Strategies to Help Teachers Increase Opportunities for Listening and Speaking for English Learners

1. WHO’s TALKING? WHO’s LISTENING? Strategies to Help Teachers Increase Opportunities for Listening and Speaking for English Learners Presenter: Dina Dewes Coordinator, Support Services for English Learners

2. Desired Outcomes Participants will gain a clearer understanding of: • The importance of listening and oral language proficiency for English learners • How listening and speaking are the foundation of literacy • Strategies to increase listening and speaking opportunities for students 1

3. Tapping into Prior knowledge Play SDAIE STRATEGIES BINGO! 2

4. The Foundation • For English Learners, Oral language proficiency is critical. It is the foundation of literacy. 3

5. Academic Language “… includes the oral language skills necessary for success in reading and in higher academic achievement. It takes at least several years to acquire the skills necessary to speak with confidence and comprehension in the classroom on academic subjects….” AERA Research Points, Winter 2004 4

6. The Language Gap It is now well accepted that the chief cause of the achievement gap between socioeconomic groups is a language gap. • Hirsch, 2003 5

7. The Research • A strong relationship was found between oral English language proficiency development and English reading comprehension and writing skills. • Extensive oral English development must be incorporated into successful literacy instruction. August and Shanahan, 2006 – National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth 6

8. Only 4 % of English Learners’ day was spent in oral engagement. • Only 2 % of English Learners’ day was spent engaging in “academic talk.” Study by Arreaga, Mayer and Perdomo, Rivera, 1996 7

9. Speaking and Listening For ELs, speaking and listening are as important as reading and writing. Diane August, 2003 8

10. Buddy Buzz – your classroom(s) After taking some think time, turn to your neighbor and tell them what you think about student interaction in your classroom, or the level of interaction you typically observe in classrooms at your school and/or district 9

11. Listening • Listening is primarily a thinking process – thinking about meaning. • Listening is like reading – it’s about comprehension instead of production. • The listener is a “meaning builder” – not just a sound discriminator. P. Gibbons – Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning, Heinemann, 2002 10

12. Listening – Is it One Way or Two Way? • Listening can be one way or two way – we need a balance of both in our classrooms. • One Way - we listen for general or specific information. There is no expectation that the listener will speak or ask for clarification. • Two Way – we listen interactively, that is, there is a taking of turns, we attempt to comprehend the message of the speaker, and we are expected to respond or ask for clarification. 11

13. 1 Way or 2 Way,Social or Academic Academic Social One-Way (Listening to) P. Gibbons (2002) Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning, Heinemann Publishers 12

14. Think-Pair-Share ActivityDecide individually, then share with a partner, discuss differences as a group.Coding: A=Academic, S=Social, 1=one way, 2=two way 13

15. Answer Sheet • S-2 • S-1 • A-1 • S-2 • S-2 • S-1 • S-2 • A-2 14

16. Discourse Patterns Found in Many Classrooms • The teacher does most of the talking or lecturing, the students listen. • IRF (Initiation, Response, Feedback) – the teacher asks lower-level questions that require the students to produce only short one or two word answers. Gibbons, 2002 15

17. Expanded Production of Speech The missing piece for developing full, native like fluency was sufficient opportunity to produce extended stretches of the language. Swain, 1995, in Canada with French Immersion program 16

18. Two Ways to Increase Speech Production in the Classroom • Productive Group Work (PGW) II. Interactive Classroom Techniques 17

19. I. Productive Group Work – the Benefits • Hearing more language and a greater variety of language • Interacting more with other speakers and taking more turns • Using language meaningfully in an appropriate academic context 18

20. Why Use Group Work with English Learners? • Increases language practice opportunities • Improves the quality of student talk • Helps individualize instruction • Promotes a positive social climate • Motivates learners 19

21. More Benefits of Productive Group Work - “Class Talk” 20

22. Characteristics of PGW 21

23. Remember to… 22

24. The Painted Essay:An example of Productive Group Work • Purpose:The purpose of this small group discussion format is to give each person an opportunity to have his or her ideas, understanding, and perspectives enhanced by hearing from others. With this format, the group can explore an article, clarify its thinking, and have assumptions and beliefs questioned by others in order to gain a deeper communal understanding of the reading. • Roles:Small group members form triads. • Facilitation:Small-group participants maintain time limits, avoid speaking out of turn, and have equal size small groups in order to finish at approximately the same time. 23

