Reading the World: Integrating Geography in an English Language Learner Literacy Program

Abstract

English language development classes focus on teaching students of other languages how to speak, read, and write English. They must also prepare students to meet the many standards and requirements that are prerequisites to content classes, such as geography, and high school graduation. This discussion focuses on the integration of literacy and geography in a classroom with English language learners. A common English language development model, the "Into, Through, Beyond model of learning, sets a foundation that integrates components of English language acquisition with language arts and geography standards. In turn, this approach to learning prepares the learners for success in social and academic arenas. Scott Forrest is a teacher at Escondido HighSchool in Southern California. He teaches English language development and loth grade college prep English. Although these classes focus on English, he incorporates geographic education in all of his courses. Additionally, he is a graduate student at San Diego State University, earning an M.A. in policy studies in languages and cross cultural education.

Psychological Cognition of English Learners in Reading Comprehension

“…The whole reading comprehension process of psychological cognition is actually composed of several sub-processes. The whole reading process also needs the support of multiple skills, in which language ability is one of the most important skills (Peregoy & Boyle, 2000;Forrest, 2002;Boyle, 2009). Readers in different native languages may have different understandings of the same reading material.…”