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Students sit in a circle and take turns adding a sentence to create a collective story. This encourages creativity and language use.

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Article: "Theories of Second Language Acquisition"

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Here is a great link to a resource for learning the principles of language learning and teaching

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Book: "Principles of Language Learning and Teaching" by H. Douglas Brown

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The sixth edition of Principles of Language Learning and Teaching offers new ways of viewing and teaching second language acquisition (SLA) based on the latest research. Providing a comprehensive overview of the theoretical viewpoints that have shaped language teaching today, the text explains the pedagogical relevance of SLA research in reader-friendly prose.

The new edition of this classic text, used by teacher-education programs worldwide, reflects the most recent themes in SLA research, updated references, and a summation of current issues and perspectives. The text is available in print and eText formats.

New opening vignettes connect chapter topics to language learners' stories.

Expanded Classroom Connections section provides more opportunities to link research findings to teaching implications.

Updated activities and discussion questions for practicing instrctuctors and teachers in training.

End-of-chapter supplementary readings, journal-writing guidelines, activities, and discussion questions.

Bibliography with quick access to important works in the field.

Concise glossary of key terminology.

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Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (6th Edition)

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Amazon.com: Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (6th Edition): 9780133041941: Brown, H. Douglas: Books

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Great Source to learn TPR

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Video: Demonstration of Total Physical Response (TPR) method

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Guide: Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in ELL classrooms

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Differentiated Instruction for English Language Learners

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Each student comes to school, not only with unique academic needs, but also with unique background experiences, culture, language, personality, interests, and attitudes toward learning. Effective teachers recognize that all of these factors affect how students learn in the classroom, and they adjust, or differentiate, their instruction to meet students' needs.

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This Website is amazing for teachers it will help with coming up with different ideas

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Teachers or students can make a kahoot. It is a great studying tool for the kids as well as a fun and competitive activity to keep kids engaged.

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Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!

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Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that brings engagement and fun to 1+ billion players every year at school, at work, and at home.

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Not sure why the link looks like this but it is a great resource

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Article: "Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies for ELLs"

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Journey Through Literary Realms and Immerse Yourself in Words: Lose yourself in the captivating world of literature with our Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies For An Inclusive Classroom articles. From book recommendations to author spotlights, we'll transport you to imaginative realms and inspire your love for reading. The period about ensure strategies can help an safe inclusive atmosphere These classroom for and this and educating of resources in history students

Conclusion

After exploring the topic in depth, it is evident that post delivers valuable knowledge regarding Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies For An Inclusive Classroom. From start to finish, the author presents an impressive level of expertise about the subject matter. In particular, the discussion of X stands out as a key takeaway. Thanks for reading the article. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out via the comments. I look forward to hearing from you. Additionally, below are a few related posts that might be useful:

Related image with culturally responsive teaching strategies for an inclusive classroom

Related image with culturally responsive teaching strategies for an inclusive classroom

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Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies For An Inclusive Classroom

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These strategies and resources for educating students about this period of history can help ensure an inclusive and safe atmosphere in the classroom

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Guide: Creating an Inclusive Classroom Environment for ELs

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An important first step in helping English language learners (ELLs) succeed is making them feel welcome in the classroom.

This will:

increase their confidence

make them feel more comfortable in the class

build a foundation for positive relationships with you and their peers.

Here's how you can get started!

The ELL student population includes students who were born in the U.S. and students who have immigrated from another country. For ELLs who have recently arrived in the U.S., they will face the challenge of learning a new language in addition to adjusting to an unfamiliar cultural setting and school system.

On a daily basis, ELLs are adjusting to new ways of saying and doing things. As their teacher, you are an important bridge to this unknown culture and school system.

In the same way that ELLs go through stages of English language learning, they may also pass through stages of cultural accommodation. These stages, however, may be less defined and more difficult to notice. Being aware of these stages may help you to better understand "unusual" actions and reactions that may just be part of adjusting to a new culture.

Euphoria: ELLs may experience an initial period of excitement about their new surroundings.

Culture shock: ELLs may then experience anger, hostility, frustration, homesickness, or resentment towards the new culture.

Acceptance: ELLs may gradually accept their different surroundings.

Assimilation/adaptation: ELLs may embrace and adapt to their surroundings and their "new" culture.

It is also common for students who are learning a new language to be 'silent' for a period of time, when they are listening to the language around them without speaking yet (much as a young child listens to language first before learning to talk). This is considered the first stage of language acquisition.

Patience and creating opportunities for small successes in speaking with you and peers can help build students' confidence. In addition, keep in mind that students' silence could also be a sign of respect for you as an authority - and not a sign of their inability or refusal to participate.

Students may also have experienced trauma or face different kinds of hardship in the U.S. You can better prepare yourself for this possibility by:

Learn more from the following:

This award-winning documentary highlights how the Dearborn, MI public school district is helping its immigrant students succeed. Learn more about this project and see related videos.

Getting to Know Students

Learn how to pronounce students' names correctly

Don't forget to smile and use positive body language!

A lot of communication happens through expressions, body language, and tone. Smiling and using positive body language can go a long way in making students feel welcome and comfortable, particularly if they are newcomers, as seen in the vignette shared by a teacher below.

Build relationships with students

Veteran teachers of ELLs always point to building relationships as the most important step in their work with ELLs. Not only does it increase engagement and support students' later academic success, it also provides invaluable information that can inform your instruction and family engagement.

In addition, it can help build bridges with students who may have particularly unique experiences, such as children in migrant farmwork families or Indigenous students.

See more ideas on how to build these relationships from the following:

Video: Showing students you care

Corpus Christi teacher Christine Price talks about the importance of showing students you care early on.

Identify students' strengths and interests

It's important to remember that ELLs bring lots of strengths, talents, and rich experiences to the classroom. Getting to know students' interests can help:

build rapport

engage students in learning

find connections with new friends.

Families are also an important source of information and are often happy to talk about the activities that their child enjoys. They may also appreciate the fact that their child's teacher is taking an interest in the child's strengths and talents. (This is especially true in special education settings.)

Teacher Omar Salem describes a student who not only sings and dances but manages her own YouTube channel and edits all of the video she posts of her performances.

Video: Using parent letters to get to know my students

Albuquerque teacher Clara Gonzales-Espinoza asks her parents to write her a letter at the beginning of each school year telling her about the child's personality, interests, strengths, and anything else they think she should know. In this interview, Clara speaks more about this strategy and its impact on her relationships with parents and students.

Ensure that students have information about activities and clubs

Make sure that students have information about extra-curricular activities, sports, and clubs related to their interests. You can also encourage them to start their own club within the school.

ELL educator Christine Rowland notes, "Many students find involvement in school clubs and teams to be extremely helpful, as they are often experts in these areas, and they can provide a space where they more easily feel they belong."

Welcoming Students' Language and Culture

Invite students' cultures into the classroom

Encourage ELLs and their families to share their culture with you and your class. Show-and-tell is a good opportunity for ELLs to bring in something representative of their culture, if they wish.

Invite students and families to:

share photographs, visuals, or meaningful artifacts such as flags or mementos

tell a popular story or folktale using words, pictures, gestures, and movements

share information about important holidays or celebrations.

Looking beyond the classroom

Imagine that you are walking into your school for the first time as a parent.

What do you see on the walls?

If your first language weren't English, would you see signs in your language?

Would you see flags, maps, or books representing your home country?

Would you see your child's work on display in the hallway?

If you think more could be done to make families feel welcome, consider:

sharing some ideas with colleagues or administrators and taking small steps that you can point to as successes

looking for opportunities to celebrate all families and their languages, customs, and cultures, whether in the classroom or at a school-wide event

keeping a lookout for a special part of their lives that other families might appreciate getting to know.

See more ideas in the following:

Video: What happened when the students realized the Yemeni flag wasn't on stage

ELD Specialist Diana Alqadhi tells the story of some students who realized that the Yemeni flag was not featured prominently enough on stage before a school show.

Invite students' languages into the classroom

Label classroom objects to allow ELLs to better understand their immediate surroundings. These labels will also assist you when explaining or giving directions, and it gives peers an additional opportunity to learn some words in their classmates' language.

Start with everyday items, such as "door/puerta," "book/libro," and "chair/silla."

You may wish to ask students who can write in their first language or family members to help you with this project.

You can also invite students to teach the class some words from their home language.

Learn more about the resources available in students' home languages

Students benefit from support in their home language - what Dr. Fred Genesee calls their " most valuable resource." You have may have access to learning material in students' languages, or you may be able to find resources that support those languages.

Language access for multilingual families

In addition, it's critical to understand what language access resources you have available through your school and district, particularly for communication with families. Keep in mind that all families have a legal right to information in their home language. Family liaisons, interpreters, ESL teachers, or administrators may have more information about what language access resources are available in your district.

Video: What Do School Districts Need to Know About Language Access?

This helpful overview about what language access means for school districts is a great introduction to the requirements, best practices, and funding streams related to language access in public education. This interview features Dr. Jennifer Love, the Supervisor of Language Access and Engagement in Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland.

Video: Language Access for Multilingual Families

What does appropriate language access mean for multilingual families? This interview also features Dr. Jennifer Love.

Ensure your students see themselves reflected in the classroom

Ask yourself if students can see representations of their culture, race, gender, and other aspects of identity reflected in your:

classroom materials and library

lesson plans and activities

classroom visuals (both in-person and virtual).

In addition:

Success in the Classroom

Encourage your students

Some ELLs may not answer voluntarily in class or ask for your help even if they need it. ELLs may smile and nod, but this does not necessarily mean that they understand. Offer one-on-one support and encouragement as much as possible. For convenience, it may be helpful to seat ELLs near your desk.

Assign a buddy

Identify a classmate who will make a good buddy for new students - someone who is friendly, patient, and a good communicator to be a buddy. This student can make sure that the new student understands what he or she is supposed to do during class activities. It is helpful if the peer partner knows the ELL's first language, but not necessary. However, remember to never use another student as an interpreter in any situation.

Learn more about ways to increase peer interaction and collaboration in these related strategies.

Ask the class how they can help welcome new students

Ask students to brainstorm ways to help ELLs in particular. You may wish to make a list of ideas on how to welcome new students at the beginning of the year so that students have these strategies in mind if a student comes with little advance notice.

