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Lowering the Affective Filter with Game-Like Activities

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Lowering the Affective Filter with Game-Like Activities

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Building Relationships for a Low-Anxiety Learning Environment; Lowering the Affective Filter

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Building Relationships for a Low-Anxiety Learning Environment; Lowering the Affective Filter

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Getting students' names right

Getting to know students' interests

Welcoming students' languages and cultures

Welcoming students' celebrations and family traditions

Interacting with students individually or in small groups when possible

Giving students a chance to plan their learning

Providing opportunities for students to tell their stories

Embedding social-emotional learning across the curriculum

Creating times for students to share regular updates

Consider how to talk about identity in a safe way in the classroom

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One of the biggest topics that educators are thinking about this year is the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL). Building relationships with students is a key aspect of SEL for students of all ages.

The good news is that there are a lot of ideas educators can try now and throughout the year. You might think of it as "going slow to go fast" - a process that not only builds confidence and community but increases engagement and supports students' later academic success.

What's in this article

We have compiled some of these ideas and resources for building relationships with English language learners (ELLs) and their classmates below in the following strategies:

Before getting started

As you read, keep in mind that many of the following activities can be differentiated for varying language proficiency levels. These strategies offer opportunities for:

And we encourage you to keep in mind Kristina Robertson's popular piece of advice: try just one new thing at a time!

Note: This article was originally written for online and hybrid settings. For tips on using these strategies in distance learning, see our recommendations at the end of the article.

Essential Question

As you read this article, consider the following essential question:
In what ways can I build strong relationships with multilingual students this year?
Strategies: Getting to Know Students

Share your stories!

If you try any ideas from this article, we'd love to hear how it went! Post your story on social media here:

Show respect for your students by taking time to learn how to pronounce and spell their names correctly. Ensure that students' names are written correctly in student databases, especially as schools move to more online systems. A misspelled name can impact the services and instruction a student receives.

When you ask students to say their name, listen carefully and repeat it until you get it right.

Ask students to record their names for you so that you can hear their pronunciation. (You can ask them to send you a voice recording or use an online platform like NameCoach.) Share recordings with colleagues who work with the students so that they also pronounce the students' names correctly.

Model the correct pronunciation of students' names to the class so that all students can say it correctly.

Use students' names when greeting them each day.

Consider asking students to share examples of how people mispronounce their name and how that makes them feel.

Learn more about different naming conventions in your students' cultures and languages.

Refrain from coming up with a nickname or a version of the name that's easier for you to say.

Project ideas:

Assign a multimedia or written project in which students share:

If your students are using technology, this is a good way to introduce online platforms they will be using this year.

You might also read aloud books from our booklists on names for children and young adults. After listening, students can record, write, or draw stories about their own names.

Using tech: SeeSaw can be used with primary grades. SeeSaw has related activities already prepared in their "Activity Bank," such as " Your Name is Everything You Are."

For older students, consider using:

What are your students' experiences, interests, hobbies, talents, goals, and strengths? Tapping into these " funds of knowledge" can:

foster relationships, friendships, and student confidence

make students' strengths more visible to peers and educators

engage students across the curriculum.

For example, the children of migrant farmworkers might have a wealth of knowledge about agriculture, seasonal harvest, and different regions of the country. (You can learn more about " funds of knowledge" from this helpful guide.)

Bring these topics into the class by:

giving students a chance to share their interests or strengths in surveys, peer interviews, writing prompts, and art projects

encouraging students to express themselves by decorating a virtual locker or bringing in something they can hang on the wall of the classroom

talking with family members about their child's interests and talents

talking with members of the students' communities about their insights

providing time for students to discuss current events of interest

learning more about culturally responsive practice (and what it looks like during a pandemic).

Note: See some great strategies from Judie Haynes and Carol Salva that incorporate these ideas into activities to start this coming new school year.

Project ideas:

Ask students to share a photo or drawing of themselves that is important to them and to explain why. (You can learn more about this strategy that ELD Team Lead Cindy Close in Douglas County, CO shared with us from Education Week.)

For a more in-depth assignment, ask students to create a project focused on one of their hobbies, interests, or talents that they can share with the class. Some examples might include a collage, a short presentation, poem, or a short video.

Using tech: The platforms mentioned under strategy one will work well for these ideas. You might also consider:

a digital photo album site, such as Google photos

a digital collage site, like PicCollage

a photo finding mission app, like Plum's Photo Hunt

Flipgrid, where students can post their digital picture while they talk about why that picture or object is important to them.

You can welcome students' languages by learning a few words or phrases, such as a greeting or how to say "thank you," or asking them to teach you and their peers some words. They will appreciate the gesture and enjoy being the teacher (and the expert) for a change!

This not only highlights the language skills that your student has, it celebrates the gift of multilingualism and gives other student a chance to think about what it is like to go through the day learning in a different language. (Learn more in our section on what it feels like to be a language learner.)

You might also look for places where you can display flags from students' countries or other photos that are meaningful for students.

Project ideas:

Create a classroom bulletin board, either online or on the wall, where students and families can add homemade signs to a world map with important words such as "hello," "friend," and "thank you." (Thank you to Amanda Goman for sharing this idea on Twitter!)

Tech ideas: Look for ways to create and decorate a shared virtual space or virtual bulletin boards with tools such as Padlet, Corkulous, or Bitmoji. (Note that some of Bitmoji's avatars are not appropriate for students, especially of younger ages.) Various Google Classroom tools include places to save images as well.

Provide opportunities for students to share important traditions throughout the year. You may wish to ask students early in the year what their favorite holidays are and then plan a lesson on that holiday with their family. Look for these opportunities throughout the year and across the curriculum, as well as including them as a part of family outreach events.

Project ideas:

Invite students and families to prepare a presentation or respond to a writing prompt about:

a family story, folktale, or local legend

a favorite saying, poem, or song from their native language

a recipe

a family or holiday tradition.

Tech ideas: Any of the creation tools mentioned above could be used for these projects.

The demands on teachers of ELLs this year will be many; however, making time for regular personal interaction with students will strengthen your ability to deliver effective, meaningful instruction and keep in touch with them during a fluid situation. To help carve out this time:

talk with colleagues and administrators about ways to fit that interaction into instruction, office hours, or family engagement

look for opportunities to co-teach or collaborate with colleagues or paraprofessionals to use time efficiently

consider using phone calls, blogs, messaging, or other forms of written communication with students as a way to check in

collect examples of success and share them with administrators to advocate for more time if needed.

