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From https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2019/07/5-ways-make-pbl-work-ell

5 ways to make PBL work in ELL
Elizabeth Leone 
July 2, 2019

"When I think about my 'why' for teaching project-based learning I think of a particular student I had last year in fourth grade. I’m an ESL teacher for the Newcomer Program at Webster Elementary School in the Manchester School District, New Hampshire. The majority of our students are refugees and immigrants. I use project-based learning in my classroom because of the impact it has for EL students like this particular fourth-grade student. When he joined my class, like many of my students, he knew very little English. Fast forward a year, and his transformation was so incredible that he was selected to do a live video interview with a panel of about 100 administrators describing how PBL has helped him. You never would have guessed he’d barely spoken English a year before! He also described the impact of PBL perfectly. When talking about a project that required research, he said, 'It helped me learn to ask questions.' Another project teamed him up with a partner 'so that helped with communicating,' he said. For another project he wrote letters 'and that helped me [learn to] write information,' he said.

"'When [a teacher] tells you and just gives you worksheets to write everything down, I think that’s boring for most kids and they just want to finish it,' he said. 'But when we do projects, it’s better because you actually get to do something and get some motivation.'

"As a teacher, seeing his interview was an amazing moment because it was proof that what we are doing is working. This is the kind of confidence, courage and growth that I see in my students every day and it shows the impact of quality PBL on students -- particularly EL students."

Read the full article at https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2019/07/5-ways-make-pbl-work-ell