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Making Language Visible in Content Area Classrooms

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Making Language Visible in Content Area Classrooms

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Collaboration and Co-Teaching Strategies for English Learners

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Collaboration and Co-Teaching Strategies for English Learners

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Information about collaborative teaching practices and co-teaching or team teaching for English Learners; Applications of the Common Core for English language learners, ELLs

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The topics of the changing role of the ESL teacher and reframing teacher collaboration during the implementation of the Common Core State Standards have been near and dear to us on our blog.

This new three-part series looks at the steps one diverse elementary school took to increase collaboration between ESOL teachers and grade level teachers in order to better meet the academic language needs of ELLs in their school. In Part 1, Jennifer Connors, principal of Rolling Terrace Elementary School, describes the impetus for the move towards greater collaboration and how they got started.

Other posts in this series:

Our School: Rolling Terrace

Rolling Terrace Elementary School is located in Takoma Park, Maryland in the outskirts of Washington D.C. and is part of the Montgomery County Public School District. It is a pre-K through 5th grade Title I school that serves approximately 850 students. At our school, we place a high value on students"; home languages and cultures and we also house a Spanish immersion program. Over 60% of our students at Rolling Terrace receive ESOL services. Many others are former ESOL students who have been reclassified (exited from the ESOL program) but still have academic language needs.

Why a Change was Needed

In the past, the ESOL teachers at Rolling Terrace provided services to ELLs during the English Language Arts block supporting the Language Arts curriculum. During marking period planning meetings with our staff, our teachers began to notice the language demands that were present in other areas of the curriculum, not just in Language Arts. In the past, each grade level teacher was responsible for providing an overview of a specific subject area to the teachers on the team. While this planning structure addressed coverage of all subjects, it failed to address the language demands of the curriculum for ELLs. When teachers returned to the classroom to actually teach the curriculum, they realized that the language needs of their students had not been addressed through the planning structure. This was particularly true for math and science teachers who received little to no direct support with their ESOL students.

A Vision for Increased Collaboration

As principal, I was challenged by my staff to state a clear vision and plan for collaboration to unify ESOL teachers and grade level teachers. My vision included the role of the ESOL teacher as a leader on each grade-level team supporting all content areas, not just language arts. By stating a clear vision and promising guidance and assistance, all teachers began to speak a common language of support for ELLs across content areas.

Getting Started: "Dipping a Big Toe In"

We began the process of working towards this vision of collaboration in 2013-14 first with the upper grade teachers (grades 3-5) with the expectation that the primary grades would begin the following year. By adapting a process for marking period planning that we observed at another Montgomery County public school, we were able to include ESOL teachers in the planning, keeping our ELLs"; strengths and needs at the forefront of the discussions. We set the expectation that all ESOL teachers would begin collaborating with content teachers and providing content support, even if it meant just "dipping a big toe in" to try it out. Many of our ESOL teachers were experienced teachers who had only supported ELLs during the language arts block and were reluctant to change. We conducted teacher surveys throughout this process to measure progress and to identify areas of support needed.

Next Steps

As we began to focus on 2014-15, the approaching new school year, we had opportunities to bring new staff on board who shared our vision of collaboration between ESOL teachers and grade level teachers. We continued to support all staff members on this journey of collaborative planning and examining the language demands of all content areas, but having new staff who were on board from the start has really helped. This year our focus has been on our PreK through second grade teachers. It has been exciting to watch the collaboration occurring during the newly designed marking period planning sessions, but it is even more exciting to see ELLs receive direct support from ESOL teachers in all content areas.

To Be Continued

In this blog post, Jennifer Connors shared her vision for the role of the ESOL teachers in her school and some of the challenges and strategies used in working towards greater collaboration among the teachers in her school. In our next two blog posts, we will hear more about these collaborative efforts from the perspective of Kerri Hennelly, a staff development teacher and Tessa Arevalo, an ESOL teacher at Rolling Terrace Elementary School.

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Increasing Collaboration Between ESOL Teachers and Content Teachers with the CCSS: A Principal's Perspective (Part 1)

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The topics of the changing role of the ESL teacher and reframing teacher collaboration during the implementation of the Common Core State Standards have been near and dear to us on our blog.

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TESL Canada Collaboration Article (2019)

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TESL Canada Collaboration Article (2019)

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If it takes a village to raise a child, then the village elders had better work well together, especially when it comes to raising children with different home languages. Thankfully, more and more districts are encouraging content and English language teachers (ELTs) to join forces to support their multilingual students. There are certain things ELTs can do to cultivate these dynamic relationships, and also things we should avoid doing.

I've collaborated with content teachers as a language specialist for over eight years, and I'm still learning how to improve. The don'ts on the list below are my battle scars-lessons I've learned from being too pushy and judgmental while co-planning. I encourage educators to strive for the dos when collaborating with other teachers-as I still have to remind myself to do.

Developing Language

Do identify the ways words are used in each discipline. For example, a factor in math is not the same as a factor in social studies. An ELT can help students understand the concept of a factor in social studies by offering this sentence stem: "One factor that led to World War I was...." When co-planning with a math teacher, an ELT can suggest using different color manipulatives to help show the concept of factoring.

Don't expect content teachers to also be teachers of English-especially English as a second language. Help content teachers learn how experts in their discipline (e.g., scientists, historians, economists, designers, painters, musicians, physical trainers) use English to communicate their content knowledge or process English texts.

Building Relationships

Do reuse effective strategies that match a content teacher's style. For example, if a content teacher prefers lecturing and has started incorporating visuals you've gathered, encourage them to continue using even more visuals while lecturing.

Don't use a co-planning session to point out when a lesson bombed. It makes the content teacher feel like they're being judged-and when people feel that way, they distance themselves from the person doing the judging. In a collaborative relationship, emotional distance is a burden that hampers the process of working together toward a common goal.

Differentiating Instruction

Do identify the content that the English language learners (ELLs) need to learn, how the content teacher intends to teach it (the process), and the product that students are supposed to create to demonstrate understanding. After identifying these three things, you and the content teacher can collaborate to scaffold resources, differentiate the learning experience, and offer alternative ways to demonstrate the same learning outcomes.

Don't expect the ELLs to do less than their peers, or suggest that content teachers present different or less rigorous content. Work with the content teacher to make content accessible and engagement with that content possible. Work with them to make instruction explicit and clear for ELLs while not making the learning tasks easier. Keep the mountaintop high-just offer a different path or provide different gear to get students there.

Offering Suggestions and Feedback

Do add suggestions using additive phrases such as, "In addition to..., we might consider...," or "Yes! Let's do that, and for the ELLs, we can also...." Success in co-planning is about adding onto someone's ideas, not subtracting from them.

Don't use judgmental phrases such as, "It would be more effective if...," "A better idea would be...," or "We can improve on this idea if...." Those are highly loaded, evaluative comments that will only divide you and the content teacher.

