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DANIELS Floyd County ESOL Lesson Plan Template

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Serving Multilingual Learners of All Ages

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"A picture is worth a thousand words"...Yes, so how we get those words out? Picture Word Inductive Model (PWIM) first developed by Emily Calhoun (1999) to the rescue!

What is PWIM and how do I use it to help my students with listening, speaking, reading, and writing?

You may be thinking that pictures are for primary students or for Beginner level ELs. But that's not the case. Though PWIM does benefit primary students and Beginner ELs, even intermediate and Advanced ELs gain valuable insights from this method across all content areas.

Here's how I've used it in a modified version.

Step 1: The teacher begins by

selecting a picture relevant to the unit of current study. If you teach science you might select a picture about the water cycle, life cycle of a butterfly, the Grand Canyon, etc. A social studies teacher might choose a picture from history such as The Boston Tea Party, Amelia Earhart next to her plane, the Constitution, or a map, graph, chart or timeline, etc. A language arts teacher may present a picture that exemplifies character traits or feelings, a picture that relates to a theme that is being showcased, etc. Even math teachers can use PWIM by selecting pictures such as pictures with shapes, graphs, clocks, money, etc.

Step 2: Share the image with students either in whole group or in a small group setting. (Day 1)

Label the picture together. Tell students that you will "shake out" all the words from this picture. Sometimes I let students brainstorm words on their own first and then share with a partner before we label the picture. As I label words, I spell them out or focus on phonics depending on the grade level and students' needs. We stop to read the words frequently, reading chorally or echo reading. (Day 1) Step 3:

Put the words into categories. Ask students to categories the words either by spelling or by parts of speech. (Day 1 or 2 depending on time)

Ask students to brainstorm possible titles for the picture. Once many have been generated, discuss them. What makes a strong title? If needed, share examples from picture books or chapter books.

Step 6: Give students time to discuss the picture in cooperative groups and then orally compose sentences. Provide students with sentence stems, starters or language frames to support complete sentences as needed. This step allows students to access their own background knowledge as well as tap into one another's knowledge. It builds on prior knowledge by supporting what they already know about a particular topic. For example, if you give students a picture of a tee-pee, and students share in their groups, some might say they see a house, while others would say it's a home or dwelling. (Day 2)

: Next, record the sentences either on a chart or below the picture. Guide students in choral or echo reading the sentences after you write them. This reading practice supports language development. Not everyone will need the support of the teacher's example sentences. The students who can independently write their own sentences using the labels can work on their own while the teacher pulls a small group to model using the label to compose sentences. Consider asking the group the 5 Ws-Who, When, Where Why, What to help vary the sentences and create a strong understanding of the visual. (Day 3)

Step 8: Give students the opportunity to use the labels to write their own sentences. Provide students scaffolds as needed. Some will need sentence frames or starters. Beginner ELs may need to copy your sentences. To push students who are at the Advanced level up a notch, give them the stems: Additionally, Furthermore, For Example. Teach them to use those stems in their writing. (Day 3)

There are many ways to vary PWIM to meet your own classroom and students' needs. There is no right or wrong way to do them as long as you are using pictures to develop language: thinking, listening, speaking, reading and writing. PWIM doesn't have to take long. They are not 45 minute lessons. And they are not solely for language arts classrooms. Pictures of historical events, cycles (water, life, etc.), geography, scientific experiments, math problems lend themselves beautifully to PWIM activities. Pictures are engaging, thought provoking, and help to make content comprehensible for students. The steps above are just suggestions. Make this model fit your students' specific needs. Try out a PWIM lesson and see where it takes you. This language rich learning strategy requires students to think, listen, speak, read and write in the content area of instruction. That's why I love it!

Below are examples of a primary PWIM. The unit was on predators and prey. The teacher used the owl picture first to discuss one type of predator. After the Picture Talk cycle, the teacher modeled how to use the picture to support writing. Some students were able to write about a different predator or prey while Beginners and struggling learners wrote about the owl.
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Resources used: . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ferlazzo, L., & Sypnieski, K. H. (2012). The ESL/ELL teacher's survival guide. ready-to-use strategies, tools, and activities for teaching English language learners of all levels
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Calhoun, E. (1999). Teaching beginning reading and writing with the picture word inductive model. Alexandria: ASCD.
Meredith Alvaro
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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...but how do we get those words out?

