1. EFFECTIVE SCHOOLING FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS INTERMEDIATE SESSION
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Facilitator will welcome participants and give a brief introduction of self and co-presenters.
2.We know that you are familiar with ESOL practices and mandates and we appreciate that you are here to expand upon that knowledge base.
Office of Multilingual Curriculum and Programs

2. Desired Outcomes: Essential Question:
Synthesize the difference and relationship between Social language, Vocabulary Development, and Academic Language Strategies
Deepen awareness and be able to define enriched classroom learning environments
Essential Question:
How can all teachers create an enhanced learning environment to support the acquisition of academic language?
Facilitator will review the desired outcomes and essential question with participants. 2

3. Agenda English Language Proficiency (ELP) Grading Guidelines
BICS and CALP
Four Academic English Language Development Strategies
Essentials of a Classroom Environment
Questions and Concerns/Evaluations
Review agenda

4. English Language Proficiency Levels
Entering:
Beginning:
Developing: 3-3.9
Expanding: 4-4.9
Bridging:
What have you done in the past to facilitate the learning process of ELLs?
Facilitator will instruct participants to take out the WIDA Performance Definitions of the five English Language Proficiency Levels and Can Do Descriptors.
Guide participants to have a group discussion reflecting upon what they have just read. Talk to your neighbors (Activity- Student Conversation)
3. Facilitator will ask, “Now that you have just read the descriptors how will this guide the lesson planning for your teachers in the future to meet the needs of your students?” What do your teachers need to know in order to include and support ELLs?
English Language Learners at all levels of proficiency can progress in Content Area Classrooms when given the opportunity to use performance based assessments (portfolios, projects, team work, presentations, demonstrations, etc.) Content area teachers should implement performance based assessments in order to provide ELLS with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge through various modes that lesson the language demands.

5. Grading Guidelines
English Language Learners must not be given a failing mark based on their limited English proficiency.
SAY THIS FIRST!
Then show slide… English Language Learners at all levels of proficiency can progress in Content Area Classrooms when given the opportunity to use performance based assessments (portfolios, projects, team work, presentations, demonstrations, etc.) Content area teachers should implement performance
based assessments in order to provide ELLS with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge through various modes that lesson the language demands.
Reiterate that grading guidelines must be followed. Questions around grading should be addressed to managers.
Grading for ESOL students must be accomplished through collaboration
between the ESOL teacher and the content area teacher.

6. Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (“BICS”) Language skills needed for social conversational purposes
Informal language needed to communicate with others
Usually takes 6 months-2 years for a student to acquire BICS
Students begin to learn BICS naturally from their social environment
Say “How’s everyone doing today? I hope you had a great week. Turn to your partner and tell him or her one thing you did this summer.”
Explain those types of statements are encompassed in what is called BICS….
Explain that ACADEMIC LANGUAGE – the language of education is an extremely different issue.

7. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (“CALP”)
Academic language necessary to be successful in the classroom environment
Formal language skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing used for academic learning
May take from 5-7 years to acquire a level of proficiency commensurate with that of their native- speaking peers
Students need explicit instruction in the classroom
1. Explain the concept of CALP and inform participants that this is where your students will hear and see Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary words throughout instruction.
These are the words that are necessary for understanding the content or concept to be taught; not everyday words. It’s very important to push explicit
vocabulary.

8. Components of Academic Language
Builds from a foundation of home and community communication experiences and then branches out into more specialized forms of language
Differs in structure and vocabulary from language used in daily social interactions (BICS vs. CALP)
Academic Common Vocabulary- used in all disciplines
Academic Content Specific Vocabulary-inherent to each individual discipline
Facilitator will review slide Academic Language highlighting differences between BICS and CALPS.
Facilitator will stress to participants just because teachers may hear an ELL communicating using BICS does not mean that the student is proficient in the English Language. There are instances when the ELL will repeat or mimic what they hear other children at their age-level saying so that they fit in socially with their peers.
Ask for examples of “Academic common vocabulary” Examples include: “According to….”, “Predict”, “Data”, - even looking at the slide, words or structures that would not appear in every day conversation: FLIP to next slide and look at red highlight

