ESOL Transition – Corpus Christi 2011 Dr. Heide Spruck Wrigley ESOL Transition Academy

Introductions and Perspective

Perspective influenced by TELL project – national study THECB – TA on Innovation Grants Teaching Experience – Transition to Higher Ed – Academic ESL – Intensive ESL courses South Texas Dual Language Transition Project Jobs for the Future – Contextualized GED El Paso Community College: Integrated Instruction Center for Law and Social Policy – The Language of Opportunity NIFL: Health Care Career Ladders for ELLs

What you Hope to Take Away

Instructional Objectives Help teachers become aware of differences in educational backgrounds and differentiating instruction Introduce concept of content-based instruction Show how multi-media can be used to engage learners in academic literacy Discuss research in vocabulary development Knowing what students know (Find someone who) Highlight key features of Transition Oriented Programs Apply research-based teaching and learning strategies as part of a coherent Lesson Flow

SESSION FLOW

DAY 1: From Research to Practice Introduction and Overview Whats New? As a Jumping Off Point Content-based instruction – Basic Principles German Demonstration Community Building: Find someone who Who are the ELL Transition Students? From Learner Stories to Content ESL for Transition : Whats different? Using authentic materials: Info-graphics Hands-on practice with immigration-related materials

2010 A Year to Remember? ?

WHAT WAS SIGNIFICANT? In your life, your community, in the world? (think, pair, share)

ELL Transition: Content-based Instruction from the Start

WHATS NEEDED Cognitively Challenging Work at All Levels

Principles of Content-based Teaching (CBT) 1.CBT is key in preparing students for transition 2.It requires integration of content and language. 3.Objectives require attention to both language (functions, structures, vocabulary) and the subject matter to be learned. 4.CBT includes comprehensible input as a way of listening to learn 5.Sheltered instruction is used to make content accessible (health; school expectations; science; literature; philosophy; psychology)

6.Themes are rich, drawing on multiple resources (including multi-media and subject matter learning is sustained over time 7.Knowledge is deepened and vocabulary extended 8.Language and vocabulary include structures that are content specific as well as functional language that is content compatible (giving explanations; expressing opinions; agreeing and disagreeing; buying time)

Find Someone Who

Dreams by Langston Hughes Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.

What ideas do you associate with Immigration ?

Ich heisse Heide und ich bin aus Deutschland

I CAME TO BE SAFE

Who Are Our Learners? ?

ELL Transition Students Can Be Foreign-born – entered as adults Dream Act Kids – came as children Gen 1.5 Late entry students US-born but speak a language other than English at home

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ABE AND ESL ELLSs have a much wider range of educational backgrounds that need to be taken into account

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006 Refers to employed workers, age 25 and over. Less than high school HS diploma/ GED BA or higher Some college 28% 6% 24% 30% 16% 30% 31% 34% Educational Attainment of Employed Workers by Nativity, Age 25 and Over Bimodal Distribution

CASE IN POINT Learner Voices

Central Texas Learner Stories Instructors.html

What Did you Notice? ?

How Could You Use this Video in Your Program ?

Documenting Student Portraits in Your Program 1.Educational backgrounds (years of schooling) 2.Goals, hopes, and dreams (short term and long term) 3.Work experience and employment status 4.Turbulence factors (in crisis; vulnerable; stable; thriving)

What Are Other Significant Factors that Influence Student Success? ?

THE NEED TO DIFFERENTIATE Students with higher levels of education have background knowledge and school-based skills associated with making sense of texts and can interpret and analyze information. They need greater learning challenges and should be encouraged to read deeply in their field. We can accelerate instruction for these learners by taking advantage of their ability to self-direct their learning with proper guidance.

ACTION RESEARCH While students do pair or group work, observe and document in a journal how students with fewer years of education differ from those who are more highly educated

THE CURRENT MODEL Procrustean Bed

The Procrustean Bed

What Stuck With You? ?

DAY 2 Whats New? Metaphors and similes related to kitchen Mini-presentations Whats in your Wallet?