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"A picture is worth a thousand words"...Yes, so how we get those words out? Picture Word Inductive Model (PWIM) first developed by Emily Calhoun (1999) to the rescue! What is PWIM and how do I use it to help my students with listening, speaking, reading, and writing?

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I'm sorry for having such a huge gap between my first two newcomer posts, and this one. The end of the school year was just so darn busy! The second tip I shared in the wayback to help you modify instruction for ELLs is to use comprehensible input, so that's what we'll focus on today.

What is "comprehensible input"?
Comprehensible input is a hypothesis of second language acquisition first proposed by Stephen Krashen in the early 80's. The hypothesis states that our ELLs learn and acquire language when they receive input (written or oral) that is only slightly above their current language level (i+1). In other words, the oral and written input we provide students should be mostly understandable, with only a few words or structures that are unknown or new to the student. Students will be able to understand the message, and will acquire new language in the process.

At the newcomer level, comprehensible input is comprised of short, simple sentences, known or learned words and phrases (i), with a few new words or language structures added to get that +1 in the i+1.

This video, while it is foreign language teachers discussing the use of the target language and comprehensible input, is a really excellent illustration of how you can make content comprehensible in the target language for ANY language learner- whether it's a student acquiring English as a second language, or a student acquiring a foreign language.

Why is comprehensible input important?
The image below illustrates about how much a newcomer student might be able to understand when attention is not given to ensuring that the input is comprehensible.

As you can see, the student is really only understanding high frequency words, a few numbers, and some articles and common prepositions. Is the newcomer understanding enough in this scenario to learn new information? Is the newcomer understanding enough to even know what they're being asked to do? At best, we can tell that it seems like some sort of math problem.

When the input a newcomer receives is not comprehensible, they're likely to simply shut down. When the student shuts down, no further learning is possible- of language or content.
How can I make the input I provide to my newcomers comprehensible?
There are many ways to ensure that the input you provide your students is comprehensible. The image below shows a few.

You can also provide visuals with oral or written input (visuals, visuals, visuals!). In one of the schools that I worked with this past year, the ESOL department chair created a shared Google Drive folder, with subfolders for subject area and topic. As the teachers went through the year and taught certain topics, they added images from Google and elsewhere to the shared folder. Since many topics span grade levels, it was easy for teachers who needed images for a topic to find what they needed to enrich learning and make input comprehensible. The teachers still continue to build and use this shared resource of visuals for their ELLs.

Another great way to make oral speech comprehensible is to use a lot of gestures and body language, or to even act things out for and with students.

Making input comprehensible does not mean "dumbing it down".
Its important to remember when you focus on comprehensibility that you are simplifying the language, not simplifying the content. It is possible to convey complex ideas in simple language, especially if you are using appropriate scaffolds and supports, as discussed last time!

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Modifying Instruction for Newcomer ELLs: Comprehensible Input

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I'm sorry for having such a huge gap between my first two newcomer posts, and this one. The end of the school year was just so darn busy! The second tip I shared in the wayback to help you modify instruction for ELLs is to use comprehensible input, so that's what we'll focus on today.

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Copy of ELs Expectations and Modifications

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Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books.

Danielson, C. (1996). Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ED 403 245.

Sternberg, R. J., Torff, B., & Grigorenko, E. L. (1998). Teaching triarchically improves student achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(3), 374-384. EJ 576 492.

Tomlinson, C. (1995). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-ability Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ED 386 301.

Tomlinson, C. (1999). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of all Learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ED 429 944.

Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Winebrenner, S. (1992). Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit.

Winebrenner, S. (1996). Teaching kids with Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit. ED 396 502.

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Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.

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In my last post, I shared briefly about a strategy that I use to build vocabulary for my beginning English Language Learners (ELLs) called the K.I.M. Strategy. Today I want to share with you in more detail about what this strategy is, why I use it, and how I differentiate it to meet the needs of ALL students.