Be vigilant about health issues, dietary concerns, and allergies

Students may have specific health issues or dietary restrictions due to health, cultural, or religious reasons. Be sure that you learn all essential information you need to know about student health and diet from parents or guardians. For ELLs, be sure to confirm and clarify this information with the help of interpreters.

If you learn information about a student that would be helpful for other staff to know, particularly regarding health or food allergies, talk with administrators about how to keep the child safe. In addition, be sensitive to cultural or religious norms, such as fasting for religious reasons.

Keep an eye out for signs of culture shock

Moving to a new country and leaving a familiar life, relatives, friends, and language behind can be traumatic for children in the best of circumstances. Those challenges are compounded if children have experienced trauma, violence, or upheaval. Learn more about how culture shock can impact students in the classroom and affect student behavior so that you recognize signs if newcomers act out.

Encourage students to take ownership of the classroom culture

Ask students to answer the following questions through drawings or written responses.

How can I be a good classmate to others?

What are examples of unkind or disrespectful behavior in the classroom?

To support ELLs in their discussions of these questions:

Encourage students who speak the same language to discuss their ideas in groups.

Provide scaffolded materials such as graphic organizers, sentence stems, and sentence frames.

Use a picture book to talk about different kinds of behavior with students.

Create a shared set of classroom expectations together

Return to your earlier discussion of what a respectful classroom looks like.

Brainstorm ideas on possible class rules based on that discussion.

Streamline the list of class guidelines or rules.

Add any rules or guidelines that are missing.

In order to establish appropriate consequences for disrespectful behavior, you may wish to come up with ideas with the class or determine those consequences yourself.

Post the final list classroom rules in the classroom.

Translate the rules into ELLs' native languages so that they can keep the list handy and share it at home.

To see an example of this proces in action, take a look at ELL expert Carol Salva's process for developing a community contract each year.

Help your ELLs understand expectations for the classroom

ELLs may need some extra support in understanding expectations for classroom behavior. Helping them understand these expectations can avoid misunderstandings, discipline problems, and feelings of low self-esteem.

At the same time, it's important to remember that students bridging two cultures may need guidance which behaviors are appropriate in which setting (such as eye contact, physical proximity, etc.). If you have questions, talk with a cultural liaison in the school to learn more about appropriate responses and ideas for helping students navigate a new culture. You can also learn more about cultural norms of your students, particularly related to schooling, to help inform your approach.

Here are a few strategies that you can use in class:

Use visuals like pictures, symbols, and reward systems to communicate your expectations in a positive and direct manner.

Physically model language to ELLs in classroom routines and instructional activities. ELLs will need to see you or their peers model behavior when you want them to sit down, walk to the bulletin board, work with a partner, copy a word, etc.

Be consistent and fair with all students. Once ELLs clearly understand what is expected, hold them equally accountable for their behavior.

Post a daily schedule. Even if ELLs do not yet understand all of the words that you speak, it is possible for them to understand the structure of each day. Whether through chalkboard art or images on Velcro, you can post the daily schedule each morning. By writing down times and having pictures next to words like lunch, wash hands, math, and field trip, ELLs can have a general sense of the upcoming day.

Finally, remember ELLs can make unintentional "mistakes" as they are trying hard to adjust to a new cultural setting. They are constantly transferring what they know as acceptable behaviors from their own culture to the U.S. classroom and school. Be patient as ELLs learn English and adjust - and remember that you will learn a lot from this experience too!

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How to Create a Welcoming Classroom Environment for ELLs

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An important first step in helping English language learners (ELLs) succeed is making them feel welcome in the classroom. This will: increase their confidence make them feel more comfortable in the class build a foundation for positive relationships with you and their peers. Here's how you can get started!

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Webinar: Understanding Language Development in ELLs

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Understanding Language’s CCSS Unit for ELLs (with video)

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Understanding Language’s five-lesson middle school unit, called Persuasion Across Time and Space: Analyzing and Producing Persuasive Texts, was designed for ELLs at the intermediate level of English language development.

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Great for figuring out what kind of visual aid you need

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Resource Pack: Visual Aids for Language Acquisition

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There is no doubt that visual aids for learning are a significant aspect of learning for any student.

They support the communication of key concepts throughout a topic or unit, function as a memory aid, and engage learners with lesson content by holding more appeal than simple text. The power of imagery in instruction is highlighted by the fact that 65% of the population are considered "visual learners."

Visual learning is particularly vital for supporting English language learners (ELLs). The extra support visuals can provide to ELLs still developing English vocabulary and usage skills can turn unfamiliar concepts into familiar ones and help with understanding.

In this blog, we explore more about visual aids for ELLs and how visual aids are important for all language learners.

How to Incorporate Visual Aids

Visuals can include many items that can be found in the classroom. Specifically, visual aids are any items that students can look at to support them in recalling and understanding a concept.

The following is not an exhaustive list but a good outline of how visuals can be implemented in lessons.

A copy of the text - having the passage, extract or the reading book as a copy of the text you are covering in front of the student helps them follow along with the words as you read them. This is ideal for ELLs as it can help them fully comprehend the content in the text and enable them to practice reading skills.

Worksheets with imagery - sheets that include images to align with important concepts or vocabulary you are teaching are ideal for ELLs to support the recognition of words.

Vocabulary posters - sheets with images and vocabulary under them displayed in a classroom are ideal for encouraging recall and instilling the understanding of objects.

Activities involving imagery - lessons that include tasks such as drawing, diagrams, or graphics to support the explanation of concepts are valuable for recollecting vocabulary and aiding understanding of content.

Why are visual aids for ELLs so important?

There are so many ways visuals can be adopted in lessons. However, it's important to know why we should focus on implementing them, especially for multi-language learners who need to develop their vocabulary and attain the confidence to speak another language.

Reduce Nervousness and Support Confidence

Schools can be a place that induces anxiety for some students. This could be for academic or social reasons.

For ELLs, that anxiety may be even more intense as they might not be used to the culture and the language around them.

With learning content, visuals can provide that stimulus to support ELLs' recognition and recall. They'll be at ease as they can see the content you are teaching and have more of an idea of what is being discussed.

Support Comprehension

Visuals are very important for some students to fully comprehend concepts as they inspire imagination and affect cognitive capabilities.

It's a good idea to include them at the right time during a lesson, such as before an activity is implemented. By introducing visuals earlier, multi-language learners can better understand what is being discussed in order to grasp the concept and aid their understanding.

The right visual aids can encourage patience which is ideal for instilling at the start of your lesson.

Foster Emotions

There is a link between emotional response and visual stimuli. They are both closely connected in the brain and generate memories.

This highlights the importance of visual aids for ELLs as they act as visual metaphors to improve retention, create long-lasting impressions, and stimulate images from their own experiences to use in learning.

Cement Information

According to Dr. Lynell Burmark, an education consultant who writes and speaks about visual literacy: "Unless our words, concepts, ideas are hooked onto an image, they will go in one ear, sail through the brain, and go out the other ear. Words are processed by our short-term memory, where we can only retain about seven bits of information."

Dr. Lynell goes on to say: "Images, on the other hand, go directly into long-term memory where they are indelibly etched."

Images can support the instilling of information in long-term memory, which is ideal for supporting ELL students as it shows that images can help the retention of information and learning of a language more quickly.

Promote Motivation

Adopting visual aids for learning that captivate and have interesting statistics in a lesson can transform an unengaging topic or task into an interesting task that ELLs want to take part in.

Images can support learners in fighting the urge not to pay attention and motivate students to perform better.

Supports Decoding

To support multi-language learners with fully understanding sounds and words, they need to hear and see text while reading.

By allowing students to circle words or grammar to support them with grasping the language, you are giving them another visual cue that can support pronunciation and the decoding of vocabulary.

How to Incorporate Visual Aids for ELLs with Technology

Many eLearning tools can support learning with visual aids, techniques, and interactive content. Edmentum's Courseware, a flexible digital curriculum for 6-12 students, includes highlighter tools and incorporates images and videos.

These are important for ELLs as they support them with understanding vocabulary and content to better their English language learning.

Visual aids and interactive content are essential for teachers to have in their toolkits to support ELLs and their learning. They can help ELLs improve their English language proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. They are ideal for speeding up ELLs' language learning and academic accomplishments.

Although students should be reminded and comforted that learning a language can take a long time, the process can certainly be made easier by implementing visuals in lessons.

Interested in learning more about how to support adult English language learners (ELLs) in your classroom? Explore these tips to enhance their learning experience and set them up for success.

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While English language learners are struggling to understand a new language, visual aids for ELLs can bring them back to the present lesson.

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Great Resource

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Handbook: Assessing English Language Learners' Proficiency

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Great printable to use

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Checklist: Effective Formative Assessment Techniques for ELs

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Printable English learner resources for educators of multilingual learners developed by the SupportEd team.

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Course: Strategies for Supporting English Learners

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The new question-of-the-week is:
What is the single most effective instructional strategy you have used to teach English-language learners?
This series is part of a longer series of questions and answers inviting educators from various disciplines to share their "single most effective instructional strategy."

There are many more to come!

Today, Valentina Gonzalez, Denita Harris, Cindy Garcia, and Deedy Camarena offer their responses.

Before we get to today's guest, I'd like to share my own answer.

Two that contributors to this series don't mention and are ones I like to use often are the Language Experience Approach (LEA) and Total Physical Response (TPR).

Two particularly useful posts that have not yet made it into that summary collection (I update them every summer) are Thirteen Instructional Strategies for Supporting ELL Newcomers and Ten Strategies for Teaching English-Language Learners Online.

Now, to responses from today's guests:

Picture Word Inductive Model
Valentina Gonzalez is a former classroom teacher with over 20 years in education serving also as a district facilitator for English-learners, a professional-development specialist for ELs, and as an educational consultant. Valentina delivers professional development and coaches teachers on sheltered instruction strategies. Her work can be found on Seidlitz Education and on MiddleWeb. You can reach her through her website or on Twitter @ValentinaESL:
Shifting the way we approach teaching English-learners can have a positive effect on their success in our schools. When we see our English-learners' assets first, we recognize everything they come with and value not only their culture but also the content and literacy they bring to the table.