Reflecting

Do privately reflect after each collaboration session to identify what worked well, what you did that the content teachers liked, and what triggered those teachers. Use each collaboration session to form a clearer profile of your content partners and improve your teaching relationship.

Don't end a collaboration session without praising the content teacher for something they contributed during the planning. Explain how ELLs will benefit from something the teacher agreed to implement. Content teachers need to know that language specialists recognize their efforts in making content and learning more accessible for ELLs.

If we want English learners to succeed in mainstream classrooms, we cannot work alone. More than ever, content teachers and language specialists need to have a positive working relationship in order to plan effective instruction and design meaningful learning experiences. If we have anything less, it is students who will suffer.

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If it takes a village to raise a child, then the village elders had better work well together, especially when it comes to raising children with different home languages. Thankfully, more and more districts are encouraging content and English language teachers (ELTs) to join forces to support their multilingual students.

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Reflections on Teaching Multilingual Learners

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Writing language objectives can be hard! Teachers are generally comfortable writing content objectives because those are based on content standards that teachers are familiar with and are sometimes…

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Writing language objectives clearly for students: SWBAT...

It's by no accident that the first two SIOP features have to do with writing clear objectives. The fact that writing language objectives is addressed apart from writing content objectives hints at its importance.

Considering the language objective(s) that accompanies each content objective demonstrates how important conscious attention to language development is in the SIOP framework.

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SIOP Feature #2: Write Language Objectives clearly for students. TESOL Trainers shows you how

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It's by no accident that the first two SIOP features have to do with writing clear objectives. The fact that writing language objectives is addressed apart from writing content objectives hints at its importance. Considering the language objective(s) that accompanies each content objective demonstrates how important conscious attention to language development is in the SIOP framework.

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This article provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners and offers classroom-based examples from different grade and subject levels.

This article written for Colorín Colorado provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners and includes:

what a language objective is

steps that teachers can take to create language objectives

how to implement language objectives in a general education classroom

how to align objectives to content and language standards

ideas and resources on how to support teachers as they become familiar with this practice

how to use language objectives in distance learning environments.

Language Objectives: An Overview
Mrs. Shell has been teaching eighth grade math for twelve years. She has deep content area knowledge and wants to provide all of her students with authentic activities and tasks to relate the significance of the mathematical concepts that she teaches to their lives. Mrs. Shell has always felt successful at teaching her classes but this year has been different. Her sections include students with more diverse backgrounds than previous years, particularly more English learners. As Mrs. Shell was beginning to feel frustrated with her inability to reach all her students because of their needs, she learned about one way to make her content more comprehensible to all her students - creating and posting objectives that tell the students not just what content concepts they will learn in each lesson, but also the academic language they will need to learn and use to meet the state's math standards. With this knowledge, Mrs. Shell is now confident that she not only knows what to teach, but also how to teach it so that all her students can be successful.

Generally speaking, academic English is the language of schooling and the language that helps students acquire and use the content area knowledge taught in schools (Anstrom, DiCerbo, Butler, Katz, Millet, & Rivera, 2010).

Teaching content to ELs: The challenge

In my work supporting general education and ESL/bilingual teachers who provide sheltered instruction for English learners (ELs), I have met many teachers like Mrs. Shell. While these teachers want to provide effective instruction for their ELs, often they don't see themselves as language teachers and so they aren't sure where to begin with their students.

These teachers aren't alone, however, and they are facing a challenge shared by teachers across the country. We know that for school-age students, academic language is crucial for school success (Francis, Rivera, Lesaux, Kieffer, & Rivera, 2006). In addition, research allows us to state with a fair degree of confidence that English learners best acquire English when language forms are explicitly taught and when they have many opportunities to use the language in meaningful contexts (Goldenberg, 2008).

Yet while the explicit instructional support that ESL and bilingual teachers provide is essential to English learners' academic language development, English learners receive a majority of their instruction from general education and content area teachers who may not have experience teaching academic language development.

The question becomes then: What do general education classroom teachers need to do in order to support the academic English development of language learners in both face-to-face and virtual environments, especially when English learners are one of many types of students they serve?

Teaching content to ELs: The solution

One principle that teachers of English learners can begin to apply immediately is creating and posting language objectives for their lessons (whether in the classroom or online in a virtual space. Many teachers are familiar with using content objectives to identify what students will learn and be able to do in the lesson. However, they are less likely to include language objectives that support the linguistic development of their students.

Implementing language objectives can be a powerful first step in ensuring that English learners have equal access to the curriculum even though they may not be fully proficient in the language. This is because the second language acquisition process requires opportunities for the language learner to be exposed to, practice with, and then be assessed on their language skills (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

To this end, language objectives:

articulate for learners the academic language functions and skills that they need to master to fully participate in the lesson and meet the grade-level content standards (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

are beneficial not only for language learners but for all students in a class, as everyone can benefit from the clarity that comes with a teacher outlining the requisite academic language to be learned and mastered in each lesson.

Now let's take a closer look at some examples and how to write language objectives.

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Writing Language Objectives

Interview with Dr. Jennifer Himmel

Learn more about language objectives in this podcast interview with Dr. Himmel from Teaching Multilingual Learners, produced by Tan Huynh.

What is a language objective?

Language objectives are lesson objectives that specifically outline the type of language that students will need to learn and use in order to accomplish the goals of the lesson. Quality language objectives complement the content knowledge and skills identified in content area standards and address the aspects of academic language that will be developed or reinforced during the teaching of grade-level content concepts (Echevarria & Short, 2010).

These objectives involve the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), but they can also include:

Below are examples of language objectives for different content areas and grade levels. They come from the Common Core State Standards for Math and English Language Arts (2012) and state standards in New York and California.
Sources:
How do I create effective language objectives?

Dr. Cindy Lundgren discusses the process of writing language objectives in this excerpt from her Meet the Expert interview.

Language objectives are directly correlated to content objectives. Once a teacher determines the lesson topic from the appropriate content standards, the teacher will want to begin thinking about the academic language necessary for English learners to complete the tasks that support the content objectives. This identification of the academic language embedded in the lesson's content will become the basis for the lesson's language objectives.

You can use the following guidelines to start thinking about appropriate language objectives for the lesson:

1. Decide what key vocabulary, concept words, and other academic words students will need to know in order to talk, read, and write about the topic of the lesson. Those words might be taught as a language objective. They should include technical terms, such as ecosystem, and terms like distribution that have different meanings across content areas. Other terms to highlight are those that language learners may know in one context, such as family (as in parents, siblings, etc.), but that have a different use in science (e.g., family of elements in the periodic table).

2. Consider the language functions related to the topic of the lesson (e.g, will the students describe, explain, compare, or chart information). See your state English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards for examples of these functions for English language arts, math, science, and social studies for all English proficiency levels and grade-level clusters.