The K.I.M. Strategy is a low prep, high yield strategy that supports ALL levels of learners across ALL content areas. Now, you can't get much better than that!

What is it? It's a direct vocabulary instruction strategy. The acronym stands for Key word, Important information, Memory clue and S entence. I have my students do this right inside their notebooks (no-prep), but you could also use a graphic organizer or vocabulary booklet (low-prep).

Why I use it! I use it because it's effective in building vocabulary, and my students enjoy it. As vocabulary grows, so does comprehension. I teach English language learners who happen to be of low socio-economic status. Those are two subgroups who come to school with significantly lower vocabulary knowledge than their English only and higher SES peers. I believe explicit vocabulary instruction is a crucial component of instruction, especially for kids in these subgroups. However, as we know, every child benefits from direct and purposeful vocabulary instruction. I say purposeful because looking up definitions in a dictionary is not purposeful, or meaningful, IMO.

How I use it! In my students' notebooks, I have designated a section to vocabulary. This includes notebooks across content areas (math, science & social studies).

The K.I.M. Strategy format is easily modified to meet the needs of students. For example, my beginning English language learners build their basic vocabulary using K.M.S. because they are new to the language, I do not have them add "Important information;" I simply want them to learn words and what they are.

My intermediate and higher students always include K.I.M., and usually add "S" for a sentence as a follow up activity.

A typical vocabulary lesson looks something like this... Before I give my students a word, I show them examples, pictures or drawings of the word. Then I'll say, this is a "_____." So, what do you think "_____" means? I let them explore the meaning first based on the visuals that I provide. I then steer them to the important information that they need to add in their notebook.

Here's a recent example with my 6th grade math group. They were starting a geometry unit and needed to learn some new vocabulary. I used the document camera to project my notebook.

The visual of my notebook provides them with a scaffold to ensure accuracy with their spelling and the "important information" of new terms. Memory clues and sentences are independent activities.

First, they drew 6 KIM boxes for their 6 new words...

... then, I drew various sized and shaped quadrilaterals on the whiteboard.

I said, "These are all quadrilaterals. What do you think a quadrilateral is?" Hands shot up and students shared their guesses. With teacher support, we narrowed down the information to the most important information. Students then filled in the Key word - quadrilateral, the Important information - 4 sided shape with 4 angles, then they drew a quick picture for a M emory clue.

Next, I drew several examples of parallel lines and told them that these lines are parallel. "What do you think the word parallel means?" Again, hands shot up. After that, a right angle, and so on...

On this day I did not have them write a sentence because of time constraints, but that could be a follow up activity at a different time or day.

When I do direct vocabulary instruction, I typically teach about 5 new words in a lesson, but that can vary. I also typically add a fun, kinesthetic activity as an exit ticket. Recently I needed to teach my students just 2 words, "ascending" and "descending." We did the K.I.M. Strategy for those 2 terms, then towards the end of class we did a quick human number line activity! I passed out index cards with a percent written on each, then told them to get into "ascending" order. Once that was complete, I mixed them up and told them to get into "descending" order.

For the follow up activity of the geometry terms, I wrote each term on an index card, and corresponding pictures on another. I randomly passed out all the cards and told them to find the classmate who has the matching term or picture for their card, then stand next to each other. That was their exit ticket for that day.

We are a good ways into the school year now, so my students know the process and expectations of using the K.I.M. strategy, however, when the strategy was first introduced, I did provide an anchor chart for students to use as a reference.

If you are looking for a new way to incorporate direct vocabulary instruction into your lessons, I think you'll find this strategy to be effective, engaging and super easy to implement. I also think that your students will find it to be a fun way to learn new vocabulary. It's my go-to strategy this year for teaching new vocabulary.

If you have a great strategy for direct vocabulary instruction, I'd love to hear about it!

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K.I.M. - A Highly Effective Strategy to Build Vocabulary Across Any Content Area

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An educational blog for sharing ideas, strategies and resources that support English Language Learners.

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Copy of Virtual Supports and Accomm for ELs

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Create a new spreadsheet and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Sheets to edit Excel files. Free from Google.