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-Challenge students to expand their vocabulary by using synonyms, antonyms, etc.
-Teach students to use tools like a thesaurus or dictionary
-Provide lessons on note-taking and provide templates if need be

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-Most students are exited from ESL programs by this point.
-Students are near native English speakers in performing in most content areas but still need teacher support in certain subjects like history

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-Model how to use vocabulary and phrases, have students produce language
-Students can complete graphic organizers with detail and should be challenges to add more
-Students can work to make connections with new vocabulary
-Create assessments that students can present in English, but allow them to practice in pairs first
-Introduce comprehension and academic skills
-Identify level of comfort/background with vocabulary and teach strategies to get meaning
-"Guessing time": students have time to look through text and circle unknown words, then guess meaning
-Introduce idioms
-Correct student errors and provide feedback to help him/her understand the mistake
-Set language goals

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-Vocabulary has increased up to 6,000 words or more
-Reading comprehension is improving
-Students can achieve at grade level in Math and Science courses with teacher assistance
-Students will begin to ask questions and share their thought

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by Susan Verner 25,054 views

Information Questions

1. Tell Me About Yourself

Getting to know your fellow students is one of the greatest ways ESL class members can practice asking questions. This activity can be as simple or as complicated as your students can handle. For advanced students, have students work with a partner and ask questions to get to know them. Increase the challenge, however, by requiring students to use each of the twelve tenses in the English language. You might want to review the tenses and then give students some time to prepare before the interview, and have them make sure they have at least one information question written in each tense. Not only will this challenge their grammar use, it will also bring forth some interesting information about their partners that they might otherwise never know.

2. Character Developments

If you teach writing, this activity does double duty as a prewriting activity as well as a question review. One of the key components of fiction is having good characters, and that's not as easy to do as some might think. Truly interesting characters are complex, and the writer knows much more about that character than ever shows up, overtly, in the fictional piece they write. One way to develop such a character is to think about the details of that person's life and relationships. Many resources exist for character development through questionnaires such as this one. Have your students use these and similar questions to help a classmate develop a character for a fictional story. Either have students answer the questions in writing or have pairs of students ask each other the questions about the characters they are developing. If you want to make this activity work double duty in your reading class, have students speculate answers to the questions about a character in a piece you have already read.

3. Pin the Question on the Student

You will need a blindfold to play this simple question asking game. One person stands in the center of the room wearing a blindfold. The other students are free to move about the room, keeping a good amount of distance from other students, until you say stop. Once you have stopped your students, the blindfolded person points toward someone and asks an information question. "What is your favorite sport?" That person must answer, either in his normal voice or by disguising it. The blindfolded person must then guess who answered the question. If they guess correctly, the players switch places. If they guess incorrectly, they play another round.

4. Meet the Family

Family means a lot to most people, and this activity gives your students a chance to talk about their family, review family vocabulary, and ask and answer questions about their and their classmates' families. Invite each person to bring in one or more pictures of his family. The person introduces his family to the class, and then the class members ask questions about those people.

5. Speed Dating

Are your students familiar with the practice of speed dating? At a speed dating event, several women and men sit in two lines across from each other. The moderator gives the pairs two minutes to get to know each other, and then the men shift one seat to the right, facing a new partner. The moderator then times two minutes and the new couples talk. This continues until everyone has had an opportunity to meet every member of the opposite sex. Play a celebrity version of this game with your ESL students by assigning every class member a secret celebrity. Rather than meeting a significant other, your students will use their two minute sessions with their classmates to try and figure out what secret celebrity their partner is role playing while at the same time trying to keep theirs a secret. Students must answer each other's questions as accurately as possible. Give each person a list of all the students in class so he or she can make note of which celebrity they think each person is playing after their two minutes together. At the end of the event, reveal the secret identities and see which student guessed the most correctly.

6. Questions Only

This activity is strictly for advanced ESL students, but it's fun and challenging and worth a try if your students are very creative and capable. The basic premise is to have a conversation between two people where every question is answered with another question. You can see examples of the improve exercise on Whose Line is it Anyway? (Heads up - adults only.) Have two speakers come to the front of the room and give them a scenario. You might also want to have two or four other people ready to enter the dialogue as needed. Have the first two speakers jump right in to the scenario with question after question. If someone gets stuck and cannot think of a question that fits the scenario, he is buzzed out and another speaker takes his place. When you feel the scenario has gone on long enough, ask your students to sit down and see how many questions your class can remember from the activity. Write them on the board if you like.