3. Think about the language skills necessary for students to accomplish the lesson's activities. Will the students be reading a textbook passage to identify the stages of mitosis? Are they able to read a text passage to find specific information? Will they be reporting what they observe during a scientific demonstration to a peer? Do they know how to report observations orally? Acquiring the skills needed to carry out these tasks might be the focus of a language objective.

4. Identify grammar or language structures common to the content area. For example, many science textbooks use the passive voice to describe processes. Additionally, students may have to use comparative language to analyze two related concepts. Writing with the passive voice or using comparative phrases might be a language objective.

5. Consider the tasks that the students will complete and the language that will be embedded in those assignments. If students are working on a scientific investigation together, will they need to explain the steps of the procedure to one another? The language objective might focus on how to explain procedures aloud.

6. Explore language learning strategies that lend themselves to the topic of the lesson. For example, if students are starting a new chapter in the textbook, the strategy of previewing the text might be an appropriate language objective.

(Adapted from Short, Himmel, Gutierrez, & Hudec, 2012. Used with permission.)

Aligning Language Objectives and Standards

English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards

Developing appropriate language objectives for lessons involves becoming familiar with a state's content area and ELP standards. Whereas the content standards will provide the topic of the lesson and what exactly the students should be doing with that topic (e.g., solving problems, creating models, ranking ideas), the English language proficiency or development standards help to identify language skills and functions that students should be working on to achieve academic language fluency. These ELP standards can help to identify:

English Language Arts (ELA) standards

Other resources in addition to the ELP standards are a state's English Language Arts standards or the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History, Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS). The English Language Arts and Literacy CCSS might be especially useful to teachers of English learners due to its attention to literacy across the content areas.

Additional resources to consult, especially if a state is a member of the WIDA consortium, are the Model Proficiency Indicators (MPIs) outlined in their ELP standards. The MPIs outline what an English learner at a specific level of English language proficiency can do in a language domain (e.g., listening) by addressing the language functions embedded in an example topic for that content area with appropriate scaffolds or support (Gottlieb, Cranley, & Cammileri, 2007). Classroom texts and other materials (e.g., science investigations, primary source documents) are other good sources to consult when preparing a lesson.

Getting Started

How can I get started?

Careful lesson planning

In creating measureable and student-friendly language objectives that support the content objectives, it is important that learner tasks in the lesson are aligned with the objectives. It is not enough to have well-written objectives that promote language acquisition if the lesson is lacking in tasks that support the objectives. If the language objective for a middle school social studies lesson is for the students to orally retell the key characteristics in a historical event using sequential language, it is important that the teacher previews sequential language with the students, such as providing sentence stems or frames, and builds into the lesson some structured pair work so the students have an opportunity to retell the event to a peer. Therefore, careful lesson planning is another essential step in preparing effective language objectives.

Collaboration

It is also useful for content area and ESL/bilingual teachers to plan lessons together, as we saw with the 7th grade science lesson scenario involving Mr. Zhang and Mr. Lewis. In this co-planning scenario, each teacher used his expertise to better integrate content and language instruction for the language learners. This type of collaboration can help a teacher like Mr. Zhang learn more about the second language acquisition process of his students and can help a teacher like Mr. Lewis become more familiar with the grade-level content expectations that his English learners encounter in content area classes.

How do I know which language objectives are best for my students?

The language objective that the teacher selects will depend on what the English learners in the class need most at that point in the year and what language is most important to understanding the content concepts. If the students have already spent a good deal of time working with new vocabulary, then the teacher might consider having students use that vocabulary to develop their writing skill by writing a summary of the process they followed.

Conversely, the teacher might want to help students become more proficient with a particular type of graphic organizer in order to develop more strategic language learning. As all teachers know, teaching is a dynamic and complex process that requires a multitude of decisions to be made. However, the advance planning required in creating language objectives allows teachers to better anticipate the academic English needs of all students thus increasing the comprehensibility of the lessons.

It is important for teachers to realize that even though their lesson may include all four language skills (it is good if they do, since the language skills reinforce one another), they do not need to post a language objective for every language-related item addressed in the lesson. Teachers address many instructional needs in a 50- or 60-minute class period. Rather than highlighting all language uses in a particular lesson, it is important for the teacher to think about what is non-negotiable in that lesson.

In other words, the teacher should keep the perspective of the English learner in mind and ask, "Of all of the skills and functions addressed in my lesson, which is most important for helping students meet the grade-level standard and develop their language proficiency?" These objectives then must be measureable (i.e., can you see or assess the student's mastery of that objective?) and written in language that accounts for the linguistic and cognitive development of the students.

How can I make language objectives "student-friendly"?

Both of the above objectives are measurable, but both also take into account appropriate developmental stages of the students. Teachers of young students (e.g., PK or K) may even want to consider further adapting the objectives. For example, we have seen kindergarten teachers use symbols such as a pencil to symbolize "write" and a mouth to symbolize "talk" when they post their objectives for the children to see. We have also seen teachers of young learners rely on pictures to show the key terms they want the students to use or to convey the topic of the lesson (e.g., a picture of a ruler and of hands to discuss standard and non-standard measurement).

One way that teachers can ensure that their language objectives are measureable and student-friendly is by using appropriate verbs. Because language objectives should provide students with practice in the four language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, verbs related to those skills might include, but are not limited to, the following:

List

Retell

Summarize in writing

Record

Read

It is also important to not equate low language proficiency with limited cognitive ability. Therefore, teachers will want to make sure that the language objectives they create also reflect tasks that fall on the higher end of Bloom's Taxonomy and use verbs (e.g., orally justify) accordingly.

As noted above in the guidelines to creating language objectives, language functions are also a potential source for language objectives. Verbs related to language functions might include:

When should I share language objectives with students?

To help students take ownership of their learning and provide explicit direction to students, especially the English learners who are processing content in a new language, it is important that objectives be stated at the beginning of the lesson and reviewed with the students at the end of the lesson to allow them to assess if they have met the objectives (Echevarria, Vogt & Short, 2008).

How this happens may differ according to the grade level and content area of the class. Some teachers like to have the students choral read the objectives, while teachers of older students sometimes have them record the language objectives in their journal in addition to asking an individual student to read them aloud. Some teachers, such as those who teach science, like to reveal the objectives later in the lesson, perhaps after the warm up or exploratory activity, so that they can maintain an inquiry-based approach (Echevarria & Colburn, 2006).

Should I differentiate language objectives based on my students' language proficiency?

Although all teachers have students of varying language proficiency and skill levels in their classes, it is not necessary to differentiate language objectives by creating and posting multiple language objectives that reflect these proficiency levels. Rather, teachers should have one language objective that is appropriate for all students to meet. To provide the appropriate differentiation, the teacher would provide different scaffolds (e.g., adapted text, visuals, sentence frames) for students to use in order to reach the objectives.