Project ideas:

Ask students to prepare 3-5 (appropriate!) questions they would like to ask you in an interview, such as your favorite food, a favorite toy from childhood, or a book you enjoyed reading. After reviewing and approving their questions, schedule time for them to interview you, in person or online, which they can share with the class through a written summary, video, or presentation. If time allows, you may wish to interview them as well!

Tech ideas: Brainstorming questions would work well in small groups on Jamboard, a digital whiteboard that is a Google extension. Interviews could be done orally asynchronously via Flipgrid or Voxer, a voice messaging app for phone or desktop. Final video could be posted on any of the creation apps listed above (Seesaw, Nearpod, Peardeck, Buncee, etc.)

Strategies: Connecting Experiences to Learning

Once you get a better sense of your students' life experiences, you can connect them to learning by:

looking for ways to connect these interests to the curriculum

asking students to brainstorm ideas on what they would like to study

using an inquiry-based or project-based learning approach that allows students to take the lead in identifying a question or problem to solve/research

assigning students research projects that focus on issues or concepts that apply to their own community

identifying community assets, guest speakers, or local organizations that can support this learning

offering students opportunities to present their work in public, whether to classmates, parents, or community members.

Project ideas:

Consider taking on a classwide project (or group projects) that students help plan and design to address a topic or concern of interest.

Tech ideas: Use Jamboard to brainstorm questions students want to answer in their project or inquiry. Once the questions are posted on Jamboard, they can sort and categorize the questions. Jamboard allows students to post a sticky note and see what others are posting in real time. This can be used in break out groups and/or asynchronously.

Sharing personal stories can be powerful experiences for students and their classmates as well. Provide opportunities for students to share their stories both privately and publicly, whether through artwork, in writing, or in conversation. If a student shares some difficult experiences, consider whether more support is needed through follow-up conversations with families or counseling.
Notes of caution
If you do invite students to share personal stories:

Attend to student cues on whether they wish to share their personal experiences with classmates: Many students have endured traumatic experiences that they may not wish to share. Explain at the beginning of any storytelling activity that it is voluntary and provide alternative assignments as needed. Some students may be willing to share their experiences with their peers or in a more public format such as school assemblies, the school newspaper, or self-published books.

Be aware of the "dangers of a single story": Be mindful of what Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls "the danger of a single story" in her 2009 TED talk; in other words, when learning about a student's life story, remember that your own experiences and assumptions, as well as the stories of other individuals, may not reflect your student's life. In addition, students who have the same racial background, speak the same language, or who hail from the same country may not have much in common, and in fact may experience some tension if they come from different groups with histories of conflict.

Don't single students out because of their identity: Never put students on the spot as a "representative" of their race, gender, ethnic group, gender identity, country of origin, experience, or other aspect of their identity. Honor students' experiences and perspectives for what they are, especially if those experiences and perspectives challenge your assumptions.

Project ideas:

Work with students to present a brief personal story they want to share in writing, artwork, video, or audio. This small project may grow into a larger, longer project, such as an autobiography project or yearbook project (which could work well online!).
Tech ideas:

Storybird is an easy to use digital storytelling platform that allows students to create stories with characters and elements provided by dragging, dropping, and writing in your story.

Make Beliefs Comics is a comic strip storytelling platform.

Book Creator is an iPad app that can be used with young students.

There is a lot of attention on social-emotional learning right now for good reason. All students have experienced disruption to some level in their social and academic lives, and many students have also experienced hardship, loss, illness, trauma, and deep levels of stress and anxiety. As district leader Nathaniel Provencio notes in the video below, creating a supportive, nurturing environment for your students, regardless of setting, is a critical step in helping them navigate the uncertainty of the coming year.

Some ideas include:

keeping a calm and predictable environment

creating calm corners

preparing students for transitions

giving students sensory and stretch breaks

teaching tools for mindfulness and stress relief, such as breathing exercises or visualizations

sharing resources such as this "virtual calming room"

encouraging students to show kindness, develop empathy, and share appreciation for each other

encouraging your students to identify and focus on their strengths and resilience, as discussed above

In addition, keep an eye out for situations in which students may need additional support from counselors. Learn more about the impacts of COVID-19 on immigrant families and these trauma-informed school strategies during COVID-19 from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Project ideas:

Ask students to share an experience through writing or discussion about a time that they overcame a difficulty or reached a goal. Ask them to reflect on what made that achievement possible.

Tech ideas: Use one of the storytelling platforms above so that students can share this experience as a story or their own superhero comic.

Many educators use circle time as a chance to check in and learn more about how students are doing. We have also heard from middle and high school educators that advisory periods offer powerful opportunities to connect with students. One ELL educator shared that her colleagues at the high school level were reluctant take on advisory periods. However, in a survey at the end of the year, the overwhelming majority favored keeping the advisory periods as a way of getting to know students better throughout the year.

In addition, other educators use private mailboxes, student mood charts, journal entries, and other personal ways for students to let teachers know how they are doing.

As you work with ELLs, make sure that all students have opportunities to participate in these activities and scaffold their participating with strategies such as offering sentence frames for discussion to help scaffold students' participation.

Project ideas:

Think about different topics and questions to use during circle time or advisory, perhaps alternating between general updates and focused activities. You also wish to invite students to come up with topics and themes.

Another teacher, Jorge Bermudez, shares his alternative high school's experience with rethinking their advisory periods in the video below.

Offering students opportunities to reflect about own identity can help create an " identity-safe classroom " and also lay important groundwork for later discussions. It can also challenge the notion of "color blindness," a perspective which ignores important aspects of students' identity and experiences. When discussing identity:

Honor students' experiences and perspectives for what they are.

Avoid assumptions. Dr. Ayanna Cooper speaks more about this in her interview clips below about Black immigrant students.

Never put students on the spot as a "representative" of any aspect of their identity or experience.

Become familiar with some of the myths related to ELLs and immigrant students. If needed, share these with colleagues.

Keep in mind that students may be masking some part of their identity. For example, some Indigenous students from Latin America may not share their Indigenous culture or language with the school, or the fact that Spanish is not their first language.

Project ideas:

Look for ideas that fit your classroom in the following collection of resources:
Elementary School Middle and High School Professional development and collaboration
Closing Thoughts

There will be a lot of trial and error in the coming year. As Kristina Roberston says below, if something doesn't work, go back to the drawing board and try again! Don't let those bumps discourage you from continuing to build the critical connections that you, your students, and your families need this year. They may just be what helps everyone get through a school year like no other!

Discussion/Reflection Questions

What is one takeaway that resonates with you from this article?

What is one activity you might try?

What strategies have you used in the past to build strong relationships with students? How might you adapt them this year?

