English Learners and Academic/Content Area Development EL Instructional Support

Guides for Effective Instruction 1. High standards for learning 2. Belief that English Learners can achieve them 3. Knowledge of how to structure teaching and learning to support EL students

1.Provide access to grade-level content curriculum. 2.Develop academic language proficiency in English, higher-level thinking skills, and advanced literacy skills.

Based on “Contextual Interaction Theory” Part 1 - Comprehensible Second Language Input “Make it understandable. Find a way.” Part 2 – Supportive Affective Environment “Create a safe zone for taking risks.”

Good Teaching vs. Essential Teaching

Independent (“Known”) Instructional (“With help”) Beyond the Zone (“Can’t do”)

Structures, strategies, or aids that teachers use to enable students to build their own understanding. Without scaffolds some concepts can remain out of reach.

Scaffolds New tasks should always be demonstrated. Show students how to the assignment/task by doing it. It clarifies expectations and provides an example of what the product should look like.

Scaffolds Activate prior knowledge to connect to new information. Tap into their experiences to demonstrate relevance and help link the known to the unknown. Brainstorm, use anticipatory guides or KWLH, identify related literature, resources, and experiences.

Scaffolds Words are not the only way to convey meaning. Contextual clues help students gain an understanding of unfamiliar words. Use visuals, manipulatives, video clips, graphic organizers and other realia (real stuff).

Scaffolds Show the connections that exist between and across concepts and curriculum. Use graphic organizers, story mapping, and jigsaw projects.

Football Defense Tackling

Scaffolds Explicit teaching and learning of strategies and skills to create life-long learners. Let them in on the secret. K-W-L-H and Reciprocal Teaching are examples.

K - W - L - H What I K now What I W ant to know What I L earned H ow I learned

Reciprocal Teaching Four Roles PredictingQuestioningClarifyingSummarizing

Scaffolds Take a piece of known text and manipulate it for a new purpose. For example: writing a summary, writing your own captions to establish main topic and sub-topics, writing an eye- witness account of a historical event, changing a narrative into a dialogue, writing a play, and developing collaborative posters. Text re- presentation requires strong comprehension.

Tools to help visually organize information. Useful across curriculum. Good for processing information, developing new vocabulary, identifying and synthesizing elements of literature.

Venn Diagram Unique Alike (different) (same) Compare and Contrast

Matrix/Process Grid Classifying and Comparing InformationLandformElevation Local Relief Mountain Plain Plateau

Anticipation Guide TrueFalseStatementTrueFalse We store information by similarities and we retrieve by differences. Pre Post

Sequence of Events FirstThen And ThenFinally

Descriptive Web Barry Bonds Strong Athlete Hits Homeruns Left Fielder Plays for the SF Giants Under investigation Single season Homerun Record

Semantic Map Main Topic Sub-Topics Details

Cause and Effect Cause (Event or action) Effect (Result or outcome) Punch in the face Bloody nose Boring presentation

The readabilty of core subject textbooks are sometimes slightly above the language acquisition level of our EL students. Modification makes the material more accessible to EL students. The intent is to increase comprehensibility without watering down the content.

Use Excerpts Identify a single important excerpt from the text or story. Paraphrase the content surrounding the text selection to create context. Read and discuss. Allows teacher to focus on the most significant concepts and standards. Standards should drive the course, not the textbook.

Read to and with students Read sections aloud to students or have students read the text with you (shared reading). Paraphrase, clarify, point out challenging content or language, explain idioms. Provide contextual definitions when needed.

Simplify, Expand, or Define Key Concepts or Vocabulary Simplify: The government was almost out of money. Simplify: The government was almost out of money. Expand: The government had spent a lot of money on many things: guns, equipment, help for the poor. Expand: The government had spent a lot of money on many things: guns, equipment, help for the poor. Define: This means that the government had spent all its money. Define: This means that the government had spent all its money. Sentence: The government’s funds were depleted.

Supplement the Text Use newspapers and magazines Use newspapers and magazines Use videos, DVDs, audio tapes, and CDs Use videos, DVDs, audio tapes, and CDs Visuals – PowerPoint = Gigantic Flash Card Visuals – PowerPoint = Gigantic Flash Card Internet Internet Interactive computer programs Interactive computer programs Words are leaves, deeds are fruits. (Get R Done)