For example, an appropriate language objective for an upper elementary language arts class might be for the students to be able to orally list text features found in a non-fiction book. For lower proficiency language learners, the teacher may give them a word bank from which to choose the text features; therefore, the students are meeting the same objective but with the appropriate amount of linguistic support from the teacher.

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Using language objectives in a distance learning environment

While teachers like Ms. Shell understand that the characteristics of good teaching for English learners does not change in a virtual environment, they do understand that instruction will necessarily need to look different in order to account for the challenges that distance learning presents for many learners.

Accordingly, teachers will need to think through how to:

Presenting language objectives

Many different ways exist for teachers to present language objectives in remote learning. For example, teachers might:

begin every virtual class by orally reading and presenting the content and language objectives in their Google slides and then asking students to briefly summarize in the chat box the activities they will be doing in that lesson to meet those objectives.

post the objectives at the top of a shared digital document that serves as a capture sheet for the lesson. A teacher might then ask learners to self-assess their progress towards meeting those objectives at the end of the document.

use live or recorded videos, especially when working with English learners with lower English proficiency. These videos can include props, for example ears to signify a listening objective.

use realia, such as rocks, if one of the lesson's language aims is for students to orally describe different types of sedimentary rocks.

Monitoring student understanding and engagement

Teachers in distance learning environments must also carefully consider how they will assess learner understanding and engagement throughout the lesson. Given the challenges virtual learning platforms present towards capturing data on learner comprehension (e.g., paralinguistic cues such as facial expressions, gestures, posture) teachers working in virtual environments know that it is more important than ever to ensure that students clearly understand the content and linguistic aims for each lesson.

Using comprehension checks and assessing progress

It is also essential that students understand how teachers will measure their progress towards meeting each objective. Towards this aim, teachers must build in multiple comprehension checks throughout the lesson that align to the lesson's objectives. Teachers can:

At the conclusion of a lesson, teachers can assess student progress towards meeting objectives via:

tickets out that are submitted digitally

the recording of a Flipgrid or use of another video platform where learners respond to a prompt that requires learners to use the academic language highlighted in the lesson's objectives.

Teachers can respond to the submitted tickets out or video with feedback that explicitly targets the students use of the language. When appropriate, teacher can provide learners with additional resources and/or support towards mastering that particular language skill or function. Teachers might also use that linguistic data to inform mini-lessons conducted to small groups of English learners during office hours or intervention time.

Next Steps

How can I learn more?

For more information on the SIOP Model, see Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

Although language objectives can be implemented in any lesson design approach, they are especially congruent with sheltered instruction and the SIOP Model. Since language objectives ensure that teachers meet the unique linguistic needs of English learners, they are sometimes easier to implement in the context of instructional practices espoused by the SIOP Model.

Practices that focus on explicit academic language teaching include:

Below are other resources that can help you learn more about creating language objectives and about integrating academic language into content area classes.

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Final Thoughts

We realize that it takes teachers some time to become very comfortable with creating language objectives, but our experience has shown that the implementation of language objectives can bring immediate benefits to instruction. Some immediate benefits include teachers understanding more concretely that they are both a content area and language teacher - as one teacher said in a CAL SIOP Model workshop, "I now see myself as a math teacher AND a language teacher".

We have also observed that when teachers consciously plan to meet the academic English needs of their learners, they end up with better planned learner tasks, and students begin to have more ownership of their content area and language learning. When it comes to building proficiency in academic English, as many teachers in our workshops remind us, "If you want to see it, you have to teach it." Therefore, if teachers want to see language development, language objectives are a great first step in helping teachers explicitly teach it.

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Recommended Resources

Further reading

Short, D., Himmel, J., Gutierrez, S., & Hudec, J. (2012). Using the SIOP Model: Professional development for sheltered instruction. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M.E., & Short, D. (2010). The SIOP Model for teaching mathematics to English learners. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Echevarria, J., & Short, D. (2011). The SIOP Model: A professional development framework for a comprehensive school-wide intervention. Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) Brief. http://www.cal.org/create/resources/pubs/professional-development-framework.html

Himmel, J., Short, D., Richards, C., & Echevarria, J. (2009). Using the SIOP Model to improve middle school science instruction. Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) Brief. http://www.cal.org/create/resources/pubs/siopscience.html

Short, D., Vogt, M., & Echevarria, J. (2010a). The SIOP Model for teaching history-social studies to English learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Short, D., Vogt, M., & Echevarria, J. (2010b). The SIOP Model for teaching science to English learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Vogt, M.E., Echevarria, J., & Short, D. (2010). The SIOP Model for teaching English language arts to English learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Jennifer Himmel is the Project Director for the National Center for English Language Acquisition at the Manhattan Strategy Group. She previously served as the SIOP Manager at the Center for Applied Linguistics, a non-profit organization for language education research, policy, and practice in Washington, DC. She has served as a curriculum developer and research associate for the U.S. Department of Education funded project, Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) that is investigating academic achievement of ELLs in grades 4th-8th, and as a language testing specialist for the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs® language proficiency test. She currently manages the SIOP Model professional development service line and provides technical assistance and professional development in sheltered instruction to districts and schools.

Video Clips: Language Objectives

How to Write Language Objectives: Tips for ELL Educators

In this video from Syracuse, NY, Jesus Ortiz, a bilingual teacher, learns how to write a language objective from Areli Schermerhorn, a peer evaluator with expertise in ELL and bilingual education.

Dr. Cynthia Lundgren explains language objectives

In this excerpt from her Meet the Expert interview, Dr. Cynthia Lundgren explains the value of writing language objectives when teaching English learners.

Anstrom, K., DiCerbo, P., Butler, F., Katz, A., Millet, J., & Rivera, C. (2010). A review of the literature on academic English: Implications for K-12 English language learners. Arlington, VA: The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence. Education.www.ceee.gwu.edu.

Echevarria, J., & Colburn, A. (2006). Designing lessons: Inquiry approach to science using the SIOP Model. In A. Lathman & D. Crowther (Eds.), Science for English language learners (pp.95-108). Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association Press.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2008). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP Model. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Echevarria, J., & Short, D. ( 2010). Programs and practices for effective sheltered content instruction. In California Department of Education (Ed), Improving education for English learners: Research-based approaches. Sacramento, CA: CDE Press.

Francis, D., Rivera, M., Lesaux, N., Kieffer, M., & Rivera, H. (2006). Practical guidelines for the education of English language learners: Research-based recommendations for instruction and academic interventions. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction. www.centeroninstruction.org/files/ELL1-Interventions.pdf

Goldenberg, C. (2008). Teaching English language learners: What the research does-and does not-say. American Educator, Summer 2008, pp. 13-44.

Gottlieb, M., Cranley, E., & Cammilleri, A. (2007). Understanding the WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards: A resource guide. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium.