What will be hardest about building relationships this year with students and families?

What are you feeling nervous about year?

What are you looking forward to this year?

More Recommended Resources

Social-emotional resources

Interactive strategies for building relationships & distance learning

Recommended blogs

Getting to know your ELLs and their families

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Kristina Robertson, Becky Corr, Susan Lafond, Areli Schermerhorn, and Beth Skelton for their contributions to this article.

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10 Strategies for Building Relationships with ELLs

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One of the biggest topics that educators are thinking about this year is the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL). Building relationships with students is a key aspect of SEL for students of all ages. The good news is that there are a lot of ideas educators can try now and throughout the year.

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The Affective Filter and Teacher Behaviors

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The Affective Filter and Teacher Behaviors

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Educational settings should promote positive and comfortable learning environments. EL students should have an equal opportunity to feel heard, and should know that it is okay to take risks and make mistakes.

Teachers should strive to create a classroom culture/climate that is welcoming, building a rapport throughout the year.

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In order for people to acquire a second language they need to obtain comprehensible input, but will only allow input "in" if their affective filters are low enough.

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Comprehensible Output: What students can do

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Comprehensible Output: What students can do

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Last week, I described strategies that empower ELs to understand instructions. This is one of two priorities for an EL teacher; scaffolding student engagement is the second. The first focus enables ELs to understand what we expect of them, while the second one propels them to communicate to their fullest ability.

Comprehensible Output: The Hypothesis

Merrill Swain , the originator of the comprehensible output hypothesis, suggested that people learn language by noticing that one uses it incorrectly. The learner then corrects herself and uses language that correctly follows the grammatical rules (1985). (1998) strongly disagrees with Swain's hypothesis.

When I talk comprehensible output, I am not referring to Swain's hypothesis. Instead, I see comprehensible output to mean anything the student is doing to demonstrate understanding. This can mean engaging in learning experiences or completing assessments. I borrowed the term "comprehensible output" because content teachers usually need help in two areas:

1. getting the EL to understand instruction (comprehensible input) and

2. determining if the EL understands the instruction (comprehensible output).

The output produced by ELs indicates the degree to which they comprehend the instructions and content. With this formative information, teachers can modify instruction.

Comprehensible Output: What Students Can Do

Comprehensible output is (Haynes, n.d). the belief that ELs can communicate at the level of their language proficiency ELs and non-ELs can demonstrate similar understandings in different ways. Indeed, forcing an EL to communicate in ways that are beyond their current language capabilities often frustrates them and creates an emotional distance between them and school - further widening the education gap. After ELs understand the instructions, I offer differentiated tasks that allow them to communicate their understanding in alternative forms and in ways that honor their current language development.

The bottom turqouise section of the diagram below represents the variety of ways ELs can signal that they understand. It is broken up into four sections based on increasing language proficiency starting with Beginning and proceeding to Developing, Expanding, and ending at Bridging. The sequence of these categories also denotes the quantity of words ELs can produce orally and in writing.

For Beginning ELs, maybe all they can do is gesture and repeat a few words, while Bridging ELs can independently merge written text, voice, and images together to create something new and sophisticated.Housed in this menu of options is the belief that communication isn't limited to printed or spoken words - gestures, images and videos also have a valid place within any classroom.

You will find a fully completed diagram at the end of this blog. It's a free downloadable PDF.

Beginning MLs

Even though Beginning ELs are not as proficient in English compared to other ELs, they can still point, label, match, and gesture to show understanding. Though these forms of output are not as linguistically sophisticated as writing extended pieces of text, they do demonstrate comprehension.

Beginning ELs, for example, can be expected to produce oral or written words or simple phrases. Watch this video of me working with Zhang Ho, a 7th grader from China. The science teacher wanted him to know some specific science vocabulary. Based on Zhang Ho's English skills, gesturing while saying the vocabulary words was sufficient evidence of his understanding.

The newer the EL is to English, the more I lean on technology as a crutch to produce comprehensible output. Google Translate is an EL teacher's best friend - always there to help but sometimes adding to the confusion. By providing easy rewordings that simply teacher instructions, Google Translate explicitly honors the importance of students' home languages and frees ELs to display intelligence when their current English level betrays them.

Here's a screenshot from Zhang Ho's history project created in Google Slides . He was expected to analyze the impact of dams. Notice the academic quality of his writing, which he initially wrote in Chinese and then used Google Translate to communicate in English. Zhang Ho's use of the before and after images were additional tools that communicated his analytical thinking. These pictures carried us along his analysis when his words no longer could.

I also recommend watching this by , a passionate, experienced education consultant specializing in EL instruction and author of Carol Salva Boosting Achievement: Reaching Students with Interrupted or Minimal Education. She describes what Beginning ELs can do in a secondary setting even when students have interrupted educations or no prior educational experience. Carol works miracles!

Developing MLs

Developing ELs can transition from gesturing basic ideas to communicating through graphs and images that incorporate simple text. These ELs can be expected to produce text at the sentence level because they have a growing stockpile of basic and content-specific words. They can stitch these words together to form simple - though often grammatically inaccurate - sentences.

Here is a series of images Ayaka drew to demonstrate her understanding of the main ideas in this World Vision's video on access to clean water . Notice how she produced simple sentences with basic vocabulary words to communicate her ideas. Ayaka is morphing from an EL who used to point, label, and gesture to a student who can use images combined with simple sentences to communicate her ideas.

I again depend on technology to scaffold Developing ELs' communication of ideas. Google Slides , Adobe Spark , , and are FANTASTIC ways for ELs to demonstrate their content knowledge and create from their understanding. The video and voice functions in these programs augment the limited text that ELs can produce.

Here's a video that Ho Jung created using Adobe Spark (there's a 10-sec intro). His fellow classmates were writing mini-reports in history class to describe early human life. Because Ho Jung was only able to create simple sentences, his history teacher and I honored his level of English by allowing him to produce basic sentences enhanced by the creative use of voice recording, images, and animation.

More importantly, these freemium programs promote critical thinking - requiring students to evaluate what content to use and how to communicate it. No longer just consumers of content, ELs become prosumers, people who consume and create content.

Expanding MLs

These ELs have sophisticated control of the English language. Educators can expect Expanding ELs to sew sentences together to form a coherent paragraph. Expanding ELs are able to learn text structures such as describe, sequence, cause-effect, problem-solution, and argument . Jennifer Gonzalez, one of my favorite education bloggers, explains how teaching text structures can increase students' comprehension of nonfiction texts.

