Literacy Success for English Language Learners in High School

1. Literacy Success for English Language Learners in High School New Jersey Department of Education Dr. Gilda Del Risco Kean University of New Jersey December 14, 2004

2. High Expectation with Support as Needed • “Schools in which the adults in the building perceived a real opportunity to improve the academic circumstances of their students were able to transform their schools in more substantial ways than in those schools in which the adults perceived little hope for increasing student learning” • Schools that had made significant progress in raising student achievement all made intentional efforts to ensure no student fell behind. Principals and teachers were aware that: • Some students might need extra time and assistance to master core elements of the curriculum. They organized instruction to provide opportunities for students who needed them.

3. English Language Learners in High School • Need a period of adjustment to the education system and to the social environment of this country. • Need an atmosphere that fosters language learning, acculturation and a healthy self-esteem.

4. Trauma and Low Self-EsteemThey have experienced: • Immigration experience • Alienation • Loneliness • Fear • Insecurity • Building their self-esteem is an important factor in their success in the United States.

5. A well – structured program is extremely important • The students may not know the grading system • Social customs • Do not know where to go for classes, cafeteria, etc.

6. What can I do to make them feel comfortable and give them a sense of belonging • Acknowledge their culture, country, and language • Make eye contact while teaching • Do not sit newcomers in the back of the classroom Stages: • Bewilderment • Overcompensation • Regression • Biculturalism

7. Krashen’s Affective VariablesHe notes three “affect variables that influence language acquisition: • Self-esteem: Students with high self-esteem view themselves as capable learners and are more apt to take risks. • Motivation: Motivated students are more focused and take greater risks. • Level of Anxiety: Anxiety inhibits language acquisition. Anxious students tend to focus on form rather than communication, and take fewer risks.

8. Sheltered Instruction • “The term sheltered indicates that such instruction provides refuge from the linguistic demands of mainstream instruction, which is beyond the comprehension of English-language learners.” (Echevarria & Graves 1998).

9. Comprehensible Input • Language that is used in ways that make it understandable to the learner even though second language proficiency is still limited. • use visuals, realia, manipulatives, and other concrete materials. • use gestures, facial expressions, and body language. • repeat, rephrase, and/or paraphrase key concepts, directions, etc. • build on what students already know. • be careful of idioms and slang. • Be enthusiastic !

10. Meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visuals. • Make your instructional talk more understandable by speaking clearly. • Repeat key points • Define essential vocabulary in context • Pair your talk with nonverbal communication cues: objects, pictures, graphs, and gestures.

11. Verbal and nonverbal communication • When we pair these two communication channels, words and meanings become discernible to the learner.

12. Modify your speech: • use shorter, less complex sentences for students in the earlier stages. • use slightly slower rate of speech, being careful to maintain the natural rhythm and flow of the language. • use longer, but natural, pauses. • Maintain a low anxiety level

13. Student Engagement • Studies have found that the degree to which students are actively engaged in learning has a strong impact on levels of student achievement. • Creating a climate that fosters student engagement: • Construct smaller learning communities • De-emphasize competition

14. Strategies • Try to make the information relevant to their lives - Learning occurs best when connections are made to existing knowledge. • Make the students a part of the situation. • Acknowledge their input – Positive feedback is a powerful influence on the brain’s chemistry. It is essential for the development of a good self-concept (Sylwester 1997).

15. Classroom strategies for beginning readers: • Thematic Approach • Language-experience approach • Patterned Poems • Illustrating stories and poems • Direct Listening-Thinking Activity (DL-TA) • Cause and Effect Chart • Pantomime • Reader’s theater • Story map • Venn Diagram (NJCCS 3.1)

16. Classroom strategies for intermediate readers: • Thematic Approach • Anticipation Guide • Cognitive mapping • Literature Circles • Jigsaw Reading • Direct Reading-Thinking Activity (DR-TA) (Fluency) • Literature response journals • Developing scripts for reader’s theater. (Fluency) • Adapting Stories into plays and scripts for film and videotape.) • Literacy Centers (NJCCCS 3.1)

17. Thematic approach • Choose a theme – Incorporate multiple curriculum areas. • Allows all learning experiences to be interrelated and more meaningful to the students. • It can incorporate higher-level thinking skill, open-ended activities, cooperative learning, writing , research, and individualized learning.

