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To support ELLs in the classroom, think about preparation/background knowledge, comprehensible input and interactions.
To support ELLs in the classroom, think about preparation/background knowledge, comprehensible input and interactions.
Comprehensible Input:
Comprehensible Input:
ensure that your student understands what you are saying
Check out the
an excellent, short list of ways to help ELLs understand what you are saying and access your instruction.
Here are some additional suggestions:
- Focus on language. Take time to dissect and discuss particularly “juicy” sentences within the context of text you are already reading in class. Point out an unusual or particularly effective grammatical structure and talk about how your students could use it in their own writing.
- Focus on vocabulary. Establish a system in your classroom for highlighting Tier Two vocabulary words, words that are not common in everyday speech but are common in academic discourse. These may be words such as evidence in third grade, reverse in second grade, unusual in first grade or before in kindergarten. Keep a list of words you encounter throughout the year or ask me for a list for your grade level.
Lesson preparation and background knowledge:
Lesson preparation and background knowledge:
what supports can we build into the lesson plan?
- include content and language objectives and visit them before and after each lesson
- consider students' level of background knowledge; this could be especially important in a social studies lesson for a student who does not know about the US system of government
- include supplementary materials: manipulatives, realia, photos, videos and demonstrations
- provide scaffolded organizers and outlines for students to fill out
- tape record the text
- adapt the text or find several texts on the topic written at different reading levels
- provide text in home language (for upper grades)
- Building background knowledge and vocabulary can especially support math and science instruction. Click for some math/science-specific strategies.
Is your student a reluctant speaker? Focus on encouraging
interactions
interactions
and read my list of
Ways to Encourage Speaking in the Classroom
If you want to teach kids language, they need to use language.
- Visit this site to download color-coded sentence frame sets with academic language for a wide variety of comprehension and communication skills.
- For more proficient speakers, encourage more academic language by using this rubric during academic conversations.
- If a student's affective filter is high, that means s/he is afraid to take a risk and try speaking or writing English. If this is an issue, we'll need to find ways to promote interactions without any verbal demands on the student.
A d d i t i o n a l N o t e s
A d d i t i o n a l N o t e s
- Newcomers have special needs and we will create an individualized plan and system of supports for them.
- Feel free to ask for consult or screen at any time, for recently exited students as well as students who were not tested earlier but might have a second language issue.
- SIOP is the current best practice for supporting ELLs within the regular classroom. Please let me know if you have not attended SIOP training, and review your copy of Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model (Echevarria, Vogt and Short) for more tips and support ideas.
- There is a separate SIOP book for PreK and K. Let me know if you would like a copy of Using the SIOP Model with Pre-K and Kindergarten Learners (Echevarria, Short and Peterson)
- Visit SCSU's Country Culture Cards to learn more about a specific country and language
- The EdTechTeacher web site contains useful lists of tech resources for specific purposes, such as communicating with others around the world, publishing work, or searching and evaluating sources on the internet.
- This web site from the National Archives allows you to use primary sources to create history learning games, or use previously created games focusing on sequencing, making connections, weighing evidence, mapping and more.
- Here is a spectacular set of lessons teaching persuasive writing with seventh graders. Great examples of ways to differentiate by creating groups and then shuffling the groups; rich, meaningful and plentiful interactions; excellent vocabulary practice after the lesson.
I have many more resources.
Here's a sample list of some of the most useful.
Let me know if there is something in particular you are looking for.
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