Gonzalez suggests that as students are reading a text that describes an object, we can outline the traits and details of that object on a diagram. Doing so helps students see how a descriptive text structures sentences and paragraphs. I produced a mini-poster series called Bathroom Brief 18-23 that depicts each of the text structures.

Bridging MLs

Bridging ELs possess a heightened ability to switch from social to formal language on command. They're skilled enough to communicate divergent and analytical thoughts with precision, sophistication, and accuracy. Because of their ability to communicate connections between ideas, Bridging ELs should be expected to produce a central written message with multiple paragraphs and organize a coherent oral presentation aided by visuals, videos, graphs, charts, texts.

Service-learning is an appropriate output for Bridging ELs because of the rigorous demands on literacy needed to conduct research, organize findings, make suggestions, take actions, collaborate with others and reflect on the results. One notable example of service-learning is taken from Matt Colley's history class.

Students were to research a social issue they cared about such as LGBT rights, police brutality, and access to healthy foods. They then analyzed the root causes of the issue. Students were instructed to plan actions they could take to address the problem. After identifying how their social issue is manifested in their own communities , they started planning actions such as creating a petition, meeting with the mayor, and working with the school cafeteria to provide more access to healthier meals.

Service-learning bridges social and academic language because students have to be conscious about using the appropriate register. They use social language to plan and collaborate with classmates, but they shift to academic language when drafting their petition letter, writing an analysis of their survey to send to the superintendent, and organizing their presentation to a potential donor.

Takeaway

Now that I've adopted these two priorities - 1.) develop comprehensible input, then 2.) foster engagement - I see my work from a completely different perspective. I search from the menu of strategies for approaches that can develop comprehension, and I offer a rainbow of options to demonstrate their ideas in a way that honors the language they can produce. With these two lenses, I walk hand-in-hand with ELs as they learn to master English.

Next Post

I hoped you've enjoyed this short detour from WIDA's Essential Actions, though it is a tangent of Action 8's. Please visit the blog again next week when I'll share WIDA's Action 9 and describe ways to create a language-rich classroom. When ELs are creating with language and immersed in language, then they'll truly develop mastery and control of English.

Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning . Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Krashen, S. (1998). A Comprehensible Universe. 175-182. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-77626-0.

Swain, M. (1985) Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In Gass, S. and Madden, C. (Eds.), Input in Second Language Acquisition, pp. 235-256. New York: Newbury House.

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#28. Comprehensible Output: What Students Can Do - ELL Strategies | TanKHuynh

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Comprehensible Output is how ELLs show they understand your content and instructions. Explore the output you should expect from ELLs at every level.

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You need a mix of both input and output and here's why.

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Input vs. Output—What Is the Right Mix for English Learners?

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Can you learn English entirely by reading? Or just by chatting with native speakers? Neither—you need a mix of input and output activities. Here’s why.

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Comprehensible Output in a simple video explanation.

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Comprehensible Output in a simple video explanation.

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What is Comprehensible Output Hypothesis?

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What is Comprehensible Output Hypothesis?

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Zone of Proximal Development, Explained!

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Zone of Proximal Development, Explained!

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A domain or “zone” where children can reach a higher level of knowledge and performance with the support of an adult or more knowledgeable person.

An individual’s requirement of guidance or assistance to master and enhance the abilities they already possess.

The skills are referred to as “proximal” because the learner or student is close to mastering the task but needs assistance and practice in order to perform it independently.

Similar to Krashen’s input hypothesis, but with ZPD, there is more direct instruction than the input hypothesis, which assumes that the students will acquire information naturally by hearing it.

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Zone of Proximal Development: Video Explanation!

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Zone of Proximal Development: Video Explanation!

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Zone of Proximal Development for EL students!

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Zone of Proximal Development for EL students!

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By Senior Program Associate Elsa Billings and Senior Research Scientist Aída Walqui at WestEd. The Zone of Proximal Development: An Affirmative Perspective in Teaching ELLs brief was written for and published by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages. The brief is adapted and posted here with permission.
What is the Zone of Proximal Development?

The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is perhaps one of the most commonly used terms in the field of education. Yet, as often happens, we use terminology with a limited understanding of the concepts involved. The ZPD was a key construct in Lev Vygotsky's theory of learning and development (Vygotsky, 1978). Vygotsky defined the ZPD as:
"[T]he distance between the actual developmental level (of the learner) as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). Two critical elements in Vygotsky's definition of ZPD are the notions of potential development of the learner and the role collaboration plays in the learning process.
A Student's Potential Development

The concept of a learner's potential development refers to the space beyond a learner's current capabilities and understandings. It is that which a learner is capable of, but has yet to achieve. In the case of English Learners and Multilingual Learners, the immense potential that they bring to our classrooms is comprised of their intellectual, linguistic, and creative strengths that are waiting to be built upon. Our responsibility as educators is to provide students appropriate learning experiences and support to help them realize their potential development. The goal of instruction is to foster our English Learners' and Multilingual Learners' autonomy and their ability to engage in activities that enable them to apply and modify what they have learned to new situations.

This process entails a pedagogical balance of high challenge and high support in which we take a future-oriented perspective of learning. This means that we recognize that, accompanied by deliberate pedagogical supports, learning takes place in advance of the development we wish to see. In this way teaching precedes development. When we view education as future-oriented, we simultaneously build on students' backgrounds while we are considering their next levels of development and emerging capacity. This space of potential development is the ZPD and it is the space in which learning occurs, thus where teaching needs to be situated. What this means for our English Learners and Multilingual Learners is that we do not have to wait until their English is perfect to engage them in intellectually stimulating and demanding tasks. On the contrary, learning can only occur when it is constructed in advance of development in the ZPD.

Learning as a Social Process

How does this learning in advance of development occur? Collaboration is an essential element of productive work in the ZPD, as Vygotsky viewed learning as a social process. With learning taking place in the ZPD, the area beyond a student's level of independent skill or knowledge, Vygotsky realized that we learn through our dialogic interaction with others. When students perform in their ZPD for a given task, they are apprenticing and consequently unable to engage in the task on their own. They need appropriate guidance, modeling, and assistance, all of which are provided through collaboration with peers or teachers. Thus, teachers have to deliberately construct these collaborative structures, ensuring that they invite students to participate in worthwhile conceptual and analytical practices while at the same time developing the English necessary to accomplish them. In this way the student moves through their zone of proximal development and ultimately into the space of internalization and autonomy, which is the goal of learning. More than a simple process of partnering students, learning in this "construction" zone takes place through the construction and enactment of invitations to interact in intellectually stimulating tasks. These invitations are premised on in-depth understanding of our students, which requires formatively assessing them to determine where the next learnings should be placed and combined with careful and contingent scaffolding. Scaffolding thus simultaneously considers our students' current understandings and interests along with their future potential for development.

