Building Bridges for Emergent Bilinguals, Part

V: Writing Across the

Content AreasRebecca Curinga, PD CoordinatorIngrid Heidrick, PD Facilitator

PD Session #5April 4, 2014The CUNY Graduate Center, Room C201

Agenda

8:45 Review of concept maps and vocabulary9:15 Becoming a writer and a framework for

writing using bilingual approaches10:30 Break

10:45 How the 7-week Bridges Curriculum cycle supports writing

12:00 Lunch1:00 Practicing writing activities across content

areas using the Bridges Curriculum2:30 Wrap-Up, homework and evaluation 2

3

Activity 1:Review from last session

HW Assignment Review

•Create a Concept Map for a Tier 2 or Tier 3 word.

•Develop at least two word play activities for related Tier 1 and Tier 2 vocabulary.

You have 5 minutes to discuss and present. 4

5

What does it mean to know a word?

I never heard it hemiola

I have a sense of it

ubiquitous

I know it

fruit6

Knowledge of a word is incremental!

We know approximately 20, 000 word families. We use about 10% of our vocabulary very

frequently, but the majority of words we know are low-frequency and comprise a wide range of topics.

Our knowledge of all words is not the same:

What does a monolingual’s vocabulary look like?

7

semantic: an edible part of a plant,

usually fleshy and containing seeds;

banana, apple, orange;

vegetables, dairy, meat

collocations/idioms: bear

fruit, forbidden fruit, fruits of one’s labor

frequency: 43 times per million

words; easily accessible

phonological: [fru:t], [fru:ts], [fru:te]

rhymes with suit; sounds like fresh,

friend, front

morphological:fruit-s, fruit-y

syntactic: (noun) a, the fruit; fruit

pragmatic: general term;

no specific context

fruit

What does a bilingual’s vocabulary look like?

8

fruit, fruto/fruta

phonological: [fru:t], [‘fru:to] [‘fru:ta]rhymes with suit; bruta; sounds like fruto/a, frente, frío, fresh, friend, front

morphological:fruit-s, fruit-y

fruto-s, fruta-s

syntactic:el fruto; la fruta

pragmatic: general term;

no specific context

semantic: an edible part of a plant,

usually fleshy and containing seedsbanana, apple,

orange; vegetables, dairy, meat

collocations/idioms:bear fruit – dar fruto

forbidden fruit – fruta prohibida

fruits of one’s labor – frutos de su trabajo

frequency: fruit: 43x pmwfruto: 18x pmwfruta: 24x pmw

How does this translate into what we read?

980%

20%

Frequency of words in text

High Frequency (but, so, because, man woman)

Low Frequency (ancestors, melanin, absorb)

(Nation, 1993)

10%

90%

Frequency of oral vocabu-lary

High Frequency (but, so, because, man woman)

Low Frequency (ancestors, melanin, absorb)

Summary of vocabulary knowledge

• Complex network of interrelated knowledge• Continues to change and grow throughout the

lifespan • Takes years of wide-spread exposure to a language to acquire a “native-like” lexicon

A bilingual is not the sum of two monolinguals!

10

(Grosjean, 1989)

11

Today’s Goals

To be able to:•Learn the process of becoming a writer and

understand a framework for writing development with a bilingual approach.

•Recognize how the 7-week cycle of the Bridges Curriculum supports writing.

•Practice developing writing activities across the content areas using the Bridges Curriculum.

12

Goal 1:What is the process of becoming a writer? How can we teach writing using a bilingual approach?

Four Language Abilities

Listening Speaking

Reading Writing

13

ORAL

LITERACY

RECEPTIVE PRODUCTIVE

Connecting Reading to Writing

•Build on oral language

•Expand students’ language abilities

•Connect to the curriculum

•Model using published books•Highlight text structures and vocabulary in class

readings as examples for writing14

Process of Becoming a Writer

•Approximately TWO DECADES of schooling to develop writing skills!

•Writing develops higher order thinking skills necessary to succeed academically.

•Writing requires a substantial amount of executive functioning.

•Academic writing requires the student to use his/her own ‘voice’ to distinguish his/her own thoughts and arguments from others. 15

(Kellogg, 2006)

Stages of cognitive development in writing skills – monolinguals

Writer is able to visualize the reader’s

representation, as well as his/her own and the

text’s. Example: Novel

Knowledge-Crafting

Writer is able to make the text comprehensible

to other readers.Example: High school

or college research paper

Knowledge-Transforming

Acquiring alphabetic and print knowledge.