Yes/No Questions

1. 20 Questions

This game is great for practicing yes/no questions with your ESL students. The rules are simple. Someone chooses an object. It can be anything - a person, place, or thing. Then the other students take turns asking questions and trying to determine what that object is. The class limit is twenty questions (hence the name), and those include the final guesses. (E.g. Is it the Sydney Opera House?) If the class guesses the object correctly, they win the round. If not, the person who chose the object wins.

2. Mother May I

Here is a simple game that gets your elementary ESL class outside for some fresh air and allows them to practice questions at the same time. (You can also play this indoors but it will probably require moving some furniture in your classroom.) One person play the "mother" who gives permission to move to the other players. She stands alone at one end of the playing area. The other players start shoulder to shoulder in a line facing her. These players take turns asking Mother if they may take a certain number and a certain type of step toward her. "Mother, may I take three giant steps?" Some classic steps are giant steps, scissor steps, baby steps, karate steps, and jump steps, but your students can be creative and come up with their own types of steps. The mother gives permission, or not, according to her whim (but no playing favorites). After everyone has had a turn, the first player goes again. Play continues until someone is close enough to touch the mother. When that happens, the round is over and that person is the mother for the next round.

3. Finding Your Way

Here is a question review activity that also practices use of specific vocabulary words. It will take some simple preparation on your part, but once you have the materials you can use them over and over. Have students all start in one corner of the room. Their goal is to move to the opposite corner of the room, but to do so they will have to ask and answer questions about specific vocabulary. For each vocabulary word, print a picture on a standard piece of paper and slip it into a plastic sleeve to minimize wear and tear. (You can also use flash cards if you have them handy.) Have each student take a turn moving to one of the pictures. He or she must then either ask a yes/no question using the word in that picture or answer a yes/no question you ask about that picture. (You can also play this game using information questions.) If she formulates her question or answer correctly, she moves on to another space. If she is incorrect, she stays on that picture till her next turn. No two students can occupy the same picture at the same time. Students will have to choose the best route from the starting corner to the finishing corner. The first one to reach the goal is the winner.

4. Go Fish

This simple children's game is great for practicing yes no questions. Play by the standard rules or play using current vocabulary words. You will just need two sets of flashcards (either store bought or homemade and printed on card stock). Students must remember who is asking for what and make as many pairs as they can. The person with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins.

These are some of my favorite activities for reviewing both informational and yes/no questions in the ESL classroom.

What are your favorites? Share them in the comments below!

P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English.

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Who? What? Where? Top 10 Activities for Practicing Questions

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by Susan Verner 25,054 views Getting to know your fellow students is one of the greatest ways ESL class members can practice asking questions. This activity can be as simple or as complicated as your students can handle. For advanced students, have students work with a partner and ask questions to get to know them.

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-Continue previous strategies, but incorporate more academic vocabulary
-Model how to use the vocabulary
-Provide visuals and make connections to student's background knowledge
-Ask questions that require a short response
-Use charts and graphs
-Students can retell stories while another students writes them down. ELL students can reread these sentences to reinforce learning.
-Only correct students when the mistake interferes with meaning

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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-Students have a vocabulary of up to 3,000 words.
-They can initiate short conversations with classmates
-They can understand short stories especially with the help of visuals

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Generating an image while reading requires that the reader be actively engaged with the text.

Creating mental images while reading can improve comprehension.

How to use visual imagery

Follow these few simple steps to provide practice developing students' mental images:

Begin reading. Pause after a few sentences or paragraphs that contain good descriptive information.

Share the image you've created in your mind, and talk about which words from the book helped you "draw" your picture. Your picture can relate to the setting, the characters, or the actions. By doing this, you are modeling the kind of picture making you want your child to do.

Talk about how these pictures help you understand what's happening in the story.

Continue reading. Pause again and share the new image you created. Then ask your child to share what he sees, hears, tastes, smells and feels. Ask what words helped him create the mental image and emotions. By doing this, you are providing your child with practice with this new skill.