Scaffolding¹

Scaffolding involves both the structural and procedural supports that guide and enable learners to work within their ZPD so that they may develop their full, yet unrealized, potential. The structural element of scaffolding refers to those planned, ritualized structures that surround learning tasks. An example of structural scaffolding is the step-by-step guidelines used in a Think, Pair, Share (TPS) task. ² There are three moments in a TPS task:

Think: The teacher asks one or two questions for students to consider. In order to see what students are thinking, as well as to provide additional scaffolding as needed, the teacher asks students to record key elements of their answer using words or phrases, but not complete sentences. Depending on the complexity of the questions, the teacher may assign between three and five minutes for students to jot down their ideas. Meanwhile, the teacher circulates around the classroom to monitor and check what students have written. An empty piece of paper may be an indication that the student needs further support from the teacher.

Pair: Students are asked to form dyads. There are many ways of doing this, depending on time available, the nature of the questions, or even what time of the day it is (classes immediately after lunch may require opportunities for movement).

Share: Dyads orally share their responses with each other. All students should be ready-if called upon-to present to the class their partner's responses first, and then their own.

The TPS provides a scaffolded structure for students to orally request ideas from a partner, listen to their peers' ideas, and ask and respond to questions, thus contributing to and gaining new perspectives on the topic at hand. The result is that both students are enabled to co-construct meaning. Scaffolding structures must maintain a careful balance of providing support to the learner without being so rigid or limited as to stifle the learner. They are simultaneously constant and flexible. For example, within a TPS, the structure remains constant while the focal theme or question of the TPS task is flexible and changes each time. In this way, English Learners and Multilingual Learners do not experience cognitive overload by having to understand and enact a new structure for sharing ideas and can mentally tend to the central theme or question of the TPS task, allowing them to genuinely participate in the task. After participating in a TPS a few times, students become familiar with this collaborative structure for sharing ideas so that it becomes automated. Eventually, the teacher can add flexibility to the TPS structure itself with slight alterations such as including a drawing or a writing option to the steps.

The procedural aspect of scaffolding emerges through the unplanned support that occurs in-the-moment and in response to something new the learner introduces in classroom interactions. The on-the-spot nature of procedural scaffolding makes it contingent on the learner and the particular situation in which it occurs. This means that in addition to continually monitoring students' understanding, the teacher is also assessing their own structural scaffolds so as to be able to quickly modify them in order to support students' progression to the ZPD. It is thus through the planned structure together with the contingent, in-the-moment process of scaffolding that the teacher creates both the circumstances and supports that permit students to enter into and engage in their ZPD and that promote their autonomy as learners. We must take care to fully understand that our goal is learner autonomy. Eventually, our students should proceed through their ZPD to self-regulation in which they no longer need the scaffolds we provided earlier. Indeed, if our scaffolded instruction does not develop autonomy, it is not productive work in the ZPD.

Expanded Understandings of the ZPD

Vygotsky's theory of learning advanced the field's understanding of the learning process. Since Vygotsky's initial conceptualization of the ZPD, researchers have expanded to further elaborate upon the collaborative nature of the learning process. This work recognizes that learning is not limited to interactions between the learner and an adult or "more capable" peer (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). In addition to expert-novice interactions, the ZPD can also be supported through interactions between:

Equal peers (peers with the same levels of knowledge) (Donato, 1994 in Walqui & van Lier, 2010). When learners with relatively equal levels of knowledge work together they can create zones of proximal development for each other as their interactions give rise to ideas, which are then shared with peers and which are then further advanced and developed through collaboration.

Less capable peers (a novice supporting another learner) (van Lier, 1996, 2004 in Walqui & van Lier, 2010). When a novice learner teaches another learner who has slightly less knowledge, the interaction supports both learners working in the zone of proximal development; as the novice articulates, expands, and clarifies ideas, both learners simultaneously are expanding their knowledge.

Working alone (van Lier, 1996, 2004 in Walqui & van Lier, 2010). Learners can work within their zone of proximal development when they use "learning strategies, inner speech, resources in their environment, and experimentation" that they have internalized (Walqui & van Lier, 2010, p. 31).

The visual below depicts this expanded notion of the ZPD as articulated by van Lier (2004, p. 158). Understanding that learning is a social process that can be facilitated through numerous interactions, and is not limited solely to expert-novice interactions, creates limitless possibilities as we think about how we can best support English Learners and Multilingual Learners in our classrooms through scaffolded interactions with peers and teachers.

The Expanded ZPD and Language Learning

For many well-intentioned teachers of English Learners and Multilingual Learners, a common misconception exists; this is the notion that English Learners and Multilingual Learners must perfect their English before they are capable of engaging with grade-level content. This misconception leads many teachers to spend critical instructional time focusing on isolated linguistic activities that are "free of content."

Too often English Learners and Multilingual Learners are removed from heterogeneous classrooms and isolated in English as a Second Language or English Language Development courses, rendering students devoid of contact and interaction with English Learners and Multilingual Learners who have better command of English or native English-speaking peers. As a result, they are provided very narrowly focused education in which grammar and vocabulary, not content, are the focus and where language is "curricularized" (Valdés, 2001).

However, what Vygotsky's and other researchers' work shows us is that by identifying the skills, knowledge, and practices that are on the edge of development (i.e., the ZPD), teachers can provide targeted support or scaffolds for students to reach the desired level of skill/knowledge and thus move toward autonomy in that area. It is in this space that a teacher's role is to recognize and integrate the exact pedagogical scaffolds that support students' ripening of linguistic, conceptual, and/or academic potential. For English Learners and Multilingual Learners to reach their potential, it is essential that we provide them access to content, as well as regular and consistent opportunities to engage with their peers in a heterogeneous classroom setting.

The implications of this understanding are exciting in that it frees teachers from the instructional restraints that come with the belief that English Learners and Multilingual Learners can only learn content that is within or below their language level. Essential to such learning is the deliberate, thoughtful planning and scaffolding of tasks that the teacher provides via structured heterogeneous classroom interactions so that the English Learner or Multilingual Learner is guided through their linguistic and academic zone of proximal development, learning grade-level content and developing language in the process.