REVIEW: INFOGRAPHICS (aka Pictographs) Teach students - ITALKS Information Title A +L all labels K – Key – box it in S – Scale (determine magnitude – particularly in a bar graph)

REVIEW: INFOGRAPHICS

Working with the Right-Click Generation Generation 1.5

The End of Books: the Future of Publishing

IN GENERAL ESL Teachers in conventional programs tend to have low expectation of their students

STUDENTS NEED TO LEARN To present information in multiple forms, including visual representations

Students Developing Materials for Presentation

The Eye

What Intellectual Challenges Do You Offer Your Students ?

Book Club Charlottes Web Literature Talk – Reading workshops – Smiley Shark

STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW … … how to approach different types of texts (oral and written) - including multi- media texts

STUDENTS NEED TO DEVELOP Fluency in oral English, including intonation, phrasing, normal speed, and pronunciation

Are We the Most Aggressively Inarticulate Generation?

What is the central argument here? Summarize! ?

Research in Vocabulary Development

A POINT ABOUT VOCABULARY While ESL students are able to pick up decoding skills on par with their native born counterpart, they consistently remain behind when it comes to comprehension, in large part because of lack of academic word skills and unfamiliarity with sentence structures not in their listening vocabulary.

ANOTHER POINT ABOUT VOCABULARY Abstract concepts are encoded in vocabulary and big words need to be unpacked. Structured academic classroom talk provides definitions and invites students to extend their language skills.

EXAMPLE When you learn new words, you need to learn them deep and wide; because vocabulary acquisition requires both depth and breadth of knowledge. In other words, you have to learn all the different shadings of a word (depth) along with all the other words that are associated with that meaning (breadth). You should also be able to take apart a word – to deconstruct- a word – and consider the word parts – affixes and roots – as well as the part of speech this words represents – noun, verb, adjective, adverb

Lets take the word root As an example of building vocabulary depth

DAY 1 REVIEW CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION

Key Components of Content-Based Instruction 1.Deliberate and purposeful teaching focused on what students should know and be able to do (in terms of both content and language) 2.Lesson delivery that supports both content and language objectives 3.Strong emphasis on building background knowledge 4.Comprehensible input focused on knowledge acquisition through listening 5.Focus on instructional strategies plus learning strategies

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Community Building: Whats in Your Wallet? Cognitively challenging task (multiple levels) : Providing evidence and examining evidence Making reasonable assumptions and providing evidence Using evidence to offer a reason for an opinion

Root – Multiple Shadings – Depth Literal and metaphoric meaning Saying Verb Nouns Adjective/Participle (with affix) Expansion: Expansion: Stories, music, books – – –

Why Focus on Vocabulary ?

Teaching Vocabulary for Transition Consult High Frequency Academic Word Lists Teach vocabulary deep and wide Challenge your students receptive as well productive vocabulary through structured academic classroom talk Teach vocabulary explicitly through – Concept maps – Word study Use word walls as resources for learning and for writing

Teaching Vocabulary for Transition Personal dictionaries Vocab list to be studied for tests Graphic representations of single words and word related to a theme Visualization Flash cards

Teaching Vocabulary for Transition Personal dictionaries Vocab list to be studied for tests Graphic representations of single words and words related to a theme Word Study and Word families Visualization

Root – Multiple Shadings – Depth Literal and metaphoric meaning Saying Verb Nouns Adjective/Participle (with affix) Expansion: Expansion: Stories, music, books – – –

Lets take the word immigration As an example of building vocabulary width through conceptual (semantic) maps

What words do you associate with Immigration ?

Learning Basic Vocabulary Deutschland Gesundheit Schadenfreude Weltschmerz Oktoberfest Ursprache wunderbar Kindergarten Autobahn Edelweiss

INVITE YOUR STUDENTS …. … to listen to the language you use and the language they hear around them. Focus on sophisticated vocabulary use. Help them build language awareness and maintain language curiosity.

Focus on Sentence Structure

What are difficulties with academic syntax your students experience ?