Are your images identical? Probably not! This is a great time to talk about why your images might be different. Perhaps your child went on a school field trip or had a school assembly that changed the way they created the picture in their mind. Perhaps experiences you've had as an adult influenced what you "drew." These differences are important to understand and respect.

Read a longer portion of text and continue the sharing process.

Once this is a familiar skill, encourage your child to use mental imagery when she is reading by herself. You can feel confident that these mental pictures will help your child understand the story in an important way.

Resources

Into the Book: lesson plans that help students learn to visualize:

Article from Reading Rockets:

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Visual Imagery | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Generating an image while reading requires that the reader be actively engaged with the text. Creating mental images while reading can improve comprehension. Follow these few simple steps to provide practice developing students' mental images: Begin reading. Pause after a few sentences or paragraphs that contain good descriptive information.

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-Continue strategies from Stage One
-Ask students to point to pictures and say the word
-Ask simple questions (yes/no, either/or)
-Discuss in small groups to solve problems
-Complete short writing tasks
-Reinforce learning by modeling instead of correcting
-Model a phrase, have students repeat it, add modifications

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One of the many things I love about working for Oakland, California schools is serving a community rich in diversity of culture and language. At the same time, it is no easy task ensuring that our English Language Learners (ELLs) are meeting grade-level content standards while mastering a second language.

Much of ELL instruction has been focused on 30-60 minutes of English Language Development (ELD) each day. Taken alone, this daily block of language instruction, isolated from any grade-level content, is not going to get us the results our students need and deserve. Rather, we need to see language-rich instruction throughout the day, embedded in and woven through the content areas.

What would it look like if language instruction occurred throughout the day? What would it take for every teacher to be a teacher of language in their discipline? These questions led us to identify Quality Academic Discussion as one district-wide strategy to foster collective responsibility for accelerating the language and content outcomes for our ELLs.

What Is an Academic Discussion?

In Oakland, we are greatly influenced by Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford's book Academic Conversations (2011), and we believe academic discussion demonstrates the following characteristics:

Purposeful and sustained conversations about content

Anchored in grade-level texts and tasks

Students work together to co-construct knowledge and negotiate meaning

Students use "talk moves," such as asking for clarification, paraphrasing, and building on or disagreeing with a previous idea

Why are Academic Discussions So Important for Our ELLs?

Academic discussions help all students develop reasoning skills and deepens understanding of content and multiple perspectives. For ELLs, academic discussions are critical to language and content development because:

ELLs need the opportunity to hear language in authentic and varied contexts. Teachers, as well as students with higher language proficiency, serve as language models. Particularly important is exposure to discipline-specific language so ELLs hear what it sounds like to communicate in an array of academic contexts.

ELLs need opportunities to produce language in contextualized and purposeful ways. They need to practice applying form (e.g., grammar, vocabulary) and function (e.g., language used to clarify, explain, argue) to communicate and build ideas.

ELLs benefit from redundancy of ideas and their related vocabulary. Discussion allows for multiple opportunities to hear new concepts and content explained, analyzed, and interpreted.

How Do We Make Sure Our ELLs are Fully Engaged in and Benefiting from Academic Discussions?

Just because we give students the opportunity to discuss, doesn't mean they will. We need to provide additional supports and structures so that the students who can benefit the most from academic discussion actually do! Here are five important teaching strategies you can use to support your ELLs to fully participate:

1. Mix up your grouping structures, but give more time to pairs. Whole group discussions provide a great opportunity to model discussion skills, to hear a broad perspective of ideas, and to synthesize learning from small group or pair conversations. The biggest payoff, however, is paired conversations, because they maximize speaking time and increase overall engagement. Even when the structure is a whole-group discussion, consider inserting paired conversations ( Turn and Talk or Think-Pair-Share) throughout to allow for ELLs to rehearse their ideas and related academic language.

2. Use discussion strategies that require every student to talk. You can simply open a discussion with a Round Robin, or use Talking Chips or Discussion Cards that allow for equitable participation. Watch students actively participate in discussions in Participation Protocols for Academic Discussions.

