we are all esl teachers characteristics of ells strategies for helping them succeed

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We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

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Page 1: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

We are All ESL Teachers

Characteristics of ELLs

Strategies for helping them succeed

Page 2: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Diversity within Diversity

ESL means languages from around the world

Different skill abilities and education levels No more homogeneous than other student

groups

Page 3: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

“Learning English”

Conversational English (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills) or BICS

Academic English (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) or CALP

BICS takes about 2 years to learn CALP takes 7-10 years to learn CALP = academic success

Page 4: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

3 basic groups of ELL students

Newly arrived with adequate schooling Newly arrived with limited schooling

Little or no literacy in any language Long term ELL could be…

Not new, but in and out of school Not new, but still learning CALP and struggling to

catch up academically BICS conceals need for continued supports Loss of literacy in native language

Page 5: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Language Proficiency Descriptors

WIDA standards (World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment)

ESL students tend to transition into regular classrooms around “Expanding” level

Still need help but they lose their support services Many of our native speakers are also at

“Developing” or “Expanding” levels

Page 6: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Stages of Language Acquisition

A fluid system…mixture of BICS and CALP Pre-production Early production Speech emergence Intermediate fluency Early stages characterized by “silent period” and

work on receptive communication

Page 7: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Anxiety = Silence

“Affective filter” means anxiety will cause speech to shut down

“Monitor” theory = the more you monitor your speech, the more the affective filter kicks in

“positioning theory” =if we position ELLs as uninvited or inferior, affective filter increases

Page 8: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

What can teachers do?

Speak so we are understood (slower pace, repetition, multiple examples)

Provide visual and verbal context clues Create a low anxiety learning environment to

encourage verbal responses and interaction Provide challenging and meaningful engagement

with material

Page 9: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Because History is a language-rich curriculum… We need to employ content reading

strategies We need to identify and teach academic

language We need to develop written expression We need to encourage verbal expression

Page 10: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Academic Language

The language of school Unlikely to learn it anywhere but school “Brick” words and “mortar” words Brick: concrete vocabulary Mortar: the “in between” words that provide

meaning

Page 11: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Brick words in social studies might include…

Congress executive delta

Hippocampus assimilation representative

Deviance cerebellum caucus

Latitude tectonics plateau

Page 12: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Mortar Words

We understand them, but we need to teach them: Define, explain, contrast, categorize, evaluate,

criticize… Even harder to understand: Entity, perspective, manifest, imperialism,

Federalism, nevertheless, consequently… Without them, reading doesn’t make sense

Page 13: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Some common strategies

Concept cards/vocabulary cards Vocabulary journals Word walls Illustrated Dictionary Entry Cloze Activities with word bank Modeled talk (show them circle, trace, underline) Use them in conversation Use hand gestures when possible

Page 14: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Content Reading Strategies

To increase comprehension before, during, and after reading

The best strategies help students Read the text Think about the text Write about the text Speak about the text

Page 15: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Pre-reading strategies include…

Frontloading with visual strategies “Visual Discovery” strategy inspired by History

Alive! Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Engaging interest with prior knowledge/current

events Identifying and teaching academic language Guided reading strategies: “guess the answer,”

SQR3, etc.

Page 16: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Strategies during reading

Teaching and modeling note taking that works for students

Oral reading strategies for fluency practice: teacher “read aloud,” paired reading, choral reading or reader’s theatre

GIST strategies and variations Visualizing or imaging strategies (picture what

you are reading about) Predicting what comes next

Page 17: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Post Reading Comprehension

Return to Visual Discovery for “act it outs” “Found Poems” or “I Am Poems” Concept Mapping/Relevance Wheel Cause and Effect Charts Timelines Comic Strip Activities

Add a title, add captions, add thought bubbles, draw what comes next

Page 18: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Other strategies to increase comprehension and engagement Quick writes/quick draws Think pair share Hold up cards (green and red) Thumbs up/sideways/down 4 Corners Human spectrum “Explain it to your neighbor”

Page 19: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

“Properly Channeled Empathy”

Improper empathy can cause us to enable and handicap our ESL students

Asking fewer questions, asking only lower order questions, allowing fluent students to answer, not allowing for wait time, not allowing for latency time for new learning, lowering our expectations, forgetting to provide challenging material.

Page 20: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Properly Channeled Empathy

“Properly channeled empathy can lead to creating classroom environments where students are free to take risks and where opportunities for developing higher levels of thinking have been heavily scaffolded.”

Himmele and Himmele, The Language Rich Classroom, p. 88

Page 21: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Some reminders for teaching ELLs

Lower the Affective Filter and make it safe for students to speak

Provide lots of scaffolds to help all students get where we want them to go

Consult WIDA charts to tell us how students can currently respond and what next level we can encourage

Page 22: We are All ESL Teachers Characteristics of ELLs Strategies for helping them succeed

Sources

Bower, et al, Bring Learning Alive: The TCI Approach for Middle and High School Social Studies. Teachers’ Curriculum Institute, 2004

Himmele and Himmele, The Language Rich Classroom

Rothenberg and Fisher, Teaching English Language Learners: A Differentiated Approach. Pearson Education, Inc., 2007

WIDA website: http://www.wida.us