In 2021, federal data reported that English language learners accounted for 10.6% of all public school students in the US – and as this number continues to increase, it’s essential that your education resources reflect this need.
Here’s how Digital Theatre+ can support English language learners in your classroom…
It’s essential to give your students a solid foundation for English language learning – which means providing resources that teach basic grammar and vocabulary skills.
Why not start each lesson with a language-focused Class Starter video? This series aims to define, explore, and analyze a range of common literary devices through short, interactive, and age-appropriate videos, with episodes on personification, symbolism, and more.
Or, go one step further with ready-made lesson plans, such as ‘Analyzing How Language Contributes to Setting’ and ‘Identifying and Analyzing Repetition and Alliteration’.
These 50-minute lesson plans include an introduction, a warm-up, individual and group activities, and an ‘exit ticket’ task to reinforce the lesson objectives. These downloadable PDFs also integrate key Digital Theatre+ resources to provide a cohesive, engaging learning experience for the entire class.
Additional resources on Digital Theatre+ include:
This is especially impactful for International Schools, where curricula has shifted to prioritize foundational language skills in the first years of high school. Find out more about how Digital Theatre+ can support your International School here.
Explore Shakespeare's language, from memorable quotes to iambic pentameter.
Multimodal resources encourage learning across four key areas: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and reading/writing, and this mix of styles has been shown to have a ‘positive effect on pupils’ literacy development and comprehension’.
With this in mind, the varied range of resource types available on Digital Theatre+ can support your English language learners, giving students a visual aid to support language comprehension and auditory reinforcement to support pronunciation.
For example, our Unlocked: Speaking and Listening e-learning series features bite-sized videos on topics like collaboration, rhetorical devices, and presenting to a group.
These 5-7 minute videos are a great way to help students build oral proficiency and communication skills – without overwhelming them.
Similarly, our Poetry in Action series lifts poetry off the page with powerful recitals and analysis videos. Each video includes key on-screen text to provide engaging visual support for students – and each recital is further accompanied by a written print-out, encouraging students to follow along and boost reading comprehension.
Jump into 'America' by Walt Whitman in this Poetry in Action series
Immersing yourself in a new language is one of the best ways to aid learning – and this is where Digital Theatre+ can help. An institution subscription includes 24/7 access not just for staff, but for students, too.
This means your English language learners can continue to reinforce their skills outside of the classroom – and do so in an engaging, indirect way with our library of 650+ theatre productions.
Starting with Shakespeare, our collection includes…
Captured live in 2021, Toby Hulse's play is set in the world of Shakespeare's The Tempest...
‘Digital Theatre+ exposes learners with English as a second language to a richness of vocabulary and a variety of accents. It is extremely useful in demonstrating the use of tone as a way of conveying intention, and the fact that students are learning within a drama context will help to develop their creative skills.’
– Roy Lewis, Headteacher, Lanna International School, Thailand
Book a demo to find out how Digital Theatre+ can support your English language learners.
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