3. Provide language support. Providing students access to language resources, such as sentence stems and word banks, gives students both the academic language and confidence to participate. A note of caution: overuse of prescribed sentence starters or stems can actually stifle talk, as students just fill in the blanks. Better yet, have students rehearse a few choice sentence stems and relevant vocabulary before they engage in academic discussion. The goal is for students to know how to access and use language supports when needed and independently ( Watch Talk Moves in Academic Discussion).

4. Accept imperfect language. When ELLs are engaged in academic discussion, privilege communication over precision of language. Overcorrection or too much attention to grammatically correct language can hinder ELLs language production and interrupt the flow of ideas. During a discussion, we want our ELLs to approximate correct and sophisticated language, not perfect it.

5. Expect and require extended responses. One of the biggest disservices to our ELLs is to accept one-word or abbreviated responses -- even worse is when we complete their sentences. Instead, provide wait time, encourage students to continue, and press students for evidence by asking, "Why?" or, "Can you give me an example?"

Resources

Ready to add this strategy to your class work? Here are some of my favorite resources on academic discussion:

PDF Download: Academic Discussion Continuum of Teacher Practice

PDF Download: A Distinction between Output and Interaction

Academic Language and Literacy: Be sure to check out the tools and resources page for discussion strategies and activities, as well as language supports for students.

Academic Language Development Network: Find resources and articles on academic language development and fostering student interactions.

The Inquiry Project: Focused on science instruction, you'll find "video cases" and a guide for using teacher "talk moves" to deepen classroom discussions.

Understanding Language: This is the site of the Stanford based Understanding Language initiative, which seeks to raise awareness of the critical role of language in the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. The site includes academic papers, exemplary lessons, and professional learning opportunities. Teaching Channel also has a six-part video series showcasing an exemplar unit focused on ELA instruction for middle school English Language Learners.
Nicole Knight is the Executive Director of the English Language Learner and Multilingual Achievement Office at Oakland Unified School District. She has served Oakland students as a teacher, teacher leader, and instructional leader at the site and district level. A National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language, Nicole has expertise in language and literacy development of English Language Learners, curriculum development, and professional development for teachers and principals. She is also the mother of two bicultural and bilingual children, both students at a dual language Oakland public school.

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Why are Academic Discussions So Important for our ELLs?

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One of the many things I love about working for Oakland, California schools is serving a community rich in diversity of culture and language. At the same time, it is no easy task ensuring that our English Language Learners (ELLs) are meeting grade-level content standards while mastering a second language.

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-Students have a small vocabulary of 500-1000 words
-Can answer questions in small phrases
-Can last up to six months

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That's the challenge English Language Learners (ELLs) face if they want to catch up to their native English-speaking classmates. That's almost 4,000 new words a year if a student begins school as a kindergartner!

But what about the English Language Learners who don't enroll until middle school or high school? For these students, the vocabulary challenge is even more demanding. To meet it, teachers must learn and use the most effective strategies. Over the years, I've tried many different approaches and techniques and compiled the following list of my top five favorite vocabulary strategies for ELLs.

Previewing Unfamiliar Vocabulary

In preparation for my lessons, I scan the chapters we'll be reading together as a class to identify words that might slow down student comprehension of the text. I limit myself to no more than five words per chapter since research has shown that students acquire new vocabulary faster if teachers focus in on five to ten words a week instead of overwhelming students with lengthy lists. Before adding a word to my list, I ask myself how important the word is to the overall comprehension of the chapter and whether it will be difficult for the students to figure out the meaning of the word using context clues. Then, before we read each chapter in class I preview the new vocabulary words I've selected and discuss their meanings and uses.

In Preparing Students to Read: Word and Inference Walls, Cathy Farrell previews words that are essential for students to make meaning from the story they're reading. She adds a visual element by posting important words on a word wall and extends student comprehension by creating an inference wall of images, artifacts, and evidence to help them make predictions based on prior knowledge and context.

Using Visuals

Remember the old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, for English Language Learners this expression is especially true. Visual Cues in the classroom can be an important tool for language development. In my classroom, visuals play two important roles in helping ELLs comprehend and internalize new vocabulary.

First, I use visuals when introducing new terms to the class. These visuals help to clarify the meaning of new vocabulary if the written definition for the word is confusing or contains unfamiliar words. For example, we recently discussed the following definition for the word "hand" -- "a person who engages in manual labor." Since I knew some of my students might be unfamiliar with the term "manual labor," I included a picture of a man working in a field to help explain the meaning.