25. The Painted Essay, cont. • Process: • 1. Divide participants into triads. Each person needs three colors of highlighter markers but will only use one at the start. • 2. Each person reads the same selected text but is looking for different things to highlight. For example, in Gibbons chapter 2 (Speaking) one person will highlight or mark passages that refer to PGW components 1-2, using the pink highlighter. The second person will use the yellow highlighter to mark passages that refer to PWG components 3-6. The third member of the triad will use the blue highlighter to mark passages that refer to PGW components • 7-8. 24

26. The Painted Essay, cont. • 3. When the triad members have finished marking their passages, be sure that each member has all three colors of markers. • (10 minutes) Ask the pink-marker person to show the relevant passages related to PGW components 1-2 to his/her triad members. S/he talks about what s/he marked and gives partners time to highlight the same passages in their books or handouts in pink. • (10 minutes) Ask the yellow-marker person to show the relevant passages related to PGW components 3-6 to his/her triad members. S/he talks about what s/he marked and gives partners time to highlight the same passages in their books or handouts in yellow. • (10 minutes) Ask the blue-marker person to show the relevant passages related to PGW components 7-8 to his/her triad members. S/he talks about what s/he marked and gives partners time to highlight the same passages in their books or handouts in blue. • 4. End by debriefing the process in the whole group if there is extra time. 25

27. II. Interactive Techniques- the Principles • The teacher’s goal is to set up situations so the students need to communicate. • You want to maximize discussions and interactions that encourage elaborated responses about concepts being taught. • Group in a variety of ways: pairs, triads, groups of fours. • Students can clarify key concepts in L1 as needed with aides, peers or text. 26

28. Some Interactive Techniques- for Partners Turn to Your Partner: Teacher gives quick, simple, verbal task to do with a partner; should be content-related. Examples we’ve included today: - Buddy Buzz - Think-Pair-Share Apply this technique to content areas in your classroom; ie., examples: - Share three things you learned in that story - Give three reasons the character acted that way Activity -turn to your “elbow partner” and identify another example of how you could use partner interactions in the classroom. Think of application to the content areas. 27

29. More Interactive TechniquesFor Pairs to Small Group to Whole Group- The Dictoglos • Teacher reads a short passage twice at normal speed; students listen. • Teacher reads passage third and fourth time, with instructions to the students to write down key words and phrases. • Students work with partner to compare, contrast their notes, and to attempt to reconstruct the passage. • Two pairs of students join to make a group of four, in order to compare their versions of the passage and to further refine and reconstruct a passage that is more similar to the original passage read by the teacher. • Students can individually write their passage or the group can write their version on chart paper to display. They should now be checking for grammar and spelling. • The whole class discusses which areas of text were most difficult to recreate, grammar and spelling variations, asking always “is that how you would say that in English? does it make sense?”. 28

30. Dictoglos Activity • I Have a Dream – Speech by Martin Luther King • I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. • Discuss: why might this speech be easier for you to recreate? Think of your English Learners who may be unfamiliar with this speech, its context, and its language – the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. 29

31. More Interactive Techniques – for Whole Class • Choral Response – gives students opportunities for repeated readings of a passage, especially good for poetry or rhymes or song lyrics. Prepare students by pre reading the passage individually or with partners, then have whole class read together in “unison”. Vary voice possibilities (loud, soft, fast, slow, low and high) as well as groups within the class (males, females, etc.) • Cloze Activities - Teacher deletes words from a familiar text. Students fill in missing words to complete text. After finishing activity individually or with partners or small groups, discuss with class which words fit and which did not, and why. 30

32. Classroom Whip Around • A fun, engaging strategy that provides students the opportunity to practice summarization and oral recitation in a safe classroom environment. It is particularly useful to encourage students to identify key big ideas, themes, and summative information at the end of a lesson or activity. 31

33. Directions • Pose an open-ended question • Provide think time - and model an example if needed • Answers must be a word or phrase (10 word limit) • Start anywhere in class and whip around the room with students quickly sharing their answers; no discussions or comments • Students have the right to pass 32

34. Variation on the Whip Around • You can modify the whip by having students write a word or phrase on a sheet of paper and simply stand to show the class their response as the “wave” circulates around the room. 33

35. Activity • What do you think is the best payoff for your students in providing them with a more interactive classroom? 34

36. Closure • Questions? • Please complete the Feedback Form. THANK YOU! 35