Focusing on meaning to put ideas into print for

the first time.Content limited to narratives; writer

unaware of text representation.

Example: Elementary school essay

Knowledge-Telling

16

(Adapted from Kellogg, 2006)

Stages of cognitive development in writing skills – Bridges students

Writer is able to incorporate 6+1 traits

and differentiate writer’s/text’s

representation. Example: Writing

project, immigration stories

Knowledge-Crafting

Writer is able to make the text

comprehensible to other readers.

Representations in long-term memory are

shaped by writing process; it’s not just

retrieval. Example: LEA writing

activity

Knowledge-Transforming

Developing alphabetic/print

knowledge in English; HL.

Focusing on meaning to put ideas into print

for the first time.Bridges writers are

cognitively more advanced than young

childrenExample: Sentence

using compare-contrast, claim –

evidence, etc.

Knowledge-Telling

17

•Need to see themselves as

Authors not just people who know how to

write•Drawing as early writing•Personal stories based on life

experiences

•No one is a “native speaker of writing”

How do Bridges Students Become Writers?

18

(Cloud, Genesee & Hamayan, 2009)

What steps do you take in your writing process?

19

Pre-writing

• Ideas / Content

• Voice

Drafting

• Organization

Revising

• Sentence Fluency

• Word Choice

Editing

• Conventions

Publishing

• Presentation

Writing Cycle 6 + 1 Traits

Excerpts of writing from Bridges students

•In groups, compare three writing samples according to the 6+1 traits•Group 1: Ideas / Content and Voice•Group 2: Organization•Group 3: Sentence Fluency and Word Choice•Group 4: Conventions and Presentation

•Look for HL patterns•Look for areas of potential growth 20

Writing Sample 1

21

Writing Sample 2

Writing Sample 3

22

Bridges Pre/Post English Writing Level Results (2012-13)

only HL literacy

low beginner

mid beginner

high beginner

low intermediate

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

1

6

15

9

2

7

12

13

1

0

Pre-writing Post-writing23(n=33)

Post-Writing

Sample 1

24

A bilingual approach to writing

25

Who are the Bridges students?(Years 1 & 2)

26

Bridges

Students

(<2 yrs in US)

Age Range(13-18 yrs)

Home Languages

(10+)

Home Countries

(12+)

HL Literacy Level

(0 – 4th gr)HL Math Level

(0 – 3rd gr)

Dominican RepublicEl Salvador

Honduras

Guatemala

Mexico

Puerto Rico / USA

Bangladesh

Yemen

Senegal

Guinea

Gambia

Ivory Coast

SpanishBangla

Arabic

Wolof

Soninke

Mandingo

French

Fulani

Dioula

Garifuna

Kiché

Translanguaging: What is it and why is it important for teaching Bridges students how

to write?

27

Definition: the act performed by bilinguals of accessing different linguistic features….in order to maximize communicative potential.•It’s natural! It’s what bilinguals do. •It makes sense! Why use only one resource

to help them to learn to write when you can use two?

Assumption: Monolingualism is the rule, bilingualism is the exception.

Multiple official languages Single official language, functionally multilingual No official language, functionally multilingual Unknown

Assumption: English is the only language of the United States

How can translanguaging help Bridges students learn how to write?

•Provides a way to make rigorous content instruction comprehensible. •Reduces the burden on the executive

functioning necessary for learning how to become a writer and uses students’ cognitive energy to focus on learning how to write in English. •Develops academic skills that transfer to

English. Also develops metalinguistic skills. 30

How can translanguaging help Bridges students learn

how to write?

•By finding their voice as academic writers.•By enabling language acquisition to

take place in the classroom without having for the teacher to assume a direct role.

31

Concerns about using translanguaging in the classroom

•Using the HL in the classroom will delay or prevent ELLs’ acquisition of English. •Using the HL in the classroom is confusing,

for both the students and the teacher.•How can a teacher use translanguaging

when he or she doesn’t speak the student’s HL?

32

Common translanguaging strategies for writing

•Form a group by HL for interactive writing. •Brainstorm ideas using HL.•Write in both English and HL.•Use alphabet chart in student’s HL for those

who can’t write. •Drawing/labeling•Translating•Create an oral product alongside the

written. 33

Translanguaging Activity

•Pre-writing: brainstorming, generating ideas and content, developing voice

•Think about when you’ve moved from one place to another•Describe it with a drawing•Label drawing in any language•Share your ideas / experience

34

35

Goal 2:How does the 7-Week Bridges Curriculum cycle support writing?

