Use of the Library for Teaching ESL Students

One of the reasons teaching ESL students is challenging because there are never enough content resources to appeal to the wide range of students’ interests. Resources should not be limited, however, to what can be found in the ESL classroom or purchased by the teacher. The ESL teacher should get to know the school librarian and the library staff at the local public library.

Dr Caroline Knight, in ESL Magazine 71 (Sept-Oct 2009), describes her experiences working with librarians while teaching ESL students, noting that librarians love to share their resources and expertise resources and can hold the key to developing a love of reading for many ESL students. Some of her students who had never tried to speak a word of English exploded with sound when they saw pictures of their native countries the librarian had tracked down. Pictures can create the basis for many speaking and writing activities in ESL class. The librarian has the time and knowledge required to do some of these time-consuming searches for materials which can connect ESL students to their homes in a faraway land.

Based on Dr. Knight’s research and my own experience, try these pointers for teaching ESL students using the resources of libraries and librarian:

1. Make a trip to the public library on a regular basis (every 1 to 3 weeks) to check out books for your students to read in the classroom. Check out a few more than the number of students in your largest class - so students will be have a good selection. If you borrow the same number each time, you will not have to check for each title when you return them – you only have to count the books to be sure they are all there.
2. Choose books based on the interests of your students and which connect to your curriculum. Reading levels 1-3 are optimal. Choose books with great photographs and drawings to help students understand the text.
3. Take your students to the school library to pick out their own books. These books can be taken home, shared with family, read and reread.
4. Ask your school librarian to give a workshop to your students, either independently or with you, on how to use the library. When the librarian asks faculty for suggestions as she prepares her annual book order, be sure to make suggestions for books appropriate for the reading levels of ESL students.
5. Bus or walk your students to the public library as a field trip. Assist with getting them library cards. Introduce their parents to the library also. In this way you are supporting your public library and giving our students a wonderful place to access books and just hang out. Remember, when school is out, public libraries are heated, air conditioned and supervised. They are great places for middle and high school students to spend a rainy day or a summer weekday.
6. Order books through interlibrary loan at your school or public library. You can preview many books online at Amazon.com, which has a feature which allows you to look inside books and get a take on the reading level and quality of illustrations.
7. Ask your public librarian, either at your school or at the library, to give a presentation to your students about the layout of the library, as well as any special sections or programs. Your public library might have a video section, a music section, or even an art section. The library may host a movie night for teens or a vacation art workshop, for example. The public librarian may also be open to suggestions for activities from you or your students.
8. Advertise your borrowed books in the classroom to the students by holding them up, describing them, and explaining why a student would want to read them. Let students choose the books they want to read regardless of reading level – pictures can sometimes fill in the context gaps. After a student has read a book, ask her to give a “book talk” to the class.
9. Give students enough independent reading time to get absorbed in their books. Set aside time weekly for reading. Allow students who have finished another activity early to read a book until the others have finished. Although some students will ask you to play music during reading time, it is best to keep the room as quiet as possible. Some students may not be able to concentrate with distraction, and might be embarrassed to say so.

Dr. Knight reminds that is important to choose books that cut across the interests and biographies of both genders and depict students’ native cultures in a modern setting. Too often ESL teachers are enthralled with beautiful books that retell folk tales heard in native villages. It is okay to have some of these types of books available, but it is also important that you do not convey the United States as the only technologically advanced country in your book selections.

There is no feeling quite like the one you get when you walk past the library door and seeing one of your struggling readers absorbed in a book. Teaching ESL students to use the library will greatly improve their comfort level with books and help them forge connections with other adults besides their ESL teacher in their school and the community.