Back to the Future

Key to this discussion is the notion that the ZPD is a future-oriented approach that begins from an understanding of students as inherently capable. A future-oriented approach is especially important as we work with our English Learners and Multilingual Learners. Often viewed from a deficit perspective, English Learners and Multilingual Learners can be perceived as fundamentally lacking in the skills and knowledge necessary to complete tasks or access texts. A future-oriented approach instead sees English Learners' and Multilingual Learners' future potential and thus presents an affirmative stance that sets them up for success. It is a teacher's expertise, knowledge, and concomitant pedagogical action that is responsible for making every English Learner's and Multilingual Learner's potential a reality. Walqui and van Lier (2010) summarize this future-oriented approach stating:
English language learners, like all students, arrive in our classrooms with immense potential, strengths to build on, and dreams for their future. It is our job as education professionals to help them realize that potential and to provide them with the right learning opportunities so that they can address rigorous academic content in a language they have yet to master. (p. 1)
We hope you found the ideas in this blog post informative and useful. Download other briefs in this series produced by the New York State Education Department:
Aída Walqui directs the National Research and Development Center for Improving the Education of English Learners in Secondary Schools at WestEd, where she started one of the agency's signature programs, the Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) initiative. Elsa Billings works closely with educators at the school, district, and state levels to improve education for English Learners and Multilingual Learners.
Footnotes

1 For more information on scaffolding for English Learners and Multilingual Learners, please refer to the New York City Department of Education brief, Scaffolding, by Walqui and Strom.

2 The TPS is one of the most misunderstood and mispracticed tasks.

3 The Brain Lesson (WestEd, 2008) comes from a secondary level unit that uses personal recounts to illustrate cause and effect of traumatic brain injuries and disease.

Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) Summer Institutes develop educator expertise to provide high-challenge, high-support instruction that helps English Learners succeed in a rapidly changing world.
Register today!

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Spotlight on English Learners: Zone of Proximal Development-An Affirmative Perspective in Teaching English Learners

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By Senior Program Associate Elsa Billings and Senior Research Scientist Aída Walqui at WestEd. The Zone of Proximal Development: An Affirmative Perspective in Teaching ELLs brief was written for and published by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages.

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For more on the Zone of Proximal Development...

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For more on the Zone of Proximal Development...

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The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), a concept frequently referenced in academic circles and lecture halls, holds immense significance for classroom teachers seeking to foster skill development in their students. At its core, the ZPD posits that an individual with a greater level of knowledge or expertise can effectively support a learner's growth by guiding them through tasks that lie just beyond their current abilities. As the learner gradually gains competence and confidence, the expert progressively withdraws guidance until the student can independently complete the task.

In this article, we will explore the profound implications of the ZPD for the modern classroom, demonstrating that, through strategic adult guidance, educators can not only enhance access to education but also significantly improve learning outcomes for students of varying abilities. We will delve into the critical role of scaffolding in the learning process, as well as discuss the importance of peer collaboration and the role of the teacher as a facilitator of knowledge.

Furthermore, we will examine the diverse strategies educators can employ to identify each student's unique ZPD, enabling them to tailor instruction and support to effectively bridge the gap between a learner's current abilities and their potential for growth. By harnessing the transformative power of the Zone of Proximal Development, classroom teachers can cultivate an environment that nurtures the development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and lifelong learning skills in all students, regardless of their starting point or aptitude.

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The zone of proximal development indicates the difference between what a student can do without guidance and what he can achieve with the encouragement and guidance of a skilled partner. Therefore, the term " proximal" relates to those skills that the student is " close " to mastering. This theory of learning can be useful for teachers.

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Reflective Questions
1. How does ZPD relate to other concepts such as scaffolding or peer tutoring?

2. Why are some students better at using this approach than others?

3. Can you think of any situations where it would be useful for teachers to use this strategy?

4. Is there anything else we should know about ZPD?

5. Do you have any ideas on how to implement this strategy into your own teaching practice?

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History of Zone of Proximal Development

In the 1900s, Russian PsychologistLev Vygotsky proposed the idea of the ZPD. Vygotsky acknowledged that every individual has ' 2' stages of skill development:

A level that can be achieved by one's self.

A level that someone can achieve by seeking help from an experienced person or teacher.

Vygotsky named the level a person can achieve through help as his ZPD. Vygotsky suggested that when a learner is in the ZPD for a specific task, offering the appropriate guidance will give the learner enough of a " boost" to accomplish the task. However, if the learner lacks sufficient experience, then the instructor must provide additional support so that the learner can reach the next stage of mastery.

This process continues until the learner reaches the highest possible level of proficiency.

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How Does It Work?
When a learner needs assistance, they ask their peers or instructors for advice. The instructor provides feedback based on the learner's performance. This helps them learn new strategies and techniques. As the learner masters these new skills, the instructor gradually reduces her involvement until she no longer offers direct instruction. At this point, the learner is capable of performing the activity independently.

Zone of Proximal Development in the Classroom

To help a student to move through the zone of proximal development, teachers must focus on three essential components that facilitate the learning process:

The presence of another person with skills and knowledge beyond that of the student (a more skilled other). The more knowledgeable other is relatively self-explanatory; it shows a person with a higher ability level or more knowledge than the student, concerning a specific task or concept.

A learner's social interactionwith a skilled educator enables the learner to observe and apply their knowledge. Vygotsky (1978) believes that a child's more important learning occurs using a social interaction with a skilled mentor. The instructor may provide verbal instructions or model certain behaviours for the child. Vygotsky termed this as collaborative or cooperative The child strives to recognize the instructions or actions provided by the more skilled person (mostly the teacher or parent) then internalizes the knowledge, using it to regulate or improve his performance.

Scaffolding, or helpful workouts provided by the instructor, or more knowledgeable peer, to guide the student as he moves through the ZPD.

The zone of proximal development (ZPD), is an educational notion constantly restated by the professors in the lecture halls. However, why is it so crucial in a classroom setting for a childs mental development? The crux of the zone of proximal development is that a child with more skills and mastery (the skilled partner), can be used to enhance the potential level of knowledge and another individual.

These type of social interactions can be used to enhance educational outcomes in problem-based learning activities. The level of challenge can be incrementally increased with appropriate levels of scaffolding in a way that neither individual feels overwhelmed by the complexity of the task.

This type of social interaction can be used as a catalyst for critical thinking. The interaction with peers enables children to engage cognitively at much higher levels.

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The implications for classroom practice are profound. If we can scaffold the cognitive function of a child at an appropriate level, we can enable them to advance their learning and develop new skills. In a classroom setting, we want to improve both access to the curriculum and the level of challenge. Our alternative approach to lesson planning and delivery using the universal thinking framework enables educators to fully embrace this philosophy.

The Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding

The concept of pairing guidance with a student is termed scaffolding. The ZPD is frequently used in the literature as the term scaffolding. But, it is must be remembered that Vygotsky never used this word in his writing, and it was first used by Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976). The individual performing the scaffolding can be a peer, a teacher, or even a parent. To help students gain independence, Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976) defined support and supervision offered by a more capable or knowledgeable person (instructor or parent) to perform a task that the child would not be able to perform independently.

Students take easy and manageable steps to achieve a goal. Working in partnership with more knowledgeable peers or a skilled instructor will help learners in making connections between different concepts.

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As students thrive within their zone of proximal development and come to be more confident, they perform new tasks using the social support that exists around them. Vygotsky proposed that learning takes place using meaningful and purposeful interactions with others. We have been embracing this learning theory within our concept of mental modelling. This collaborative learning approach enables students to take their thinking out of their head where they have more capacity.

Using brightly coloured blocks, students organise their thoughts and develop new ideas.Uses of this methodology take their current knowledge and build on it with others (quite literally). Their previous knowledge acts as a foundation for increasing their conceptual understanding of the topic in question. The students level of knowledge is reflected within the sophistication of the structure of their build. When students are in the 'zone', their learning potential is significantly increased.

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This approach to classroom learning makes activities such as language learning more engaging and at the same time more challenging. The incremental nature of block building means that a student working memory is rarely overloaded. The level of flexibility within the strategy means that it can be used for discovery learning or at the other end of the spectrum, direct instruction approaches.

The blocks can be used to make abstract concepts more concrete. The connections between concepts can be illustrated using the connections between the blocks. This visual queue acts as a 'memory anchor' that serves as a retrieval aid. This process is a perfect example of the concept of scaffolding.

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ZPD for lesson planning

Classroom learning should be challenging enough to be engaging and the concept of proximal development comes in very useful when thinking about activities such as lesson planning. If we can break classroom tasks down into manageable chunks, with the correct adult assistance, we can enable a pupil to think their way through most challenges. Improving access to education is a global goal we all share.

Our community of practice has demonstrated how this can be achieved by utilising the latest thinking in cognitive science. You don't need to be a professor of education to embrace powerful psychological principles of the mind. Instructional concepts such as dual coding, mind-mapping and oracy all enable children to push the boundaries of what they are capable of. The adult becomes the facilitator instead of the deliverer of knowledge construction.

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The Zone of Proximal Development in the Classroom

Theory of Assisted Problem Solving

Wood and Middleton (1975) examined the interaction between 4-year-old children and their mothers in a problem-solving situation. The children had to use a set of pegs and blocks to create a 3D model using a picture. The task was too difficult for these children to complete on their own.

Wood and Middleton (1975) evaluated how mothers assisted their children to create the 3D model. Different kinds of support included:

Direct demonstration (e.g., by placing one block on another, and showing it to the child)

General encouragement (g., by saying 'Now you must try.')

Specific instructions (e.g., by saying 'get two small blocks.'

This study revealed that no single strategy was sufficient to help each child to progress. Mothers, who modified their help according to their children's performance were found to be the most successful. When these mothers saw their children doing well, they reduced their level of help. When they saw their child began to struggle, they increased their level of help by providing specific instructions until the child showed progress again.

This study illustrates Vygotsky's concept of the ZPD and scaffolding. Scaffolding (or guidance) is most beneficial when the support is according to the specific needs of a child. This puts a child in a position to gain success in an activity that he would not have been able to do in the past.

Wood et al. (1976) mentioned some processes that help effective scaffolding:

Increasing and upholding the learner's interest in the task.

Explaining the task.

Highlighting some aspects that will guide the solution.

Controlling the level of frustration in the child.

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The Zone of Proximal Development is an important classroom concept

Implications of the Zone of Proximal Development for Teachers

Vygotsky argues that the role of education is to provide those experiences to children which are in their ZPD, thereby advancing and encouraging theirknowledge. Vygotsky believes that the teachers are like a mediator in the children's learning activity as they share information through social interaction.

Vygotsky perceived interaction with peers as a helpful way to build skills. He implies that for children with low competence teachers need to use cooperative learning strategies and they must seek help from more competent peers in the zone of proximal development.

Scaffolding is a significant component of effective teaching, in which the more competent individual continually modifies the level of his help according to the learner's performance level. Scaffolding in the classroom may include modelling a talent, providing cues or hints, and adapting activity or material. Teachers need to consider the following guidelines for scaffolding instruction.

Assess the current ability level of the learner for creating the academic content.

Relate content to what learners already know.

Divide a task into small, simpler tasks with opportunities for regular feedback.

Use vocal prompts and cues to help students.

Scaffolding not only generates quick results but also instils the abilities needed for autonomous problem-solving in the upcoming time.

A current application of Vygotsky's concepts is " reciprocal teaching," used to enhance students' ability to memorize from the text. In this type of teaching, educator and learners collaborate to memorize and practice four major skills: predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing. The role of a teacher in this process is decreased over time.

Vygotsky's theories also address the recent interest in collaborative learning, implying that group members mostly have different levels of talent so more advanced peers must help less advanced students within their zone of proximal development.

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9 Examples of Embracing ZPD to Advance the Learning Process

In the realm of educational psychology, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is a concept that has been embraced by educators and learners alike. It's a theoretical space where learners can achieve more with guidance and support than they could independently. Here are nine fictional examples of how ZPD can be utilized to advance the learning process:

1. Mathematics Class: A teacher introduces a new concept of algebraic equations. She starts with simple equations that students can solve independently. Then, she gradually introduces more complex equations, providing guidance and support as needed. The students are working within their ZPD, moving from what they can do independently to what they can do with assistance.

2. Language Learning: In a Spanish class, students are learning to conjugate verbs. The teacher first models the conjugation, then students practice with common verbs. As they become comfortable, the teacher introduces irregular verbs, providing support as students navigate these more challenging examples.

3. Science Experiment: A science teacher guides students through an experiment on chemical reactions. Initially, the teacher demonstrates the experiment, then students replicate it with the teacher's guidance. Eventually, students design and conduct their own experiments, applying what they've learned.

4. Literature Study: In an English class, students are studying symbolism in literature. The teacher first explains the concept and provides clear examples. Students then analyze a familiar story for symbolism, with the teacher providing guidance as needed. Finally, students analyze a new story independently, demonstrating their understanding of symbolism.

5. Art Class: An art teacher introduces a new painting technique. After demonstrating the technique, the teacher provides guidance and feedback as students practice. As students become more comfortable, they apply the technique in their own creative projects.