Short, D., Himmel, J., Gutierrez, S., & Hudec, J. (2012). Using the SIOP Model: Professional development for sheltered instruction. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (2007). WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium http://www.wida.us/standards/elp.asp

You are welcome to print copies or republish materials for non-commercial use as long as credit is given to Colorín Colorado and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact [email protected] .

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Language Objectives: The Key to Effective Content Area Instruction for English Learners

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This article provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners and offers classroom-based examples from different grade and subject levels.

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What role does assessment play in the SIOP Model

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How Does SIOP Benefit Content Area Teachers?

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How Does SIOP Benefit Content Area Teachers?

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How does the SIOP Model benefit content area teachers?

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SIOP Model for Teaching English Learners - Lesson Delivery

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Collaboration Plan-If needed for Unit Plan

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Collaboration Plan-If needed for Unit Plan

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Type: Partners

What you will need for QSSSA

1. Question(s) and Sentence Stem(s)

2. (Optional) Note Taking Paper for Yourself

Overview of QSSSA

The QSSSA stands for:

Q: Question - Give students a question to discuss.

S: Stem - Provide them with a sentence stem to answer the question.

S: Signal - Students think of an answer individually and signal when they are ready.

S: Share - Students get with a partner to share answers.

A: Assess - You randomly call on a few students to share their answers and/or walk around and listen in to their conversations.

How to organize QSSSA

Question:

This activity works with any topic. You just need a topic-related, open-ended question for students to discuss.
Examples:
What are two things you learned from the passage?

What did you do last weekend?

What do you not understand about earth's layers?

Stem:

After giving students the question(s) you want them to discuss. You then provide them with a sentence stem(s) to answer the question. i.e. In the passage, I learned that... Last weekend, I... I don't understand...

Signal:

You then give students time to think of the answer they want to share. When students are ready, they signal to the teacher with some sort of hand gesture or pose. i.e. thumbs up, muscle flex, light bulb "I have an idea" pose with one finger in the air and happy expression. If some students are ready quickly while others are still thinking, you can have those waiting students write their answer with their finger in the air.

Share:

When all students are ready, students get with a partner and share the answer(s) they thought of.

Assess:

You can assess students by having a few volunteers share their answers and/or you can walk around the class while students are discussing and attend to how students are using the language. You can take notes so that you remember any issues you would like to come back to work on more later. You can also ask students to write a response.

More Examples of QSSSA

Main Characters in a Story

Who are the main characters in the story? Why are they important? | The main characters in the story are... They are important because... | Raise your hand when you can finish the sentence.

Earthquakes

Why do earthquakes happen? | Earthquakes happen because... | Stand up when you can finish the sentence.

Tops and Bottoms Story

Do you think the rabbit in Tops in Bottoms was right to do what he did to the bear? | I think the rabbit was... He should have... He shouldn't have... | Do five jumping jacks when you can finish the sentence.

Benefits of QSSSA

This activity requires no preparation.

Students get an opportunity to verbalize what they are learning which helps solidify target vocabulary and sentence structures.

Everyone student is participating and few students are waiting around.

Check out this article by Valentina Gonzalez on how to organize this activity. You can also read this article by Katie Toppel on Culturally Responsive Communication where she recommends this activity in the context of being culturally sensitive when setting up speaking activities.

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QSSSA - Better Conversation Practice for Your ELLs

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Type: Partners Question(s) and Sentence Stem(s) (Optional) Note Taking Paper for Yourself The QSSSA stands for: Q: Question - Give students a question to discuss. S: Stem - Provide them with a sentence stem to answer the question. S: Signal - Students think of an answer individually and signal when they are ready.

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Total Response Signals & QSSSA - Based on 7 Steps to Building a Language Rich Classroom by Anita de la Isla | This newsletter was created with Smore, an online tool for creating beautiful newsletters for educators, nonprofits, businesses and more

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7th Civics: Articles of Confederation Scaffolds.mp4

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Comprehensible Input Demo for Language Rich Classrooms Training

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Rooted Linguistics: Serving Teachers of Multilingual Learners

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​What does it mean to make content comprehensible?
Imagine for a moment that you are sitting in a classroom in a foreign country surrounded by new classmates and a teacher speaking a language that you don't speak. Keep in mind, you have to stay all day and you are expected to follow directions, do the work, and understand the language.

How would you do? Would you become frustrated? Would you get off task? Maybe begin to fidget, doodle, or get mad? Sometimes when our ELLs experience this, they react in ways that we may not understand. Learning a new language, culture, and content is not an easy task by any means. It's important that we respect the job they are doing and support them through it.

The best way to support their content needs is to make content comprehensible.

​Let's begin by watching this short video that will help to explain what that means. You will experience what your ELLs go through when they don't know the language in the classroom.

​So after watching the video, hopefully you've come away with at least 2 things:
1. a feeling for what your ELLs experience when they don't speak the target language yet they are expected to do everything that everyone else is doing in class--Empathy
2. you get the gist of comprehensible input--making language accessible to students even when they know the language yet--it's doable even if the two of you speak completely different languages!

How do achieve this in our classrooms on a daily basis?
There are many ways and not all of them will work all of the time for every student.

1. Top of the list, #1 for sure is to know each student individually, their needs, their assets, and their language levels. Find out about their proficiency level in English as well as their academic history in their native language. Then you can leverage that in your classroom.

2. Used slowed speech to enunciate words and make clear distinctions between words. Have you ever heard someone speaking a language your not familiar with and it sounds like just a blob of sounds? If we don't enunciate, we sound like that too. We can end up sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher if we aren't careful with our speech.

3. Point to objects while we talk about them. If I want my students to take out a pencil, then I'll grab one and demonstrate. If I want them to turn to page 358, then I'll write that on the board or open my book to that page and show them. The power of pointing and talking is endless. So simple yet effective and minimal planning necessary.

4. Repeat and rephrase as needed. Once may not be enough for most of the students in your class, but for ELLs it probably won't do justice. Multiple opportunities to hear vocabulary or instructions helps students internalize and recall it.

5. Use tons of visuals or real objects. The more the better! Research has found that our brain processes visuals 60,000X faster than text. Visuals enhance recall and storing of information. The more modalities we can incorporate into our instruction, the more successful our students will be.

Making content comprehensible doesn't take a great deal of prep work. We just have to be intentional about it. We have to remember that our students who are learning language, learning new content, or struggling with content benefit from comprehensible input. The biggest mistake we make is assuming our students don't need it.
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Language & Content: Making Content Comprehensible

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​What does it mean to make content comprehensible? Imagine for a moment that you are sitting in a classroom in a foreign country surrounded by new classmates and a teacher speaking a language that...

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Developing  & Refining Academic Vocabulary  for ELLs  and other learners 2021

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The new question-of-the-week is:
How can we help English Language Learners meet the Common Core Standards?
On one hand, you have Common Core Standards or, in states that don't use Common Core, there are similar ones.

