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?

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.

“What do I do?  This student has no English!  They can’t possibly…”

Ah, but they can!  We just have to do a few things differently!  Our Level One students are acquiring language all day long.  We have to make “input” more comprehensible for them and try to create as many “i+1” moments as we can by providing scaffolds and reframing our brain about what “output” can look like.

Language is acquired through “input.”  But “output,” or using that language to share your thinking and understanding, is what makes you smarter!  Level One students can share their thinking in many different ways.  Some helpful ways to support language input and output for Level One ELLs can be found in the resources below.

Level One Scaffolds and Supports

To see one of those scaffolds in action, click here to watch!

The following websites are great for Read Alouds and can easily be paired with a retelling activity, or simply drawing “I liked the part when…”  One suggestion…preview the texts beforehand to make sure they are comprehensible!  Sometimes, it is difficult to understand the story if the pictures don’t flow well with the text.  

Language Notebook Response Ideas for Online Read Alouds

Sundance Literactive Readers: Leveled Readers               Meegenius

You can even find some celebrities reading books aloud here:  

Storyline Online                  Read to Me                    Speakaboos

World Book-Early World of Learning (which has books AND learning games!)

Find great introduction and practice for English language structures, vocabulary and early literacy skills at…

BrainPop for ESL                                                Starfall

To access language support from Lincoln City Libraries, follow the steps found here.

***To make your own Level One Kit, find a list of all the ingredients here!***

We’ve had the opportunity to share more about ELL and the perspective of students acquiring more English through our Professional Development offering of ELL Symposium II.  During this PD, participants had the opportunity to build on the theories and practices shared in ELL Symposium I, explore how these foundations are applied throughout learning communities and examine the impact of English Language Learners within their building community and how to ensure learning is comprehensible throughout the day.

We wanted to share some additional resources with you that we mentioned during this presentation:

ELL Rubric Checklists:

Elementary ELL Rubric Checklists

Secondary ELL Rubric Checklists

Professional Development Offerings for ELL Teachers:

Enhancing Writing in the ELL Classroom:  Featuring the whys and hows of instructing ELLs in a variety of writing genres, as well as information about shared and interactive writing and writing for an authentic purpose

Enhancing Reading in the ELL Classroom through Guided Reading:  Featuring a look at guided reading for ELLs, as well as how to examine leveled reading assessments through an ELL lens

Enhancing Reading in the ELL Classroom through Comprehension and Questioning :  Featuring Information on examining Reading Fluency for ELLs as well as comprehension and questioning

Independent Reading Practice for ELLs:  Featuring a look at how independent reading is a gradual release process for ELLs

ELL Essentials:  Featuring a look at implementing strategies that work well to provide access and rehearsal for ELL students

We’re delighted to have the privilege to present about ELL to elementary staff throughout this school year.  We’ve been able to share some common misconceptions about ELL students such as:

All ELL students learn English the same way and at the same rate

                                   Good teaching for native speakers is good teaching for ELLs

Exposure and interaction will result in English Language Learning

Examining these misconceptions, we’ve learned that instruction for ELLs must be Purposeful, Intentional, and Explicit!  We must always think, what is the language the ELL student needs in order to complete their tasks at school.  The language must be present and accounted for to ensure ELL student success.

These handouts, shared at the session, describe a few strategies which can be used to ensure instruction for ELLs is Purposeful, Intentional, and Explicit and that the language students need is present in your classroom.  Contact an ELL Instructional Coach to hear more about any of these strategies!

Introducing Cooperative Learning                                      Introducing Graphic Organizers

Introducing Sentence Frames                                            Introducing Vocabulary

Stages of Language Acquisition Chart

We had a wonderful response to the videos we shared in the session.  They helped put a “real face” on the sometimes abstract-sounding idea of language acquisition.  If you are interested in watching or downloading the Powerpoint, please click below.

In Their Words…Students

In Their Words…Teachers

In Their Words…Administration 

ELL Essentials Powerpoint