Teaching Mathematics to ELL Students

1. Teaching Mathematics to ELL Students West Cook Mathematics Initiative ESL Series Session #3

2. WELCOME TO SESSION #3 Please pick up your name tent, name tag, agenda, and a binder.

3. SESSION PURPOSES • To continue facilitating participants’ capacities to write language objectives, which support math content objectives. • To provide opportunities for participants to practice identifying features of three of the SIOP components—Lesson Preparation, Building Background and Comprehensible Input. • To continue facilitating participants’ capacities to differentiate for different levels of English language proficiency, with a review of the characteristics of Level 1 ELL’s and an introduction to the characteristics of Level 2 ELL’s.

4. BUILDING BACKGROUND CONTENT OBJECTIVES Participants will be able to: • Recognize the value of tapping into students’ background knowledge and building upon it. • Identify strategies to make links for their students between past learning and new concepts. • Identify strategies to introduce and emphasize key vocabulary. • Incorporate the above components into a lesson plan.

5. BUILDING BACKGROUND LANGUAGE OBJECTIVES Participants will be able to: • Discuss the features of building background after reading and discussing the SIOP vignettes in small groups. • Discuss the features of building background after viewing and taking notes on a video clip that illustrates that feature.

6. COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT CONTENT OBJECTIVES Participants will be able to: • Explore strategies and techniques for presenting content information in ways that students understand. • Review various ways to model and provide directions for academic tasks. .

7. COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT LANGUAGE OBJECTIVES Participants will be able to: • Discuss modifications to teacher speech that can increase student comprehension. • Write the steps needed for students to perform an academic task and have a partner perform each step.

8. LESSON PREPARATION • Effective SIOP lessons require careful planning with specific content and language objectives for each lesson so that students know precisely what they will do and learn. These objectives are derived from a variety of sources, including state and district standards, TESOL standards for English learners, the SIOP lesson planning checklist, and colleagues’ ideas.

9. LESSON PREPARATIONFEATURES #1 & #2 • CONTENT OBJECTIVES clearly defined, displayed, and reviewed with students • LANGUAGE OBJECTIVES clearly defined, displayed, and reviewed with students.

10. LESSON PREPARATIONFEATURES #3 & #4 • CONTENT CONCEPTS appropriate for age and educational background levels of students. • SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS used to a high degree, making the lesson clear and meaningful (e.g. computer programs, graphs, models, visuals)

11. LESSON PREPARATIONFEATURES #5 & #6 • ADAPTATION OF CONTENT (e.g. text assignments) to all levels of student English language proficiency • MEANINGFUL ACTIVITIES that integrate lesson concepts (e.g. interviews, letter writing, simulations, models) with language practice opportunities for reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking

12. GOING BEYOND “JUST GOOD INSTRUCTION” • LANGUAGE OBJECTIVES clearly defined, displayed, and reviewed with students. • ADAPTATION OF CONTENT (e.g. text assignments) to all levels of student English language proficiency

13. COMMUNICATING OBJECTIVES • Try your hand at writing language objectives. • See how your students respond to explicit identification of lesson content and language objectives.

14. LOOKING FOR LESSON PREPARATION FEATURES • Ms. Chen • Mrs. Hargroves • Mr. Hensen

15. LEVEL 1 ELL’s • Review of Level 1 characteristics . • Review of strategies for accommodating learning needs of Level 1’s

16. Level 1 Student Descriptors LISTENING • May be hearing new sounds not articulated or heard in primary language • Heavy reliance on contextual clues in the environment to make meaning • Why would this stage be particularly critical for language learner?

17. Level 1 Student Descriptors SPEAKING • “silent period” which may last from days to months (Krashen, 1982) • Nonverbal communication responses • Brief or memorized oral communication responses

18. Level 1 Student Descriptors SPEAKING • Focus on “survival English” • Benefits from specific instruction related to successful daily interactions and tasks • Learns a lot from informal interactions with peers • Sustained peer interactions should be part of instructional plans

19. Level 1 Student Descriptors READING • Students who can read in their first language: May being to transfer skills to English • Students who are pre-literate in any language: Will rely on visual context clues • Both will need strong foundation and familiarity with range of English sounds

20. Level 1 Student Descriptors WRITING • At lower end, work may take form of pictures or copying words, phrases, and sentences. • With increased speaking proficiency, Level 1 ELL’s may dictate words and phrases • Important to distinguish between pre-literate and those who have transferrable language skills

21. Differentiating Assignments for ELL’s

22. BUILDING BACKGROUND • A learner’s schema, or knowledge of the world, provides a basis for understanding, learning, and remembering facts and ideas found in texts.

23. THE INFLUENCE OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE PARTNER 1 PARTNER 2 Write a description of the main character in the passage. Compare your “visions” of the main character. • Read the passage on Reproducible 4.4 aloud to your fall or winter partner. • Read your partner’s description, then describe your “vision” of the main character.

24. Links to Learning • MEANINGFUL ACTIVITIES that integrate lesson concepts (e.g. interviews, letter writing, simulations, models) with language practice opportunities for reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking

25. Links to Experience • Why is it important to connect learning to students’ personal experiences? • What kinds of activities effectively do this?

26. Key Vocabulary • Find your table’s assigned word or phrase on the pages indicated on the index card. • Determine what the word or phrase means from the context of the pages. • Convey your group’s understanding of the word or phrase, using the 4-Corners worksheet. • Post your newsprint sheets. • Look at the other newsprint sheets.

