Ideas for Staff PL
This page features activities that can be used during Staff Professional Learning opportunities. These activities are intended to activate background knowledge, provoke discussion and enrich understandings of how to support and plan for ELLs.
Anticipation Guide - Language Acquisition & ELLs
Use this Anticipation Guide with staff to generate conversation.
an overview of ESL LEVELS OF PROFICiENCY:
Slides from a session provided By Valerie Behiels, ESL Consultant:
Levels of Proficiency (Slides 1 - 18) provide an overview of each Level of Language Acquisition including a descriptor and implications for teaching & assessing
Academic Language in Action (Slides 19 - 22) provide a sample transcription of a typical introduction to a math lesson that a teacher might provide to students. Subsequent slides highlight what a student at each Level of Proficiency would have understood from the introduction to lesson. This is a very helpful illustration of each ELL level of proficiency and why it is so important that teachers plan supports to facilitate understanding.
ABC Chart - brainstorming activity
Using their programs of study, teachers could generate a list of functional vocabulary that students need to master in their context (Tier 2 and 3 words).
Once they have a list, they could discuss practical strategies to teach & reinforce those terms.
Image source: https://www.edweek.org/media/2010/11/22/13collins.jpg
How To Group Students For Success
Read WIDA article and discuss in teams.
WIDA_Focus_on_group_work.pdfeducator's guide - Many Roots Many Voices: Supporting English language learners in every classroom
Skim through this document written for Ontario educators in 2005. Look for and acknowledge similar practices that are already in place at your school and identify new possibilities from these suggestions about what else could be done to welcome and support ELLs in your context.
Supporting ELLs in the Classroom.pdfvideo series: Supporting English Language Learners - Grades 1 - 8
Watch any or all of these ten video segments with accompanying print resources. They were created for Ontario schools in 2009. The goal was to make visible, for teachers, the kinds of supports that ELLs require. These segments include a look at strategies in use in classrooms and interviews with staff and ESL experts.
professional articles on co-teaching
Co-Teaching to Support ELLs_.pdfCo Teaching ELLS Riding a Tandem Bike by Honigsfeld and Dove.pdf