I've found the Picture Word Inductive Model (Calhoun, 1998) to be one of the most effective instructional techniques in my experience teaching ELs. The benefits of using PWIM with English-learners are many. This literacy technique is quite flexible and can be used cross-curricularly no matter the grade level, language level, or content. PWIM leverages students' funds of knowledge and builds upon them. Through the PWIM, ELs are engaged in thinking and in all language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing with scaffolds and supports such as visuals and sentence stems or frames. This method can be used in all grade levels and cross-curricularly.

These are the steps I use to implement an adapted version of PWIM with English-learners and how each step benefits ELs:

This engaging instructional strategy helps to lower students' anxiety levels, which increases participation. After using the PWIM with numerous student groups, these are some tips I can offer to educators who haven't tried it before:

Carefully select images that are compelling to your age group of students.

Try color coding or chunking labeled words (ex.: all verbs in orange, adjectives in blue, etc.).

Keep in mind students' language-proficiency levels when creating sentence stems and frames. Students with advanced English proficiency will benefit from more sophisticated sentence structures.

Don't stress about doing it all in one day. Gage your students and make adjustments as needed.

On a subsequent day, use the generated words as a sorting activity. Ask students to work with a partner to put the words in groups and label the groups.

Co-create a sentence-patterning chart with the class. Some groups of students may need this level of support during Step 7.

Below is an example of a PWIM and sentence-patterning chart mash up. Combining these two techniques enhances ELs' listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English.

Sentence Frames
Denita Harris is a curriculum coordinator for the MSD of Wayne Township, Indianapolis. She has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, assistant principal, and district-level administrator. Harris is the recipient of the 2019 INTESOL (Indiana Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Best of the Best in K-12 Education, and the 2017 and 2020 African American Excellence in Education Award. Find her on Twitter @HarrisLeads:
The single most effective strategy I have used and would highly recommend when teaching English-language learners is the use of sentence frames for writing and speaking, the productive skills, accompanied with a word bank, word phrases, and/or pictures.

English-languagelearners possess a wealth of knowledge, and it is our obligation, as educators, to tap into their knowledge and continue to build upon what our students already know and can do. We must remember our students are in the process of learning a new language and are not in the process of learning a language; therefore, we can provide the words and the grammatical structures of the new language to help guide them in speaking and writing.

Here is an analogy to consider. English-language learners have the tools (vocabulary in their native language). They come to us with these tools; however, while learning English, they may not yet know the names of all the tools or how to use them properly to accomplish a task completely (speaking or writing in English). Our responsibility is to provide our students with the names of each tool (vocabulary in English) and demonstrate to them, through sentence frames, how they might utilize these tools to accomplish a complete task (express a complete thought or sentence in English). A sentence frame can be made up of only one sentence or several sentences to assist students in structuring paragraphs.

The use of sentence frames for writing and speaking not only give English-language learners a framework to communicate through both oral and written language, sentence frames also help build students' self-efficacy. When students have the language to contribute to classroom discussions and are able to express their thoughts on paper, they begin to feel a part of the classroom community, and that makes all the difference.

Comprehensible Input
Cindy Garcia has been a bilingual educator for 14 years and is currently a district instructional specialist for PK-6 bilingual/ESL mathematics. She is active onTwitter @CindyGarciaTX and on her blog:
The single most effective strategy that I used to teach English-language learners is comprehensible input. Comprehensible input means that the teacher speaks in such a way that students are able to understand what is being said even when they do not know or understand all of the words being stated. Below are some strategies to make input comprehensible:

Slow down rate of speech and enunciate clearly. As students are listening, they are also working to process what is being said and how that fits with what they already know. At the same time, ELLs are translanguaging and making sense of teachers' academic language. ELLs are developing their English language, and it is very important that they hear those initial and ending sounds of words in order to add them to their vocabulary. Sometimes when we speak too quickly, we drop important sounds such as "ing".

Avoid figurative language and idioms. While these phrases might make sense to you and emphasize a point, to ELLs they might break down their comprehension. Students will probably end up with a literal translation that makes no sense. For example, saying it was a piece of cake will be translated to it was a portion of a dessert, not it was easy! Not only that, but ELLs might stop listening as they try to figure what that idiom means.

Use gestures and total physical response (TPR). Language can sometimes be abstract and not precise. There can also be words that exist in English that do not exist in other languages. For example, toes do not have a Spanish equivalent. In Spanish, we have hand fingers and feet fingers. Using exaggerated gestures can help make the meaning of new vocabulary more clear to students. Using TPR, students also learn to associate a movement with a word, and that will make it more likely that they internalize that new vocabulary.

Collaborative Summarizing
Deedy Camarena is the coordinator for English-language development (ELD), dual and world languages, at the Santa Clara County Office of Education in California:
Second, students find one partner to dialogue with and " create a negotiated list that reflects their combined agreement on the three to six most important ideas." Once students have discussed the most important ideas, they turn them into one, collaborative 15-word summary. Teachers can strategically pair up students, or students can choose. Students must first determine the negotiating rules they will follow. For example, act respectively, cite evidence to prove your opinion, or use academic-language sentence frames, such as Kate Kinsella's, for discussing and collaboration. Students use these sentence frames to support the function of negotiating and intentionally use academically language correctly. The purpose of negotiating with their partner is to "identify who or what is the most important in the section, [and] identify what the subject is doing,"( English Learner Toolkit of Strategies).

Third, have each pair meet with another pair. One student from each pair reads their summary. Then, they dive in and renegotiate a common summary for their new group of four and add it to their graphic organizer.

Fourth, each group of four chooses another group of four to repeat the renegotiating process. Once again, the group will add this new summary to their graphic organizer.

Fifth, ask groups to edit their summaries for meaning, language, and word choice. As the focus of Collaborative Summarizing is utilizing purposeful dialogue to practice oracy, this could be an optional step.

Sixth, chose one student from the group to present the summary to the class. As ELLs have varying comfort levels of reading in front of a class, give the students time to practice in their group. Once a sufficient amount of time has passed, bring the class together to listen to the summaries.

Thanks to Valentina, Denita, Cindy, and Deedy 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.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email (The RSS feed for this blog, and for all Ed Week articles, has been changed by the new redesign-new ones are not yet available). And if you missed any of the highlights from the first nine years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.

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The Six Most Effective Instructional Strategies for ELLs-According to Teachers (Opinion)

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Teachers share their "go-to" strategies for teaching English-language learners, including sentence starters and Total Physical Response.

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Professional Development Workshop, Brooklyn, NY | District 32

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Guide: Engaging Families of English Learners

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Video: Effective Communication Strategies with Parents of ELs

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Communicating effectively with parents about student needs and services

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Colorín Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital, and receives major funding from our founding partner, the AFT, and the National Education Association.

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Having Technology is big for teaching ELL. It can often help the kids better understand what they might have a hard time knowing.

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Great way to help your students outside of school to learn.

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Tool: Educational Apps for English Language Development

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By clicking "Accept All Cookies", you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Cookie Policy

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What are the best apps for learning English? - Oxford International English Schools

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We took a look at the best apps out there to learn English on and compiled our a list here. Read on to find out which ones we think are worth the download

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Remember no one is perfect you are going to mess up and so are your kids. Be understanding and use your resources

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Great podcast to learn from

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Podcast: Literacy Development in English Learners

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Early Literacy Development for English Language Learners - Podcast Episode 32 | Podcast Episode 32

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Classnotes Podcast (April 17, 2008) Teachers have been teaching children to read throughout history. But 10 years ago, the National Reading Panel outlined the essential components of reading instruction: alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, oral language and vocabulary development, and print awareness. José L. Rodríguez, M.A., an early childhood expert at IDRA, describes these components and how they relate to young English language learners. José is interviewed by Aurelio Montemayor, M.Ed., director of the IDRA Texas Parent Information and Resource Center.

Send comments to podcast@idra.org

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Early Literacy Development for English Language Learners - Podcast Episode 32 - IDRA

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Classnotes Podcast (April 17, 2008) Teachers have been teaching children to read throughout history. But 10 years ago, the National ... read more

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Toolkit: Strategies for Teaching Reading and Writing to ELs

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TEAM Toolkits: Teaching ELLs for Academic Language Mastery feature structured activities in listening, reading, writing, and speaking to help English learners develop grade-level academic language needed for classroom success.

FREE eBooks offer for in-school and distance learning!
See offer details and eBook features.

Kits available:
Kit for levels AA-B (grades K-2)
Kit for levels C-E (grades 3-5)
Kit for levels F-H (grades 6-8)
Kit for high school (grades 9-12)

Each kit includes:

Student Books, 5 per level/grade

Themed units include topics aligned to grade-level content. Lessons feature 5 parts: (1) Before We Read, (2) Let's Read, (3) Listen and Discuss, (4) Learning About Language, and (5) Write About It. Activities support the communicative purposes in WIDA's Can Do Descriptors, Key Uses Edition: Recount, Explain, Argue, and Discuss.

Annotated Teacher's Editions and Audio, 1 per level/grade

Teacher's editions include a detailed TEAM program overview and connections to the ELP assessment practice in Finish Line for ELLs 2.0. Support for each lesson:

Lesson objectives

Page-by-page directions and teaching strategies

ELA and content standards connections

Academic language identified by tier

Language differentiation strategies

Audio download files

Audio scripts for listening passages to help students develop and practice language, as well as speaking and listening skills

Suggested pacing guidelines that can be adapted for your classroom use

Picture Dictionary, 1 copy (Included in kits for levels AA-H.)

Colorful photographs with words reinforce what students are learning. Over 750 words are presented in thematic units from early learning experiences, so each new word is shown in a meaningful context. Book details.

TEAM Toolkits are designed for flexibility of use and support instruction in the mainstream classroom and specialized ESL programs. Ideal for:

push-in or pull-out models of instruction

academic classes during small groups and mainstream settings

tutoring sessions

mini-units based on specific skills that address gaps in learning

Student Book: approx. 184 pages
Annotated Teacher's Edition: approx. 248 pages
Picture Dictionary: 96 pages

PRIME, the PRIME logo and seal, and WIDA are trademarks of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.