Conjunction Junction YouTube Open

Coming to America

LANGUAGE REINFORCEMENT Students need to hear different versions of the same story or event so they can associate new words with language that is familiar to them

Introducing Big ideas

Building Background Knowledge

Students Want to Learn More if they are given challenging tasks that they can be successful with

Literacywork.com

Using Authentic Materials

HANDS ON EXAMPLES Info-graphics: Where immigrants settle in the US

What has been a take away for you today? ?

Focus on Programmatic Practices

REVIEW OF SESSION 1 Deconstructing Language: Working with Sentence Frames

Generic Love Poem 1 (*delete as appropriate) Call a doctor / plumber / priest* My heart is broken / leaking / deceased* My life is worthless / so much better / over* I'm going to kill myself / tell your wife / Dover* How could you leave me / not know / lie?* I hope you return my stuff / come back / die* I'll never forget you / forgive you / go away* I need closure / a DNA test / to tell you I'm gay* ….. Written by Kirsty MacDonald

What Do Exemplary Programs Do? Information based in part on the national study on Transition for Adult English Literacy Learners (TELL)

Promising Practices (Program Level) Linkages and collaboration with the next step on the Transition Continuum – PP GED and Advanced ESL Teacher switch (Community Action) Transition Coaches (Fort Pierce; ACC) Short course for Science and Technology Flexible scheduling (self-access in school and at home) Dual enrollment (language and technical skills) ASE instead of GED for students with limited schooling Dual language classes for those working in bilingual communities

ESL BY DESIGN COLLAPSED ON THE SIDE WALK

Research-based Instructional Strategies

1. Select an important theme or topic and activate students background knowledge

2.Provide meaningful input (interactive mini-lecture)

3.Check comprehension

4.Introduce a peer tp peer learning task related to your topic and explain the purpose

5.Model the task verbally and demonstrate what you would like for students to do (Guided Practice)

6.Group students into pairs or small groups and have them do the task. Observe students but do not intrude. Debrief with students

7.Select one structural component of the lesson and highlight an important pattern or rule (grammar; vocab; writing); engage students in individual practice and focus on accuracy

8.Do a quick check to see where students stand on learning the concepts and vocabulary youve been trying to teach

9. Create deeper connections by asking students for their experiences, opinions, interpretations. Connect whats previously learned to the new knowledge

10. Extend and reinforce knowledge through student inquiry and projects

Activating Background Knowledge

We Are New York: New Life Cafe

RESEARCH IN ACTION Putting it all together in a demonstration lesson

Collapsed on the Sidewalk

AND THATS NOT ALL Additional Resources

Tier 1 and Tier 2 – Academic WL

Academic Vocabulary Resources Interactive Vocab Activities Cambridge: Dictionary of Academic English

Different Types of Texts Documents and Informational Texts (announcements; ads; catalogues); instructions Prose Literacy (stories, essays) Poetry (see Poetry Unit) – Langston Hughes Dreams A Dream Differed Lectures Textbooks

Generic Love Poem 1 (*delete as appropriate) Call a doctor / plumber / priest* My heart is broken / leaking / deceased* My life is worthless / so much better / over* I'm going to kill myself / tell your wife / Dover* How could you leave me / not know / lie?* I hope you return my stuff / come back / die* I'll never forget you / forgive you / go away* I need closure / a DNA test / to tell you I'm gay* ….. Written by Kirsty MacDonald

Key Features of A Transition Curriculum Less emphasis on life skills, more emphasis on content- based language, big ideas and problem solving Teacher presentations to increase background knowledge Connection to the world of ideas (Whats New?) Still a need for oral language development but discussions are linked to reading and writing – Discussion and debates focused on making a point and supporting it with evidence – Student presentations and research projects

Coming Attractions: Writing and Vocabulary Gradual Release

ELL TRANSITION Resources to Engage Students

Websites to Engage Students (Learner Stories in Central Texas) Working with younger learners (can we print this also as text?) (go to Favorites) Tales of Mere Existence: the Best Book Ever

Contact Us Heide Spruck Wrigley Literacywork International

Writing: Gradual Release I do it (input and modeling) We do it (guided writing) You do it (independent writing)