More Lingo

Here are some more acronyms you might hear in regards to your ESL students. I hope this is helpful in better understanding your resources and your students, as well as your communication about them.

• BICS- Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills- the language ability needed for casual conversation; usually develops within two years
• CALP- Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency- the language ability needed for learning academic skills and concepts in situations in which contextual clues are not present and an abstract use of language is required
• CUP- Common Underlying Proficiency- refers to the conceptual knowledge that acts as the foundation on which new skills are built; both languages, L1 and L2, facilitate development of such fundamental cognitive patterns within individuals
• SUP- Separate Underlying Proficiency- refers to the separate conceptual knowledge bases in L1 and L2, assuming that the two languages operate independently
• i + 1- comprehensible input- new information that an individual receives that is one step beyond his or her current stage of competence

Instructional Methods

• CALLA- cognitive academic language learning approach- a method of instruction that is grounded in the cognitive approach and focuses on the explicit instruction of learning strategies and the development of critical thinking as a means of acquiring deep levels of language proficiency
• ICB- integrated content-based- a communicative method that involves the concurrent teaching of academic subject matter and second language acquisition skills; this method often employs thematic units as well as content and language objectives across subject areas
• SDAIE- specially designed academic instruction in English- a variation of sheltered instruction that emphasizes cognitively demanding, grade-level appropriate core curriculum for ESL students; primarily applies to students who have attained an intermediate or advanced level of proficiency in L2 (English)
• SIOP- sheltered instruction observation protocol- a vehicle for delivering scaffolded instruction of the existing curriculum so that instruction is more comprehensible for individuals who are acquiring English

Source: Herrera, S.G & Murry, K.G. (2011). Mastering esl and bilingual methods. Boston: Pearson. 

Knowing the Lingo

When it comes to the educational world, there is no shortage of lingo. The same is true of English Language Learners. I want to do a series of posts that let you in on some of the lingo/acronyms you might hear when it comes to talking about your ESL students.

• CLD- Culturally and linguistically diverse-Applies to an individual whose culture or language differs from that of the dominant group
• ELD- English language development- used in some states for the programming model most commonly referred to as English as a second language (ESL)
• ELL- English Language Learner- individuals who are in the process of transitioning from a home or native language to English 
• ESL- English as a second language- a programming model in which linguistically diverse students are instructed in the use of English as a means of communication and learning
• ESOL-English for speakers of other languages- instruction that focuses primarily on the development of vocabulary and grammar as a means of learning English
• L1-first language- the first or native language acquired by an individual
• L2- second language- the second language acquired by an individual

Source: Herrera, S.G & Murry, K.G. (2011). Mastering esl and bilingual methods. Boston: Pearson. 

Cultivating Parent Partnerships, Part 2

Yesterday I did a post on cultivating parent partnerships and why this should be our goal as educators. Parents/caregivers of your ESL students may be even more hesitant to come to the school or initiate contact with you, so I wanted to give you some information on home visits to give you even more tools to cultivate those partnerships. Here are some tips to having a quality home visit:

• Allow the family to do the majority of the talking and question asking
• View the home visit as a way to step into your student's world
• Listen attentively
• Let your agenda be nothing else but to learn from the family; don't try to hold a parent/teacher conference
• Gather information that can be used in the curriculum or to make future connections with the student

According to Powell and Rightmyer (2011), "Research shows that there are many positive benefits to conducting home visits. Families tend to change their attitudes towards the educational process, their ability to work successfully with their child improves, and they begin to utilize outside resources more often. Children demonstrate positive behavior changes and their self-esteem improves. Most importantly, the gap between home and school is bridged. Families begin to feel empowered and a real sense of partnership develops. Friendships are formed and mutual trust and respect can be found"(p. 75).

What better incentive could we need to try a home visit soon?!

Source: Powell, R. & Rightmyer, E.C. (2011). Literacy for all students. New York: Routledge.

Cultivating Parent Partnerships, Part 1

"We must appreciate that a child's parent is their primary educator, and as such, they play a critical role in the child's academic success" (Powell & Rightmyer, 2011).

Parent/teacher partnerships increase student achievement, increase student educational aspirations, increase length of time spent attending school overall, and increases ratings/opinions of schools in general (Powell & Rightmyer, 2011).

