Teaching Beginner ELLs Using Picture Books: Tellability

Picture your beginning ELLs reading their way to success!

For beginning English language learners, a picture really is worth a thousand words! Picture books can unlock puzzling cultural and social meanings for students at all ages and grade levels. ELL educator Ana Lado illustrates how picture books are an especially useful tool for building important language and social foundations―foundations that students may miss through traditional instruction. Lado provides all the tools you need to engage your English learners with picture books, including how to:

• Design lesson plans around themed units
• Select appropriate picture books using specific criteria
• Incorporate fun and engaging strategies like singing and reenacting
• Integrate picture-book learning to facilitate development of English Language Proficiency

In addition, you will gain access to a searchable online database to find just the right book for your lessons, based on author, title, genre, and English Language Proficiency level. With practical, classroom-friendly techniques, Teaching Beginner ELLs Using Picture Books helps teachers, ESL/ELD specialists, and bilingual teachers transform lessons into richly-illustrated learning opportunities.

"This book is a great tool to use when teaching level one students and contains the different strategies necessary for complete English instruction."
―Giuliana Jahnsen, ELL Teacher
Sterling Middle School, Sterling, VA

"This book makes the TESOL standards accessible by summarizing the three main goals of learning a language and how picture books support these concepts."
―Blanca L. Campillo, Professional Development Specialist
Chicago Public Schools Area 9, Chicago, IL

Ana Lado obtained her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Georgetown University in Washington, D. C. She is currently a professor in the School of Education and Human Services of Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. She coordinates the Master of Education in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) and advises graduate students in the Master of Education in Professional Studies. Her favorite courses involve methods of TESOL and beginning reading. She also teaches courses exploring educational issues related to bilingualism, multicultural language arts, and creativity.

Dr. Lado mentors students doing practical research on picture books as well as student teachers. She frequently presents workshops in schools and at local and international conferences. Dr. Lado began teaching in a bilingual kindergarten in Washington, D.C. She engages in local projects with youngsters learning Spanish and middle school English Language Learners.

In addition, to teaching at Marymount, she conducts academic training and material development for LADO International College. This private school founded by her father, Robert Lado in the 1970’s, provides intensive, accelerated, English classes for speakers of other languages. In the 1970’s it developed the first certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and provides intensive and semi-intensive TEFL certificate classes to native and native-level speakers of English. She developed the materials for the first course, pre-one. Currently, she is working with a team to complete the revision of the Lado English Series texts used in levels one through six.