Can You Hear Me Now?

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

Have you ever been afraid to read or speak out in public because of insufficient reading skills or lack of practice with the language? Well, I teach the cluster of 4th grade English Language Learners at my school, and for many of them one or both of the above situations is a reality. We are a Title 1 school, and since English is a second language for many of my students, reading, writing, and speaking are areas of weakness for them. I would like my students to have more opportunities to practice in the above areas without fear of failure or ridicule. To help with this I am asking for the “Hear Myself Sound Phones” to give my students this extra practice. By using these special phones the students can whisper into them and actually hear what they are saying amplified into their ear, minimizing any outside noise coming from other classroom activities. Whispering allows them to practice in the room without distracting others, and gives them the privacy to read/speak to themselves until they are confident enough to do it in front of the entire class. These phones would be used for a number of activities, one of which would be practicing reading fluency (the rate and accuracy of which a child reads). By increasing their fluency students would then better be able to comprehend what it is the paragraph is saying instead of focusing so much on sounding out the words. This comprehension would not only apply to the area of reading, but to social studies, science and math as well. Once a child has confidence in their ability to read out loud and understand what they are reading, they will be more confident to participate in classroom discussions. The Extreme Reading Comprehension game would also help support this area. Another way the phones would benefit the students is in the area of writing. In 4th grade students begin to write 5 paragraph essays. Students, native and non-native speakers alike, tend to misuse grammar and get off topic quite often. With the “Hear Myself Sound Phones” they would be able to read their essays to themselves to see if they sound grammatically correct and are on topic. By reading the essays into the phones they would be able to hear their errors and correct them before writing their final drafts. Lastly, the “Hear Myself Sound Phones” would help students with speaking skills by allowing them to practice their speech, presentation, etc. before presenting it to the class. With all students, especially English Language Learners, confidence is key to their success. Help my students build theirs by supporting our classroom. Thank you in advance.