Category Archives: Instruction

Vocabulary Development for ELLs

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Vocabulary development for English language learners  can seem like an overwhelming prospect.  There are so many words students don’t know!  Where do we start?  Which words should we teach?  What strategies can we use to help ELLs understand the new words?  How do we provide opportunities for ELLs to practice new language?  Check out the links below for information that was shared at the Vocabulary Development for ELLs  flex session in December.

To see the slideshow click here.

To see the word lists for the 4,000 most frequent words, click here.

To see an explanation of Marzano’s 6 step process for vocabulary instruction, click here.

To see examples of vocabulary graphic organizers for student use, click here.

To see examples of vocabulary review games, click here.

To see the entire collection of resources from the PD, click here.

 

 

Language Objectives in Action

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What is a language objective?  Well, teachers are familiar with lesson objectives.  They are what we want our students to learn.  A language objective is the language the student needs to be able to use in order to complete that task.  Not everyone is used to thinking about the language demands of what they are teaching.  But, for ELLs, knowing how language is used in a particular content area is essential in order for teachers to convey information (orally or through text) and for students to use and apply that information (through class reading, writing, and discussion activities).  (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2013)

Perhaps one way to introduce the idea of including language objectives into your lesson planning is to see one in action.  Terri Johnson, an ELL teacher at Rousseau Elementary, offered to let us take a peek into how she’s using language objectives to give her first grade students access to academic language and comprehension strategies.  Watch Terri’s group here.  If you are having difficulty accessing the video, try switching your browser to Firefox or Safari.

To hear more about Language Objectives, contact your ELL Instructional Coach.  We would love to work on developing these with you!

 
Reference:  Echevarria, J, Vogt, M., & Short, D.  (2013)  Making content comprehensible for English language learners–the SIOP model.  New York:  Pearson.

Perspectives on Reading Comprehension and Retelling

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As an ELL Instructional Coach, I am called in to provide perspectives on English Language Learning when there is a question or concern about a student.As students work through the arduous task of acquiring language in order to access academic content in the classroom, a common concern among educators is how to help students comprehend what they are reading.

When a conversation begins about a student with, “They can’t comprehend.” My first question is, “Are you sure?” There are a variety of variables that affect reading comprehension. For English Language Learners, the variables become more complex as they strive to take a new language, translate it into something familiar and then make connections to translate it back into English again.  Consider your students and think about the texts that you are asking them to read.

  • Do they have prior knowledge to access the text or do they need opportunities for building background in order to create meaning?
  • What is the content vocabulary and the academic vocabulary required in order for students to comprehend the text?
  • What are the language structures of the text and does the student use them in their oral language or will it require explicit teaching in order for them to have access to the content?

One final perspective to consider is the purpose for comprehension. Every time you ask a student to apply a specific comprehension skill or strategy, it changes the way students not only look at a text but also talk about a text to show you what they know. Think about finding the main idea and key details in a text. Would it look and sound the same as visualizing to create meaning? What I will often ask teachers to do is to slow things down in order to speed things up. If you are finding that you have English Language Learners in your classroom who are struggling with comprehension, have them do a quick retelling! Are they really not comprehending or are they just not comprehending they way we are asking them to?

There are many supports available to help students with retelling a story. To see an example of a story retelling rubric that could be made into both a formative assessment and a student self assessment, click here.

If you would like copies of story retelling cards that students can use to articulate a cohesive retelling to show you what they know, click here.

You can also go to Reading Rockets, and read the article entitled Promoting Reading Comprehension. You may find some helpful strategies to amplify language and help students to show you what they know.

Academic Language and English Language Learners

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Students learning English as an additional language need supports in all of their academic courses. According to Lydia Breiseth (2013), “Many students, including English language learners (ELLs), have difficulty mastering the kinds of academic language needed to succeed in school, especially if they have never been explicitly taught how to use it.”

Academic language is the language of school. Although learning both social and academic language are demanding, students need to have academic language to be successful in school. Students may be at different levels of English language proficiency and the following descriptions may help teachers as they work with English learners.

Beginning stage

ELLs at the beginning stage demonstrate comprehension of simplified language, speak a few English words, answer simple questions, and use common social greetings and repetitive phrases. They make regular mistakes.

Intermediate stage

ELLs at the intermediate stage speak using standard grammar and pronunciation, but some rules are still missing. Their level of comprehension is high and they can ask or answer instructional questions. They can actively participate in conversations, retell stories, and use expanded vocabulary and paraphrasing.

Advanced stage

ELLs at the advanced stage use consistent standard English vocabulary, grammar, idioms, and oral/written strategies similar to those of English-speaking peers. They have good pronunciation and intonation. Advanced ELLs initiate social conversations. They use idiomatic expressions and appropriate ways of speaking according to their audience.

There are also language structures checklists that ELL teachers in LPS use to measure students’ progress in the grammatical structures in their English language development.

In addition to grammatical structures and content vocabulary, academic language also refers to the words and phrases that connect ideas and communicate concepts. Dr. Cindy Lundgren (2013) explains the idea that students need key words but they also need the language such as signal words and phrases that connect them.

Teachers can support their ELL students by being aware of the academic language they need and by providing language objectives as well as content objectives. For more information about language objectives, click here. According to Breiseth (2013), “The most important thing you can do is to provide examples and model the kinds of language you expect students to use on a regular basis. By doing so, you will help familiarize students with the kinds of academic language needed to succeed in your classroom, as well as the purpose of the language they are using.”