This is just one example of all the research that shows the benefits of teacher/parent partnerships. So how do we as teachers develop those partnerships? Here are some ideas and things to consider:

Make your school/classroom a welcoming environment
Your classroom should be clean and inviting
Display student work
Look around your classroom--Pictures and literature should convey an appreciation of diversity
Encourage parents to participate/volunteer in a way that they feel comfortable

Communication
All communication should be open, polite, and respectful
Use vocabulary that families can understand (avoid educator lingo)
Use titles (Mr. Mrs. etc)
Be clear and concise
Have written material translated, if possible and/or necessary
Give full attention when the parent is talking

Give Them Time to Talk

One of the best ways to help your ESL students meet content and language goals is by giving them plenty of opportunities to talk. Here are some tips on creating conversation in your classroom:

• Arrange the classroom to accommodate conversation between the teacher and a small group of students on a regular and frequent schedule
• Have a clear academic goal that guides conversation with students
• Ensure that student talk occurs at higher rates than teacher talk
• Guide conversations to include students' views, judgments, and rationales, using text evidence and other substantive support
• Ensure that all students are included in the conversation according to their preferences
• Listen carefully to assess levels of students' understanding
• Assist students' learning throughout the conversation by questioning, restating, praising, encouraging.
• Guide the students to prepare a product that indicates the goal of the instructional conversation was achieved.

Source: Diaz-Rico, L.T & Weed, K.Z. (2010). The crosscultural, language, and academic developmental handbook. Allyn & Bacon: Boston.

Inside Outside Circles

Here's a short video I made (my first one!!) describing one of my favorite cooperative learning activities. I've used it many times in my high school Spanish classroom, and students always love it and it's a great way to formatively assess because you have the chance to hear all students working with the content, as well as practicing listening and speaking skills. I hope you're able to try it soon and that you love it as much as I do!

Best Practices Booklet

At www.tolerance.org, they have put together a great booklet of information on best practices in the following areas:

• Communication
• School Climate
• Student Registration 

Each section shares best practice information regarding your English as a Second Language population of students and parents, as well as practical tips. It is very short but very useful! You can find the booklet here.

Thanks to Dr. Broady's blog for making me aware of this great resource so I can pass it on!

Connecting with Parents

Here is a short video where a teacher shares some ideas she has used to successfully connect with parents. Enjoy!

Great Teacher Interview

I recently did a blog post about building a culturally responsive classroom. We talked about how the four components of such a classroom are as follows:

• Using what students know
• Affirming students' identities
• Presenting diverse perspectives
• Examining real-world issues

In this interview, you will hear from a teacher that has created such a classroom, and the interview is full of great ideas and tips as well as lots of her personal experience. Check it out here! 

Need Culturally Inclusive Lesson Plan Ideas?

I recently came across this website via a blog I follow (here), and it is loaded with great stuff! There are lots of lesson plan ideas and resources, as well as interviews with teachers that have great ideas. Lesson plan ideas are labeled with age/grade levels, so that makes it easy to find what you need. Check it out! I think you'll easily find something you can use!

Viewing Your ESL Students as an Asset

As mainstream teachers, it is sometimes easy to fall into the trap of thinking of all of the things our ESL students do NOT have, rather than considering all they DO bring to the classroom. This is called a deficit mentality versus an asset mentality.

I follow a blog (here) that posted this video, and it is a short but powerful description of an asset mentality and shows how we as educators can determine to have a paradigm shift, where the focus becomes all our students possess rather than what they lack. I hope you'll watch and be impacted as I was!

Wiki What?

You, like me only a short time ago, may have heard the word wiki and really have no idea what it is, but guess who does know? Probably your students. Technology is ever changing, and students have a way of staying on top of all of the latest technological developments. Tapping into this natural interest and excitement is a great way to engage your students.

In this post, I want to talk a little about wikis (because a little is all I know!) and how they might be beneficial in your classroom. I am deeply indebted to Lori Langer de Ramirez's book Empower English Language Learners with Tools From the Web. This short and highly relevant book has helped me to understand what a wiki is and how it can be integrated into your classroom.

A wiki is basically a webpage that, depending on your settings, can be edited by anyone. It is a quick and convenient way to add content to the Web. Basically, if you are authorized to make changes, you click the edit button, add the content or make the changes you would like, and then save. The wiki keeps a history of who made what changes to the site. You can also easily create links to new pages.

