Tutoring Tips: 

Graphic Organizers

One of our roles as English language tutors is to use methods and techniques which make content information more accessible to our students.  Graphic organizers are great visual tools that help students comprehend, structure and organize information. 

Why are they helpful to English language learners?  They can be extremely helpful in helping students parse lesson material into understandable segments. They provide a mechanism for learners to process heavy amounts of language in order to understand the concept being taught.  Graphic organizers help to make information more precise without compromising content.  Students do not have to worry about language details such as punctuation or writing style.   Students can clearly view the important components during a lesson.  When saved, and used following a lesson, they allow students to independently go back to review the lesson. 

Current language acquisition research 

supports that graphic organizers are  

an essential tool to help develop cognitive skills and strategic thinking in adult learners.  They help to promote analytical, critical and creative thinking skills for all students regardless of level of language proficiency.  Graphic organizers provide a substitute for rote memorization and help to integrate language with content.   They also effectively support students utilizing the four domains of English:  listening, speaking, reading and writing.  They promote conversation and discussion between tutor and student.  Graphic organizers provide a means for tutors to show and not tell their students what is important in a lesson.

Graphic organizers are like an iceberg.  There is much more student learning going on beneath the surface than is apparent to the tutor.  Before recording information students perform higher order thinking skills, such as:  making decisions about information, consolidating details, finding clear and meaningful vocabulary to convey information.

How does a tutor use a graphic organizer?  For example, after discussing and teaching vocabulary about furniture in the home, a Spider Graphic could be used.  This organizer is made up of one circle with legs, or lines attached to it.  The words "living room" could be written in the center circle.  On the legs, a student would list the learned vocabulary specific to living room furniture.  Another graphic would have "bedroom" written in the center and on each leg the associated vocabulary.  

What are some examples of graphic organizers?  Web Map, Spider Graphic, Semantic Map, Venn diagrams, Pie Charts, T Charts, Pyramids, Time Lines, Cause and Effect Map. 

What are on-line resources for graphic organizers?  Google search with the key words "graphic organizer"  or "graphic organizer adult literacy"

Here are some useful links:

 http://esl.about.com/od/writinglessonpla2/ig/Graphic-Organizers/         http://tesol.wordpress.com/category/classroom-resources/