6. History Lesson: In a history class, students are learning to analyze primary sources. The teacher models the analysis process with a familiar source, then guides students as they analyze a new source. Eventually, students analyze new sources independently, applying their understanding of historical context and source analysis.

7. Coding Class: In a computer science class, students are learning to write code. The teacher first demonstrates a simple program, then guides students as they write their own simple programs. As students become more comfortable, they write more complex programs with less guidance.

8. Physical Education: In a PE class, students are learning a new sport. The teacher first demonstrates the basic skills, then provides guidance and feedback as students practice. As students become more proficient, they play the sport with less guidance, applying their skills in a game situation.

9. Music Lesson: In a music class, students are learning to play a new instrument. The teacher first models how to play a simple tune, then guides students as they practice. As students become more comfortable, they play more complex tunes with less guidance.

These examples demonstrate the power of the ZPD in facilitating learning across a range of contexts. By providing the right level of support at the right time, educators can guide learners to new levels of achievement.

Key Insights:

The ZPD is a powerful tool for guiding learners to new levels of achievement.

By providing the right level of support at the right time, educators can facilitate learning.

The ZPD can be applied across a range of contexts, from academic subjects to physical education and arts.

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Assessing Learners' Progress through the Zone of Proximal Development

Assessing learners' progress through the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) requires a nuanced understanding of each student's developmental level, taking into account their potential development as well as their current level of competence. Rooted in sociocultural theory, the ZPD concept emphasizes the dynamic interplay between a child's individual mental development and their social environment, particularly in a classroom setting.

To effectively evaluate childhood learning and growth within the ZPD, teachers must first determine a student's level of knowledge and skill in relation to the learning task at hand. This assessment should consider the level of difficulty a student can manage independently, as well as their potential level when guided by a knowledgeable peer or adult. By identifying this range, educators can design learning tasks and scaffold instruction to maximize each student's potential development.

It is important to recognize that the ZPD is not static; rather, it evolves as a student's learning outcomes and level of competence change. Therefore, ongoing assessments should be implemented to monitor progress and adjust instructional strategies accordingly. Teachers can utilize a variety of assessment methods, such as formative assessments, observation, and student self-assessments, to gauge a student's current level and potential within the ZPD.

By thoughtfully assessing learners' progress within the Zone of Proximal Development, teachers can create a classroom environment that fosters optimal mental development, empowering students to thrive as they navigate new challenges and acquire increasingly complex skills.

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Statistics relating to the Zone of Proximal Development

Researchers in the 1960s and 1970s argued that Piaget may have underestimated children's abilities by using confusing terms and particularly difficult tasks in his observations. (healthline.com)

According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor.

According to Schwartz (2001), the Zone of Proximal Development can be extended through four different scenarios of supporting children in their learning: (thempra.org.uk)

References

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Readings on the development of children, 23(3), 34-41.

Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 17(2), 89-100.

Wood, D., & Middleton, D. (1975). A study of assisted problem‐solving. British Journal of Psychology, 66(2), 181-191.

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The Zone of Proximal Development: A teacher's guide

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What is the Zone of proximal development and how can teacher's use this concept to promote learning outcomes?

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Developmental Interdependence Hypothesis (L1 to L2 transfer): Definition

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Developmental Interdependence Hypothesis (L1 to L2 transfer): Definition

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The main idea behind this theory is that when students learn one language, they acquire a bank of skills and implicit metalinguistic knowledge that they can draw upon when they learn subsequent languages.  This Common Underlying Proficiency provides the base language support for both the first language of the student and the second language as well.  Anything that is learned in either language would then become part of this bank to be drawn upon when needed across languages.  This theory has also been used to explain why it becomes easier to learn a third or fourth language.
http://eder66983.weebly.com/second-language-acquisition-theories.html

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Developmental Independence Hypothesis (Transfer from L1 to L2): Video Example

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Developmental Independence Hypothesis (Transfer from L1 to L2): Video Example

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Video explaining how knowledge of one language impacts the learning of an additional language.

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Developmental Interdependence Hypothesis (Transfer from L1 to L2): Learning Activity

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Developmental Interdependence Hypothesis (Transfer from L1 to L2): Learning Activity

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Use cognates to learn another language! Positive transfer is when content from one language helps you learn another language.

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Answer What did they do? WH Questions and practice past tense verb + ed and pronouns with these fun and engaging animated pictures of children in action. Terrific for distance learning, teletherapy sessions, in-person speech therapy, or English language arts centers.

Students practice using regular past tense verbs to answer the question and describe the action in the picture. Next, they drag the correct word to complete the sentence or give the answer verbally for younger children in speech therapy.

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Answering a simple WH question: What did he/she/they do?

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When you purchase and download this product, you'll receive a PDF file with a link to the internet-based digital task cards which are hosted and live on the Boom Learning Website. The deck will be automatically added to your Boom Learning library. When you are ready to play the deck, you'll go to your library on Boom Learning to access the deck. Please see more information below:

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Animated! WH Questions & Regular Past Tense Verbs Speech Therapy BOOM Cards™

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Answer What did they do? WH Questions and practice past tense verb + ed and pronouns with these fun and engaging animated pictures of children in action. Terrific for distance learning, teletherapy sessions, in-person speech therapy, or English language arts centers. Students practice using regular...

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This deck has 20 cards. After students read the sentence, they can "highlight" the incorrect word in the sentence by dragging the transparent boxes over the text. Then, they can type the correct word in the box. Encourage the student to not change the meaning of the sentences (i.e., if the sentence is using past tense, the word in the text box should use past tense).

The purchase of this resource includes BOOM CARDS™: cloud-based digital resources. BOOM CARDS™ play on modern browsers (released in the last three years).

You can use with most devices (computer, iPad, tablet, or smartphone), as long as you have an internet connection. BOOM CARDS™ are digital resources that your students can play during a session or through teletherapy.

To use BOOM CARDS™, YOU MUST OPEN AT LEAST A FREE Boom Learning Account (just like you have to have a Google account to use Google resources).

Click the links inside the product .pdf to redeem your BOOM CARDS™ and create an account (or add to your account if you already have one). Free accounts include the ability to generate student progress reports for 5 students and to make up to 5 DIY decks. Free accounts include the ability to assign BOOM CARDS™ to unlimited students (without progress reports) using the Fast Play pin option available in the Library.
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Correct the Sentences- Grammatical Judgement BOOM CARDS™

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This deck has 20 cards. After students read the sentence, they can "highlight" the incorrect word in the sentence by dragging the transparent boxes over the text. Then, they can type the correct word in the box. Encourage the student to not change the meaning of the sentences (i.e., if the sentence ...