Teaching English Language Learners

Content Objectives

• Discover four strategies to reach ELLs in the classroom.

Language Objective

• Read presentation to gain strategies to use in the classroom.

Strategies Overview

• Vocabulary
• Cooperative Learning
• Talk, Read, Talk, Write

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

• Students learn approximately 40,000 academic words from K-12 (Brown & Perry, 1991).
• ELLs have to learn as many in a second language, usually in an abbreviated time (Fitzgerald, 1995).

Vocabulary Acceleration Cont.

• ELLs need targeted attention to content and secondary level terms.
• Every word cannot be defined for ELLs, but choose terms that help the students gain the deepest understanding of a concept.

Vocabulary Strategies

• Word Walls
• Flash cards/Quiz Apps
• Nonlinguistic Representation (Marzano, 2001)

Tips

• Student creation=student ownership (Akhavan, 2006)
• Small doses: A couple of terms 3-5 days a week. Less than 10 minutes of class time.
• Repetition, repetition, repetition

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative Learning

• Students need ample opportunities to listen, speak, read, and write about concepts within each content (Echevarria, Vogt & Short, 2004).
• Structure and direct teaching is needed to make cooperative learning meaningful and a good use of time.
• Provides a peer method of scaffolding (Gibbons, 2002).

Cooperative Learning Strategies

• Pair/Share - Turn to a partner and discuss a topic for 1-2 minutes.
• Gallery Walk - Students make comments or notes on other group's work to collect knowledge on multiple concepts

Cooperative Learning Strategies

• Group Projects - While they are a major undertaking that requires a lot of planning, students can benefit from the process and connections made during a project with group members who share the work and learning cooperatively (Richardson, Morgan & Fleener, 2012).

Cooperative Learning Strategies

• Differentiated Instruction - Groups can be leveled. Students at different ability levels can be given different assignments or accommodations based on their needs (Freeman, Freeman & Mercuri, 2005).

Talk, Read, Talk, Write

TRTW

• Includes all SIOP (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004) required domains (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking)
• Can be the whole assignment or a warm up depending on objectives and content.

Talk #1 - Purpose

• Hook
• Students start to think about a topic and make a connection.

Talk #1 - Procedure

• Present a provocative quote, question, choice, or visual.
• Give think time.
• Pair students to share their thoughts in a limited period of time. (1-2 minutes)

Read - Purpose

• Replace lecture or other content activity.
• Teaches the lesson.
• Teaches the unique skills needed to read within a content area (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2013).

Read - Procedure

• "Pay Attention To" List (PAT List)
• Annotation
• Highlight PLUS - Comment each time a thought provokes highlighting.

Read - Tips

• The procedures are meant to give students a way to return to the text to have conversations with other students, and eventually write a response.

Talk #2 - Purpose

• Process the text.
• Prepare to write.
• Students make connections through discussion. Raises their level of interest in the text (Probst, 20070

Talk #2 - Procedure

• Give a list of questions.
• Envelope, Please! - Prepare questions to be called out at random in the group.
• Check-In Converstaion - Check with your group and discuss what you read. (Less structure)

Talk #2 - Tips

• Structure the talk based on needs and abilities of students and comfort level of teacher.

Write - Purpose

• Communicate content understanding.

Write - Procedure

• Give extremely clear explanation to students.
• Students write with a audience in mind, and are prepared to share what they write.

Write - Tips

• Have students read exactly what they wrote aloud to a partner.
• Determine level of critism in the read aloud. Might just have them read and make adjustments on their own. Or could have peer editing.

Gradual Release

Gradual Release

• Just as in any other discipline, ELLs need to have clear modeling on how to complete tasks in the mainstream classroom.

Gradual Release

• I do it.
• We do it.
• You do it.

Other Gradual Release Strategies

• Sentence Stems
• Adapted Text
• Cloze Notes

References

References

• Brown, T.S. & Payne, M.E.. (1994). Five essential steps of processes in vocablary learning. TESOL Convention, Baltimore.
• Echevarria, J., Vogt. M., & Short, D. (2004). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model. Boston; Allyn and Bacon.

References Cont.

• Freeman, Freeman & Mercuri. (2005). Dual language essentials for teachers and administrators. Heinemann.
• Fitzgerald, J. (1995). English-as-a-second-language learners' cognitive reading processes: A review of research in the United States. Review of Educational Research, 65(2), 145-190.

References Cont.

• Gibbons, P. (2002). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching Second Language Learners in the mainstream classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
• Marzano, R. Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Upper Saddle River, NJ; Pearson.

References Cont.

• Motley, N. (2013). Talk, Read, Talk, Write: A practical approach to learning in the secondary classroom (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 104). San Clemente, California: Seidlitz Education.
• Probst, R.E. (2007). Tom Sawyer, teaching, and talking. In K. Beers, R.E. Probst, & L. Reif (Eds.), Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice, (pp. 43-60). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

References Cont.

• Richardson, Morgan, & Fleener. (2012). Reading to learn in the content areas (8th ed.), Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
• Shanahan T. & Shanahan, C. (2012). What is disciplinary literacy and why does it matter? Top Language Disorders, 32 (1), 7-18.