On the other hand, you have English Language Learners, who are supposed to learn everything in the Standards as well as learn a new language and culture at the same time.

This series will explore how we can make the two challenges connect....

Today, Kevin Jepson, Elizabeth Iwaszewicz, Dr. Heidi Pace, Cathy Beck, Gayle Westerberg and Julie Goldman contribute their thoughts. You can listen to a 10-minute conversation I had with Kevin, Elizabeth, Heidi, and Cathy on my BAM! Radio Show. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here. By the way, you can also now listen to the show on Google Play and Stitcher, in addition to iTunes.

I happened to have co-authored (with Katie Hull) a book on this exact topic. You can find many free resources from our book, Navigating The Common Core With English Language Learners, here.

You might also be interested in The "All-Time" Best Resources On English Language Learners & The Common Core, as well as previous posts in this column on Teaching English Language Learners and on Implementing The Common Core.
Response From Kevin Jepson
Kevin Jepson is a lead curriculum designer for EL Education. He was born in Korea and lived and worked abroad for 15 years in five countries. In the United States, Kevin has taught and designed curriculum and assessments for Kindergarten through adult language learners for the past 15 years:
Many English Language Learners and their teachers are taking a fresh approach to meeting the standards: They slow down for 20 minutes a day to talk about one compelling sentence at a time. The approach, called Language Dives, is transforming the way English Language Learners (ELLs) engage with language and content, paving the way for them to enjoy language complexity and achieve more than they think possible. Language Dives originate from Lily Wong Fillmore and Charles J. Fillmore's "Juicy Sentence" approach and research ("What Does Text Complexity Mean for English Learners and Language Minority Students?"). Rebecca Blum Martinez, a bilingual/ESL professor at the University of New Mexico, worked with the Fillmores in schools across the country and then, over the past two years, helped us at EL Education apply Juicy Sentences to our new K-5 Language Arts Curriculum. In our curriculum, we use the Juicy Sentence research to create the extensive sequence of carefully designed instruction we call Language Dives. As part of Language Dives, teachers:

Analyze a compelling sentence every day with ELLs. Teachers and students read and determine the gist of complex texts together in all subject areas. They then zero in on one critical sentence from a text--a sentence that is key to the overall meaning and purpose of the text and that contains language that students need to investigate, such as the language described by the Common Core standards. They spend 10 to 20 minutes daily figuring out why the author chose the specific words and phrases in that sentence. They ask questions and build on each other's ideas to understand how this academic language enabled the author to communicate for a specific purpose, whether to persuade, entertain, inform, or simply show relationships between ideas. These are the very same purposes as those described by college- and career-ready standards.

Promote productive and equitable conversation among students. ELLs in particular need frequent verbal interaction, and Language Dives are an ideal environment for these interactions. Teachers can turn the conversation over to ELLs during Language Dives using graduated conversation cues, such as those suggested by Cathy O'Connor and Sarah Michaels in Talk Science Primer. The goal is to support all students, regardless of ability, to have rich conversations in which they have time to think, learn to express their thinking, deepen their thinking, actively listen to others' ideas, and build upon one another's ideas.

Build structured opportunities for students to "play" with language. Together, teachers and students develop a curiosity for how English works, all in the service of literacy. Students learn how to use parts of speech effectively and what a complete, syntactically sound sentence is, for example, by breaking a sentence into "chunks" that contain academic language structures, such as noun phrases or prepositional phrases. They move the chunks around like a puzzle to alter the word order, and they substitute alternative words and phrases.

Design tasks that allow students to think, talk, and write using the language structures and content in their "juicy" sentence. Using supports such as sentence frames, teachers model how students can transfer the academic English they've discussed in the Juicy Sentence to their own speaking and writing.

Support learners from all levels of language proficiency in discussing these sentences. Juicy Sentence conversations are critical for ELLs, but also for Language Minority Students. Limiting learners who have less language ability to reading simplified or leveled readers and only answering comprehension questions usually stalls their progress. But native and proficient English speakers benefit as well. Trusting that at- or above-level learners already know how English works can mask rich areas for growth.

During each Language Dive, students embark on a "deconstruct-reconstruct-practice" routine. So, for example, consider what a Language Dive might look and feel like for this compelling sentence for Grade 5, from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. Teachers support the routine by breaking the sentence down into smaller chunks: Everyone|has the right|to own property alone|as well as|in association with others.

1. Deconstruct: Students grapple with the meaning and purpose of each chunk, perhaps sketching or playfully acting out the chunk to support their understanding.

For this sentence, teachers might cue student conversation with question such as:

1. Reconstruct: Students reassemble the chunks like a puzzle into their original order, and also rearrange them into possible sentence variations. They talk about how the sentence adds to their understanding of the text or lesson objectives.

Students can create two sentences that have the same meaning as the original sentence. And, in this case, teachers might ask:

1. Practice: Students use the chunks in their own speaking and writing and transfer the structures to future classroom tasks.

From this sentence, students might use the language structure as well as to talk and write about their own lives and the curriculum topic (human rights), with support such as a sentence frame if necessary: Language Dives help demystify college- and career-ready standards--as well as state language proficiency standards for ELLs--by allowing students to investigate how writers use language to master their craft. The Fillmores report great success from Juicy Sentence work: in New York, for example, more ELLs passed the state English language proficiency test, and many of them scored higher than non-ELLs on the English Language Arts test. I, myself, have observed how analyzing one sentence at a time can make language learning less overwhelming for ELLs. In the process, students begin to lead the conversations in their emerging roles as inquirers, experts, and collaborators. I've heard reticent students find their voice, rising from their seats to gleefully but respectfully disagree, for example, about how when works and what it means, or explaining why authors add details to sentences. Just a few weeks into Language Dives, students begin asking their own questions about how academic English works, owning their own process of inquiry (e.g., seventh-graders asking "What if we replace as though with even though?"). They are fully engaged in language play, barely containing their joy as they act out meaning (e.g., third-graders giggling as they look admiringly at one another to act out an interaction between Peter Pan and Solomon Caw). Students have revelations about English syntax, grabbing hold of a sentence chunk to rearrange it and create new meaning. Perhaps most important, they are consistently transferring their new academic language to their own speaking and writing. In short: Language Dives not only equip students with the language they need to meet the standards, but they also have the potential to turn quiet, passive students into curious, empowered, and more proficient communicators. Response From Elizabeth Iwaszewicz
Elizabeth Iwaszewicz is a Teacher at Lafayette Elementary School in the San Francisco Unified School District in San Francisco, California and is a member of the Instructional Leadership Corps, a collaboration among the California Teachers Association, the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, and the National Board Resource Center at Stanford:
The key to unlocking the Common Core with our ELLs is giving the gift of oral language. Establishing a positive culture of safety and respect with clear norms is the first step. My students use hand motions (Kindergarten version: "Ears are listening, brain is thinking, eyes are looking, mouth is quiet, hands and feet are still.") as they verbally review the listening norms and talk moves prior to any oral language activity for the first several months of the year. Oral language is developed, as with any skill, slowly and systematically. I pair my ELLs with English speakers. We have partner questions and sentence starters placed front and center for all to refer to. The questions or talk moves are repeated and reviewed until they become rote in conversations, inquiries and investigations. Once specific questions or phrases are used regularly, we add more while delving deeper into inquiry, challenging and supporting our decisions through evidence. We practice the talk moves throughout all the subject areas. I challenge the students to remember what their primary or rug partner say and to paraphrase it to their secondary or 2nd set partner. This reinforces listening skills, while practicing effective talk practices. By using a two set partner turn and talk system children learn to listen and paraphrase what was shared with them. I introduce this as a memory game in the beginning of the year so that they are challenged and eager to listen carefully. One benefit of focusing on oral language development in the classroom is that the students' writing improves as well. This added bonus became clear the first year I focused intently on academic discourse. My ELLs were able to put pencil to paper with purpose since they had heard, spoke and paraphrased thoughts before attempting to write. Previously, most ELLs just wanted to copy something off the board. Now, they are eager to record their thoughts and findings using evidence after having our classroom academic conversations. The Common Core standards are within reach for our ELLs if academic discourse becomes the norm in our classrooms throughout the day. Try it and your students will blossom socially, emotionally and academically! Response From Dr. Heidi Pace & Cathy Beck
Catherine Beck currently serves as Director of Schools for Cheatham County Schools in Tennessee. She is the co-author of "Leading Learning for ELL Students," published by Routledge. You can connect with her on Twitter at @cathypetreebeck.

