Reddit mentions: The best language arts books

Stephen Littlejohn's book Theories of Human Communication (probably on its 15th edition by now) is a basic overview of most com theories. I personally think the book has been over edited to death and is very sterile but it is a flagbearer book. Well-respected. https://www.amazon.com/Theories-Communication-Eleventh-Stephen-Littlejohn/dp/1478634057/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SF4YEF2TEVC9CJ61032D

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A graduate level read that is a really good overview of the scope of com theories is this book by Robert Craig and Heidi Mueller: https://www.amazon.com/Theorizing-Communication-Readings-Across-Traditions/dp/1412952379/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=communication+theory+robert+craig&qid=1557254455&s=books&sr=1-2-fkmrnull

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This book by Shepherd, Striphas, and St. John is also one that I like...it is a different approach, more laid back in its writing and it tries to approach communication from a different angle. The book is a series of essays by prominent scholars explaining how they "see" communication. Worth checking out. https://www.amazon.com/Communication-as-Perspectives-Gregory-Shepherd/dp/1412906571/ref=sr_1_1

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Kathy Miller's communication theory book is good as well but I haven't seen any of the newer editions. I used to teach out of that book 10 years ago and liked it. https://www.amazon.com/Communication-Theories-Perspectives-Processes-Contexts/dp/0767405005

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You should be able to find a used copy of all these books for not that much money. There are plenty of com theory books out there, but these are good starting points and will prep you well for your MA program.

I took a class on teaching ESL, taught by our college's ESL specialist. This is the book we used: https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Grammar-English-Language-Learners/dp/0472032208

It's pretty good. It covers the most common issues/sources of confusion that you'll encounter with ESL students, as well as how to explain them. When a student asks you why what he/she wrote is wrong, and why it should be the way you say is right, it lets you say "Because XYZ" instead of "That's just the way it is".

One example covered in the book is prepositions. To an extent, they make sense. Especially with directional prepositions. But a lot of situations require certain prepositions for no logical reason. Like, you wouldn't say "I believe of you". But why is "I believe in you" better? But at the same time you say "I'm thinking of you" and not "I'm thinking in you". This can be incredibly frustrating for students. But letting them know that there isn't really a reason and sometimes they just have to remember can make them feel better, as opposed to trying to figure out the logic of rules that don't really exist and that no one can seem to explain.

Reading helps a lot. Keeping simple books around would be great. And/or books that are written in two languages. Like books where the left page is English and right page is Spanish. If these are hard to find for some of the languages, you could make your own by printing out short stories in both languages. Or even using google translate to get a copy in the student's primary language.

Encourage them to consume their media in English. English movies, music, shows, etc. Also, all Netflix original shows (or at least most, I think it's all) will have dubs in Spanish, and will have captions in multiple languages. Watching a show in English, with captions in your language to help you figure out what you don't understand, can go a long way. The opposite is true too (watching in Spanish with English captions).

It's not uncommon in Title I schools. It's also not uncommon in Title I schools to be given little guidance or resources to do your job.

Here a couple of things that are (IMO) crucial to keep in mind:
(1) You need age appropriate literature that is also at your kids' reading level. Do not insult them with "See Spot Run." NewsELA allows you to adjust the same article to different reading levels. It's a brilliant resource you should use. https://newsela.com Same for The Simthsonian's Tween Tribune. https://www.tweentribune.com

(2) I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend Discovering Voice for middle school. https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Voice-Lessons-Middle-School/dp/0929895894/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502141983&sr=8-1&keywords=voice+lessons+middle+school Spend the $20 something. It comes with permission to make copies for your classroom so you only need the 1 book. It's a bunch of mini-lessons that work brilliantly at helping students read and write better with voice.

(3) Kelly Gallagher.
(a) Article of the Week http://www.kellygallagher.org/article-of-the-week/
(b) Try this book https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Reasons-Motivational-Mini-Lessons-Middle/dp/1571103562/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502142077&sr=1-6
(c) And this one https://www.amazon.com/Deeper-Reading-Comprehending-Challenging-Texts/dp/1571103848/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502142077&sr=1-3

(4) The New York Times Learning Network https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning

That should give you a more than decent start.

As a former English major and ESL teacher, here's my recommendation:

Look for copies of a classic 20th century English grammar that has stood the test of time. You don't have to read the whole book, but keep it on your desk and use it as a reference.

I'm thinking of books like Harvey's grammar: http://www.amazon.com/Harveys-Revised-English-Grammar-Language/dp/0880622903/

Or "The English Grammar of William Cobbett", which is excellent for your purposes: http://books.google.com/books?id=xBxAAAAAYAAJ

You'll definitely want to consult MLA, CMOS, and APA as well.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0472032208/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Keith Folse's Keys to Teaching Grammar to English Language Learners: A Practical Handbook is excellent and will hit almost everything you need to teach about grammar. It's detailed, provides activities, and is really, really good at tenses. The charts in here are amazing and will make sense to both you and your students. Also, there are "Hot Seat" questions in the back that are great for preparing for questions that often stump many ESL teachers.

