Fun with ELLs

(English Language Learners)


SPOILER ALERT!!! IF YOU WANT TO READ "BECAUSE OF WINN DIXIE" AND BE SURPRISED, STOP READING!!!!!!







I've been giving my kids writing assignments that coordinate with the novel we are reading, Because of Winn-Dixie. In the last chapter we read, we found out that one of the characters' brother drowned the year before. I decided to have them write an obituary for the boy. We read some real examples of obituaries for children and took notes of things we needed to include. They learned the phrases "tragic accident" and "survived by." The thing is, the book doesn't give much information about the boy, so they had to make a lot of it up themselves. This included names. We knew the boy's name was Carson Wilkinson, and his sister's name was Amanda, but we still had to invent middle names, and the names of parents, grandparents, and the pastor. When your students come from a different culture, they use all sorts of inspiration when choosing names. I got many culturally confused creations such as "Carson Miguel Wilkinson," "Amanda Maria Wilkinson," and "Pastor Jose Daniel." The confusion continued beyond cultures into gender with "Amanda Alexander Wilkinson." But it was so special to see a student's "light bulb moment" as one of my 6th graders "made connections" across subjects and brought us "Carson Magellan Wilkinson," and "Mr. Cartier Wilkinson." In reality, I think it's just because his desk is right next to our timeline.