9. Components of Academic Language
Builds from a foundation of home and community communication experiences and then branches out into more specialized forms of language
Differs in structure and vocabulary from language used in daily social interactions (BICS vs. CALP)
Academic Common Vocabulary- used in all disciplines
Academic Content Specific Vocabulary - inherent to each individual discipline
Point out that everything in read is CALPS – either new words, content specific words (how is discipline different in education – different meanings), or what might be familiar words in different contexts (build)

10. Las Cuatro Estreijerias
Visuales ✖ ✔
Vocabulario
Oraciones
El problema de este cuento fue _____ y la solucion fue ______.
4. Conversaciones

11. The BIG Four Academic English Language Development Strategies
Visuals
Vocabulary
Sentences Starters/Frames
Student Engagement in Conversation
Facilitator will say, “These are four strategies that were selected district- wide to support all learners.”

12. Academic Language Strategy: Visuals
Facilitator will stress the importance of using visuals to enhance academic language for ELLs. There are many kinds of visuals and we will give examples such as this one.
. Explain the graphic on this slide. It looks like the NYC subway map. It is a metaphor for various systems that serve to transport things through the body (respiratory, digestive, etc.) But it may require building cultural background – what if your students come from a rural background – a refugee from Nepal? Would they understand the metaphor? What could you do to help them understand?
Participants will Popcorn-out (randomly call out answers) some visuals that can be used to enhance Academic Language; co-facilitator will chart answers
Some responses may include the following: Realia, Film clips, Photographs, Body language such as hand-gestures, Magazine advertisements, Foldables

13. Visual Environment Objectives Updated Student Work Bulletin boards
Displays/posters
Charts
Word Walls - academic
vocabulary specific to content
Facilitator will review visual environment. Explain that many of these are very common in elementary school practice and less so in high school even though they are important for high schools. – (Foldables)
Explain that the walkthrough template – LOOK FORS - developed for schools this year includes many of these items and our experience is that they are often missing in high schools. Student work that is displayed must be current and relevant to core curriculum.
Bulletin boards/displays need to be attractive and relevant to the instruction. Students “live” in classrooms – so do teachers! Physical environment has great psychological impact, but more importantly, is an important teaching tool. Explain that usually in Elementary settings, walls are used – but may not be as thoughtfully used as an important teaching tool as it might. Walls should help anchor ideas for students. In high schools, all too often, the walls are dismally bare. This is not OK – especially for ELLs who need these additional cues.

14. Academic Word Walls
Context-based word wall - a system for students to be able to see and practice the use of the words.  This kind of word wall groups words by category or topic.
This type of word wall functions much like a graphic organizer – grouping words by concepts to help visualize ideas and relationships of words to each other.

15. Academic Word Walls
Synonym word wall- a system for students to be able to see and practice richer vocabulary for use in writing.  This kind of word wall groups words by meaning.
Say: When we teach students that the use of precise language to convey ideas demonstrates intelligence and proficiency, we cannot expect them to be immediately able to retrieve the more powerful nouns and verbs we’d like them to be using.   We have to show them their choices. This word wall demonstrates options to the word “say”
Or, we might have an entire section about “getting from one place to another quickly,” that has words such as:  gallop,  slide, run, trot,  jog, race, fly, canter, zip, skate, roll.  Or perhaps we need to use words that are more interesting than “good”, so we have a list that contains these words:  excellent, fabulous, wonderful, terrific, lovely, magnificent, beautiful, fresh, tasty, sweet.

16. Operation Note Cards and Problem Note Cards
Academic Language Strategy:
Vocabulary Development
Operation Note Cards and Problem Note Cards
Facilitator will explain that many people think math is easy for ELLs because it uses symbols instead of words. They also seem to think that small words should not trip students up. Let’s take a look at how a two letter word can make or break an ELL’s math performance.