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TEAM Toolkits: Teaching ELLs for Academic Language Mastery | Continental

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TEAM Toolkits: Teaching ELLs for Academic Language Mastery feature structured activities in listening, reading, writing, and speaking to help English learners develop grade-level academic language needed for classroom success. FREE eBooks offer for in-school and distance learning! See offer details and eBook features.

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Its hard to be a EL Student. Make sure all of them have the right support to succeed

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Article: Supporting the Social-Emotional Needs of ELs

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Advocates of educational equity, access, and inclusion for historically underserved children have always struggled to highlight the challenges these children face without defining the children as themselves being those challenges. Indeed, the very term-"historically underserved"-stems from a correction of an older term, "underprivileged." This switch has been important, because "historically underserved" puts the onus on what adults can control (how systems serve these kids) instead of on the privileges that the kids lack.

This shift should not obscure the complexity within these terms. As the field of education devotes more attention to historically underserved children's social and emotional development, advocates must also account for ways that different forms of historical inequity influence children's social and emotional growth in different ways. This is particularly important for linguistically and culturally diverse children in U.S. schools.

An Under-Recognized Strength

The issue of accurate and equitable terminology extends even further for students who speak languages other than English when not in school. In the United States, they have been called everything from Limited English Proficient to English Learners, Dual Language Learners, Emergent Bilingual Learners, and Multilingual Learners, among other labels.

Each of these terms is inadequate in its own way. All define students-who are children in all their diversity and complexity-solely in terms of their languages, and most emphasize the English skills they have not yet fully developed. These kids are more than their linguistic profiles: classifying them so narrowly risks leaving out their other strengths, goals, and needs.

For instance, research often shows that these students score higher on measures of social and emotional learning (SEL) skills than do their monolingual peers. Social and emotional learning includes things like relationship-building skills, emotional self-regulation, and abilities related to the understanding and management of social cues. These are not separate from children's academic development. A growing research consensus suggests that social and emotional skills have significant academic, health, and long-term social benefits. In its 2017 meta-analysis of the state of research on English Learner (EL) students, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine found that "Evidence indicates that [ELs] have comparable or better social-emotional competencies relative to their monolingual English peers." Specifically, ELs appear to score high on self-regulation and interpersonal skills.

New Enthusiasm for Holistic Approaches Child Development-but More Caution Needed

Competencies like those that fall under the umbrella of SEL are sometimes called "non-cognitive" or "non-academic" skills. Whichever term you prefer, there's no question that it is very much in vogue to discuss them in progressive education circles today. The 2015 passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) opened the door to converting this interest into firm policy. It allowed states to include a "non-academic" indicator in their systems for rating schools in their accountability systems. However, states have thus far avoided using this opportunity to directly measure students' SEL skills as part of their ESSA accountability systems.

There are understandable reasons for this. Even those who want U.S. schools to prioritize SEL development are concerned about measuring SEL metrics at scale, and with accountability stakes attached. Schools and teachers are a long way from being ready to implement SEL-focused programming at scale, and it can be difficult to get valid, reliable data on young students' SEL development with existing tools. As SEL advocate Tim Shriver told Education Week during the time when states were drafting their ESSA plans, interest in SEL was "booming," but while "Someone might say, 'Why aren't you holding states accountable for teaching it?' The answer to that is we are not ready for it yet."

Shriver's implication, however, was clear enough: interest in SEL competencies will eventually move educating for those competencies into systems for measuring school quality.

Designing for Inclusion and Diversity

When social and emotional learning measurement becomes widespread, this availability will offer a considerable opportunity for English-learning students. It could help schools think more capaciously about their English learners. Since ELs, on aggregate, tend to score well on these measures, it could help schools recognize these students in terms of their strengths, not just their still-developing language skills.

Since ELs, on aggregate, tend to score well on these measures, it could help schools recognize these students in terms of their strengths, not just their still-developing language skills.

However, a more precise view of ELs' social and emotional learning skills won't arrive automatically. Given how difficult it is to gather solid SEL data for any student, gathering it for ELs will require a high degree of intentionality to avoid duplicating schools' all-too-common blind spots regarding these students' diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Any efforts to incorporate these metrics into school ratings and accountability systems must be valid and reliable for multilingual and multicultural students as well.

A study published in Child Development in 2012 shows the limitations of even well-meaning metric design. The study found significant variation in the SEL caregiving practices of Latinx mothers, native-born white mothers, and Asian-heritage mothers. However, it characterizes these variations in terms of "strengths" and "weaknesses." Latinx households, it found, had similar "social-emotional functioning" levels as the households of native-born white mothers. By contrast, households of Asian-heritage mothers had "weaker social functioning." It bears noting that the SEL metrics driving this analysis drew upon a relatively limited set of specific questions around conflict (and resolutions) between parents, as well as symptoms of depression. SEL metrics like these are not sufficient to deliver on the modality's potential, and especially not for EL students.

Later studies have connected these sorts of in-home SEL practices with child outcomes. One found that Latinx children tend to score well on SEL but not as well on early academic and linguistic benchmarks. But it also noted the challenge of limited SEL assessment tools: "Stronger measurement would enrich our understanding of how Latino children grow within particular cultural contexts." Our yardsticks are still far from adequately calibrated for the job.

This lack of firm data can't be ignored as enthusiasm for SEL metrics-and linked accountability provisions-grows. Researchers and policymakers need to be cautious about imposing culturally specific norms on children's SEL development. Indeed, a 2013 review of research on ELs and SEL found "social-emotional benefits to fluent bilingualism," but also "no consistent pattern with respect to the social-emotional development of [ELs] in comparison to that of non-[ELs]." This may be due to diversity within the group of students that U.S. schools label as ELs. That is, EL students from particular cultural backgrounds may be more likely to perform well on some SEL metrics than on others.

Any efforts to measure students' SEL competencies-and schools' effects on them-could highlight English learning students' assets, but only if their linguistic and cultural diversities are taken seriously in the design and implementation processes.

Perhaps this uncertainty about the intersection of SEL measures and multilingual children's development reflects the myriad ways to be a healthy, productive human adult. As such, it would follow that there should be myriad healthy paths through childhood; and accordingly, any efforts to measure students' SEL competencies-and schools' effects on them-could highlight English learning students' assets, but only if their linguistic and cultural diversities are taken seriously in the design and implementation processes.

Tags: ELL, English Language Learners, Social and Emotional Learning

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Meeting the Social and Emotional Learning Needs of English Learners

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Advocates of educational equity, access, and inclusion for historically underserved children have always struggled to highlight the challenges these

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Resource: SEL Activities for English Learners

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One day, as her students were returning to the classroom from a specials class, first-grade teacher Amanda Tokko noticed that a little boy was upset. She asked him if he wanted to talk. He shook his head and walked over to the calm corner that Ms. Tokko had created. It included a hanging canopy, a box of fidget toys, and a book called "The boy looked through the book until he found the page about frustration. After looking at the page for a few moments, he went back to Ms. Tokko and told her he was ready to talk about what had been upsetting him. After a brief conversation, the boy had calmed down and returned to their class activity. I Know What to Do When I Am Feeling..."
At Salina Elementary School in Dearborn, Michigan, these small yet significant moments are happening in classrooms throughout the building thanks to the school's deep commitment to social and emotional learning (SEL).

Salina Elementary is a Title I school whose student population is mostly English language learners (ELLs), many of whom are newcomer immigrants from the war-torn country of Yemen. Since numerous students in the Salina community have experienced family separation, trauma, and hardship related to the war or displacement, the school has long prioritized strong social and emotional supports for its students informed by training in trauma-informed practice.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, however, the school quickly recognized that they needed to further intensify their focus on SEL. Their efforts have yielded school-wide positive results in terms of students' ability to regulate emotions, manage conflict, and focus on their learning.

We had the opportunity to learn more about Salina's approach to SEL through surveys and interviews with the school staff and leaders. The following article highlights some of the reasons SEL is working at Salina and the staff's takeaways about why it matters. You can learn more about Salina from our documentary about the school and related resources below.

School-wide Initiatives

As the Salina staff has embarked on a deeper exploration of SEL within their own professional learning, they have scaled up SEL work they were already doing before the pandemic, integrating it into the classroom more intentionally, while also focusing on the social and emotional well-being of families and staff. This work has included the following:

1. Staff training

School leaders have ensured that the staff has had extensive training related to social-emotional learning, which continues on an ongoing basis. One of the key leaders of this effort has been the school social worker, who has led regularly scheduled professional development sessions on topics such as trauma-informed instruction. This not only provides important information for staff; it also fosters more collaboration between the social worker and teachers.

Principal Sue Stanley writes, "In terms of the school social worker and collaboration, it boils down to a school-wide practice of -- not just a belief in -- collaboration. When true collaboration is present, it is natural for staff to reach out to the social worker for any questions or concerns. The social worker must be viewed as a leader...If the school leader sees it as a priority, the staff will as well." Ms. Stanley notes that the social worker is also part of the school's Multi-Tiered Support System (MTSS) meetings each week where teachers bring students for discussion and support.

2. Calm Classroom

Before COVID-19, the school had implemented the Calm Classroom program based on the recommendation of the social worker, which includes a curriculum that has weekly lessons and teaches students calming practices such as guided meditations. Principal Stanley writes, "Teachers and students start their day with short scenarios, calm breathing and classroom affirmations." Ms. Stanley notes that laying the groundwork around trauma and SEL can lead to meaningful conversations about why the Calm Classroom is important. "It's not hard to implement and takes just a few minutes a day. The results are so powerful," she says.

Ms. Tokko notes that she and her class do Calm Classroom exercises multiple times a day, including at times when the class needs to settle down. She and her students have some favorites, and she does the exercises with the students. She has noticed that the impacts of this program are extending home as well -- her students are teaching their families how to do some of the breathing exercises at home.

Teacher Diana Goodhue mentions the importance of ensuring that all students, including her ELLs, fully understand the activities before starting them. "I do the Calm Classroom activities with them so they see me model it," she says. "Then we stick with the same Calm Classroom for a week at a time so that they get comfortable with it."

