ELL Book Study Wrap-up

This summer I shared the eight features of the SIOP model as presented in the book Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners.  Here are the eight features linked to the posts for each one:

Lesson Preparation
Building Background
Comprehensible Input
Strategies
Interaction
Practice and Application
Lesson Delivery
Review and Assessment

I highly recommend the book and/or the class if you get a chance to take it.

Reviewing and Assessing an ELL Lesson

The final feature of the SIOP model is Review and Assessment.  It is important to review the objectives from the beginning of the lesson at the end.  The students need to recognize that they have learned the goals for this unit of instruction.

Of course assessment can be informal and ongoing.  Most teachers can see who understands the material and who doesn't by roving the room, listening to conversations, and looking over shoulders at student work.  This helps me know if I need to reteach the whole group, review with a small group, or just make an adjustment for a student or two.

Because of the system we are in, at some point I need to give a final assessment for a grade.  It is important that students know what they are expected to do to earn a particular grade.  Because I have separated the language and content expectations at the beginning, I can assess each and communicate the results with students and families.

To review all of the posts in this series, please click here or the tag marked "Comprehensible Content."  I would love to hear how you incorporate this strategies in your classroom.

Delivering a Lesson to ELLs

When teaching a lesson to students learning English, I incorporate three features that I would use with any students: supporting content objectives, promoting student engagement, and pacing.  The fourth feature is unique to an ELL lesson: supporting language objectives.  Other students who are behind in language might benefit from the strategies listed in this chapter.

Besides "Think-Pair-Share" there are two strategies that I want to try when presenting new information.  One is called "Roam and Review".  After I have been teaching for about 10 minutes, students walk around the room and discuss the information with their classmates.  I also want to have students write headlines to summarize important information.

Have you missed the other posts in this series?  Click the tag Comprehensible Content to find all of them.

Planning for English Learners' Language Practice

I'm continuing my series on the book Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners.  I have tagged all of these posts "Comprehensible Content" and I plan to do a wrap up post, so if you missed one you can catch up.  (Or just use this series for reference.)

Component six of the SIOP model is Practice and Application.  This includes using hands-on materials, activities for students to apply both content and language, and activities to practice all language skills.

When I was helping a student from El Salvador with math, I brought out the base ten blocks.  I did this more so that I could show rather than tell what she needed to do to solve the problems in class.  I showed her step by step on paper, but also used a model to demonstrate what I was saying.

Anchor charts are another useful tool for all students, but especially students learning English.  The charts we create as a class need to be accessible--either on the wall or in a handout for a notebook.

What ways do you make sure your students are getting meaningful practice?

Classroom Interaction with ELLs

In a traditional classroom, the teacher is the one who gets most of the language practice.  ELLs need opportunities to practice reading, writing, listening, and speaking in English using both conversation and academic language.

I developed sentence frames for the topics I was teaching.  As we practiced speaking and writing, students had some words supplied for them and they completed the remainder.  Click on the links below for more information and printable copies.

Days of the Week
Five Senses
Cause and Effect

Another way to get students to interact more is cooperative learning.  I set up mixed ability groups and then walk from group to group to listen and coach the interactions.  I find this is more effective than pulling all my English Learners into one group or teaching lessons to the whole class at once.

The ESOL Odyssey Blog has some other suggestions for cooperative learning strategies here.
What strategies do you find most helpful for promoting classroom interaction?

Learning Strategies for ELLs

This post is the fourth in a series about the SIOP model.  I encourage you to either take the class or buy the book for a more in-depth study.  I found myself adapting lessons for my ELL students as a result of this class.

If you are reading my series and you missed a post, I have tagged all of the posts "Comprehensible Content."

The fourth component of the SIOP model is called Strategies. Strategies are not merely activities the teacher plans for a class. Students need to have learning strategies that they can use to access new information.  Teachers may provide scaffolding in the form of graphic organizers, anchor charts, or think alouds. Students who are learning English must be presented with higher order questions or tasks, so they can keep up with their peers.

The ESOL Odyssey blog has a summer series on questioning techniques for ELLs.  This post gives you some strategies to try.

All students need strategies to think deeply about content and take ownership for what they learn.

How to Make Your Lessons Understandable to ELLs

This is the third in my book study series on Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners.  I have tagged each of these posts "Comprehensible Content" so if you miss a post or two, you can easily find them. 

The third component of the SIOP model is called Comprehensible Input.  Effective teachers match their rate of speech and vocabulary to their students' level of English.  They clearly explain academic tasks with modelling, visuals, and completed sample tasks.  They communicate in many different ways through gestures, anchor charts, and graphic organizers--to name a few.  They use repetition because students need multiple exposures to new vocabulary words.

In the online version of this class, one of the instructors taught a lesson in Mandarin.  She used the techniques in this chapter to emphasize how important rate of speech and gestures are to learning something in a different language.

Building Background for English Learners

This summer I am reading Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners and sharing my thoughts here on Artistry of Education.  The second component of the SIOP model is Building Background. Building Background happens in two parts: making connections with the student's life outside of school and making connections with previous learning.

