Reading Instruction and the ESL Student

Teaching Reading has always been for me the most challenging. The preparation for differentiated instruction for regular and ESL students can be very stressful. That's why I was so blessed to have such great support from my literacy coach. She was always giving me advice on how to choose certain reading materials for my instruction. When I would plan my reading lessons I would take certain factors into consideration like: reading level, subject matter, purpose of reading (fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, etc.), and high interest for my students. These are just a few factors I would take into consideration for Reading insturction.
I feel that as teachers, yes we need to focus on what the student needs help or more practice on, but we need to keep them interested and ensure it is on their reading level. Sometimes I would get so excited on what I believed they would enjoy and sometimes they did enjoy but at times they didn't. Therefore, I returned to their reading interest inventory I had them fill out and started from there. After long planning and practice I was able to fill more comfortable with selecting and evaluating reading instruction materials.
I am a firm believer that Reading is the foundation to learning. Therefore, I am constantly promoting literacy in all my students especially my ESL students. I feel that sometimes ESL students don't have the support at home for reading so the students are only reading at school or when I assign it. There may be many reasons for why there isn't much literacy in a students environment, but I try to share new books, have them pick out items for me to order from a book order, or make continous trips to the school library to ensure they stay motivated to read. I also allow students to make an oral book report to the class so that others students feel the "trend" of reading.
A lot of times I don't even have to promote reading because my bookworms are always discussing their readings that the other studnets want to do the same. But I beleive that there are many different ways to promote literacy and a lot will have to do with the types of ESL students you have. But simple promotions like reading books yourself or book fairs at the school are always a great starting place.