3. Books and read-alouds

The school has also made reading a priority in their SEL work. For example, Classroom Book-A-Day is a school initiative that promotes read-alouds in the classroom. Many of the books that teachers read have to do with SEL. Ms. Tokko writes, "I like to read a book in the morning during morning meeting and after lunch to calm students down." Some of the books that Ms. Tokko has used are included in our SEL booklist, and others are listed at the end of the article.

In addition, the school participates in an initiative called "One School One Book," in which all students read a chapter book as a school. For example, when the school read by Katherine Applegate, which is the story about an immigrant girl who moves into a town that is not welcoming, the school planted their own Wishtree and did a dedication with their favorite quote: When things get tough, "stand tall and reach deep." The students then went into the neighborhood and left messages on the doors of their neighbors, focusing on the theme "our differences make beautiful gifts" for the school year.

4. Family engagement

The school also continues to provide regular, ongoing communication in families' languages about things that are happening in class, how families can help their students, and supports such as social services. The school also holds regular family meetings where families have a chance to share their questions and concerns and talk about any challenges they are facing. Just as importantly, the school has figured out how to make its family outreach culturally responsive and align it to families' preferences. For example, in the Salina community, many of the mothers prefer to be in groups that only include other women, and so the school plans family events accordingly.

Classroom Environment

Another priority for the staff is building relationships with students and making them feel welcome. "I try my best to help students build confidence in themselves," says Ms. Tokko. "Our classroom really is a family." Here are some ways the staff is creating a nurturing environment for students.
Dear Students,
You are important.
You are listened to.
You are cared for.
You are respected.
You can be or do
Anything
You put your mind to.
I support you.
You are in a safe place!
Love, Ms. Alhaiki
5. Creating a welcoming classroom

The staff have placed a strong emphasis on creating a welcoming environment, posting notes of encouragement around the school, and getting to know students' interests. For example, teacher Welaya Alhaiki, pictured at the top of this article, has posted the following sign outside of her room:

Other signs around the school promote a sense of community while encouraging students to adopt a growth mindset. Positive messages are almost always in view of students throughout the building.

6. Calm corners

In addition, the leadership team has provided each teacher a small budget to create a calm corner in their classroom. Items include a canopy or tent, a few fidgets, and a special book, like the one Ms. Tokko mentioned above. Teacher Rebecca Rosemary uses her calm-down tent "for students having a hard time with emotions," while Ms. Goodhue reiterates the importance of making sure students know how to use the calm corner. "I demonstrate everything they have to use in the Calm Corner," she says.

Ms. Stanley notes that she used Title funds for the calm corner supplies, but that other parent clubs, program budgets, or SEL projects could also support this kind of initiative. The investment is well-worth it, says Ms. Stanley, especially when compared to what the schools spends on supplies.

Classroom Strategies

At the core of these efforts are the daily strategies that teachers are using to check in with students and help students build their emotional vocabulary. These efforts are integrated throughout the day and are part of students' routines so that they know what to expect and how to ask for help if needed.

7. Daily check-ins

One strategy the staff has been using regularly is student check-ins. These may be through individual conversations or circle time. Ms. Tokko also uses a letter box where students can leave a private note about how they are feeling. Ms. Kdouh does the same. She says, "I have this 'mailbox' in my calm corner with a pack of large sticky notes and a special pen where students who come to the calm corner can draw/write about how they're feeling or why they came to the calm corner. Students fold their note and slip it into my letter box. I check it daily before leaving school and it is locked so no one else can open it except me. Students are aware of this and share their feelings without feeling embarrassed or afraid that a peer might see it. After a student drops a letter in there, I unlock it and remove it so I can help them as soon as possible."

8. Building emotional vocabulary

These practices have also supported creative ways to increase students' communication around emotions and calming practices. For example, the teachers talk about what different feelings might feel like and have set up different ways for students to identify their feelings on a certain day. Ms. Tokko writes, "Students complete this feelings chart (pictured to the left) in the morning and after lunch to let me know how they're feeling and how I can help. The clothespins have their student numbers on the other side but are flipped over for privacy." This way, Ms. Tokko can check in with the students who indicate they are upset.

The teachers also use commonly-used ELL scaffolds to support these resources and strategies. Kindergarten teacher Emily Wagner writes, "We use detailed visuals for emotions and calm-down practices so students know how to follow without knowing the words."

In addition, the social worker also provides SEL lessons to students and teachers look for way to make these connections to curriculum as well.

Celebrations

9. Celebrating successes

The school is also mindful of celebrating successes within the classroom and more broadly in the school. For example, Ms. Tokko has encouraged her students to clap for each other when they achieve positive accomplishments, no matter how small. She writes, "Students are always clapping for their peers' successes by themselves and using positive words in our classroom." (And she says that they clap for any guest who enters the classroom!) Ms. Stanley also notes that SEL goals and achievements will now be included in the school's Celebration Wall in the front office.

Ms. Kdouh has created a family/student picture wall in her classroom.

Ms. Goodhue gives each student a "spotlight week" where they take home a poster and a pack of crayons to fill out about themselves. Ms. Goodhue writes, "Their poster is put in the hall for the week and they get to share it with the class. This gives them a chance to share things that are important to them and their family. It also gives parents a chance to help."

10. Celebrating families in the classroom

In addition, the staff at Salina are also actively partnering with families around SEL activities in the classroom. Some of their efforts include the following ideas:

The school is also brainstorming ways to highlight these activities as part of family engagement this year so that families can continue to support SEL at home.

SEL in Action: Photos from Salina

Ms. Kdouh: "Students enjoy coming to school and don't feel uncomfortable or scared."

Ms. Goodhue: "Many students have taken charge of their own mental health, taking breaks when needed, asking for help when they need to, and working on communicating with friends when there are issues."

Ms. Wagner: "Student self-regulation has improved, and students are able to guide themselves through calming practices. Students think more deeply about their emotional state and can identify ways to help themselves feel better."

Ms. Rosemary: "I am seeing fewer abrupt meltdowns in the classroom, and students are able to have more of a discussion when they are having strong feelings."

Ms. Tokko: "I have been able to instill empathy and compassion in our classroom. Students also have respect for me as well as their peers because I have showed them that I have respect for them as well. Students are more eager to learn and listen....and I try my best to help students build confidence in themselves."

Principal Stanley: "I am amazed at the gains we are making in behavior...The overall impact on the SEL focus is the safe space that is created in our school. This space is here for everyone. The comment that everyone makes when they walk into Salina is that it has such beautiful energy. That can only be achieved by everyone in the building feeling that way. The positive energy is there because everyone, both big and small are emitting it.

Impacts of SEL and Lessons Learned

Ms. Kdouh: "There is no one size fits all. All students convey emotions in a different way. This is why I use more than one SEL strategy."

Ms. Rosemary: "The importance of how SEL can help within other aspects of the school day."

Ms. Wagner: "Students are very responsive to routine, and SEL can easily fit into the academic routine."

Ms. Tokko: "Being calm in the classroom goes a long way. I have a student who is sensitive to loud noises. Incorporating Calm Classroom and creating a stress-free environment is crucial. Also, building a classroom community full of respect, trust, and confidence helps academics. SEL is the foundation...Students need social and emotional learning in order to succeed."

Ms. Goodhue: "It doesn't take a lot of effort to make it work. A little bit goes a long way to helping a lot of kids. You can grow as you go."

When asked what the impact of these efforts have had on students, teachers' responses are overwhelmingly positive. Here are what the teachers who completed our survey had to say:

We also asked teachers to share their lessons learned about SEL. Here's what they shared:

Support from Leadership

Shown appreciation and emotional support for teachers and students

Given staff opportunities to show their appreciation for each other

Provided opportunities for staff to build community through activities such as sharing a favorite photo with colleagues

Modeled the practices that are highlighted

Supported collaboration among team members and with social workers

"Tried to keep up staff morale even through a rough school year with the pandemic"

As noted throughout the article, this strong emphasis on SEL is made possible through direct and ongoing support from the school leadership team. From the teachers' perspectives, they shared that direct feedback, training, and dedicated time and resources for SEL were key ways in which school leaders were supporting their efforts in SEL.

The staff also note that the leaders have:

Ms. Tokko writes, "Our principal is like our cheerleader. She is always there for the teachers and staff and helping us get through the toughest times, especially during this pandemic."

For her part, Ms. Stanley knows that what she does matters, not only in terms of the support and resources she provides but also in terms of her example and priorities. She writes, "We will collectively discuss how to move students forward rather than 'catching up.' As a leader, I know I must model that behavior for staff as well. Teachers feel continual pressure to fit all the academics in.

"While we understand students cannot learn until they feel safe and connected, that takes time. I will continually be the reassurer and voice for that. I will commit to creating that same type of environment for them through thoughtful and intentional planning. And as their leader, I will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them and reminding them of this every step of the way."

Videos

Principal Sue Stanley: Why creating a calm, safe environment in schools matters

Principal Sue Stanley: When loud noises in school cause post-traumatic stress

A warm welcome for immigrant families in the front office

Norieah Ahmed, the Child Accounting Secretary at Salina Elementary School in Dearborn, MI, talks about her role in welcoming newcomer immigrant families to the school from the moment they walk in the door.

Looking at the whole child: Conversations with an award-winning social worker

Meet Dr. Rola Bazzi-Gates, a special education coordinator for Dearborn Public Schools and Michigan's 2016 Social Worker of the Year. Learn how her personal experience living through conflict helped prepare her to support students and families today.

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10 Strategies for Supporting SEL for ELLs: "Grow As You Go"

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One day, as her students were returning to the classroom from a specials class, first-grade teacher Amanda Tokko noticed that a little boy was upset. She asked him if he wanted to talk. He shook his head and walked over to the calm corner that Ms. Tokko had created.

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Good things to know

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Document: Federal and State Policies Impacting EL Education

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Resource Materials for Planning and Self-Assessments

Legal Background

School districts in many parts of the country are experiencing a substantial increase in the enrollment of national-origin-minority students who cannot speak, read, or write English well enough to participate meaningfully in educational programs without appropriate support services. In the absence of specific steps to address the language-related limitations experienced by such students, these students are at risk of losing the educational opportunities provided to students generally.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. In Lau v. Nichols, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Department of Education's May 25, 1970, Memorandum, that directed school districts to take steps to help ELL students overcome language barriers and to ensure that they can participate meaningfully in the districts' educational programs.