When a student has been in school for a year or two, it's easier to find out about their previous experiences inside and outside of school.  I can have conversations about family and hobbies.  I can ask about traditions and celebrations.  I can walk down the hall and find out from a previous teacher what the child learned the previous year.

When a student has just moved to the U.S., it may be more difficult.  I started using online images with one student just to help him choose his lunch everyday.  This grew into communicating with pictures about other events.

This year, I used Google Translate with a student about key words -- both academic and non-academic.  She had attended school for several years in El Salvador and had many skills that would transfer.

In Making Content Comprehensible, the authors include word lists to prioritize vocabulary to be included in lessons.  They distinguish between academic and social language.



What experiences have you had building background with English Learners?

Preparing Lessons for English Learners

This is a series of book study posts about Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners.  I'm glad I'm spending some time this summer to reread this book and share what I'm learning here.  I took the SIOP Model class this spring, but there is a lot to remember and implement.

I plan to focus on the chapter for each of the eight components of this model. This week I read Chapter 2 Lesson Preparation. 

Lesson Preparation is broken down into six features: 

• content objectives
• language objectives
• age-appropriate concepts
• supplementary materials
• adaptation of content
• meaningful activities for language practice

Most of these are features of any well-designed lesson.  I was reminded that students who are learning English need to have materials that are age-appropriate and not watered down.  They also need intentional practice with listening, speaking, reading, and writing in every lesson.

Many classrooms have their learning targets displayed prominently.  When I prepare an ELL lesson, I need to consider what vocabulary they will need and how they will practice this.

I feel like my strength is using supplementary materials to illustrate the concepts I am teaching.  I have never been a fan of highly scripted lessons.  

What works well for you?  
What questions do you have?

Here's Your Invitation to My Book Study

This spring I took an online class about the SIOP model.  This is a protocol for helping ELL students master academic language.  I enjoyed the class and learned a lot.  I want to review this text and prepare some new lessons and adapt others over the summer.

For the next eight weeks, I plan to read a chapter and write about it here on Artistry of Education.  I hope you join me.

Odd One Out Number with Support for English Learners

Earlier this year I covered a maternity leave for an English Language Learner teacher.  A few years ago, I had learned G.L.A.D. strategies for helping students acquire language.  Recently I finished the S.I.O.P. training to get even more tools to teach this population. As a result, I have been reviewing many of my products in my Teachers Pay Teachers and my Teachers Notebook stores and creating new resources.

English Language Learners need as much practice as possible reading, writing, speaking, and listening in English.  When I design small group activities, students have more opportunities for interaction.

Odd One Out is an activity I developed for students to practice their math vocabulary.  A group of three or four students gets a half sheet like the one shown above and students discuss which number does not belong.  They record their answers on a sheet of notebook paper--one per group.

How I would adapt this lesson for ELLs is to make sure they know what vocabulary words they need to use.  For the sheet above in a fourth grade classroom, I would have them work on factor, multiple, prime and composite.  This ensures they practice the academic language used in Common Core.

To download a freebie with four activities like the one shown above, please click here.

My full Odd One Out product is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and my Teacher's Notebook store.
This 22-page packet has 16 geometry sets, 22 number sets, and 6 money sets.

Happy Friday!

Five Senses: My Favorites

During my time working with English Language Learners, I developed graphic organizers and sentence frames to help them acquire both conversational and academic English.  The graphic organizer shown above is one I used when I was teaching a unit about the five senses.  We learned about what body parts are used for which sense.  This organizer may also be used to brainstorm a piece of writing.

To download Five Senses: My Favorites, please click here.

I am in the process of expanding the Imagery 2.0 product in my Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook stores.  

Here is the link to Imagery 2.0 in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Here is the link to Imagery 2.0 in my Teacher's Notebook store.

Happy Friday!

Sentence Frames: Cause and Effect

I have been learning more strategies to help English Language Learners in the classroom.  Today I wanted to share some sentence frames I used to help ELL groups with cause and effect.

When teaching students who are new to English, one strategy is to have a set of sentence frames to practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Sentence frames provide students some of the words they need to show they understand the content.  These sentence frames are in pairs to show that sometimes the cause is at the beginning of the sentence and sometimes it is at the end.

To download Sentence Frames: Cause and Effect, please click here.

Happy Friday!

Five Reasons for Making Crafts with ELLs

For six weeks I filled in for the ELL teacher who was on a maternity leave.  During that time we had a visit from the Mariner Moose--the mascot from our local baseball team.  One of the paraprofessionals created a bulletin board to celebrate our local team and my small groups wanted to participate.  It was an excellent use of our time.

Here are five reasons why I would  take a break from the adopted curriculum to make crafts with my ELL students.

1. While having students follow the directions to make the craft, I can use vocabulary that they will need in their general education classes.  For the very new to English, just using colors and shapes in context was good practice.

2.  Crafts can easily be created for a variety of content.  When teaching about a particular habitat, creating a model together and discussing it requires more involvement than simply looking at pictures.

