Developing English Learners’ Academic Language

1. Developing English Learners’ Academic Language BTSA March Academy March 19, 2008 Gwendelyn Silva gwen811silva@aol.com

2. More Resources on English Learnerswww.btsaenglishlearners.pbwiki.com INVITE KEY: marchacademy Site is blocked by FJUHSD network. Sorry about that.

3. Subject-Specific Information

4. Vocabulary, Reading, and Writing

5. Think-Pair-Share • Choose a person sitting nearby to be a discussion partner. • Decide who will be partner A and who will be partner B.

6. Topics • Types of English learners • Teaching academic language • Bricks and Mortars • Scaffolding academic language use

7. Types of English Learners • Newly Arrived with Adequate Schooling • recent arrival (less than 5 years in US) • adequate schooling in native country • soon catches up academically • may still score low on standardized tests given in English Freeman & Freeman, 2002

8. Types of English Learners 2. Newly Arrived with Limited Formal Schooling • recent arrival (less than 5 years in US) • interrupted or limited schooling in native country • limited native language literacy • below grade level in math • poor academic achievement Freeman & Freeman, 2002

9. Types of English Learners 3. Generation 1.5 Students or LT English Learners • nontraditional learners (in-migrants, parachute kids, transitionals) • “ear” learners (vs. “eye” learners) • limited knowledge of home language • growing knowledge of English • good oral/aural skills • inexperienced readers and writers Freeman & Freeman, 2002

10. Partner A: How do the needs of LT English learners differ from those of newly arrived ones? Partner B: How are they similar? Be prepared to summarize your partner’s response. With your partner discuss these questions.

11. Use these sentence starters to form your responses during our discussion. • I had a conversation with _____ who emphasized that . . . • I (discovered/learned/found out) from _____ that . . . • _____ had an interesting observation. She/he pointed out that . . . • _____ shared with me that . . . • _____ indicated that . . . • _____ shared that . . . Kinsella, 2004

12. Think-Pair-Share Tips Page 16 Ideas on making Think-Pair-Share Effective

13. Many of our struggling English learners. . . • prematurely skip advanced English instruction • plateau at the intermediate level and fail to acquire advanced levels of literacy (Scarcella, 2003) • understand the gist but do not have deep understanding of the concepts they read (Scarcella, 2005)

14. What can teachers do to help ELs succeed in their content area classes? Develop their academic language. This not only helps ELs but native English speakers as well.

15. What is academic language? Academic language entails the multiple, complex features of language required for academic success. It represents the advanced forms of language needed to communicate in formal, often academic situations. Scarcella, 2005

16. BICS (Conversational) Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills or conversational language Takes 2-4 years to develop High-frequency words and simple grammatical constructions May appear to be fluent in English but have difficulty engaging in cognitively complex tasks CALP (Academic) Cognitive academic language proficiency or academic language Takes 5-7 years to obtain More low-frequency words, complex syntax, and abstract expressions Level at which learners use higher-order thinking skills in language and thought BICS vs. CALP

17. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency

18. Why attention to language? Normally. . . Kids do not pay much attention to language when they are reading: • If they understand the text, they deal with its meaning and pay little or no attention to the language itself; • If they don’t understand what they are reading, they skip over the language in the text, and they let it go at that! Fillmore, 2005

19. What does it mean to build academic language?It entails integrating language with content instruction.

20. What are some ways we integrate language with content instruction? • Teach brick and mortar words. 2. Scaffold academic language use in oral and written.

21. 1. Teach Brick and Mortar Words • Brick Words- technical words that are specific to a discipline • Mortar Words - general-utility words that hold the content-specific words together Zwiers, 2008

22. Brick Words • Technical terms that are specific to a discipline (photosynthesis, osmosis, algorithm, radioactivity, etc.) • Terms that have a different meaning in lay speech (culture, restoration, factor, product) Zwiers, 2008

23. Mortar Words • General but sophisticated words used to communicate complex thought • Words that are found across academic disciplines Zwiers, 2008

24. Mortar Words • General-utility academic words - maintain, require, tend, dimension, correspond, account, reflect • Words used to create coherent and logical sentences and paragraphs - behind, however, each other, themselves • Words needed to describe higher-order thinking skills - differ, boils down to, consequence, link, aspects, consequence Zwiers, 2008

25. Examples of Brick and Mortar Terms in Different Content Areas Zwiers, 2008

26. Index Cards Math Example on Page 26 Write “brick” in large letters on any side of one card and “mortar” on the other card. Hold up the correct card for the underlined word. • Some countries are founded on the principles of democracy. • We want to establish a stable family environment. • An elephant is big, whereas a mouse is small. • Use a calculator to find the prime factorization of each number.