Heidi Pace is the former superintendent of Summit County Schools in Colorado. She currently teaches in higher education. She is the co-author of "Leading Learning for ELL Students," published by Routledge:
Helping ELLs meet the Common Core Standards requires individual student assessment, extensive teacher training with accountability, and incorporation of the English Proficiency Standards. To begin this work, teachers must determine at what level each ELL student is performing. The backgrounds of ELL students vary greatly. The level of schooling each student has completed will dictate what interventions are most appropriate. For example, a student entering the American school system with little formal education, may need significant focus on background knowledge. This will, of course, depend on the home environment and the students' acquired "funds of knowledge," the knowledge and resources students bring to the classroom from their home environment (Luis Moll). Students who enter our classrooms with an uninterrupted education may have attained similar conceptual knowledge as their native English speaking peers, allowing them to make immediate connections to content. Additionally, ELLs whose native languages have common cognates with English can associate their native vocabulary to English. Scaffolding the learning begins with knowing where each student is functioning along the continuum of learning English. It is not only essential to know at what level each ELL student is performing, but it is equally important to determine the level of teacher knowledge and skills in instructing ELL students. To support ELLs in their success with Common Core, every teacher must be a language teacher. Too often, schools have thrust the learning of ELLs solely unto the shoulders of ELL teachers. It is imperative that all teachers hold themselves accountable to meeting the needs of ELLs. This means school districts must offer extensive professional development so that teachers have the skills and resources required to teach ELLs. Once teachers have initial training, offering language coaches to co-teach and co-plan classes is a powerful model for ongoing professional development. A key component of teacher professional development is the English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards. The English Language Proficiency standards, developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers, "highlight and amplify the critical language, knowledge about language, and skills using language that are in college-and-career-ready standards and that are necessary for English language learners (ELLs) to be successful in schools" (ELP Standards, p.13). There are ten standards:

1. Construct meaning from oral presentations and literary and informational text through grade-appropriate listening, reading, and viewing

2. Participate in grade-appropriate oral and written exchanges of information, ideas, and analyses, responding to peer, audience, or reader comments and questions