17. Operation Required No Operation “next to” “how” “according to”
Look at your problem note cards. On each card, determine which meaning of “by” from the meanings below should be assigned.
Operation Required
which number to divide
which number to multiply
which number to add
which number to subtract
No Operation
“next to”
“how”
“according to”
Direct participants to take out the word problem sheet. Directions for the BY activity
Explain that many languages do not use prepositions as a part of speech. In English mathematic, word problems frequently contain prepositions or propositional phrases that provide clues to the operations required to solve problems. Without knowledge of these prepositions, students lack the knowledge skills necessary for successful problem solving.
This has implications on high stakes tests like PSSA because students need to understand the function of prepositions in math word problems in order to successfully determine which operations to use to solve the problem.
Ask teachers to take out the handout entitled Problem Note Cards. Display the Operation Frame of the Power Point.
Ask teachers to take a moment with their partners to identify for each of the problems on their sheet which operation they would assign to the card.
Go over the answers with participants. 9

18. Don’t be fooled by the little words!
By the time the sun was high in the sky, John was already seated by the bridge, working on his 9 by 12 canvas. He wanted to copy a famous painting by Andrew Wyeth. By using watercolors, he thought he could achieve the right effect. He wanted to buy a premium brand, but was misinformed by the sales clerk. By the time he realized it, it was too late. His painting was ruined by the poor quality paints.
Read slide out loud. How many different meanings of by are used? (We threw in a homonym “buy” to show that there are other ways to confuse students as well!) 12

19. Academic Language Strategy: Sentence Starters
In , I can really relate to because . This makes me think of because .
_______was a book because I especially like the way the author For example, I wish he/she would have though because .
As I was reading, I noticed that this story is taking place . This is significant because Otherwise, ________.
Facilitator will guide participants to complete quick-write of the sentence starters for fiction and non-fiction texts. Ask teachers to discuss with each other how they think this may assist English language learners to demonstrate what they know?
Allow wait time for participants to respond. Reinforce how premade sentence structures are scaffolds for supports of the academic vocabulary development. Students have a hard time generating language and struggle with the form of how to explain what they mean. Sentence starters and sentence frames help students to focus on content and not struggle so much on how to say what they mean.
Reiterate that sentence starters are useful when applying academic vocabulary and important content concepts.
Give participants where sentence starters can be used during instruction such as TAG IT, Cloze Activities, etc. 19

20. Atomic Theory and Models Dalton’s Atomic Theory
The modern atomic model is based on the _______________ that developed as scientists collected evidence from experiments. There were four different versions of an atomic model before the modern model we use today.
Dalton’s Atomic Theory
Dalton’s ideas about atomic theory have changed a little but are most accepted today. He believed _________________. J. Thomson discovered that atoms _____________________. However, scientists knew that atoms didn’t have _________ so Thomson believed that _______________________. His model described an atom that had ____________________ scattered throughout a ball that contained ______________.
A sample accomodation for ESOL students. Sentence frames can be used to help students accommodate homework or tests.

21. Prewriting Conversation Language Frames
Tell Your Ideas
Plants can ____. That might be a good topic.
I know a lot about ____, so I’ll write about that.
My favorite plant is ______. I would like to tell more about it.
Respond To Ideas
I think/do not think that is a good topic because _______.
______ sounds interesting. Tell me more.
I like that plant, too. I would like to read about _______.
The new ESOL 1 Curriculum for Grades 1-8 contain many of these strategies embedded in the Teacher’s Guide. Here are samples of sentnce frames form the REACH books.

22. Academic Language Strategy: Student Conversation
Provides students with opportunities to use academic language.
Encourages students to extend, elaborate, and clarify their responses about lesson concepts.
Helps students negotiate turn-taking between teacher and themselves and among classmates and themselves.
1. Facilitator will direct participants to Turn and Talk to their partners and respond to the following question. “Based upon your own experiences and today’s activities, why is student conversation important in the classroom? How can we increase student conversation and minimize teacher talk in the classroom?-
2. Allow participants to share out in whole group discussion. (Activity - Student Conversation)

23. Predictable Routines
What predictable routines do you think are essential to maximizing student learning?
Facilitator will direct participants to question on slide #22. Explain that, for example, student conversation – a core strategy for working with ELL’s requires a release of control by teachers – something that would lead to chaos in the classroom without well-established routines for students to know how to work independently but with purpose. Ask for participant ideas of what kinds of routines would be important for a high school classroom wanting to have students utilize student conversation. To make sure things go smoothly, an array of questions need to be considered. Direct participants to hand out on things to consider when planning student conversation.

24. Questions, Comments, Concerns
1. Facilitator and Co-Facilitator will address Questions, Comments, and Concerns.
2. Reiterate desired outcomes and essential question.
3. Refer participants to evaluation sheet for completion. 27