So how do I find visuals to use in the classroom? The internet provides educators with access to dozens of free, searchable databases of images. Pixabay, Morguefile, Flickr, Classroom Clipart, and Openclipart are some of my favorites for locating great visuals.

In addition to the visuals, I also require students to draw their own picture to help them remember the meaning of new words. Since ELLs sometimes have difficulty expressing their thoughts in words, drawing a picture is an alternative that allows them to demonstrate their understanding and apply their knowledge of the new vocabulary. For a fun twist, students can even trade pictures with a classmate to see whether or not they can identify the vocabulary term they have drawn.

Providing Student-Friendly, Fill-in-the-Blank Definitions

Instead of asking students to look up vocabulary words in the dictionary, I provide them with fill-in-the-blank definitions to ensure they all have accurate and comprehensible information for new terms. I do this because in the past, students were in such a hurry to complete their assignments they wrote down the first definition they came across. And since many words have multiple meanings, they would often write down the incorrect variation of the word when asked to look it up on their own. For example, if students were asked to look up the word "table" in the dictionary, they would find many different meanings for the word, including a piece of furniture, a type of chart, and to put off discussing something until a later time.

Not all online dictionaries have been designed with the student learner in mind and contain definitions filled with college-level academic vocabulary that are inaccessible to the younger learner. In order to avoid this problem, I use Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary as my primary resource for locating student-friendly definitions. It contains simple, clear definitions specially written for K-12 students.

I've also found that it's equally important to use the fill-in-the-blank format rather than requiring my students to copy down the entire definition I provide them. This format is especially beneficial for English Language Learners for a couple of reasons.

First, the fill-in-the-blank format allows my students to listen and think about the new vocabulary as we discuss it in class, without being sidetracked by trying to quickly copy down every word.

Second, it allows me to call attention to keywords in the definitions that will help them to remember the meanings. I intentionally leave a couple of the most important keywords as blanks so the students will pay careful attention to them as we're discussing the definitions. Below is an example of a recent vocabulary word we discussed.

Highlighting Vocabulary Words in Context

It's not only important to preview unfamiliar vocabulary before reading a text, but also to draw students' attention to the vocabulary as the text is read aloud or discussed in class. Whenever I come across a vocabulary word that's being used in a textbook, article, novel, or short story we're reading, I pause, point out the word to students, and ask them to recall its meaning. If possible, I also encourage them to mark it with a highlighter. It's critical for ELLs to see multiple examples of how new words are used in context -- rather than just studying them in isolation -- to be able to commit the words to long-term memory and add them to their working vocabularies. The more repeated exposures students have to new words, the more likely they will be to define them, comprehend them, and remember them.

As a teacher, you can even turn finding words in context into a game by challenging your students to find examples of their vocabulary words on their own in other books they're reading, internet articles, advertisements, etc. You can reward students for every example they locate, turn it into a class competition, or even set a class goal.

Practicing With Graphic Organizers

In addition to having repeated exposures to new words, English learners must also be given the opportunity to organize information and ideas about the new vocabulary. Graphic organizers are a tool that allow students to visualize and make connections with new material.

One of the my favorite graphic organizers for vocabulary instruction is called the KIM Strategy. KIM is an acronym that represents the three columns of the graphic organizer.

"K" stands for key idea or the vocabulary word the students are studying.

"I" stands for information or the student explanation of what the vocabulary words means.

"M" stands for memory clue or the drawing or example of the word that will help the student remember the meaning.

I used the KIM Strategy as inspiration for the graphic organizer I created to better fit the needs of my students. I added a page number reference for the vocabulary word so that students can see it in context while working through the meaning. I also added a fill-in-the-blank definition of the word to ensure they had access to an accurate and student-friendly definition. Below is an example of the graphic organizer I made for my students:

Nichole Niebur uses a similar strategy in Learning Difficult Vocabulary, in which she asks students to restate or paraphrase the definition of a vocabulary term and connects the vocabulary to students' everyday lives.
VIDEO: Preparing Students to Read: Word and Inference Walls VIDEO: Vocabulary Paint Chips
Although I've listed my top five favorite vocabulary strategies for English learners, there are many other excellent approaches out there that work equally well. The internet gives educators the ability to connect with other teachers from all over the world and share strategies, especially when we start to feel like we've run out of fresh ideas. Teaching Channelhas a number of useful strategies for teaching vocabulary. Check out Sarah Brown Wessling's Vocabulary Paint Chips.