Wikis are nice because they provide a fast and convenient way for students to "work" together or with their teachers. Due to the lack of face to face time, they may also allow students, particularly ESL students, to interact and contribute more than they might otherwise.

De Ramirez gives the following suggestions for ways to use wikis in your classroom:

• Webquests
• Collaborative projects
• Coauthoring of essays or reports
• Interactive games (i.e. "what would you do next..." games)
• Planning for a class event
• Sign-up sheets for events
• Quick and easy Web sites with links and resources
• Online study communities
• A place to post and share student work

Join me in learning more about wikis and sharing tips and ideas on how to use them!

Building a Culturally Responsive Classroom, Part 3

In Part 2 of this post series, I told you I would give you some ideas for the last two components of a culturally responsive classroom. To review, such a classroom has four components:

• Using what students know
• Affirming students' identities
• Presenting diverse perspectives
• Examining real-world issues

In Part 2, I gave you what were hopefully some ideas to get you started in the first two components. Now I'd like to give you some ideas for the second two. Most of these ideas come from Literacy for All Students (Powell & Rightmyer, 2011).

Presenting diverse perspectives--

• Teach students to view all texts and non-print material with a critical eye
• Encourage students to question and challenge the ideas presented and to question what is missing
• Provide students with specific structures that require them to view an issue from different perspectives
• Have students dramatize a text so that they view it from the point of view of multiple protagonists
• Ask students to take various stances as they read aloud from a text
• Allow questions to come and be discussed without trying to provide an immediate explanation

Examining real-world issues--

• Take a few minutes of class time to engage students over real-world issues
• Function as the guide, not the authority, helping students examine issues through various perspectives
• Include texts that deal with the real-life issues of your students as well as national and global issues

Building a Culturally Responsive Classroom, Part 2

In Part 1 of this post, we talked about why the culturally responsive classroom should be the goal of every teacher. In this post, I hope to give you some ideas to get you started in building your own culturally responsive classroom.

To review, the framework for the culturally responsive classroom includes the following (simplified from the bullet points in the previous post):

• Using what student know
• Affirming students' identities
• Presenting diverse perspectives
• Examining real-world issues

Let's briefly take a look at some ways to address the first two of these components. In a later post, we'll talk about some ideas for the second two.

Using what students know--

In order to use what they know, you must know what they know! This means you have to build relationships not only with your students but also their families and communities. You can connect to students by "intentionally and consistently including opportunities for discussion and sharing" (Powell & Rightmyer, p. 133). Give students opportunites to share about themselves (through pictures, family interviews, sharing of songs or traditions, etc) and include the information you glean into your lessons. In a later post, we'll talk about home visits as another great way to gather this kind of information.

Affirming students' identities--

Having and incorporating multicultural literature in your classroom is a great starting point. Here are some tips (from B.Y. Louie, 2006) to keep in mind when choosing such literature:

• Check the text's authenticity
• Help learners understand the characters' world
• Encourage children to see the world throught the characters' perspectives
• Identify vaules underlying the characters' conflict resolution strategies
• Relate self the the text and critique the portrayal of characters in the text and in popular media
• Use variants of the same story or collection of stories to help students build schema
• Encourage students to talk, write, and respond throughout reading the multicultural texts.

I hope these tips and ideas are a helpful starting point for you as you begin to think about your classroom as a culturally responsive one!

Building a Culturally Responsive Classroom, Part 1

First let's talk about the components of a culturally responsive classroom and why that should be your goal, then we can talk more about the how-to's.

According the Powell and Rightmyer in their book Literacy for all Students, the curriculum in culturally responsive classrooms is designed to do the following:

• make explicit links to student' cultural knowledge
• affirm students' identities
• prepare students to understand multiple perspectives 
• involve students with real-world, relevant issues in order to empower them to transform their communities

Creating a culturally responsive classroom will create an inclusive environment in which every student is respected and set up for academic and social success. As Powell and Rightmyer tell us, "Students whose language, ethnicity and race are not represented in the school's dominant culture experience varying degrees of success in school" (p. 127). As educators, we want our classrooms to represent the language, ethnicity and race of all of our students so that they feel an integral part of the culutre of your classroom.

