Promoting Literacyin Elementary Classes

When Students Don’t Speak English

Allison CummingsDeborah Sams

Sevier County Schools ELAP Program

Promoting Literacy in Elementary Classes

When Students Don’t Speak English

Allison Cummings Kindergarten ELAP Teacher

Deborah SamsESL TeacherSevier County

Schools

Anticipation Guide

• Part One: Exploring Theory

• Part Two: Strategies and Practices

• Part Three: A Make and Take Session!

Objectives

• Gain an awareness of second language acquisition • Empathize with English Language Learners (ELLs)

• Make instructional decisions with ELLs in mind

• Discover new ways to promote literacy in elementary classrooms

The Menu Activity

Take your menu. Select 6 things on the menu. Write your order. Send one person from your table to

‘pick up’ the orders. Enjoy!

The Menu ActivityDiscussion Questions

• How did you feel during this activity?

• What strategies would have improved comprehension?

• What did you learn?

A Few Myths of Second Language Acquisition

Answer the following statements as True or False

1. Middle and high school students learn second languages more quickly and easily than primary students.

2. Second language learners will acquire academic English faster if they speak English at home.

3. Once students can speak English, they are ready to undertake the academic tasks of the mainstream classroom.

4. Student should be strongly encouraged to speak English from the first day of class.

The Silent Period

Krashen, 1985

The Affective Filter

Stevick, 1977; Krashen & Terrell, 1983; Krashen, 1985.

Occurs when the learner is…

• Unmotivated• Lacking in self confidence• Anxious• On the defensive• Fearful that their weakness will be revealed• When there is a possibility of failure

Building Background Knowledge• Don’t just rely on definitions

• Use words aloud frequently

• Use visual representations (pictures, mental pictures, act it out, etc.)

• Require multiple exposures to the words

• Students should discuss words, use words, and play with the words

Marzano, 2005

BICS and CALP

• Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (social language)

• Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency(academic language)

Cummins, J. ,1991

BICS• Social situations• Day-to-day language • Used on the playground, in the lunch room, on

the school bus, at parties, playing sports and talking on the telephone

• Context embedded • Not very cognitively demanding • The language required is not specialized• Develops within six months to two years

Cummins,1991

CALP• Academic learning• Listening, speaking, reading, and writing about content• Essential for success in school• ELLs need time and support • About 5-7 years, but with no prior schooling 7-10 years• It includes skills such as comparing, classifying,

synthesizing, evaluating, and inferring• Information is read in a textbook or presented by the teacher• Academic language tasks are context reduced• Cognitively demanding

Cummins,1991

Dumfrase Needed The bogo also recognizes the need to invest more in cucio

themselves, 40 percent of which now lack basic sumwalz. Ligachev said cicio for 28 million monus will be frazequack by the year 2006, and that capital expenditures in blocka will increase drastically.

Source: Gickling E.,& Thompson,V. (1992) Curriculum based assessment: A naturalistic guide to reading and mathematics instruction. Workshop presented at the Council for Exceptional Children, Baltimore.

8 unknown words About 80% known words.

A Common Teaching Sequence

• Read the text• Answer the questions• Discuss the material• Do the applications/expansions

Sometimes we should

teach the text backwards

Principles Which Help ELLs Succeed in School

• Increase comprehensibility

• Increase interaction

• Increase thinking skills

Check vocabulary before lessons for …

• Key terms

• Words with multiple meanings

• Cognates

• Advanced vocabulary

• Idioms and figurative language

• Complex grammar structures

Adapted from Calderon, August, Slavin, Duran, Madden, &Cheunget, 2005By Arguelles 2008

Instructional Routine

• Introduce • Write and say the word/ have students repeat it

• Explain • Use a ‘student friendly’ explanation

• Show picture/demonstrate

• Provide sample sentences• Engage students in activities/elaboration• Monitor understanding• Revisit words over time

From Arguelles 2008

Less effective strategies

“ Does anyone know what ____means?”

Look it up in the dictionary.

Then, copy it into a sentence.

Copying words several times each.

Activities that don’t capture deep processing (crosswords, word search, fill in the blanks, etc))

Rote memorization.

Teaching words in isolation.

Passive reading.

Adapted from Arguelles 2008

Accommodations and Modifications

Add…• A copy of notes• Examples• Word banks• Audio books• A dictionary• Assign a buddy• Visuals• Allow extra time

Limit…• Limit the number of

questions• Limit the length of response• Limit reading requirement

Differentiating Instruction for English Language Learners

• View ELLs as a resource; draw on personal experience

• Use concrete objects/visuals to reinforce verbal content (hands-on demonstration)

• Focus on a limited number of vocabulary words and concepts in each lesson

• Limit the amount of information an ELL student needs to learn

• Use graphic organizers

• Teach reading strategies

• Use both oral & written modalities frequently

• Use cooperative learning techniques

• Substitute alternative text(s)

• Substitute alternative assignments

• Test students in concrete terms

• Allow brief answers instead of full sentences

• Modify assessment tools as necessary

• Allow use of a bilingual dictionary OR English/English dictionary

Ideas for Adapting Texts(especially for higher elementary grades and beyond)

• Give language chunks to use in writing• Brainstorm vocabulary and themes (in small

groups, if possible)• Use graphic organizers to gather facts (use in

sentences when possible)• Show ELLs good writing models for their grade

level• For editing, choose one skill to work on and pair

them with a partnerHaynes, 2007

Adapting Text (cont.)