 

What Is the Difference Between Social and Academic English? Colorín Colorado (2007). Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/background/academic/

Academic Language and ELLs: What Teachers Need to Know, Lydia Breiseth (2013). Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/60055/

The ELL Teacher’s Role in PLC & DT

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ELL teachers in our district provide core reading, writing and language instruction for ELL students to prepare them to transition into the general education classrooms. ELL students’ language acquisition and learning will accelerate WHEN instruction is delivered using ELL research-based strategies.  An ELL teacher’s expertise in language acquisition is an instrumental and vital part of the PLC team’s collaboration as it provides a language learning perspective when analyzing assessment results as well as when selecting high impact strategies for linguistically and culturally diverse students.

In this session, we worked to contextualize the Data Teams process to the ELL teachers’ role. We reviewed the Data Team steps, and we focused on the language acquisition and learning considerations in each step of this process.  Additionally, we developed relevant questions that can help the ELL teacher and PLC team interpret and react to data considering the variables of language acquisition which is key to more critically address the content and language needs of English Language Learners in the PLC process.

Resources:

ELL Teacher Role in Data Teams – (First Draft)

ELL Teacher Role in Data Teams – FACILITATORS QUESTIONS (First Draft)

LPS ELL Strategies

Title I Data Teams Resources

Related Literature:

Reading Comprehension: Jigsaw Cooperative Learning

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Jigsaw Text Reading

This reading strategy is a powerful way to support ELLs as they are challenged to comprehend difficult texts about new or unfamiliar concepts.  It also provides a setting for interaction among students which is an important component of effective instruction for ELLs.

Steps in the Process:

  • Form cooperative learning groups called ‘home’ groups. Students in this group will then be assigned to an ‘expert’ group.  All students will eventually return to this home group.

  • Each expert group is assigned a different section of the text to read.  They can take turns reading orally as a group, to partners, or as individuals (tailor this to the needs of your students).

  • After reading, assign roles within each ‘expert’ group for students to take notes, identify essential vocabulary, and/or answer key questions about the text.  A graphic organizer can help keep students’ thinking in order and make it easier for them to later present to their ‘home’ groups.

  • Ensure that each ‘expert’ group understands the materials they have read in order that they may share it with their ‘home’ groups.

  • ‘Experts’ share their learning within their ‘home groups.’  The same or a different graphic organizer may help students with this process.

Supporting Non-speakers in Writing

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Working with new Level One students can be a challenge, particularly during writing time.  Writing is all “output” and Level One students are still working on acquiring language through “input.”  Getting all that language they are taking in back out–and on to paper, no less–is quite a rigorous activity!

A few things to remember are…

Build on the small things, common language experiences.  Sometimes, you just have to feed them the language…and that’s okay.

“I saw you playing on the swings today at recess.  Let’s draw a picture of that.  Here’s how I would draw it.  I’m going to put swings and a sun in my picture because it was sunny today.  I’ll add some grass, too.  Can you draw like me?  Great!  Should we put an “s” by your swings?  Because swings starts with s!  Let’s say, ‘I play on the swings.’  Can we try to write that?”

ELLs the chance to Say it, Write it, Read it and Repeat it to Learn it.  The best thing we can provide Level Ones is the opportunity for rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal.  With Level Ones, you might use a writing conference to do a sort of adapted “individual interactive writing.”  See what that rehearsal might look like here!

Additional resources:

Hartman, Amanda.  Up Close:  Teaching English Language Learners in Reading and Writing Workshops  (DVD).  Portsmouth, NH:  FirstHand.

Units of Study for Primary Writing:

Calkins, Lucy.  (2003). The Nuts and Bolts of  Teaching Writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  FirstHand.

Calkins, Lucy & Mermelstein, Leah.  (2010).  Launching the Writing Workshop.  Portsmouth, NH:  FirstHand.

Check out a sample here!

Calkins, Lucy & Oxenhorn, Abby.  (2003)  Small Moments:  Personal Narrative Writing.   Portsmouth, NH:  FirstHand.

Check out a sample here!

 

 

Classroom Instruction that Works with ELLs

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Authors Jane D. Hill and Kathleen M. Flynn provide a different approach to Classroom Instruction that Works and Marzano’s Instructional strategies, one that includes the ELL perspective.  This text  provides instructional strategies that can be applied to ELL students in every grade level and includes specific steps and guidance for educators that will boost the achievement levels of ELL students.

This resource is available via the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Click here to read “Classroom Instruction that Works”

ELL Connections

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As we move toward more rigor in our curriculum it is important to recognize the needs of our ELL population. At this session we investigated aspects of the Common Core and how that impacts ELL students. We addressed three guiding questions:

•Why is there a movement for more rigorous standards and expectations?

•What is Common Core and how does it impact English Language Learners?

•What can we do to support/enable ELL students as they negotiate these academic demands?

Please find the following resources here:

What is Sheltered Instruction and Where Can I Learn More?

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Sheltered instruction is a teaching approach used to make content comprehensible for English learners while they are developing English proficiency.   It is founded on the concept of providing meaningful instruction in the content areas (social studies, math, science) for transitioning Limited English Proficient (LEP) students towards higher academic achievement while they reach English proficiency.

A popular form of sheltered instruction is the SIOP Model (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol). It was developed through a 7-year research project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. A team of teachers and researchers worked together to review the literature for best practices in ELL and content teaching. The results of the partnership resulted in the SIOP Model composed of 8 components and 30 features. “The SIOP model shares many features recommended for high quality instruction for all students, but adds key features for the academic success of students learning through a second language.” (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004, p. 215

The ELL department is currently conducting several different SIOP trainings throughout the district.  Please check out our SIOP web page for more information and to see resources we are sharing through our trainings.  If you are interested in attending a SIOP training in the future or are interested in having SIOP training at your school, please contact your building’s ELL coach or Laura Salem, ELL Curriculum Specialist.