Department of Education policies regarding ELL children are reflected in three OCR policy documents. The May 1970 memorandum to school districts entitled "Identification of Discrimination and Denial of Services on the Basis of National Origin" clarifies OCR policy under Title VI on the responsibility of school districts to provide equal educational opportunity to language minority students. The December 3, 1985, guidance document entitled "The Office for Civil Rights' Title VI Language Minority Compliance Procedures" outlines the procedures OCR follows in applying the May 1970 memorandum and the Lau legal standard on a case-by-case basis. The September 27, 1991, memorandum entitled "Policy Update on Schools' Obligations Toward National Origin Minority Students with Limited-English Proficiency (LEP)" is a policy update to be read in conjunction with the May 1970 and December 1985 memoranda. It provides additional guidance for applying the May 1970 and December 1985 memoranda in the context of staffing, transition and/or exit criteria, and program evaluation, as well as to special education programs, gifted and talented, and other special programs.

OCR does not require or advocate a particular program of instruction for ELL students and nothing in federal law requires one form of instruction over another. Under federal law, programs to educate children with limited proficiency in English must be: (1) based on a sound educational theory; (2) adequately supported so that the program has a realistic chance of success; and (3) periodically evaluated and revised, if necessary. These three fundamental principles of federal law are discussed below.

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civil rights; english (second language);

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Developing ELL Programs: Legal Background

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Legal background regarding OCR's role in the development and implementation of a program of services for ELL students.

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Infographic: Vocabulary Building Strategies for ELs

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Graphic organizers are a great tool to use when teaching English language learners (ELLs). Visual illustrations allow ELLs to better understand the material while learning important vocabulary.

Graphic organizers are most useful to ELLs when presented in small group activities. During the activities ELLs benefit from opportunities to work cooperatively - students are able to discuss and share their thoughts as they begin to contribute to the group effort. When ELLs use graphic organizers, they show achievement benefits across a variety of content areas, in all grade levels.

Ideas for Graphic Organizers

When teachers begin to use graphic organizers they need to follow some simple steps to make sure ELLs gain knowledge from such a simple yet reliable tool (Merkley & Jefferies, 2001). For example as a teacher begins to present a new topic, such as the solar system, an organizer can assist introducing the new idea.

Teachers should also begin to verbalize the relationship between the ideas, and the information that will be taught. Students or adults can write/draw the information provided by other students using a K-W-L chart. Graphic organizers should be tailored to reinforce the relationships between concepts, reminding students that this is just a quick preview of the material that will be taught next.

Secondly, teachers need to provide the opportunity for students to participate in discussions. ELLs need to have numerous pauses to process language in order to participate. For instance, classroom activities can be tailored to let students create graphs such as a concept definition map. Students can create a list of familiar terms to these maps.

Once students had the opportunity to share their thoughts and understand the topic that it is to follow, teachers can start to connect new material to their prior knowledge. Lessons need to guide ELLs to activate prior knowledge as they recollect earlier taught content to be able to retain new material (Merkley & Jefferies, 2001). In other words, graphic organizers provide a visual summary as they describe information - introducing ELLs to new technical vocabulary as they reinforce decoding skills of key words for an upcoming lesson.

Graphic organizers facilitate ELLs' comprehension through visual illustrations of key terms, vocabulary, ideas, and the relationship among them. Improving student's reading comprehension can be challenging, but such progress is necessary when focusing on students who are learning English (Kim, Vaughn, Wanzek, & Wei, 2004).

Note: When using graphic organizers with ELLs, be sure to explain how to use them and check back to ensure their understanding.

Strategy: K-W-L Chart

K-W-L charts are graphic organizers where students can share:

Here are some examples:

Video: Using a K-W-L Chart for background knowledge

ELL high school teacher Christine Rowland explains how to use a KWL chart to identify students' existing background knowledge.

Recommended Resources

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Graphic organizers are a great tool to use when teaching English language learners (ELLs). Visual illustrations allow ELLs to better understand the material while learning important vocabulary. Graphic organizers are most useful to ELLs when presented in small group activities.

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Great Vocabulary Games, Apps, and Sites | Common Sense Education

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Great Vocabulary Games, Apps, and Sites is a list of 19 apps, games, and websites curated by Common Sense Education editors.

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Great Advice

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Guide: Implementing Peer Tutoring Programs for English Learners

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Many English Language Learners struggle academically, particularly with literacy (in all content areas) and math concepts. This course will explain the benefits of implementing peer tutoring strategies with ELLs and give participants several easy-to-implement strategies for pairing fluent English speakers with ELLs that they can implement at any grade level and in any content area. Peer tutoring is a flexible grouping strategy where a student that excels academically is paired with a struggling student to reinforce academic skills or knowledge. This course will focus on peer tutoring strategies focused on literacy (reading and writing) and math skills because most other content areas have a strong foundation of these skills. Additionally, while the strategies in this course can technically be used with any student (high achieving, struggling academically, special education, etc.), this course is specific to supporting English Language Learners. Due to the language barrier they face, ELLs often need more focused intervention and often relate well to their peers.
You Will Learn:

The definition of and academic / socio-emotional benefits of peer tutoring, especially for ELL students.

The best situations to utilize peer tutoring and how to select, train, and incentivize your peer tutors.

Multiple peer tutoring strategies to help improve reading fluency, comprehension, writing, as well as math achievement.

Methods to monitor your peer tutors and track performance, as well as how to determine the overall effectiveness of your peer tutoring program.

How can I incorporate peer tutoring as an instructional strategy to improve the literacy and math skills of my ELL students?
At the conclusion of the course, you will receive a certificate for 8 Professional Development Hours (Clock Hours, CPEs).

Model Teaching Professional Development Courses are pre-approved in many states and we provide easy approval forms to submit to your license granting authority if required.

If you are a teacher seeking license renewal and wish to verify acceptance of our Professional Development Courses, please view our PD STATE REQUIREMENTS PAGE to learn more about your state's requirements.

Also, consider taking our UNIVERSITY-PARTNERED, ACADEMIC CREDIT COURSES to earn regionally accredited units or credits, accepted by most states for teacher re-licensing and salary advancement.

Approval Information About This Course for Teaching License Renewal & Continuing Education

Model Teaching has helped thousands of teachers across the country meet their relicensing requirements.
This course is Pre-Approved in the following states for License Renewal and Continuing education:

Texas - CPE's, TEA-Approved

New York CTLE's - NYSED-Approved

Pennsylvania DOE - ACT 48-Approved

Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) - Approved

Nevada DOE

Tennessee

Other States As Well

If you do not see your state listed here, this course may be pre-approved in your state as well. Chat with us or leave a ticket for our recommendations.
For More Information About Your Specific State Requirements, Please View Your State Requirements Please confirm your specific district or state requirements for license renewal prior to registering and feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have about our courses. Section 1 - Peer Tutoring and its Benefits

The definition of peer tutoring

The academic and socio-emotional benefits of peer tutoring, particularly for your ELLs

Section 2 - The Logistics of Peer Tutoring

When to use peer tutoring

How to select students to participate

How to train and reward tutors

Section 3 - Peer Tutoring Strategies

Two strategies that can improve reading fluency and comprehension

Two strategies for improving writing skills

Two strategies to support math skills

Section 4 - Monitoring Your Peer Tutoring Program

How to monitor and support your peer tutors

How to track the progress of your ELLs

How to determine the overall effectiveness of peer tutoring

The course comes with 20 templates, tools, and graphic organizers ready to be used in your classroom!

These Include:

Peer Tutoring Infographic

Teacher Reflection on Peer Tutoring Candidates

Teacher Reflection on Peer Tutoring Candidates-SAMPLE

Peer Tutoring Permission Slip Template

Peer Tutoring Log

Peer Tutoring Log-SAMPLE

Peer Tutoring Logistics Template

Peer Tutoring Logistics Template-SAMPLE

Peer Tutoring Strategy Resource Guide

Peer Tutor Self-Reflection

Peer Tutor Self-Reflection-SAMPLE

Peer Tutee Self-Reflection

Peer Tutee Self-Reflection-SAMPLE

Progress Monitoring Tool

Progress Monitoring Tool-SAMPLE

Peer Tutoring Implementation Plan

Peer Tutoring Implementation Plan-SAMPLE

Effectiveness Rubric

Implementation Observation Checklist

Implementation Observation Checklist-SAMPLE

Register for the course Peer Tutoring for English Language Learners now.

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Peer Tutoring for English Language Learners - Model Teaching

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Learn the benefits of implementing peer tutoring for ELLs (English language learners) including several easy-to-implement strategies.

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How peer mentoring can be effective

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Research: Benefits of Peer Mentoring in Language Acquisition

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Great for teaching ELs with video

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Video Series: Using Multimedia for Language Learning

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Alert: Kaltura will be retired as a service on December 27, 2019. For more information, please visit: Panopto Is UChicago's New Video Management Platform
Why use videos for language teaching?

Video is everywhere-people watch over 1 billion hours of video each day on YouTube alone-and the range of video content is huge: movies, TV shows, academic lectures, news segments, personal vlogs, music videos, how-to's, cartoons, stand-up comedy-the list goes on. Language teachers are naturally interested in using video because it provides auditory and visual input that can help facilitate language learning. The attention-grabbing quality of video in particular also makes it a good medium for increasing student engagement. However, not all videos are well-suited to classroom use, and simply pressing play will not give students the full benefit that can be derived from a video.

Developing listening comprehension skills is one of the main uses of videos in the language classroom, but they can also serve as prompts for class discussion or texts to be analyzed for linguistic and cultural content. Indeed, the pedagogical strategies used for written texts in the language classroom also apply to video materials, whether originally created for native speakers or designed specifically for language learning. And like any other text, a video can be a rich source of linguistic and cultural input for language learners if they are provided with appropriate scaffolding.

Providing support when using videos

It is important to identify the goals for using a particular video: Is it meant to reinforce material the students recently learned? To introduce new material? Are there particular cultural elements that need to be highlighted and discussed? Having specific goals in mind will help determine what support students should be given before watching the video and what activities they should do after each viewing.