3.  I wanted my students to practice navigating social situations like asking appropriately for materials and sharing.  Practicing in a small group gives them confidence in the larger classroom.

4.  I found myself assessing students other skills besides language.  I discovered one of my students struggled with cutting paper as well as writing with a pencil.  Not all of his learning difficulties seem to be ELL.

5.  Creating stuff is often more engaging than the highly scripted materials we have adopted.  I truly believe art is an underutilized study skill.

Days of the Week Lesson for ELLs

This year I had a student who moved from El Salvador in November.  One of the first skills I wanted her to have was communicating plans for the week.  I wanted her to know what day to bring her library book and what days to wear her P. E. shoes, etc. 

I created the Days of the Week page shown above.  The words in the boxes below could be cut out or used as a word bank.  This was a perfect lesson to use Google Translate to ensure understanding in her native language.  (To read more about this, click here.)

My student quickly picked up the pattern and we started communicating about plans for the weekend, which days were half days and days off of school.  Intermediate students don't have a calendar lesson each day the way primary students do.  This was a successful intervention for her.

To download Days of the Week, click here.

Happy Friday!

Another Use for a 100 Chart

Some solutions arrive at a moment of desperation.

I have been giving the online ELL test this month.  One of the first graders became so stressed he started sobbing and I couldn't convince him to finish.  As anyone who has given the mandated state tests knows, this is not a valid excuse for not completing it.  I wish it were.

We decided to test him alone in the counselor's office, and I brought a chart like the one pictured above.  I put a star on each of the questions he had already answered and the counselor drew lines where he could stop to take a break.  I crossed off the numbers at the bottom, because the test had 95 questions. Each time he answered a question, we checked off the remaining boxes.  He had a visual of how he was progressing and so he finished.

No, I don't think that a 95 question test is developmentally appropriate for first graders.  I wonder what we are doing to our students.  Some days I advocate for my students by trying to change the system.  Other days I advocate for my students, by getting them through it.

If you need a chart like this one, click here.

More Online Testing: English Language Learners

Right now I am administering the annual test that measures how our English Language Learners read, write, listen, and speak in English.  For the first year the test is online.

I am not a technophobe.  I use technology professionally and personally, but I know I think differently when I use paper and pen.  When a pencil breaks, you hand the student a new one.

The test has gone smoothly except for the typical glitches.  When the system crashes or there is an interruption in the internet, we have been able to start back up where we left off...most of the time.

I know the person who designed the log in system was more concerned about security than making it kid-friendly.  Every student has had to scroll through a lot of educational jargon to begin their actual test.

I am concerned about the number of questions: 93-100 for the grades I have tested.  This makes for long testing sessions: 1.5-2.5 hours for even first graders.

I am also concerned with the speaking part.  Students record their voices into the computer.  I have had some of my shy students completely shut down over this.  I don't know how their recordings are turning out.  I'm not supposed to know.

Tomorrow I will begin testing the kindergartners.  Pray for me.

Nouns and Verbs: Five Senses

Frequent readers of Artistry of Education know that I have been teaching English Language Learners for the last six weeks while their teacher has been on maternity leave.  I have been adapting some of my lessons to better match what my students need.

I created the matching activity below to go with a unit on parts of the face and senses.  Students cut out the cards and match them on the sentence frames.  Depending on their level, you can have them practice reading or writing the sentences.

I am in the process of expanding the Imagery 2.0 product in my Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook stores.  

Here is the link to Imagery 2.0 in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Here is the link to Imagery 2.0 in my Teacher's Notebook store.

Happy Friday!

Using Google Translate and Images with ELLs

For the last five weeks, I have been covering a maternity leave for an ELL teacher.  As a former general education teacher, I know that teachers need resources to help include their students in their lessons.  Here are a couple of strategies that have worked for me.

I use Google Translate for single words and short phrases.  It doesn't work well for whole sentences and paragraphs.  (Just for fun, go to You Tube and look up Google Translate Sings.  My favorite is "I'll Make a Man out of You" from Mulan.  You will get an idea of Google Translate's limitations.)

A fifth grader who recently moved from El Salvador uses Google Translate with me to communicate what she wants.  We have tried unsuccessfully to translate her writing this way.

When I developed lessons for Martin Luther King, Jr., for example I used the book Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport and translated words like love, peace, and freedom into my students' native languages.  I read the book aloud to my students and we discussed the concepts Martin Luther King, Jr. represented.  I used the section "translations of" much like I would use a thesaurus to make sure I was getting the word closest to the definition of the original word.

I also use Google Images to illustrate concrete words.  I look up the topics we will be learning and tab the images I want to use ahead of time.  If I do need to look up a word on the spot, I turn the computer screen away from the students to avoid having them view inappropriate images.

One year, I had a student move directly from another country.  I would find pictures of the lunch choices each day to help him with that part of the routine. By making images a part of ordering lunch, I helped him practice getting what he needed in English. 

I know that you probably have other ways you assist new to English students.  I would love to read your suggestions in the comments.