18. Thematic Unit Example - Rainforest • Language Arts/Social Studies/Technology/Art • Science/Art/Language Art • Art/Science • Social Studies/Technology/Language Arts-Webquest • Mathematics/Technology • Health

19. Language Experience Approach - discussion bases on the content of the text - review vocabulary found in the reading - students summarize the reading or story for the teacher, who acts as a scribe and writes sentences on the board or chart paper. (NJCCCS 3.1, 3.2)

20. Target Learning Strategies Cause-Effect Chart • Planning • Using background knowledge • Taking notes • Summarizing Teachers – To preview or review material Students – To take notes or to organize their thoughts before writing

21. Target Learning Strategies Jigsaw Reading (Arronson, 1978) • Cooperating with peers • Summarizing • Self-assessment More material is covered in less time Venn Diagram • Comparing, Contrasting, and Analyzing

22. Target Learning Strategies Anticipation Guide • Using background knowledge • Predicting • Making inferences • Self-evaluation Jigsaw Reading • Cooperating with peers • Summarizing • Self-assessment

23. Literature Circles • Students are assigned one role for each discussion period. • The groups stay together for one novel. • Major roles for each discussion team include Questioner, Passage Master, Word Wizard and Artful Artist. • Roles can change depending on the book and the level of the students • Students take different roles for different discussion days. • All the students take different roles for different discussion days (all learn to look for vocabulary, all learn to develop questions and serve as Discussion Director, etc.) (Daniels, 1996 & Daniels and Bizar, 1999) (NJCCCS 3.2)

24. Readers’ Theater ” This form of oral reading deepens students’ understanding of characters’ emotions and personalities and helps them to communicate to an audience.” • Text is turned into dialogue and divided into parts for different readers. • Some parts should be reserved for the narrator. (Middle-grade students can create their own Readers’ Theater scripts). • Prompts can be used – hats scarves, etc. • Students sit on chairs or stools as they read their parts. (Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001)

25. PantomimeMimicking without words • Helps students deepen their involvement with the text • A way for students to respond as they read • Students stand up at intervals and transform the story being read by the group into a physical image. • Class first reads a section of the story, then each small group meets and creates its own pantomime of that section. • Share one at a time with the whole class. • At the end, the teacher asks each group to create a prediction for what will happen in the next part of the story which can be pantomime by the groups again. • As a way of retaining vocabulary – Ask the students to pantomime vocabulary words. (Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001)

26. Phonics Instruction for English Language Learners • The purpose of phonic instruction is to help students recognize words independently, not to have them state rules. • Principles: - Provide ample time for students to read and write for meaningful purposes, allowing. students to develop their own understanding of sound/symbol correspondences. - Teach phonics within a meaningful context. Enjoy the story or poem for meaning first, then teach the skill. - Remember that phonics and other word recognition strategies are a means to an end: comprehension. (NJCCCS 3.1) (Peregoy and Boyle, 2000)

27. Recognizing Words Independently • Poems and song lyrics written in large format on chart paper (to teach sight words, to develop word recognition and phonics knowledge). • Predictable books with repetitive patterns and phrases to teach or reinforce sound/symbol correspondences, including consonants, vowels, and letter sequences found in rhyming words. • Ask the students to write their own stories following the pattern in predictable books that they have heard several times. This will provide a chance for the students to put their phonics and sight word knowledge into meaningful practice. • Older students who are new to literacy – Same strategies. Short texts with age-appropriate content. Fortunately by Remy Charlip. • Song lyrics and poems – Good sources of predictable texts. (NJCCCS 3.1)

