What is ELA? A Guide for Parents

 It is not uncommon for adults to give me a questioning look when I tell them that I am an ELA teacher. Most of them nod but I can tell that they do not really know what it means to teach ELA. If you are a parent in this same position, you are definitely not alone! Here are the things that I teach as an English Language Arts teacher.

1. Reading Fluency and Phonics- Depending on the age of your child, they may not know how to read yet. As an ELA teacher, part of my responsibility is to make sure that students are learning to read at an appropriate rate. This often involves developing phonemic awareness or phonics skills. Phonics skills provide students with what they need to decode or breakdown unfamiliar words. In short, students need to learn to read in ELA.

2. Reading Comprehension- This is the other side of reading. Not only are students learning how to verbally read, but they are also learning how to understand what they are reading. We often work on comprehension strategies which teach students to break apart a text and find deeper meaning. When students are comparing and contrasting, finding the cause and effect, and summarizing they are demonstrating that they understand the text. This is reading comprehension which is often taught alongside reading fluency from a young age. Reading comprehension grows in complexity as a student moves from grade to grade. For example, younger students may be asked about direct information from the text (Example: Who is the main character?). Older students may be asked to make inferences or draw conclusions based on information from the text (Example: Mia would not look at the teacher. What does this tell us about how she feels?). 

3. Grammar- Students are also taught how to properly speak and write in the English language. grammar skills include using proper punctuation and parts of speech. In grammar, we teach students to identify nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and more. We make sure that students can identify and write in various tenses. We teach students how to use (and not overuse!) commas and punctuation. Grammar involves all of the specifics of a language. 

4. Spelling- It is also important that students are developing the ability to spell words on their own. This is especially important in the English language as we know that words are not always phonetic, or as they sound. It is not uncommon for students in kindergarten all the way up to sixth grade to have spelling lists on a weekly basis. Although it may seem tedious, those weekly tests are teaching your children to write the most frequently used words in the English language. In addition, many lists area accompanied by a specific skill that students can apply to various sounds. 

5. Writing- Writing is a valuable way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the English language and the content at hand. Students begin by forming words, then sentences, then paragraphs, and finally essays. Popular essays include opinion, informational, research, and persuasive but there are dozens of styles of writing that your child will most likely encounter.