27. The Insert Method With a partner, read about SIOP Feature 8 on p. 58. Insert the following codes directly into the text, as you read the paragraph: • A check (✔) mark to indicate a concept or fact that you already know. • A question (?) mark to indicate a concept or fact that is confusing or not understood. • An exclamation (!) to indicate something that is new, unusual, or interesting. • A plus (+) sign to indicate an idea or concept that is new. • Share your markings with another pair of partners.

28. BUILDING BACKGROUND • Students from culturally diverse backgrounds may struggle to comprehend texts and concepts due to a mismatch in schemata.

29. BUILDING BACKGROUND • Most reading material, such as content area texts, relies on an assumption of common prior knowledge and experience.

30. BUILDING BACKGROUND FEATURES #7 & #8 CONCEPTS EXPLICITLY LINKED to students’ background experiences. LINKS EXPLICITLY MADE between past learning and new concepts

31. BUILDING BACKGROUND • Vocabulary knowledge correlates strongly with academic achievement and reading comprehension.

32. BUILDING BACKGROUND • Limited vocabularies prevent students from comprehending content texts, such as science passages, math instructions, and directions for completing assignments.

33. BUILDING BACKGROUND FEATURE #9 • KEY VOCABULARY emphasized (e.g. introduced, written, repeated, and highlighted for students to see)

34. Importance of Building the Language of Mathematics • According to Braselton and Decker (1994), “Mathematics is the most difficult content area material to read because there are more concepts per word, per sentence, and per paragraph than in any other subject; the mixture of words, numerals, letters, symbols, and graphics requires the reader to shift from one type of vocabulary to another.”

35. Teaching Scenarios Read the lesson overview on pp. 68 and 69, then read and rate one of the following lessons found in Chapter 3 of Making Content Comprehensible: • Miss Paige (pp. 69 & 70) • Mrs. Jarmin (pp. 70 – 73) • Mr. Ramirez (pp. 73 & 74) Compare your group’s rating to those on pp. 74 & 75.

36. Video Clip • What I’ve done lately… • What the video teacher did…

37. Rate Your Practice • 1 = a regular part of my teaching practice • 2 = sometimes I use this technique • 3 = is not a part of my teaching practice

38. Comprehensible Input • Comprises some of the features that make SIOP instruction different from “just good instruction.” • Takes into account the unique characteristics of ELL’s. • Makes use of many clues. • Uses appropriate speech. • Goes beyond simply showing pictures as visual clues during a lesson.

39. COMPREHENSIBLE INPUTFEATURE #10 • SPEECH APPROPRIATE FOR STUDENTS’ PROFICIENCY LEVELS with attention to: • Rate and enunciation (how the teacher speaks) • Complexity of speech (what the teacher says)

40. COMPREHENSIBLE INPUTFEATURES #11 & #12 • CLEAR EXPLANATION OF ACADEMIC TASKS presented in a step-by-step manner, preferably with modeling • A VARIETY OF TECHNIQUES USED TO MAKE CONTENT CONCEPTS CLEAR including gestures, body language, pictures, and objects to accompany speech

41. COMPREHENSIBLE INPUTMAIN POINTS • Language is most easily acquired when: • Lessons are interesting and relevant. • Instruction follows natural language patterns • Input is provided in sufficient quantity. • There is appropriate monitoring of efforts, since overcorrection increases student anxiety. • The message is clear so that the learner can understand.

42. COMPREHENSIBLE INPUTMAIN POINTS • It is important for teachers to know the English language acquisition level of their students and plan to make content comprehensible, based on the language needs of each student. • Students at lower levels of English proficiency are not necessarily functioning at lower levels of cognitive ability. • It is critical that students know what is expected and that step-by-step instructions are written for students to see and use.

43. Level 1 Student Descriptors LISTENING • May be hearing new sounds not articulated or heard in primary language • Heavy reliance on contextual clues in the environment to make meaning • Why would this stage be particularly critical for language learner?

44. Level 2 Student Descriptors LISTENING • Comprehension of simple, contextualized sentences related to social and academic content • Still becoming familiar with new sounds in English • Reliance on commonly heard words, chunks, and expressions to construct meaning

45. Level 1 Student Descriptors SPEAKING • “silent period” which may last from days to months (Krashen, 1982) • Nonverbal communication responses • Brief or memorized oral communication responses

46. Level 1 Student Descriptors SPEAKING • Focus on “survival English” • Benefits from specific instruction related to successful daily interactions and tasks • Learns a lot from informal interactions with peers • Sustained peer interactions should be part of instructional plans

47. Level 2 Student Descriptors SPEAKING • Can use simple sentences • Reliance on telegraphic speech to talk in social and academic settings • Mistakes may prevent understanding. • Pronunciation may not be accurate.

48. Level 1 Student Descriptors READING • Students who can read in their first language: May being to transfer skills to English • Students who are pre-literate in any language: Will rely on visual context clues • Both will need strong foundation and familiarity with range of English sounds

49. Level 2 Student Descriptors READING • Students who can read in their first language start to recognize written language more readily than those students not literate in their first language. • ALERT: May appear to be reading full passages, relying on first language phonetic learning to read aloud but may be reading without comprehension.

50. Level 1 Student Descriptors WRITING • At lower end, work may take form of pictures or copying words, phrases, and sentences. • With increased speaking proficiency, Level 1 ELL’s may dictate words and phrases • Important to distinguish between pre-literate and those who have transferrable language skills