But Can Your ESL Students Understand You?

One term that ESL teachers and researchers often use when talking about instructing ESL students is guarded vocabulary. Yesterday, I posted a video link to Stephen Krashen talking about comprehensible input and how important it is that your students be able to understand you. One way to help with this is by using guarded vocabulary, so I wanted to explain the term a little more so you can be sure to implement it in your classroom.

According to Herrera and Murry in their book Mastering ESL and Bilingual Methods, guarded vocabulary does NOT involve "unnatural speech or raising the volume of instruction" (p. 275) but rather involves " linguistic actions on the part of the instructor that increase the comprehensibility of instruction" (p. 275). So what does that mean? What are these linguistic actions? Well here are some ideas...

• Slowing the rate of speech
• Emphasizing word enunciation
• Simplifying the vocabulary used. In other words, stating things as simply as possible
• Using more consistent vocabulary with appropriate repetition (songs, raps, chants, etc)
• Using shorter sentences with simpler syntax
• Inserting more pauses between phrases

I hope these ideas are helpful and you are able to implement some of them right away! First, try making some observations about your speech and see which of these ideas your students could most benefit from. 

Sending the "Right" Message

Stephen Krashen maintains that people acquire language when they can understand the message. You may have heard the term comprehensible input but are wondering what it means and how you can use it with your ESL students. Here is a short video where Stephen Krashen explains and demonstrates comprehensible input. If the concept of comprehensible input is new to you, I think this video will really help clarify!

25 Online Games for English Language Learners

Check out this blog post at http://broadyesl.wordpress.com for some great ideas for games to teach and review English!

http://broadyesl.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/25-terrific-online-games-for-english-language-learners/

Welcome to My Blog!

A short podcast I created to welcome you...

Ways to Involve Parents in Your Classroom

"Strong parent involvement is one factor that research has shown time and time again to have positive effects on academic achievement and school attitudes" (Ovando & Collier, 1998)

If you are looking for a way to increase achievement among your English Language Learners, and students in general, then make room for them to volunteer in your classroom. Realize that some of the parents of your ESL students may work multiple jobs in order to provide for their children and may be intimidated by the school environment. These are possible reasons why parents may not volunteer, so don't assume it's because they are disengaged or indifferent to the child's education. When parents are able to volunteer, here are some ways they can contribute:

• Setting up learning centers
• Working with projectors, recorders, listening posts
• Sharing about their culture
• Accompanying small groups to the library
• Recording primary-language stories
• Supervising individual testing

Tips for Choosing Appropriate Materials for Use with English Language Learners

Diaz-Rico and Weed, in their book The Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development Handbook, give the following tips on how to choose appropriate material for your English Language Learners. The two most important questions to ask are these:

• Are the content objectives for the lesson adequately presented by the material?
• Is the material comprehensible to English learners?

How do you know if it's comprehensible to all students? Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the information accurate, up-to-date, and thorough?
• Are the tasks required of students appropriate to the discipline?
• Is the text clearly organized, with print and layout features that assist students' comprehension?
• Does the text appeal to a variety of learning styles?
• Is the language of the text straightfoward, without complex syntactic patterns, idioms, or excessive jargon?
• Is new content vocabulary clearly defined within the text or in a glossary?
• Are diagrams, graphs, and charts clearly labeled and complement and clarify the text?
• Will most of the students have prior experience with the content, or will much time be necessary for schema building?

These questions are attributed to Allan & Miller, 2005)

I know all of these questions may seem overwhelming but hopefully they just give you some ideas for how to look at your materials with fresh eyes, taking all of your learners into consideration.

Tips on Language Error Correction, Part 2

Here are some more tips on how to address language errors in your ESL students:

• Listen carefully and make observations from writing samples so you can identify the recurring errors your students are making
• Address these errors in mini-lessons to the whole class, a small group of students, or one-on-one
• When you address errors, have students jot down their errors along with the corrections in a journal. This gives them a reference source to use in the future.

When and How to Correct Language Errors in Your ESL Students, Part 1

This is a topic I am always wondering about, and I recently read some of the best advice I've heard on the subject. The following are some of the perspectives offered by Diaz-Rico and Weed in their book The Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development Handbook:

• In the early stages of language learning, fluency is more important than accuracy, therefore converse in and model appropriate language.
• Focus on the student's message and provide correction only when meaning is not clear.
• If students are older or have higher English proficiency, they need and will benefit from feedback on recurring errors. 
• Listen for recurring errors and then address them whole class, in small groups, or one-on-one.
• Random errors need not be corrected; focus on recurring errors.

