1. English Language Learners in the LMC
The idea behind this presentation is not to overwhelm you with ELL materials, but to provide some background knowledge about the special needs of your ELL population, and to provide you with 10 quick ideas of adjusting what you already do, to support your ELL students. The good news is – what you do to support your ELL’s is just good teaching so it will help your monolingual students as well. A lot of these techniques come from a model called SIOP, and in this model, the idea is not to water-down your curriculum, but to break it down to its essential elements, and the teach these using a sheltered model, so that you are teaching English to your students through your curriculum, because there is not time to teach students English, and then teach them the curriculum
Ten Areas in which to Support your English Language Learners
Nancy Wadin – Sunny Hill Elementary School
Barrington School District 220

2. Agenda History of ESL Education in U.S.A. Acronyms in BE
Key Issues/Goals
Activity
10 Ways to impact learning

3. Brief History of ESL Important dates:
1839 – Ohio adopts first bilingual education law
1879 – Indian Boarding School Movement Begins
1900’s -1960’s – English immersion
1947 – Mendez v. Westminster
1954 – Brown v Board of Education
1968 – Bilingual Education Act of 1968
1974 – Equal Educational Opportunities Act
2002 – No Child Left Behind Act

4. Guess the Acronym SIOP ESL BICS/CALP LEP TPR TBE/TPI WIDA NABE (1975)
Flashcards

5. Key Issues/Goals Set high, yet reasonable standards for ELL’s
Teach English through the content areas
Use “Sheltered Instruction” techniques
Reduce anxiety
What’s good for ELL’s is good for all students
Preview, teach the lesson, practice the lesson
Research has found that to make progress, ell’s need to b e highly engaged for % of the time during a lesson

6. No ‘N’ Activity
Turn to the person next to you and tell them what you did last weekend without using any words that contain the letter ‘n’.
Switch roles.
What were your Listening Strategies?
What were your Speaking Strategies?
What was your Emotional Response?

7. Number 1- Objectives Content Objective Language Objective
What they will learn
Find, classify, paraphrase, analyze, explain, determine, design
Language Objective
How they will use language to learn
Discuss, recall, compose, revise, identify, describe, explain, create, write, defend
Objective Choices

8. Number 2 – Use Pictures
Visuals – use pictures and have student tell you the definition
Show Pictures – to define new words in a story or concept
Show video - to exemplify a concept and build background knowledge
Visual Literacy Lessons
Smartboards – Teach from pictures to words

9. Number 3 – Build Background Explicitly
Ch_____ story
Read this and fill in the blanks
Define new words with pictures – let them define the word
One way to build background knowledge:
Quick PowerPoint before reading to illustrate ideas or concepts that need to be clarified for students to understand the story. Guess the book…
Chicken farmer

10. Vocabulary Barber Midnight Skeleton Key A person who cuts hair
12:00 at night
Skeleton Key
An old key that will open a door

11. Even Monsters Need Haircuts A few facts:
When there is a full moon, silly monsters can come out
There is a full moon once a month
Monsters need a haircut once a month
Barbers know when to keep a secret
Monsters like to have fun

12. Number 4 – Reading Fluency
Help them practice – repeated reading/speaking strategy
Poetry recitals – “You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You”
Act it out – Pick one scene from a book you have read and give the kids 5 minutes to figure out how to act it out.
You read to me, I’ll read to you
Wave recorded

13. Which Monarch Book?

14. Creepy Carrots II

15. Number 5 – Dialogic Reading
Read same book as their teacher – make more cognitive function available for higher order questioning. Start with W questions, then complete sentences. Watch example.
Use Sentence Starters: I think Jasper feels ________________ when he sees _____________.
Opportunities for interaction
Think=pair=share
Idea Wave
Allow them to use their own language L1 to discuss

16. Number 6 - Manipulatives
Hands-on materials
Question Cubes Guide
Foldables – Dinah Zike
Text Features
Mystery/Biography Cubes
Readwritethink
Cube model

17. Number 7 – Use Cognates
Identify cognates and make colorful signs and posters
Add pictures to signs
Find posters in both languages -

18. Number 8 – Books in L1 Buy books in their first language
Support small publishers/distributors who prioritize diversity
Lee and Low
Lectorum
Rainbow Books
Cinco Puntos Press
IPG Spanish Books
SpanglishBaby
Provide electronic resources in first language: Tumblebooks, WorldBook Online Spanish, Raz Kids, International Children’s Digital Books, We Give Books, Epic Books

19. Number 9 – Teacher Talk
Appropriate Speech at their grade level – Comprehensible Input: i + 1
Simplify your vocabulary to build theirs
Speak slowly and clearly
Give them time to process – increase wait time
Think of the ‘N’ Activity
Comprehensible input

20. Number 10 – Smile Remember the tension of the ‘N’ activity
Walk in their shoes
Help them love the library - a lifelong haven
Social and cultural needs are at the center of their development

21. Resources
For more information on the SIOP Model, see Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).
Dinah Zike website:
Readwritethink cube creator:
International Children’s Digital Library:
We Give Books:
SpanglishBaby: houses/