I love the Discovering Voice and Voice Lessons books by Nancy Dean. They are short activities (which are fantastic for freshmen with short attention spans) that have students examine how a writer writes, and then each lesson has a "Now You Try It" activity that has them practice what they have just learned. These activities work great as a mini lesson or as warm-ups and makes them think about the decisions writers have to make before putting words on a page.

No need to apologize! This is all great information to have. I think you're right about the phonological rules. But I'll see different books go back and forth on classifying some of these processes. There's a research book and an applied book on connected speech, which have been really helpful. I was just surprised that something that important to advanced competence in the language might go so overlooked. Then again, most people aren't going to need this kind of material until they hit like a B1+ or B2, so I get it.

Here are the two books I was thinking of:

• 1. Perspectives on Teaching Connected Speech to Second Language Speakers by J.D. Brown and Kimiko Kondo-Brown
     
     
• 2. New Ways in Teaching Connected Speech by J.D. Brown

This is anecdotal, but recent, and applies to your question. My niece was recently checking my great-niece's homework. My great-niece is 11. One of the questions was, "What did Patrick Henry mean when he said 'Give me liberty or give me death." My great-niece had written, "He was just being dramatic."

My niece asked her, "Why did you answer the question that way?" My GN said, "Because that's what the teacher told us."

Then commenced a lesson on what he ACTUALLY meant when he said that.

But more towards your question:

http://www.amazon.com/Social-Studies-Literacy-Justice-Classroom/dp/0807754080

http://www.weaselzippers.us/171153-common-core-pushing-social-justice-during-math-lessons/

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

This book is fantastic and has actual concrete things you can do in class

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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

Some good advice from /u/IAmPixel above. Also, follow #mfltwitterati on Twitter, and read up on some blogs posted there.

I've only read bits, but Steve Smith and Gianfranco Conti's Language Teacher Toolkit seems very sound, and will be my summer reading.

I can recommend "Getting the Buggers to Behave" as a sound basic primer on classroom management as well.

This book is fantastic and has actual concrete things you can do in class

There's this book by Gianni Rodari (arguably Italy's greatest children's author) where he explains how to use fairy tales in the classroom and help children create their own. There's plenty of exercises and prompts.

Look at the reviews and the synopsis on Amazon. It looks exactyl like what you need, but unfortunately it's very overpriced. Maybe you can find it in a library?

I'm about to finish my MA in TESOL.

My Applied Linguistics class covered a lot of the nuances of morphology and discussed how to break down the speech patterns of native and non-native English speakers. Grammar was talked about when it came to the pronunciation of past tense -ed and plural -s sounds. Parts of Speech and their relation to other languages was also discussed. The book we used was The Study of Language by George Yule. It's like $17.00 on Amazon, I think I bought the Kindle version.

As for Grammar, we had an entire class dedicated to the subject. We used the book, The Keys to Teaching Grammar by Dr. Folse. The book does a great job of simplifying a lot of the harder grammar topics. I also picked up the student workbook to go along with it. If you're weak in grammar then pickup the workbook, it's really helpful.

Grammar will take awhile to master especially until you learn all the common curveball questions that students will throw at you. I started writing down the most common questions and researching not only the grammar points but also why the students were asking the question. Was it the fault of the material, the teacher, the student (interlingual or intralingual), or a combination of the three?

Learn to Read in Japanese (Roger Lake / Noriko Ura)

Vol. 1 (beginner to intermediate)

Vol. 2 (building on Vol. 1, intermediate to advanced)

And of course:

Breaking into Japanese Literature

Exploring Japanese Literature

Read this book.

You should pick up Joy Write: Cultivating High-Impact, Low-Stakes Writing by Ralph Fletcher. It helped me set up my writer’s notebooks last year. In terms of what kind of notebook to use, I just had my students decide on their own. I also had them stick this to the inside cover in case they were running short on ideas. Also, here are a few slides I used to introduce the concept to colleagues.

Es gibt hier Überblicke von mehrfachen Lehrbüchern, aber »Genki«, »Minna no Nihongo« und wahrscheinlich auch »Nihongo de dooso« sind auf English oder Japanisch. Ich weiß nicht, ob sie ins Deutsch übersetzt warren. Kannst du Englisch? Wenn nicht, sieht denn nur »Lass uns zusammen Japanisch lernen!« aus, wie eine gute Möglichkeit. Sondern würde ich »Genki« empfehlen, weil ich habe es zumindest selbst benützt und fand es relitiv fähig gemacht.

Hier sind die Amazon Links dafür:

Lass uns zusammen Japanisch lernen 1

Lass uns zusammen Japanisch lernen 2

Viel glück beim lernen. :3