Here are a few suggestions for ways you can support your students when using videos:

Before viewing the video, use a warm-up activity to activate relevant vocabulary that students will need to understand the video.

Students should view the video multiple times so that they can catch things they miss at first or pay attention to different aspects of the video.

Consider turning the sound off for the first viewing so that students can discuss the visual elements.

Choose some aspect of the video to ask students to look for so that they can focus their attention.

For in-class videos, prepare questions to discuss in small groups or as a whole class.

For videos watched outside of class, bring them back to class for discussion and to focus on short clips. You might also consider having students discuss the video on an online discussion board.

For close watching when you want to focus on particular expressions or gestures, consider an in-video quiz. If you are interested in this function, contact academictech@uchicago.edu.

The issue of authenticity

The question of how best to use authentic materials in language teaching is not limited to video, but rather touches every type of text that a language instructor brings into the classroom. Before approaching the topic, it's worth pointing out that even defining what we mean by "authenticity" is difficult-how do we determine what language use is "real"? In a review article on the topic, Gilmore (2007) points out: " Authenticity doesn't necessarily mean 'good', just as contrivance doesn't necessarily mean 'bad' (Widdowson 1979, 2003; Clarke 1989; Cook 2001). " Rather "than chasing our tails in pointless debate over authenticity versus contrivance," Gilmore suggests, "we should focus instead on learning aims " (italics are small-caps in original).

Indeed, there can be compelling reasons to use contrived materials, especially for students at the novice or intermediate levels for whom most authentic materials may be too difficult. On the other hand, authentic materials give students the chance to practice interacting with real-life language use and can be a rich source for talking about the target culture.

If difficulty is a concern, one suggestion reiterated by many researchers and educators is to "adjust the task, not the text" (see, e.g. this video from the Center for Open Educational Resources & Language Learning [COERLL]). Students need not understand every word spoken in a video to benefit from it. They can pay attention to key phrases, non-linguistic elements such as body language, or describe what they see. Additionally, learning to cope with incomplete comprehension is an important linguistic skill, and something that native speakers do every day (Gilmore, 2007, p. 109).

What makes a good pedagogical video?

The most important criterion for choosing video for use in the language classroom is high correspondence between the audio and the visual. In other words, the images should reinforce and clarify the language being used. COERLL gives the following criteria for determining whether the audio and video are appropriately correlated:

Is the visual content essential to complete understanding?

Does the visual content facilitate comprehension of text?

Can the visuals stand alone without text?

Indeed, making use of the visual content of a video is a key part of using video successfully in the classroom. You might even show the video once or twice with the sound muted before turning the audio on to give students a chance to talk about characters, setting, mood, body language, and so on.

It's also important to choose video content that is interesting and well-produced, in order to keep students' attention. High-quality audio is especially valuable because it allows students to focus on the content without getting frustrated about not being able to hear.

Nuts and bolts

Once you have selected the perfect video and planned a lesson around it, you need to make sure you'll be able to show your students the video! It's a good idea to plan ahead and try out your setup in advance, especially if you'll be teaching in a new classroom. Here are some things to check:

Where is the video located? A file on your computer, a DVD, a website like YouTube or Vimeo, Canvas? If it is online, are you connected to University wi-fi?

If you're using your laptop, do you have the right ports or adapters to use the projector and speakers? Adapters can be checked out from the TechBar in Regenstein Library.

How do the speakers work in the classroom? Where are the volume control and mute button?

The Audio-Visual Services team provides support with using classroom media equipment, and can also help with digitizing content. Contact avs@uchicago.edu to set up a consultation.

Adding videos to Canvas

If you have a video file on your computer, there are multiple ways to share it with your students via Canvas. One way is to simply upload the file and add it to a module. However, it is often preferable to include the video in a Content Page, which allows you to provide explanatory text or instructions. Note that video files are often quite large, and there is a limit to how much material you can store in your Canvas site.

If you have a large number of videos, or if you want to be able to easily use the same videos from year to year across different courses, we recommend using a video management site such as Kaltura.

If your video is hosted online on a site such as YouTube, it is generally best to embed the video in a Content Page, although you can also simply add the link to Modules.

Resources & References

Resources at UChicago:

More information on using videos in language teaching:

Works Cited

Clark, D. (1989) "Communicative Theory and Its Influence on Materials Production." Language Teaching 22.2, 73-86.

Cook, G. (2001) "'The Philosopher Pulled the Lower Jaw of the Hen.' Ludicrous Invented Sentences in Language Teaching." Applied Linguistics 22.3, 366-387.

Gilmore, Alex. (2007) "Authentic Materials and Authenticity in Foreign Language Learning." Language Teaching 40.2, 97-118. doi:10.1017/s0261444807004144. (must be logged into the UChicago network to view)

Widdowson, H.G. (1979) Explorations in Applied Linguistics 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Widdowson, H.G. (2003) Defining Issues in English Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Alert: Kaltura will be retired as a service on December 27, 2019. For more information, please visit: Panopto Is UChicago's New Video Management Platform Video is everywhere-people watch over 1 billion hours of video each day on YouTube alone-and the range of video content is huge: movies, TV shows, academic lectures, news segments, personal vlogs, music videos, how-to's, cartoons, stand-up comedy-the list goes on.

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Toolkit: Creating Multimodal Learning Experiences for ELs

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How to Use Technology to Help ELLs Achieve Language Mastery | Continental Educational Publisher

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Struggling with how to use technology to help ELLs in your classroom? Check out these nine effective edtech tools for English learners!

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Article: Providing Effective Feedback to English Learners

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Effective Feedback

We receive feedback all the time. For example, when we are asked to repeat what was said or when people laugh at our joke, we know what to do next. In a school setting, this type of informal feedback occurs all the time. Students learn and adjust their behavior based on their experiences and the way others react. However, it is also expected that we, as teachers, provide more explicit feedback as part of instruction to guide and advance our students' learning. As teachers, we recognize the importance and value of substantive feedback to both the students and the teachers. For students, feedback points out what they have done well and what they should keep doing, as well as what they should adjust and work on next. Including both positive and negative or corrective feedback can motivate students and promote a growth mindset, which enables them to see errors as opportunities to learn, grow, and improve. Feedback is also valuable for teachers. It gives them an opportunity to analyze student growth in terms of objectives they are trying to meet. It informs teachers about the strengths in the student's work and the areas where more work is needed. As we try to be unbiased in our assessment and fair in our judgments as culturally responsive teachers, feedback enables us to clearly signal what we value in our students' thinking, background, and work. It allows space to prompt our students' thinking. Ultimately, though, the real reason for effective feedback-the kind that is targeted, specific, and timely-is that it results in better learning for students. Improving student learning is our ultimate reason to implement effective feedback in the classroom (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 Infographic of Effective Feedback
Targeted

Effective feedback is targeted, which means it is goal-referenced and consistent. Goal-referenced feedback is always tied to a previously established goal or a learning objective. It indicates to a learner whether they are on course or off track. Students are sometimes unsure about overall content, language, and literacy goals and even about specific task objectives. It is important to make goals and learning objectives clear at the onset of the activity and remind our students about them throughout the task to help them see a clear trajectory in mind. This enables students to self-assess if they are completing the task successfully and adjust as necessary. When they receive feedback tied to the goals and objectives, it will inform them of their progress and the need for adjustment. Consistent feedback means providing direction and feedback that is stable, accurate, and trustworthy. A well-designed rubric, rather than general comments like "B+" or "Super effort!" indicate that the teacher is focused on identified learning goals, has made evident what they are and how to get there. Using good rubrics as well as taking advantage of pre- and post-assessments to measure progress and evaluate specifically what each student needs to do to meet standards makes our feedback more goal-oriented and consistent, therefore, more targeted.

Specific

Effective feedback is specific, which means it is tangible and transparent, actionable, and user-friendly. Tangible and transparent feedback ensures that the direction students receive is substantial and concrete enough and that they understand what it means. Feedback also needs to be actionable, which means it leads to action. It must be descriptive enough that the student understands what they should do to correct the error and what they need to do differently in the future. Effective feedback is also specific in a way that it considers the recipient and as a result is user-friendly, which makes it more meaningful. User-friendly feedback is on the learner's level. It does not include too much or too little information or information beyond or below their level of understanding. For example, if a teacher uses editing marks on a student's paper, they need to make sure that their students understand what those editing marks mean, otherwise, such feedback is not user-friendly and therefore ineffective. In the classroom where peer feedback is used, it is useful to teach students basic principles of effective feedback and introduce related discourse so that they know how to speak to each other about and help each other effectively. Furthermore, using specific feedback allows teachers to use less-judgmental language. Explaining a specific observation of an error pattern and giving concrete suggestions that will move the student closer to the target, may make students more receptive to hearing it and acting upon it. Teachers should specifically point out what the student is doing right, clearly highlight what is amiss, as well as give concrete suggestions for improvement while restraining from judgment. Students are able to act when they are given specific feedback in terms of tangible and transparent, actionable, and user-friendly. Specific feedback provides clear guidance on how to improve, invites action, is not overwhelming to students and they do not feel judged by it. It helps them identify specific ways to change, to listen with a learning orientation, and push themselves to improve.

Timely

Effective feedback is timely, meaning it is well-timed, prompt, and ongoing. Effective feedback must be given while the learning is still happening so that the students do not develop misconceptions and will remain invested in the subject matter. This requires a teacher's expert judgment. Teachers must decide, based on the learning task and knowing the student, how much feedback to give and whether a learning situation calls for written comments, conversation, demonstration, peer responses, or another option. It is also important for teachers to recognize when to abstain from giving feedback in order to allow students time to practice, test hypotheses, self-correct or negotiate as they work in a group. Evaluating students' work and providing feedback promptly presents a great challenge for many teachers. It is helpful to prioritize, pick the feedback focus, and recognize that 100% mastery may not be realistic for every assignment. However, there are other effective strategies to ease the overwhelming load of providing prompt feedback, such as using peer-feedback and self-evaluations, utilizing technology to automate feedback, and design more tangible feedback into the performance task itself. Additionally, utilizing feedback as a formative, ongoing, and frequent guidance rather than summative evaluation may allow more prompt turnaround and is ultimately more effective. Students might accept ongoing feedback more readily as it is less intimidating and they can use it quickly in a similar task and get new feedback on the improved performance. Providing many formative opportunities to adjust leads to desired performance and prepares students for success on summative assessments. In fact, the way we as teachers approach feedback does not only determine how our students interpret and respond to it but it also influences how they orient themselves toward learning. Providing ongoing low-threat objective feedback instead of non-specific numeric evaluations encourages students to view errors positively and develop a learning orientation, directed at improving their own competence, rather than a performance orientation, just caring about the outcomes and grades.

