do well. And it moves us, their teachers, forward in knowing our
multilingual students and extending their learning one writer at a time.
4
Heinemann.com/PD/DigitalLibrary • 800.541.2086 x1100
Works Cited
Anderson, C. 2000. How’s It Going?: A Practical Guide to Conferring With Student Writers. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Calkins, L. 1994. The Art of Teaching Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Fu, D. 2009. Writing Between Languages: How English Language Learners Make the Transition to
Fluency. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Johnston, P. 2004. Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning. Portland, ME:
Stenhouse.
Samway, K. 2006. When English Language Learners Write. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Tasha Tropp Laman is an associate professor in the department of Instruction and
Teacher Education at the University of South Carolina where she teaches undergraduate
and graduate courses in reading, writing, and critical literacy. Her research focuses on
multilingual students' literacy learning and their literate identities. Collaboration with
classroom teachers is at the heart of her research and her practice. Tasha has been an
educator for 20 years including time as a classroom teacher in the Navajo Nation in New
Mexico, where she taught kindergarten and third grade and as a teacher educator in the
Peace Corps in Belize where she worked in rural multilingual communities. She presents at national
conferences, writing institutes, and consults in K-5 classrooms regarding writing instruction in general and
English language learners in particular.
5
Heinemann.com/PD/DigitalLibrary • 800.541.2086 x1100