Download
1 / 21
210 likes | 394 Views
What is ESOL???. How do we know who needs language services?. Home Language Survey ESOL instructor notified if any other language is present on HLS Is student transferring from one of the 14 WIDA consortium states? Yes: ACCESS scores No: Administer WAPT
E N D
How do we know who needs language services? • Home Language Survey • ESOL instructor notified if any other language is present on HLS • Is student transferring from one of the 14 WIDA consortium states? Yes: ACCESS scores No: Administer WAPT ***Tests 4 language Domains across curriculum 4. Determine level of student tested: Level 1- Entering Level 2- Beginning Level 3- Developing Level 4- Expanding Level 5- Bridging Level 6- ELL-M or former ELL Level 7- never 5. Placement: ESOL classroom, ELL w/out services (waived students), test out
What are the Laws? • Participation in all standardized tests • Who is entitled to accommodations? -Are accommodations optional? -Who is responsible? 3. Can I tell my students to stop speaking Spanish? 4. Parent Communication -Translating Line - Letters sent home to parents
Who are our English Language Learners? Imagine what it feels like to lose your ability to communicate and sit in a classroom when you understand almost nothing. You cannot make even your simplest wishes known. Some of our children are here fleeing war, violence, and poverty and have been traumatized. Some are here just for a better life. Either way, most of them do not want to be here when they first arrive. Moving to another country and leaving everything behind is difficult. The worst part of it all? The key to human interaction, language, has been taken awayfrom them.
What country are they from? • language do they speak? • Are they immigrants or refugees? • What was life like in their native country? • What was their previous level of schooling? • What is their level of literacy in their native language? • What are some of the cultural aspects of their culture that may impact their experience in your class (taboos, sex roles, gestures, etc) Things to keep in mind…
Optimal Conditions for 2nd Language Acquisition An interactive, welcoming classroom is essential if students are to achieve their potential in school. ELLs need many opportunities to use language and interact with native speakers
1. Create a Welcoming Language-Rich environment with Opportunities for Immediate Success • Label different objects around your room • Show respect by learning an expression in their language • Praise them for what they can do and create frequent opportunities for success even if it is a simple task such as pointing to an object that you name • Assign classroom duties to your ELL to make them feel like a part of the group • Do not distort language, avoid idioms in speech and notes • Speak slowly
2. Build on Prior Knowledge and Teach Essential Vocab • Use organizational activities as often as possible such as semantic mapping, KWL, timelines to see what the student knows. Have them write it in their own language if necessary and then get a peer to help translate. • When possible, provide ELLs with a list of essential vocab a day or two before the introduction of new lessons so that a student can familiarize themselves with the new words • Question what students already know about the subject • Before lecturing, use photos, illustrations, demonstrations, videos, brainstorming, vocab preview, etc. to spark any background knowledge the student may have
3. Avoid Cultural Assumptions • Textual information often relies on cultural assumptions and information that ELL students will most likely not have. Have ELL students give examples from their own background that may relate to a unit you are discussing.
4. Use a variety of visual aids and teach to all learning styles • Context reduced material • Use visual clues to help students get meaning (i.e. facial expressions, gestures, pictures, charts, maps, etc.) • Graphic organizers are very helpful in allowing ELL students to plot complex material visually
5. Lighten the Linguistic Load • Limit sentences to one concept • Use examples • Try and use the subject-verb-object pattern for most sentences • Write a summary of the lesson in a simpler form of English • Simplify vocabulary but keep essential, technical vocab • Use repetition when giving directions to beginners • Remember that what is basic to you and me is not always basic to ELLs
6. Actively teach study skills • Students may need a lesson in how the textbook is organized and encourage them to use the text features such as the glossary, read-aloud cds, table of contents, etc. • Provide students with lists of words pertinent to lesson and have them categorize the words (i.e. people, places, events or reptile, mammal, etc) • Require that they keep a picture dictionary or make a note card box • Create an outline of the lesson using simple English. Have them cut up outline and put it back together to increase familiarity • Teach skills such as skimming and summarizing
8. Modify, Assess, and Accommodate • Oral assessments, projects, experiments… there are many different ways to assess. • Cloze technique, notes for beginner students to review pre-lesson • Don’t know how to modify? ….We can help!
9. Cooperative Learning • ELLs students greatly benefit from working with a buddy or in small group. • Include ELLs in heterogeneous groups even if their comprehension is low. It may not seem like it, but they are getting something!
10. Model! • Students who do not understand what you are saying can at least try and mimic what you or another classmate are doing. For very low level learners, even copying what someone else does is exposure. • Always give examples of what a finished product should look like x=?
11. Check for comprehension • Ask specific questions, not ones that will generate yes or no answers. • Vary your questioning techniques. For example, have low level students point to something or have a student translate something into his/her native language
12. Low-Anxiety Classroom • Create an atmosphere where students are comfortable asking you questions and not afraid to make mistakes. • Be careful about error correcting • Respect and understand the Language Acquisition phases
