Summer PD Series: Academic Language Demands for ELLs

I hope all my US teachers had a fabulous Independence Day! Today continues our Summer PD series with the third installment- Academic Language Demands for ELLs. 

When working with ELLs, we not only need to consider the content that we want them to learn, but the language they need to acquire in order to access the content and be successful with the lesson. In order to be sure that we are providing appropriate scaffolds and meeting students’ language learning needs, it is essential that we take time to analyze the language demands involved in each lesson.

Since I work in a WIDA state, I use the academic language features that WIDA has laid out in order to help me break down the language demands in a lesson. Here are the components that WIDA considers, and the questions that I ask myself when planning a lesson:

• Vocabulary Usage (Word Level)- What sort of vocabulary must be learned in order for students to access the content and participate in the lesson? What vocabulary is essential for students at all levels of language proficiency? What vocabulary could be useful to teach students at each level to extend their vocabulary beyond the essential terms?
• Language Forms and Conventions (Sentence Level)- What parts of speech or grammatical structures are used when talking or writing about the topic? When listening to or reading information? Consider grammatical structures, punctuation/conventions, parts of speech, and verb tenses.
• Linguistic Complexity (Discourse Level)- What organizational patterns are used? How much language do you expect students to produce or process? What sorts of transitions are used?

Take a look at the language analysis chart below for a 4th grade lesson on equivalent fractions.

	Levels 1-2	Levels 3-5	All levels
Vocabulary Usage	fraction names: one-fourth, one-half, three-eighths	greater than, less than, smaller than, bigger than, comparison	compare, denominator, equal, equivalent, fraction, numerator, part, whole
Language Forms and Conventions	- Short, simple sentences	-Compound sentences -Use of conjunctions, such as “because” or “since” to connect thoughts -use of comparatives, such as: greater than, bigger than, smaller than	-Present tense verbs -correct use of is, is not, are and are not
Linguistic Complexity	-no use of transitions to connect sentences and phrases	-paragraph format with cohesiveness and smooth transitions
Example	¼ is equivalent to 4/8. 1/3 is not equivalent to 4/6. ½, 2/4, 4/8 and 8/16 are all equivalent fractions.	When you compare ½ and 5/8 using fraction strips, you find that they are not equivalent because 5/8 is larger than ½.
Supports/ Instruction	-Sentence frames (simple sentences) -Explicit instruction in the correct use of “is” and “are”	-Sentence frames (compound sentences) -Explicit instruction in using conjunctions to create compound sentences	Word bank

As you can see, there’s actually quite a lot of language involved in a lesson about fractions, and students must be able to understand and use this language to be able to fully access the content of the lesson. The expectations for each level are shaped by the WIDA performance definitions for each level, and organizing my thoughts into a chart like this also allows me to determine the most appropriate supports or scaffolds to put in place for each level, as well as where brief but explicit instruction in the use of certain language structures might be needed.

I also advocate sharing this chart with mainstream teachers. Language growth and development is not solely the domain of the ESOL specialist- we all share this task. Providing a completed chart to teachers gives them concrete examples of the types of language they should expect students to process and produce during the lesson, as well as suggestions for supports they can provide. Teaching mainstream classroom teachers to use this chart to analyze the language demand of a lesson allows them a way to directly support the language growth of the ELLs in their own classrooms.

Once you’ve fully analyzed the language demands of a lesson and put appropriate supports in place, be ready to watch students soar!

Summer PD Series: Cooperative Learning for ELLs

I hope you're having a great summer! Unfortunately, my own summer isn't as relaxing as it could be because we are packing to move! But, I thought I'd take a few moments out to bring you the next installment in the summer PD series!

One of the most important ways ELLs acquire language- and content- is through using the language during interactions with peers. Cooperative learning gives students a chance to process thoughts and knowledge, gain insight into the thought processes of peers, and to learn from one another.

Most importantly, it gives them a chance to use and rehearse the language we want them to learn and remember. Using small group cooperative learning can also make our ELLs feel more comfortable- talking and working with a small group of people often feels safer than whole-group situations in the classroom.

While students do need to be able to work independently using the skills and knowledge they've learned, allowing them to explore that knowledge and practice those skills with their peers prior to independent practice is a valuable part of the learning experience.

With proper scaffolding, even students at the beginning levels of proficiency can participate. As an example, when my 4th graders were doing an activity using fraction strips to find equivalent fractions, we talked about, practiced and posted the names of each of the fractions, along with the sentence frames, The fractions _____ and ______ are equivalent and The fractions _____ and _____ are not equivalent. As I circulated and listened, even my level one student fresh from Ecuador was able to participate fully and communicate her understanding.

The slideshow below outlines several easy-to-implement cooperative learning strategies that can be used in any content area!

Summer PD Series: Questioning Techniques for ELLs

Well, today is my FIRST day of summer. WHOO! It started with some Battlestar Gallactica and kitty snuggles. Then I decided to start this summer blog series. I wanted to do a series of quick, short-and-sweet mini-PDs to help teachers as they plan for next year! I'll be covering a variety of topics, starting this week with questioning techniques!

Many times when I visit mainstream classrooms, I see a lack of questions directed to ELLs- even further, those that are directed towards ELLs are often not high-quality questions. There seems to be a pervading belief that ELLs are not capable of reasoning and responding to higher-order questions. As a result, the questions that are directed at ELLs are often lower on Bloom's Taxonomy.

Here's the big secret: ELLs are absolutely capable of higher-order thinking and responding to higher-order questions! We just need to scaffold the language for them so that they are able to demonstrate their understanding.

Here is an example: I visited a classroom a few weeks ago that had just gotten a brand-new student. I was observing a lesson on the American Revolution. The ESOL teacher posed a higher order question, and students wrote their responses. Sentence starters were provided for the intermediate students, and the new student was able to write in Spanish to answer the question. Her answer was absolutely correct, then the teacher and her native language buddy helped her write it in English.

This shows that even if our ELLs don't have the language to express their knowledge and understanding of what they're learning yet, they are absolutely capable of understanding and responding to higher order questions.  We need to scaffold the language to help them!

Questioning can be as simple as asking a question and having students respond thumbs up/thumbs down, or as elaborate as using a tool like Socrative, Plickers or Kahoot. It's a great strategy for helping students monitor comprehension during reading, too.

Questioning also involves having students construct their own questions! In the slideshow below is a little more information, along with a few low-tech options for teaching ELLs to formulate, differentiate, and respond to questions!