NTIM Outline Draft

Here are five evidence-based instructional practices that schools can implement:

1. Provide ELs with opportunities to build content knowledge and language competence in tandem.

2. Leverage ELs’ home language(s), prior knowledge, and cultural assets.

3. Engage ELs in productive interactions with peers.

4. Provide direct and explicit instruction focusing on key aspects of literacy.

5. Regularly incorporate opportunities to develop written language skills.

Using Sentence Frames for writing and speaking and Google Sites for presentations 

Well-developed schema plays in acquiring new information

7 Activities for Activating Prior Knowledge

Activating your students’ prior knowledge can take many different forms—the creative possibilities are endless. The best strategies for activating background knowledge are meaningful, authentic, and engaging.
Below is a list of some of activities for building background knowledge for ELLs; however, native speakers will also benefit from these activities. Many of the activities below can be used for any grade level or subject area (with some adaptations).

Leverage ELs’ home language(s), prior knowledge, and cultural assets.

Strategies

Use Visual Aids: Incorporate visual aids such as charts,

diagrams, images, and videos to make content more

comprehensible. Visuals can help ELs grasp concepts even

when they are still developing their language skills.

Scaffolded Instruction: Provide scaffolded instruction that

starts with simpler language and gradually increases in

complexity as students become more proficient.

Language-rich Environment: Create a language-rich classroom

environment where students are encouraged to speak, listen,

read, and write.

Use of Realia: Bring real-life objects or examples into the

classroom to make content more concrete and relatable.

Cognates: Point out cognates (words that are similar in English

and the students' native language) to help ELs connect their

prior knowledge to new English vocabulary.

Graphic Organizers: Use graphic organizers like concept maps,

Venn diagrams, or storyboards to visually represent ideas and

help students organize their thoughts and learning.

Multimodal Instruction: Incorporate a variety of instructional

methods, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening

activities, to engage different learning styles and language skills.

Provide Contextualized Vocabulary: Introduce and teach

vocabulary in the context of the subject matter being studied.

This helps students understand how words are used in specific

content areas.

Engage ELs in productive interactions with peers.

Structured Peer Conversations: Implement structured

conversation activities where students take turns asking and

answering questions. Provide sentence starters or discussion

prompts to guide the dialogue.

Role-Playing: Use role-playing exercises where students act

out real-life scenarios or academic dialogues. This helps them

practice language in context and enhances communication

skills.

Language Games: Incorporate language-based games, such as

vocabulary bingo, word puzzles, or language charades, to make

language practice enjoyable and interactive.

Collaborative Projects: Assign group projects or presentations

that require collaboration and interaction. Encourage each

student to contribute to the project using their unique skills and

knowledge.

Think-Pair-Share: Implement the "think-pair-share" strategy

where students first think about a question, discuss it with a

partner, and then share their thoughts with the class. This

promotes discussion and idea sharing.

Jigsaw Activities: Use jigsaw activities where each student is

responsible for a part of the information. They must collaborate

to understand the complete topic and then present it to the

group.

Visual Aids and Graphic Organizers: Use visual aids like charts,

graphs, or graphic organizers to help newcomers explain

concepts to their peers. Visuals make explanations clearer and

encourage discussion.

Digital Collaboration Tools: Utilize digital platforms or apps that

facilitate online collaboration, allowing students to work

together on projects, share ideas, and provide feedback.

Multilingual Show-and-Tell: Encourage students to bring in

objects from their culture and explain their significance in both

their native language and English. This promotes cultural

exchange and language use.

StrategiesProvide direct and explicit instruction focusing on key aspects of literacy.

Vocabulary Development: Introduce and explore new

vocabulary words regularly. Provide explanations, examples,

and opportunities for students to use these words in context.

Comprehension Strategies: Explicitly teach reading

comprehension strategies such as making predictions, asking

questions, making connections, visualizing, and summarizing.

Model how to use these strategies while reading.

Interactive Read-Alouds: Engage students in interactive read-

aloud sessions where they participate in discussions, make

predictions, and ask questions about the text. Use a variety of

texts, including stories, nonfiction, and academic content. This

helps students hear fluent English and understand

pronunciation and intonation.

Explicit Writing Instruction: Teach writing conventions,

sentence structure, paragraph organization, and essay writing

explicitly. Provide writing prompts and constructive feedback.

Word Walls: Create word walls displaying key vocabulary

words. Encourage students to use and interact with these

words regularly as a reference.

Reading Response Journals: Have students keep reading

response journals where they write about their thoughts,

questions, and reflections on the text they are reading. This

encourages engagement and deeper understanding.

Peer Reading Partners: Pair ELs with more proficient English-

speaking peers for reading activities. This provides peer

support and models fluent reading.

Sentence Expansion: Practice expanding simple sentences into

more complex ones. This helps students understand sentence

structure and build their own sentences.

Regularly incorporate opportunities to develop written language skills.

Oral Language Development

Storytelling: Encourage students to share personal stories,

anecdotes, and experiences with the class. Storytelling

promotes vocabulary development and helps students express

themselves.

Role-Playing: Use role-playing activities to simulate real-life

situations. This helps students practice using language in

context, such as ordering food at a restaurant or conducting a

job interview.

Language Games: Incorporate language games and activities

that focus on vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency. Examples

include word games, tongue twisters, and pronunciation

exercises.

Listening Activities: Provide opportunities for students to listen

to authentic spoken English. Use audio recordings, podcasts,

and videos to expose them to different accents and speaking

styles.

Writing

Sentence Starters: Provide sentence starters or prompts to help

students begin their writing. This can reduce the intimidation of

a blank page and scaffold their writing.

Structured Writing Tasks: Assign structured writing tasks that

align with content areas. For example, have students write

summaries, responses to reading passages, or explanations of

scientific experiments.

Writing Centers: Set up writing centers in the classroom with

writing prompts, dictionaries, thesauruses, and other resources

to support independent writing.

Word Walls: Create word walls specific to writing, displaying key

vocabulary and writing-related terms.

Differentiation: Differentiate writing tasks based on students'

proficiency levels and individual needs, providing appropriate

challenges for each student.

Cultural Relevance: Incorporate topics and themes that are

culturally relevant to the students. This can make writing more

engaging and meaningful for ELs.

• Making content comprehensible for students by:

  • Connecting students’ backgrounds and prior knowledge to content area concepts

  • Explicitly teaching content vocabulary, academic language, and language structures of the content area

  • Presenting cognitively demanding information and tasks in context-embedded ways (e.g., graphic organizers, visual representations)

  • Using cooperative learning to facilitate content understanding and promote language development through language use