27. Page 9 in Beige Packet Task: Choose Brick and Mortar Words. Air Pollution Smog hanging over cities is the most familiar and obvious form of air pollution. But there are different kinds of pollution--some visible, some invisible--that contribute to global warming. Generally any substance that people introduce into the atmosphere that has damaging effects on living things and the environment is considered air pollution. Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is the main pollutant that is warming Earth. Though living things emit carbon dioxide when they breathe, carbon dioxide is widely considered to be a pollutant when associated with cars, planes, power plants, and other human activities that involve the burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline and natural gas. In the past 150 years, such activities have pumped enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to raise its levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/environment/environmental-threats/pollution-overview.html?nav=A-Z

28. Page 9 in Beige Packet Air Pollution (cont’d) Other greenhouse gases include methane--which comes from such sources as swamps and gas emitted by livestock--and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were used in refrigerants and aerosol propellants until they were banned because of their deteriorating effect on Earth's ozone layer. Task: • On your white boards, write 3 brick words from this article. • Write 3 mortar words. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/environment/environmental-threats/pollution-overview.html?nav=A-Z

29. Information Gap • Each student, A and B, has different information that the other person needs • Teacher provides different information to each person. • Student is given a need for the other person’s information , such as a diagram to fill in, problem to solve or project to design. • Students are required to talk to each other to complete the task. • Also known as barrier games

30. Page 10 in Beige Packet Task: Find the Difference • You are your partner will be given two similar but different pictures. • Do not show each other your pictures. • Find 5 similarities and 5 differences between the two pictures. Ask each other questions and describe your pictures. • Write your answers on the Recording Sheet on page 10 in the beige packet.

31. Building Mortar Words This is the perfect opportunity to reinforce mortar words. After finishing the game, have students practice compare/contrast terms. • Whereas the first picture contains ______, the second picture contains _______. • Both pictures address __________________ as air pollutants. • Neither picture _____________________.

32. Benefits of Information Gap Activities • provides redundancy of terms and content • challenges students to use new language to accomplish a task • offers fun practice with academic language in small settings • reinforces mortar words

33. More Information Gap Activities

34. 2. Scaffold academic language use. • Examine the oral and written tasks of your course and incorporate sentence starters and templates on a regular basis. • These techniques allow your English learners to produce language that is above their current proficiency level. • They further deepen your students’ knowledge of mortar words.

35. Idea #1: Post sentence starters on the board during discussions. For a group discussion in physical science in which students are asked to predict the results of an experiment. • If ____ were ____, then ____. • One possible (likely) outcome of ____ing ____ might be ____. • Because ____ is ____, the result will probably be ____. Girard, 2004

36. Solution Causes Idea #2: Make students write out the ideas of a graphic organizer. Problem

37. Problem-Solving Organizer to Build Language The problem of ____ has (several, four, many) causes. The causes are ____________. People (agencies, the government) have tried to deal with this problem by ____________. The actions have (helped, not helped) because _________. The problem of ___________ (has been resolved, needs more action, is unchanged, is growing, etc.)

38. Task: Graphic Organizer & Text • Revisit the air pollution article with your partner. • On one white board, draw a graphic organizer that you would use to help students understand the meaning of the text. • You do not have to fill out the graphic organizer, but you might want to label the information required. • On another white board, write three sentence stems. Feel free to adapt the sentence stems on page 26 in your packet.

39. Idea #3: Structure writing tasks. • Provide a template or some structure for students to follow. You will receive better-written work. • If there are specific words and phrases you would like them to use, show your kids how to use them. • Listing words to use may not be enough. Some students may not know the words listed in a word bank.

40. Many students do not know how to use academic words. Words may serve the same function but they are used differently. Example: I am really tired, but I want to finish. I am really tired. However, I want to finish. king.prps.k12.ca.us/nclc/teachers_pages/ mr_grace/AcademicWritingSignalWords.pdf

41. Writing Frame Page 17-18 Kinsella, 2004

42. Defining new terms Page 19-20 using academic language, realm words are category words that help define terms. Fossilization is an occurrence in which an EL’s language develop plateaus.

43. Writing Scaffolds Page 27 • Brief Biographies • Place/Event Statement • Contrast Statement • Cause/Effect Statement • These are all shorter assignments, but they focus on academic language.

44. Pages 11-15 Content Area Verbs • By using the verbs on the list, we employ the proper language tone. • To understand the verbs is to understand the subject. • Write sentences for each verb that illustrate your understanding of the subject. • Find two verbs that are similar and explain the difference between them. • Add to them from readings in the textbook and in newspaper articles. Benjamin, 2005

45. On your white boards. Choose one statement to complete. • One strategy I will try . . . • I have a question about . . . • An important fact to remember is . . . • Working with English learners is . . .

46. Final Thoughts • Simply being taught in and being surrounded by English is not guarantee that language skills are being developed. • Teachers need to consider how to teach language with content instruction. • Teachers can make a tremendous impact in helping English learners achieve academic success. ( I’d appreciate it if you could return the whiteboards and markers at the end of the workshop. Thank you.)

47. References Fillmore, L. (2005, October). English learners & NCLB: Issues of language, literacy, and testing. Presented at Purdue Literacy Network Project Lecture Series: Supporting English language learners, West Lafayette, IN. Freeman, Y., Freeman, D., & Mercuri, S. (2002). Closing the achievement gap: How to reach limited-formal-schooling and long-term English learners. Westport, CT: Heinmann. Girard, V. (2004, November). Instruction programs for English learners. Presented at WestEd Schools MovingUp Online Event. Retrieved June 5, 2007, from http://www.schoolsmovingup.net/cs/wested/query/q/19?x-o=10 Kinsella, K. (2004, July). Narrowing the achievement gap for English-language learners: Strategies to bolster academic language and literacy development. Presented at the Scholastic Intervention Convention, San Francisco, CA. Scarcella, R. (2003). Accelerating academic English: A focus on the English learner. Oakland: Regents of the University of California. Scarcella, R. (2005, May). To every problem there is a solution. Presented at UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute 2006 Annual Conference, Irvine, CA. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from www.lmri.ucsb.edu/events/06_conf/presentations/scarcella.ppt Zwiers, J. (2008). Building academic language: Essential practices for content classrooms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.