• Teacher written summary of content (the ESL summary)

• Give vocabulary words with simple definitions• Students can make vocabulary flash cards and

study them• Students can find words in the ESL summary,

highlight them, then write a sentence with each word

• Make vocabulary matching activities with word banks for student practice

Haynes, 2007

Summarizing Text for ELLs

• Use controlled vocabulary

• Simplify sentence structure

• Define vocabulary words in context (when possible)

• Identify and highlight main ideas

• Use cloze activities (paragraphs with ‘fill in the blank’ format)

Haynes, 2007

Recipe for Structured and Predictable Lessons

1. Chapter summary

2. Vocabulary page

3. Vocabulary matching

4. Cloze activities Haynes, 2007

Part Two

Reading Strategies

Best Practices

and Good Ideas

Read! Read! Read!

Books

+ Access to libraries

+ Allowing student choice in books

+ Providing time to read books

________________________________

= Keys to developing literacy

• Krashen, 1985, 2001, 2004, 2007

Reading Strategies

Phonics

Decoding and Word Building

Sentence Building

Read Aloud and Interactive Storybook Readings

engage children with books help students explore language and literacy help develop ideas of text ‘words’ and ‘letters’ important for ELLS who may have little experience with

storybooks develop appreciation of text share the joy of reading motivate children to learn to read themselves.

Holdaway, 1979; Martinez et al., 1989; Snow and Tabors, 1993

In Snow, C., Burns, M.& Griffin, P. (1998)

Big Books • are large enough to share with a large group or

entire class • perfect to read with ‘finger wands’• can help teach directionality of print• help students become familiar with text and

repetitive features• make it easier to compare words in text• allow student to hunt for letters, sounds, sight

words, rhyming words, etc.

Snow, C., Burns, M. S., and Griffin, P. (Eds.), (1998).

Predictable and Repetitive Books

• allow students to predict a story

• teach students to use pictures to support reading

• offer a perfect way for students to practice handling books

Martinez et al., 1989

Vocabulary

Model academic language

• I know/ believe/find• I agree/disagree• I expect/learn/think• It seems that... • How do you say…? • How do you write…? • Where can I find…?

Girard, 2003

How well do you know these words?

pedantic

erudite

book

From Arguelles 2008

More ideas to support reading instruction…

• books on tape

• dramatic play/puppet theater

• computer-based reading, writing, and

storybook activities

• board games

• children's magazines

• individual and group projects

Snow, C., Burns, M. S., and Griffin, P., 1998

Make it comprehensible!

Krashen, 1985

Graphic Organizers

Use graphic organizers and thinking maps

Newcomers

Bears can swim. Bears have fur.

Intermediate

Bears have claws and teeth to help them eat nuts.

Advanced

Berries and nuts supply bears with food so they can hibernate all winter.

8

bears

can walkswim

breatheeat

havefur

clawsteethcubs

eatberries

nutsmast

___________

From Arguelles 2008

Games

Sentence Scramble Gameexpand vocabulary and content by card games

Plants use sunlight, water, and air for photosynthesis.

Plants

usesunlight,

water,

and

air

for photosynthesis

Discussion

Question and Answer Session

Make and take!

Enjoy teaching your English language learners!

Deborah Sams

ESL Teacher

Sevier County Schools

Sevierville, TennesseeDeborahsams@sevier.org

Doctoral Student

IUP Comp/TESOL program

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Allison Cummings

Kindergarten / ELAP

(English Language Acquisition Program)

Sevier County Schools

Sevierville, TennesseeAllisonCummings@sevier.org

ReferencesCummins, J. (1991) Language Development and Academic Learning. Haynes, J. (2007). Getting Started with English Language Learners: How Educators Can

Meet the Challenge.ASCD.

Holdaway, Don. 1979.The foundations of literacy. New Hampshire: Heineman. 232 pages. 0868960144.

Krashen, S.D. & Terrell, T.D. (1983). The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. London: Prentice Hall Europe.

Krashen, Stephen. (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. New York: Longman Press.

Krashen, S. 2001. Do teenagers like to read? Yes! Reading Today 18(5): 16 Krashen, S. 2004. The Power of Reading. Westport, CONN: Libraries Unlimited and

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Krashen, S. 2007. Literacy Network News, Spring, 2007, page 7 (Literacy Network of

Greater Los Angeles) http://www.sdkrashen.com/Snow, C., Burns, M. S., and Griffin, P. (Eds.), (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in

young children. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.