In this video, students use paint chips as a fun and interesting medium to help them explore new vocabulary and relationships between words. How might you adapt or modify this strategy for your ELLs?

When it comes to vocabulary, don't be afraid to try something new. You may discover an approach that's just the right fit for the students in your classroom.

What strategies do you use with English Language Learners?

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Top Five Vocabulary Strategies for English Language Learners

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That's the challenge English Language Learners (ELLs) face if they want to catch up to their native English-speaking classmates. That's almost 4,000 new words a year if a student begins school as a kindergartner! But what about the English Language Learners who don't enroll until middle school or high school?

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-Pair them with a native language speaking buddy to help them through the day if possible.
-Be deliberate in your speaking.
-Use physical gestures as much as possible to model the meaning of words.
-Ask yes or no questions
-Create a print rich environment

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If you are a mainstream teaching trying to figure out how to offer language support to ELLs, you are not alone! Many teachers around the country are working with ELLs for the first time, and they have a lot of questions.

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to support ELLs' language acquisition by adapting strategies already in use. These small things may make a big difference to ELLs. Here are some ideas to get you started. Don't miss the recommended links at the end of the article.

Create a language-rich environment.

English language learners will benefit from increased exposure to print and language. A print-rich environment will include access to books and reference materials, labels and posters, and student work on bulletin boards. Word walls are also a great support for ELLs, and may be organized around a number of concepts, including the alphabet and phonetic sounds, new vocabulary words, sight words, grammar rules, conversational phrases, and writing structures.

Related Resources

For more great ideas, see the following topics:

Be aware of the relationship between a student's native language and English.

A student's native language will most likely have a strong influence on the way that student learns English. Understanding how this language is similar to or different from English will help you focus on troublesome areas. This influence can provide extra support, such as the case of English and Spanish cognates (education and educación). The influence also may lead to some ongoing errors in English, which will become evident with time and repeated use by students who have the same native language.

Languages may differ in a number of aspects, such as phonetic sounds, pronunciation, grammar, word order, or sentence structure. For example, in Spanish, the adjective often follows the noun, so a student may write, "We are a family happy." In Somali, there is one sound for b and p - it is mixed. Somali students need to be taught this sound explicitly as two distinct sounds. Otherwise, they may ask for a can of pop and it sounds like "bob."

Native language may also influence students' vocabulary as they translate words or phrases from one language to another. Perhaps a vocabulary word has multiple meanings, a different meaning in each language, or the concept doesn't exist in one of the languages.

Even if you don't know a student's native language, being aware of native language influence will allow you to target your instruction. Help students by providing a model of how to use sounds, structures, and vocabulary correctly in English. In the case of a pronunciation difficulty such as the Somali example above, teachers can demonstrate how the mouth forms the sounds. Have students put their hand in front of their mouths to feel the air in "p" and their hands on their neck to feel the vibration of "b." This is also important as students work to sound out words while writing.

Simplify your language without "dumbing it down."

It may seem difficult to balance this at first, but here are some tips for communicating effectively with your students:

Avoid slang and idiomatic expressions.

Speak clearly and naturally, without going too quickly or slowly.

Encourage students to raise their hand if they don't understand a word.

Remember that ELLs may not understand instructions and key vocabulary words, and that reading something aloud doesn't always help comprehension. You can aid student comprehension by scaffolding language (providing extra supports such as realia, graphic organizers, visuals, etc.).

ELLs may not have the same background knowledge as their English-speaking peers, especially when it comes to references to American culture and geography, such as the Grand Canyon or Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. Identify key concepts, vocabulary words, and references before the lesson, and give students as much time and practice with the new material as possible before starting the lesson.

If students are having trouble with an activity, try to identify whether a new concept, set of directions, vocabulary word, or other element is causing the difficulty. Identify some different ways that you can help students move beyond those obstacles. These might include providing a book about the topic in the student's native language or reviewing new vocabulary words together.

Support academic language development.

