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Based on your knowledge as students and experiences as teachers…

This study explores the challenges faced by English language learners (ELLs) in mainstream social studies classes and examines strategies for making English more accessible. The study highlights the importance of language and content integration, as well as the role of social and cultural factors in ELL success.

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Based on your knowledge as students and experiences as teachers…

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  1. Based on your knowledge as students and experiences as teachers… What general strategies might be useful in making English more accessible and comprehensible to English language learners? For example, a grade 9 student coming to Vancouver from Shanghai.

  2. LANGUAGE, LITERACY, CONTENT AND (POP) CULTURE Challenges for ESL Students in Mainstream Classes —Patricia A. Duff

  3. PREVIOUS RESEARCH

  4. THE STATUS-QUO • ELLs must master linguistic, sociocultural, discursive, and content-specific norms to succeed • Sensitive populations were more likely to drop-out of schools • ELLs are being expedited into mainstream classes more regularly at present than before

  5. THE GAP • There is research on students in ELL classrooms but little on their success after mainstreaming in high school • By the 1990s there were significant populations of ELL students in elementary classrooms in Canada and the US • ELLs struggled the most with Social Studies and English

  6. THE SOCIAL SITCH. • When ELLs enter the mainstream, their social skills and language abilities are often not on par with peers

  7. INTEGRATING LANGUAGE & CONTENT • There are strategies developed to aid ELLs with developing L&C in specific subjects • Syntactic, lexical and rhetorical structures/genres paired with specific texts • The most successful L&C development occurs in “sheltered classrooms” • Mainstream classes are less successful in L&C integration

  8. ELL CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES IN SOCIAL STUDIES • ELLs are at a disadvantage in mainstream social studies classes • Social studies textbooks are often too confusing or dense for ELL students to understand • Strategies to aid ELLs: • Define key words, concepts and tasks • Retell sequences of events • Compare and contrast events • Execute written and oral assignments

  9. THE STUDY

  10. WHERE? • High school grade 8-12 with a large ESL population (Cantonese and Mandarin speaking) • Half of the students born outside Canada • Research in 2 SS10 classes (one with 17 ESL and 2nd with 8 ESL deemed proficient enough to be in a mainstream class)

  11. WHAT? • Research question: • What are the observed and reported challenges facing ESL students in two SS10 classes, in terms of language, literacy, content and culture, and how if at all are these challenges met?

  12. HOW? • Observed, videotaped and audio recorded. • 30 minute one on one interviews with students after school (both English L-1 and ESL students) • 45-60 minute interviews with teachers

  13. WHAT HAPPENED? • ESL students not interested due to white male perspective • Teachers dealt with this by bringing in short articles on related content through the view of a more multi cultural perspective. • Due to the photocopy budget students were only able to read the article once in class and hand it back in (for the next class)

  14. GROUP PROJECTS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES • Projects were used to promote students participation and social interaction - Making a cover of an old newspaper • Structured debates and discussions were used • Mock trial of Louis Riel was acted out - However most ESL students shied away from talking

  15. CURRENT EVENT DISCUSSION • Both ESL and local students enjoyed it however the discussion favoured local students and local events • ESL students often brought current events from their home country or culture which were interesting but not enough people knew about it to generate a discussion.

  16. SOCIOCULTURAL ISSUES AND (POP) CULTURE • Teacher used pop culture references to keep class engaged • ESL students didn't understand pop references in class • ESL students didn't care about North American pop culture because they didn't understand English

  17. CONCLUSION • ESL students get put into mainstream classes at a certain language ability. • What ESL students actually need to succeed in a SS10 class Sufficient language ability Knowledge of academic language Knowledge of pop culture Knowledge of local current events

  18. HOWEVER • ESL students usually did average or above average compared to the local students • This is due to better study habits, diligence and resourcefulness

  19. FINALLY • All educators should be more aware of complexities of language, content and cognition in their disciplines.

  20. TEACHER’S PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE IN SCAFFOLDING ACADEMIC LITERACIES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS • Margaret Early, Diane Potts, Bernard Mohan Argument • ESL teachers have expertise and are important in developing successful classrooms for English language learners

  21. WHAT THE ARTICLE PRESENTS • The design of a collaborative unit developed by an ESL professional and a ’mainstream’ classroom teacher • Two models are used to analyze WHAT is taught in the unit and HOW it is taught • WHAT model = Mohan’s ‘Knowledge Framework’ • HOW model = “neo-Vygotskian Early and Hooper model” (scaffolding)

  22. THE KNOWLEDGE FRAMEWORK (KF) • “A view of language as discourse in the context of social practice/activity” • A heuristic tool • Social practice is made up of two components: 1. Knowledge (Theory) 2. Action (Practice) • Each component of the social practice/activity includes ’Knowledge Structures’ (KS)

  23. KF KF used to design classroom tasks Knowledge (Theory) Action (Practice) Knowledge Structures (KS) Classification Principles Evaluation Description Sequence Choice

  24. SCAFFOLDING • For use along with the KF • Three stages: • Assessing and building background knowledge • Thinking and discoursing through the topic or activity • Reconstructing and realizing knowledge to scaffold students’ organization and consolidation of new understandings

  25. EXAMPLE FROM THE ARTICLE • Teacher sets a goal • KF is used to design an activity and analyze necessary language and content demands • Teacher realizes the scaffolding needed for students to succeed in the activity

  26. Goal: have students read and interpret a story • Activity: Compare and contrast a character’s good and evil characteristics through evidence from the novel • Language and Content Demands: need KS of classification and description • Scaffolding: Brainstorm adjectives to describe characters • Visual organizer: T-chart • Extension: have students write an essay comparing characters, plot events, settings, and emotions for qualities of good and evil

  27. CONCLUSION Teaching content to ESL students is challenging and requires the expertise of qualified ESL teachers who can utilize their knowledge of language, heuristic tools, and models, to successfully develop their students’ language skills.

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