3. Speak and write about grade-appropriate complex literary and informational texts and topics

4. Construct grade-appropriate oral and written claims and support them with reasoning and evidence

5. Conduct research and evaluate and communicate findings to answer questions or solve problems

6. Analyze and critique the arguments of others orally and in writing

7. Adapt language choices to purpose, task, and audience when speaking and writing

8. Determine the meaning of words and phrases in oral presentations and literary and informational text

9. Create clear and coherent grade-appropriate speech and text

10. Make accurate use of standard English to communicate in grade appropriate speech and writing (ELP Standards, p.16).

Thus, to help ELL students access Common Core, begin with the individual student. From there assess the readiness for each teacher to be a language teacher, providing coaching and requiring accountability. Finally, incorporate the ELP standards to ensure that the appropriate transitions to both language and content occur. These three steps will assist teachers and schools in ELLs achieving success with the Common Core Standards. Response From Gayle Westerberg
Gayle Westerberg is the former principal of a Dual Language/International Baccalaureate (IB) elementary school. She is the co-author with Leslie Davison of An Educator's Guide to Dual Language Instruction - Increasing Achievement and Global Competencies, K-12. Currently, Gayle is an IB coordinator at a dual language school in Colorado:
While high stakes testing associated with the Common Core Standards is loaded with barriers for English language learners to demonstrate their learning, the tenets of the Common Core Standards offer opportunities for ELLs to access content. We can help ELLs by paying attention to the Common Core key shifts in the English language arts and for teaching literacy across the content areas. All Teachers are Literacy Teachers Common Core Standards foster the idea that literacy development is a shared responsibility. This transdisciplinary approach to learning also supports the belief that to develop deep, meaningful, connections across the curriculum and throughout the school day provides opportunities for reinforcement of language and understanding of content. Professional development for all staff to create transdisciplinary units incorporating the common core standards is necessary along with training for all teachers in how to scaffold learning in literacy through content areas in social studies, science and technology. The Literacy Design Collaborative, https://ldc.org/, is one source that offers examples and strategies for cross-disciplinary learning based on the Common Core Standards with exemplary modules and tasks available for K-12. Informational Text and Text-dependent Questioning The shift to increasing informational text for all students is paired with the call for decreasing the volume of reading by emphasizing shorter selections with deeper investigations of the selected text. While expectations are high and students need to handle primary source documents that are challenging, the need for students to read materials at their own level is emphasized while scaffolding using a variety of resources enabling students to access more challenging materials with support. The Common Core applauds re-reading texts, spending more time on complex text, close and careful reading, finding evidence in the text, keeping students focused on the text, and using text based questions to engage in rich discussion, encouraging students to form judgements and discuss their ideas. All of these caveats provide opportunities for ELLs as long as teachers have the resources for scaffolding reading, can identify accurate reading levels for students and utilize cooperative learning and classroom strategies to support student engagement and involvement. Vocabulary Development Building vocabulary and expanding language is a goal for all students in the Common Core Standards. There is a recognition that direct teaching is necessary and that teaching fewer words - but teaching them with deeper understanding is best. Wide reading with a balance of fiction and nonfiction materials complements all aspects of instruction. In conjunction with the emphasis on vocabulary development is also the question of "how"? The common core leaves the "how" up to the teachers and this is where we need to squelch the lists for memorization, the use of dictionary definitions and the cumbersome vocabulary notebooks. Teachers employing backwards planning to embed language structures and vocabulary development purposefully throughout their daily learning engagements are seeing great success. Educators who remember that it's not about how many words or which words should I teach, but teaching to mastery and using strategies where input (listening or reading) is comprehensible are the keys to understanding and acquisition of language. Finally, utilizing co-teaching models with literacy specialists and English language development staff (ELD) will drastically reduce pull out interventions that remove students from the regular classroom where content knowledge is infused throughout the day when a transdisciplinary approach to learning is utilized. Also, the expertise of ELD teachers who are conversant with English language proficiency standards will enhance the planning, teaching and learning process. Response From Julie Goldman
Julie Goldman leads San Diego County Office of Education's WRITE Institute, a nationally recognized program in K-12 writing instruction. Connect with WRITE on Twitter:
In their 2012 bestseller, The One Thing¹, authors Keller and Papasan ask, "What is the one thing that I can do such by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?" Let's consider this: what is one thing we can do to help English Language Learners meet the Common Core Standards? We begin by knowing our students. When we know our students, we build empathy. With empathy - connecting, listening, building relationships - we understand the diverse communities of English learners we serve ². If our goal is to improve learning outcomes for English learners, increase students' abilities to tackle challenging content, and create a culture that nurtures the capacities of broadly literate, college-and-career-ready students, then we need to better understand students who historically have been marginalized in schools and society ³. While there are many ways to build empathy for our English learners, one powerful way includes shadowing⁴, a structured, intentional process of following a student for several hours or a full day to better understand the reality and range of his or her schooling experience. When teachers collaborate to identify English learners' strengths and needs and plan lessons together - and administrators provide ongoing support and monitoring - stakeholders create a climate where a range of voices engage in meaningful conversations and exploration around meeting the varied needs of their English learners. A growing body of research underscores the value of addressing the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students and their families. Culturally responsive pedagogy - defined by Gay (2002) When we know our students, we collect and analyze the quantitative data, including our students' language proficiency levels (both in students' primary languages and in English), years in school, and language proficiency scores. While these numbers are essential components for setting accurate language targets and monitoring student growth, truly knowing our students involves gathering individualized, qualitative data too. When we know our students, we meet each student where he or she is and When we know our students, we are respectful and responsive to them, their families, and their communities. 1 Keller, G., & Papasan, J. (2012). The one thing: The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results. Austin, Tex.: Bard Press. 2 Dolby, N. (2012). Rethinking multicultural education for the next generation: The new empathy and social justice. New York: Routledge. 3 Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. 4 Soto, I. (2012). ELL shadowing as a catalyst for change. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin. 5 Gay, G. (2002). Culturally responsive teaching. New York: Teachers College Press. 6 Kalyanpur, M. (2003). A challenge to professionals: Developing cultural reciprocity with culturally diverse families. Focal Point, 17(1), 1-6. 7 Osher, D., Cartledge, G., Oswald, D., Artiles, A. J., & Coutinho, M. (2004). Issues of cultural and linguistic competency and disproportionate representation. In R.Rutherford, M. Quinn, & S. Mather (Eds.), Handbook of research in behavioral disorders (pp. 54-77). New York: Guilford Publications. 8 Gottlieb, M. (2016). Assessing English language learners: Bridges to equity. Connecting academic language proficiency to student achievement (2nd ed.).Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. nurture purposeful learning. By focusing on research-based instructional practices Just a reminder--you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And, if you missed any of the highlights from the first six years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. They don't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar. Look for Part Two in a few days. for English Language Learners, we build language and content in tandem, provide high-quality learning opportunities and ensure high levels of academic and communicative skills. By gathering information about our students' backgrounds and cultures, including identifying their home or heritage language, we learn valuable information regarding students' linguistic experiences, passions and interests, strengths as a learner, and specific academic needs. It is also helpful to ask relevant questions (i.e., What language experiences have shaped you most?), observe, and listen. Classroom teachers can collect illuminating information about English learners' strengths and needs through icebreaker activities, journals, presentations, home visits, and interviews ⁸. as "using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning more relevant and effective for them" - promotes student connectedness with schools, decreases behavior problems, and advances learning ⁶. By appreciating and being sensitive to a child's background and educational experiences, we increase our individual and collective understanding of who our English learners are - including their previous schooling, home language, and literacy experiences - in order to identify and remove the greatest barriers to learning ⁷.
Thanks to Kevin, Elizabeth, Heidi, Cathy, Gayle and Julie for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Anyone whose question is selected for this weekly column can choose one free book from a number of education publishers.

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Response: "Unlocking the Common Core" With English Language Learners (Opinion)

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The new question-of-the-week is: How can we help English Language Learners meet the Common Core Standards? On one hand, you have Common Core Standards or, in states that don't use Common Core, there are similar ones.

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The Third Language of Academic English - ASCD

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Academic language is the linguistic glue that holds the tasks, texts, and tests of school together. If students can’t use this glue well, their academic work is likely to fall apart. I define academic language as the set of words and phrases that (1) describe content-area knowledge and procedures, (

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19 hours in the life of an unaccompanied minor

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19 hours in the life of an unaccompanied minor

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The Life Of An Unaccompanied Minor In L.A. | Los Angeles Times

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The acronyms BICS and CALP refer to the length of time required by immigrant children to develop conversational skills in the target language and grade appropriate academic proficiency in that language. Understanding the difference between social language and academic language acquisition is an important concept for teachers working with non-native students. Learn more in our academic language resource section.
BICS = social language
Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) refer to linguistic skills needed in everyday, social face-to-face interactions. For instance, the language used in the playground, on the phone, or to interact socially with other people is part of BICS. The language used in these social interactions is context embedded. That is, it is meaningful, cognitively undemanding, and non-specialized. It takes the learner from six months to two years to develop BICS.
CALP = academic language
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) focuses on proficiency in academic language or language used in the classroom in the various content areas. Academic language is characterized by being abstract, context reduced, and specialized. In addition to acquiring the language, learners need to develop skills such as comparing, classifying, synthesizing, evaluating, and inferring when developing academic competence. It takes learners at least five years to develop CALP. Research from Collier and Thomas (1995) has shown that it may take children with no prior instruction or no support in native language development at least seven years to develop CALP.

The distinction between BICS and CALP was made by Professor Jim Cummins.

Learn more in Explaining BICS and CALP from EverythingESL.

Video: BICS and CALP

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The acronyms BICS and CALP refer to the length of time required by immigrant children to develop conversational skills in the target language and grade appropriate academic proficiency in that language. Understanding the difference between social language and academic language acquisition is an important concept for teachers working with non-native students.