Academic language is the language that students need to succeed in school. It is different than social language, which many students acquire first. Often students are available to communicate effectively with teachers or peers in social settings, but struggle when it comes to textbooks, tests, assignments, or class presentations. There are a number of ways to support academic language development, such as previewing the text, teaching grammatical structures relevant to a particular content area ("greater than" and "less than" in math class), and showing how the targeted academic language is used in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Learn more in the following resources from Colorín Colorado:

Discuss word families and how different forms of words are used.

ELLs may have a difficult time knowing which form of a word to use. Help students look for spelling and usage patterns, such as past tense verbs ending in "-ed." Since English has so many exceptions, this isn't always a foolproof strategy, but a basic knowledge of these patterns, rules, and spellings will help. Cognates can also help Spanish-speakers learn English and derive meaning from content. Teachers can explicitly point out cognates for Spanish-speaking students so they begin to realize that this is a useful way for them to increase their English vocabulary.

Help students understand when to use different kinds of language.

ELLs may speak different dialects or use "Spanglish," a combination of English and Spanish, in their classroom and with their friends and family. It's important to respect the language students use and realize that it is effective for them in certain settings. Rather than looking at certain dialects or slang as "good" or "bad," help students understand when different kinds of language are appropriate - and what the benefits of learning Standard Academic English will be for them in the long run.

Discuss the uses of Standard Academic English in college and career settings, as well as the importance of effective communication on applications and in interviews. One teacher I know calls this English the "green language" because it represents money the students can earn in the future with good English communication skills. Make it clear what kind of language you expect students to use in the classroom, and provide language models or structures when students have difficulty expressing themselves appropriately.

Provide students with frequent opportunities to work together, both in pairs and in small groups.

Cooperative learning activities promote peer interaction, which helps the development of language and the learning of concepts and content. Effective activities may include working on a worksheet together as problem-solver and coach (then switching roles), think-pair-share, and book groups. It is important to assign ELLs to different groups so that they can benefit from English language role models. ELLs learn to express themselves with greater confidence when working in small teams.

In addition to 'picking up' vocabulary, ELLs benefit from observing how their peers learn and solve problems. If you decide to assign each student in a team a role (such as reporter, recorder, time keeper, and materials manager), you might want to rotate roles each week or by activity. This prevents what typically happens if students select their own roles - the same students wind up performing the same tasks. By rotating, students develop the skills they most need to practice.

Implement an effective correction/feedback policy.

While it is difficult to know when to correct students, constructive and effective feedback is essential to student progress. It is possible for incorrect language production to become "fossilized" so that students continue to use the same incorrect structures into adulthood. This reduces their chances of being a clear communicator and ultimately limits them in professional settings. Nevertheless, it is important to balance between encouragement and error correction. One way to do this is to focus on one or two concepts at a time when listening to or reading student work. Let students know what you will be focusing on so that they in turn can focus on those particular concepts in the assignment.

Another strategy is to circle errors in writing assignments, and have students try to figure out what the mistakes were. As I always tell my students, "If I correct your English, I improve my English. If you correct your English, you improve yours." Most of the time students are able to correct their own writing errors once they focus on the circled area. If they are still stuck, I give them the answer and ask them to explain why it is correct. If they don't know the answer, I ask them to consult with a classmate. If no one else knows the answer, we review the structure as a group.

Reach out to your ELL/bilingual colleagues, reading specialists, special education teachers, and parents.

Educators and staff who work regularly with ELLs, as well as bilingual parents, may be a valuable source of information about language patterns or difficulties. While it may be difficult to find time to meet on a regular basis, increased collaboration among language teachers, content teachers, mainstream teachers, and support staff will most likely improve student support.

While teaching ELLs may be daunting, there are a number of ways you can support their language acquisition - and in the process get them on the road to academic success!

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Supporting ELLs in the Mainstream Classroom: Language Tips

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If you are a mainstream teaching trying to figure out how to offer language support to ELLs, you are not alone! Many teachers around the country are working with ELLs for the first time, and they have a lot of questions. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to support ELLs' language acquisition by adapting strategies already in use.

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-Students will be "silent" during this period to acquire some vocabulary but will not speak it
-Can last up to six weeks

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If your new English language learner is not speaking, don't worry. Most newcomers go through a stage during which they do not produce language. This doesn't mean they are not learning.