Teaching less and providing more feedback that is targeted, specific, and timely is necessary for supporting our students' learning and brings about better results. Although effective feedback generally meets the needs of most students, it will not always meet the needs of English learners (ELs). In addition to errors in content mastery and literacy, English learners make errors related to language learning requiring slightly different kind of feedback. For example, if you are immediately jumping in and correcting an English learner's grammar errors in class, you could argue that you were being targeted, specific, and timely and wonder why the errors keep occurring, or worse, not understand why that student no longer participates in class. The feedback that is appropriate for English learners requires special expertise.

Appropriate Feedback

The feedback that we provide to our English learners still needs to be targeted, specific, and timely, but in particular ways. Because of what we understand about the developmental nature and the role of errors in language learning, we recognize that feedback that is appropriate for English learners is also balanced, differentiated, and supportive. ELL appropriate feedback considers individual students' needs based on where they are developmentally and is constructed in relation to the reading, writing, speaking, listening that they produce. Teachers need to look for patterns in the student's work, see what the student knows and what kind of errors they make, and provide feedback related to the next step in their growth. Many pressures cause teachers to fall into the habit of giving the same instruction and then praising those who do well and dismiss those who fail. However, we need to recognize that tailoring instruction and related feedback for every student based on their needs is our moral obligation and it is, in fact, constitutionally mandated. When teachers provide feedback appropriate for English learners, they demonstrate their understanding that language students have unique learning requirements and need individualized support (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 Infographic of Appropriate Feedback for English Language Learners
Balanced

As teachers of ELs, we must always consider how we could use our feedback to help our learners move forward in their language acquisition. Balanced feedback builds on targeted feedback in a way that we recognize that the goal is to consistently balance attention to form, meaning, and appropriateness. Although many teachers focus on the correct form, which is grammatical correctness, attention to meaning, and appropriateness are more meaningful for ELs and their development of communicative competence. When we consider that the primary purpose of language is to convey meaning, we will encourage our students to communicate the meaning as best as possible and use strategies to make themselves understood. Although using language correctly (focusing on form) helps English learners to communicate, the goal of many tasks is to communicate the intended information (focus on meaning). As teachers of ELLs, it is important that we balance our feedback by focusing on either meaning or form or both if appropriate and making sure that we make these goals clear from the beginning of an activity. When we help our students focus on meaning, we encourage them to use correct vocabulary terms. When we focus on form, we help them to use correct grammatical structures on word, sentence, and discourse levels. During the early stages of development, we can expect learners being able to use vocabulary items correctly within a specific context. We can also expect them to be able to correctly spell some words and use certain basic grammatical structures. Providing feedback on multiple and specialized meanings of words, their correct usage within a sentence, and expectation of grammatical correctness on a higher level is more realistic for advanced learners. Our feedback should match these expectations.

Providing balanced feedback also means attending to the sociocultural appropriateness of the learner's language as it may have the biggest social impact on the learner. Often unrecognized in language instruction, the importance of appropriateness becomes obvious when we cringe as a non-native language speaker uses language that does not fit the purpose, audience or context, even if the language is grammatically correct. Appropriateness is referred to using language that is suitable for a particular purpose and a particular audience in a particular social context. These social conventions of language use greatly vary across languages and cultures. In fact, research suggests that when native speakers judged the severity of errors, errors in appropriateness are considered more serious than grammatical errors. Interestingly enough, language learners may not even recognize that they are making errors in appropriateness because they may not yet be familiar with the usage conventions of the new language and culture. Helping students recognize these cross-linguistic differences in specific circumstances and coaching them in using appropriate language for certain audiences in a certain context is just as important as helping them communicate meaning and use correct form. Raising awareness and activities that encourage noticing, as well as providing feedback on appropriateness errors are all beneficial in helping language learners improve their overall communicative competence. It is important that we help our language learners develop communicative competence by providing balanced feedback that focuses on meaning, form, and appropriateness.

An example of negative vs. positive politeness:

An English speaker compliments on the performance of one's daughter ("Your daughter did a wonderful job during her recital"). In American culture, it would be appropriate to respond using positive politeness ("Yes, thank you! She is really talented.") On the other hand, a Japanese speaker's cultural norms would encourage them to use negative politeness in response to this compliment ("Oh, she was quite lucky that day.") Consider how these responses would be interpreted and misunderstood by an individual from the other culture who is not aware of the "appropriate" way of responding to compliments.

Differentiated

Differentiated feedback builds on specific feedback and is related to the term differentiated instruction. In the context of feedback, differentiated means we determine if the error is content-related or language-related so we can adjust the feedback accordingly. With language learners, errors occur on two levels-content and language. Students may understand the underlying concepts and ideas but might not use correct language to express it. When we identify that the error is language-related, our feedback would include both recognizing the correct conceptual understanding and identifying correct language form related to the concept. We can help the learner in multiple ways by modeling the correct language, helping the student practice proficiency-level appropriate language, bringing their attention to where the language appears in the text, and reminding them of or reteaching the grammatical rule. It is also possible that students demonstrate correct language, having "memorized" appropriate phrases and related language, appearing that they know the content but actually may not fully understand the concepts. We must always check that the understanding is there with the language. When we identify that the issue may be related to lack of content understanding, our feedback will look very different. We will need to make sure that we reteach or provide materials and support for the student to master the content together with related language.

Additionally, when we differentiate feedback, we need to make sure that there is not a mismatch in the feedback we are providing and the feedback the learner is receiving. For example, when a student says, "Sun set in the West" we could provide conversational feedback and respond, "Sun WHAT in the West?", thinking that we are helping them notice subject-verb agreement but we may mislead them into questioning their use of a correct word or their content understanding. We need to be specific and provide differentiated feedback by making clear that their understanding is correct and at the same time helping them adjust their language to represent the correct form. When we plan to provide specific feedback to our ELLs, we need to consider that the error could stem from multiple reasons. Providing differentiated feedback requires that we first differentiate whether the error is due to lack of content understanding or if it is a language issue and then provide clear feedback that matches the underlying cause.

Supportive

Along with balanced and differentiated feedback, language learners need feedback that is supportive. Supportive feedback relates to issues of timely feedback in a sense that it needs to be prompt, ongoing, consistent, and provided in the right time as judged by the teacher based on the character of the task and student needs. Additionally, feedback that is supportive for English learners is provided in the right time considering unique needs of language learners and potentially dual nature of learning tasks to learn the content and acquire content-specific academic language as well as broader English proficiency. When the goal of the task is to communicate, we need to focus on providing feedback on the ability to communicate. When the goal of the task is to practice correct form based on the prior instruction, we should focus on correcting the grammatical form(s) that is being practiced. Correcting too many errors may frustrate the learner and halt their willingness to communicate and express their ideas. Recognizing patterns and developmental nature of errors helps us understand that in our feedback we should focus primarily on errors that our learners are ready to correct, not on errors that are beyond their developmental level.

Supportive feedback also enables the transfer of knowledge of language, content, skills, and strategies from the student's native language to English. Such feedback honors and validates what they already know even when their linguistic skills are still limited. When we correct errors and provide feedback in a way that is positive, non-intrusive and avoids embarrassing the student, it is often received more readily. Although direct feedback is valuable based on the task and student needs, teachers need to also recognize the value of feedback that is more subtle, interactive and communicative in nature. Rather than directly correcting, the teacher may recast and model correct language usage as part of an authentic conversation potentially raising awareness of the correct language form in a natural way.

An example of supportive feedback through recasting:

Student: Teacher, yesterday I goed to store with my mom.

Teacher: You went to the store with your mom? I also went to the store with my daughter. What did you buy at the store?

When providing supportive feedback on student's writing, teachers should follow similar rules of considering the learner's needs and developmental level and attending to errors based on the task goals (i.e., focusing on conveying meaning vs. correct language form and differentiating between content and language errors). Providing supportive feedback on written work could also be direct and indirect. Although direct feedback and error correction may lead to a more accurate revision faster, providing less direct feedback that allows the student to self-correct may result in more enduring learning. This can be done by underlying the error and providing a clue but allowing the student to figure out the correct form on their own. However, a combination of direct and indirect feedback may be the best way to support our language learners, allowing them to figure out what they can on their own and moving them beyond by providing direct feedback or just-in-time instruction about language form that is slightly beyond their reach. Attending to the feedback that is balanced, differentiated, and supportive while keeping in mind characteristics of effective feedback as being targeted, specific, and timely enables us to attend to individual student needs and adjust our feedback to best support our English learners cognitive and linguistic development.

References

Brookhart, S. (2007). Feedback that fits. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 54-59. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec07/vol65/num04/Feedback-That-Fits.aspx Link

Goodwin, B. & Miller, K. (2012). Research says good feedback is targeted, specific, timely. Educational Leadership, 70(1), 82-83. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Good-Feedback-Is-Targeted,-Specific,-Timely.aspx Link

Wiggins, G. (2012). Seven keys to effective feedback. Educational Leadership, 70(1), 10-16. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/seven-keys-to-effective-feedback.aspx Link

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Effective and Appropriate Feedback for English Learners

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We receive feedback all the time. For example, when we are asked to repeat what was said or when people laugh at our joke, we know what to do next. In a school setting, this type of informal feedback occurs all the time.

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Tool: Strategies for Correcting Errors in Language Development

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Kids need help not with just school but as humans as well. A kid doesn't always need a teacher sometime they need someone that will listen to them.

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50 Resources to Support the Mental Health of Teachers and School Staff

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K-12 teachers are busy supporting others and may overlook their own well being. We collected mental health resources for teachers and school staff.