Writing Outcomes in Bridges

36

37

6+1 traits across

Bridges Units

UNIT 3: JOURNEYSContent Area Search Activity

Find and HIGHLIGHT the following methods in your content area in the Unit 3 Weekly Lesson Outline:

In which week(s) do they occur?What are some interdisciplinary overlaps in concepts and

vocabulary?How might these methods scaffold writing?

•Translation of the EQ•See Think Wonder•Build an LEA text•Concept Map 38

Writing Project

•HIGHLIGHT the WRITING project for each content area

What is the final writing project?In which week does it occur?What are the pre-writing activities outlined in

the curriculum? In which week do they start?39

Journeys

40

Translate the Essential Question (ELA, Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 1)

Why do people move? What are the positive and negative effects?

•Content objective: Identify ways immigrants survive in a new country.

• Language objective: Translate the EQ and respond in HL.

•Why is it important to translate this EQ to HL?•How does it support the writing project?

• Language awareness•Validation of HL skills and knowledge•Deeper understanding of unit context•Writing skills in HL transfer to English

41

See-Think-Wonder(ELA, Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 2)

Who were the first people in Central America?

The Maya in the Past and the Present

•Content objective: Observe images of the first people in Central America and make inferences about the culture.

• Language objective: Observe using ‘I see_____’, infer using ‘I think’, and wonder using WH questions.

•How does this activity support pre-writing for the immigration project?• Engage, build background to content• Develop oral language related to content• Sentence level writing begins

42

Language Experience Approach(ELA, Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 3)

What happened to the Maya?Indigenous Ancient

• Content objective: Identify changes from Mayan life long ago to Mayan life today.

• Language objective: Describe using ‘Long ago ____. Then ___________ Now the Maya________.’

•How does this LEA support the writing project?Language structures from this LEA can be usedContent can be used for the immigration storyCan be developed into more complex sentences,

paragraph form as a model for good writing

43

Concept Map (ELA, Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 4)

POWERChanges in power in Mayan life

•Content objective: Identify cause and effect of changes in power in Mayan life.

• Language objective: Explain cause and effect using ‘because’ and ‘so.’

•How does this concept map support the writing project?

Language, vocabulary and sentence examplesIdea of power/powerful gives depth to their own

immigration storiesGenerate related ideas and content for pre-writing stage

44

45

Goal 3:How can we develop writing activities that support Bridges students to become writers?

What to expect in Bridges students’ writing

•It is important to get to know your students’ HL grammatical structure and writing system

•Invented spelling from HL (e.g. Spanish)•chaket for jacket from Spanish spelling•escul for school for the English pronunciation

46

Writing Systems of Bridges Students

•Alphabetic•Latin script: Haitian Creole / Spanish / French /

English •Arabic script: Arabic / Urdu•Bengali script: Bengali (Bangla)•Pinyin: Chinese•Cyrillic: Russian

•Logographic•Chinese 47

48

Bengali

Arabic

Chinese characters/Pinyin

49

Application / Practice in Content Area Groups

Participants develop activities to support a writing project using Unit 3 of the Bridges Curriculum.1. Review the Bridges website to find supplemental

materials to the writing project for your content area: http://bridges.ws.gc.cuny.edu/

2. Develop three activities to support the writing project using the weekly lesson outline, or sample lessons from your content area.

3. Incorporate translanguaging strategies to enhance writing development.

4. Present your activities to the other groups.

50

Summary of Today’s PD Session

•What has changed in your understanding of how Bridges students develop writing skills?

•What is one thing you will do in your classroom this week to help build writing skills in your content area?

Homework Assignment: Writing Methods

•Adjust the Bridges Power Methods (e.g. See-Think-Wonder, LEA, Read-Retell-Respond) to become daily writing practice.

•Implement translanguaging activities with your writing lessons.

51

52

Recommended Reading• Celic, C., & Seltzer, K. (2012). Translanguaging: A

CUNY-NYSIEB Guide for Educators. The Graduate Center, The City University of New York. http://www.nysieb.ws.gc.cuny.edu/files/2013/03/Translanguaging-Guide-March-2013.pdf

• See also: http://www.nysieb.ws.gc.cuny.edu/cuny-nysieb-publications

• Cloud, N., Genesee, F., & Hamayan, E. (2009). Literacy instruction for English language learners. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.