Strategies for Increasing Comprehensibility

When communicating with your ESL students, you want to make sure they understand your meaning as clearly as possible and vice versa. Here are few ways to help make sure you and your students are understanding one another:

• Use sentence structures that expand the students' output by supplying needed phrases and vocabulary
• Use gestures to convey instructions
• Concentrate on understanding and communicating rather than on error correction
• Provide alternative grouping procedures so that students can share their understanding with one another and with the teacher
• Maintain regular classroom procedures and routines

These ideas were drawn from Diaz-Rico and Weed's The Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development Handbook

Making Text More Understandable to English Learners

Here are some ways to make a text more comprehensible to the English learners in your classroom:

• Supply an advance organizer for the text that highlights they key topics and concepts in outline form, as focus questions, or in the form of concept maps
• Change the modality from written to oral. By reading aloud, you can also model the press of posing questions while reading to show prediction strategies used when working with text
• Tape-record selected passages for students to listen to as they read along in the text. These recordings could even be uploaded to your class website or blog for students to access at home.
• Develop a study guide for the text. For each reading section, create ten sentences that reflect the main ideas, then turn each sentence into a question or selectively omit key words that students must supply
• Ask student to work in groups so they can share their notes and help one another complete missing parts or correct misunderstood concepts

Try one of these ideas in your classroom today!

These ideas were taken from a great book called The Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Devlopment Handbook by Lynne T. Diaz-Rico and Kathryn Z. Weed

Ways to Supplement the Verbal Presentation of a Lesson

English learners, and students in general, are more likely to comprehend a concept when that concept is contextualized. This means that the concept is reinforced through the use of media, realia, manipulatives and human resources. Take a look around your classroom and see if you have plenty of visuals to help reinforce the lessons you are currently teaching. Here are some items to help you do this:

Object Resources

• Picture files
• Maps and Globes
• Charts and posters
• Printed material such as illustrated books, catalogs, and magazines
• Puzzles
• Science equipment
• Manipulatives such as M&Ms, buttons, tongue depressors, and gummy bears
• Costumes
• Computer software
• Internet

Human Resources

• Cooperative groups
• Pairs
• Cross-age tutors
• Heterogeneous groups
• Community resource people
• School resource people
• Parents 
• Pen pals (adult and child)
• Keypals

These suggestions come from the Diaz-Rico/Weed text The Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development Handbook

Helping Students to Understand Internet Safety Guidelines

I wanted to give you an idea for a quick assignment that students will enjoy and will also be helpful for them in evaluating their use of not only the computer and peripherals but also the caution they exercise when using social media. This assignment addresses all four standards of Goal 1. Goal 1 states: Language learners demonstrate foundational knowledge and skills in technology for a multilingual world.

Have students look at the facebook page or blog of someone they do not know. Have them collect and note all of the information they can find about the creator of the page/blog. Ask them to look at posts/status, pictures, about me sections, comments, etc. Have them note all the ways that personal information or information about location is available on the page/blog. If you do this assignment in the lab, leave about 25 minutes at the end of class for discussion. This assignment could also be given as homework, but it might be easier to do it as a class in the lab. Initiate a discussion where students share what types of personal information they were able to find out about someone they did not know. Ask students if they would like this same information available about themselves and why or why not. Have them talk about why information like this (location, age, photos, etc) is sensitive and not appropriate for general consumption. The goal is to help students learn to exercise appropriate caution when using web resources (TESOL Technology Standards: Goal 1, Standard 3), although as a side benefit, students must demonstrate their ability to meet Standards 1, 2, and 4 in the process. As a follow up assignment, have them visit their own facebook page or blog and make sure their settings are set to the maximum amount of privacy and make sure they are not giving away information that they don't want available to the general public.

As I Learn, the Blog Grows

Since I started this blog, I have learned so much more about English Language Learners and their needs. I hope that I can share some of that here on this blog in a way that will be useful and encouraging to teachers that are seeking information on how to help meet the unique needs of their ELLs. Please check back as I make several new additions over the next few weeks!