28. First Language • “During the initial years of exposure to English, continuing cognitive and academic development in first language is considered to be a key variable for academic success in second language.” (Garcia 1994; Tinajero & Ada, 1993. In Collier, 1995) • Later on, apply the techniques used to teach English as a second language. Quiero leer y escribir en mi idioma

29. Writing in a Second Language • Strategies to assist beginning writers: • Oral discussion • Personal journals • Dialogue journals • Buddy journals • Free writing (NJCCCS 3.2)

30. Strategies to assist intermediate writers • Show and not tell - Provides descriptive details about what the writer wants to convey. • Sentence combining • Sentence shortening • Sentence models • Process Writing: -Prewriting -Drafting -Revising -Editing -Publishing (NJCCCS 3.2)

31. Literacy Success • Create a literacy-rich classroom environment. • Books, books, books…

32. K W L PLUS • Recognizing what they have learned by making a graphic organizer. • Select categories and list facts under those categories (rethinking what they have learned). • Write an essay (additional opportunities to consolidate learning).

33. Initial Strategies to Teach English Comprehension to English language Learners Pre-reading Strategies • Background Knowledge Necessary to construct meaning from text. • Development of key vocabulary • Background Knowledge – Teacher builds upon the language, culture and experiential background that students bring to the classroom and relate knowledge to new information provided in the text. (NJCCCS 3.1)

34. Students may experience difficulties due to lack of prior knowledge on the particular topic to be read. • Background knowledge can often be accomplished through a sharing of the groups’ knowledge. • It may be recorded in a graphic format.

35. Guided Reading Strategies • Use questions before and during the reading to help the students to get meaning from the reading. • Hypothesizing or predicting questions. What do you think this story is about? What do you think will happen next? • Data acquisition questions • Summary questions • Reading aloud – Teacher model predicting, inferring, and connecting mew text to prior knowledge. (NJCCC 3.1)

36. Post-Reading Strategies • Retelling a story after reading - Offers a means for reinforcing and supporting comprehension. - Provides a means for integrating writing into the program. It can be done in cooperative learning groups, paired writing, or individually. • Building on the knowledge gained through the prereading activities. • More reading (NJCCCS 3.1)

37. ERRORS • Teacher should take into consideration: • The student’s English language developmental level • The prevalence of the error type • The importance of the error type for communication • Teacher’s specific goals for the students in terms of English language development • Should be corrected in a non-threatening way • Repeat correctly what the student has said incorrectly

38. Assessment • Portfolio Assessment • Multiple Measures for Assessment - Do not assess only through written tests. If you do not assess the English language learners in many different ways, you will not find out what they really know. • Observations - Anecdotal records - Check lists - Concrete materials. Opportunities to demonstrate that they understood the information.

39. References • Echevarria, J. and Graves, Anne. (1998). Sheltered Content Instruction Teaching English-Language Learners with Diverse Abilities. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. • Friedlander, M. (1991). The Newcomer Program: Helping Immigrant Students Succeed in U. S. Schools. • http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/ncbepubs/pigs/pigs.htm • Carrasquillo A. and Rodriguez V. (2002). Language Minority Students in the Toronto: Multilingual Matters Ltd. • Coolier, V. (1995). Promoting academic success for ESL students. NJTESOL/NJBE • Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books. • Krashen, S., and Terrell, T. (1983). The Natural Approach. Hayward: The Alemany Press. • Peregoy, S. F. and Boyle, O. F. (2000). Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL. New York: Longman. • Rothman, B. Practical phonics strategies to build beginning reading and writing skills. BER. • Sternberg, R. J. (1994). Allowing for Thinking Styles. Educational Leadership 52, 3. • Sylwester, R. (1997). The Neurobiology of Self-Esteem and Aggression. Educational Leadership 54 (5), 75-79. • Tomlinson, C. A. The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. ASCD. • Walter, T. (2004). Teaching English Language Learners. Longman. • Willis, S. and Mann, L. (2000). Differentiating Instruction. In Curriculum by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. • Weinberger, S. (1992). Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.