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A Language Dive empowers students to analyze, understand, and use the language of academic sentences, which often seems opaque to students. As part of this inquiry-based process, students acquire academic language through analysis, conversation, and usage, appreciating the time provided to focus on just one sentence.

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A Handbook for Implementing the WIDA Framework for English Language Development Standards

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Universal Design for Learning Guidelines Explained

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Universal Design for Learning Guidelines Explained

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The Guidelines are a tool for implementing UDL.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Coming soon! UDL Guidelines 3.0

The UDL Guidelines are a living, dynamic tool that is continuously developed based on new research and feedback from practitioners. In 2020, CAST launched our most recent effort to update the UDL Guidelines, with a specific focus on equity. There has been a strong call from the field-both practitioners and researchers alike-to more fully develop the Guidelines to address critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of oppression. The current update aims to respond to this call and to work toward fulfilling the promise of the Guidelines as a tool to guide the design of learning environments that more fully honor and value every learner.

Since our launch in 2020, we have been committed to a community-driven, inclusive, and transparent updating process. As part of this effort, we are:

Collaborating with an Advisory Board, a UDL Guidelines Collaborative, and a Young Adult Advisory Board to guide our work

Conducting focus groups with a diversity of participants to learn from their perspectives, lived experiences, and feedback

Reviewing the research on the UDL Guidelines research pages to understand the balance of different research fields, methodological approaches, epistemological approaches, and author positionalities

Conducting literature reviews of equity-oriented research that connect to and extend the Guidelines, such as disability studies and critical pedagogy studies

We are excited to share this next iteration of the UDL Guidelines in 2024. If you are interested in receiving our UDL Guidelines 3.0 newsletter to stay updated on our progress and to share your ideas and perspectives, please complete this brief form.

Review the Summary

Explore the Full Draft

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST.

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The EL Eduation Language Dives are based on the "juicy sentence" research by Lily Wong Fillmore.

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See the rigor and joy of Language Dives in a fourth grade classroom at Lead Academy in Greenville, SC. During a Language Dive, teachers and students slow down to have a conversation about the meaning, purpose, and structure of a compelling sentence from a complex text and topic, in this case, the American Revolution. Following the engaging deconstruct-reconstruct-practice routine, students play with the smallest "chunks" of the sentence, acting them out, rearranging them, or using them to talk about their own lives. For more on Language Dives and Conversation Cues, also watch Behind the Practice: Approaching Language Dives with Sarah Mitchell, Stephanie Clayton, and Sloane Young, Small Group Language Dive - Long Version, and Supporting English Language Learners through the Curriculum and Beyond.

Language Dives are based on the "juicy sentence" research by Lily Wong Fillmore.

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Early Years

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Behind the Practice: Approaching Language Dives

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Behind the Practice: Approaching Language Dives

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An instructional coach and two teachers reflect on the practice of language dives.

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Behind the Practice: Approaching Language Dives with Sarah Mitchell, Stephanie Clayton, and Sloane Young

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Dive into Language Dives with the instructional coach and two reflective teachers at Lead Academy in Greenville, SC. Sarah, Stephanie, and Sloane describe their approach to Language Dives and Conversation Cues as we see them in action, supporting English Language Learners and all learners to access complex topics and texts and explore how language works with rigor and joy. Topics covered are: Understanding the Purpose, The Heart of the Practice, Making it My Own, Responsive Teaching, Using Ongoing Assessment, Why This Matters. This is a companion video to Implementing Language Dives and Small Group Language Dive - Long Version.

Language Dives are based on the "juicy sentence" research by Lily Wong Fillmore.

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Kindergarten

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This small group consists of six language learners and two language minority students, all on various academic levels.

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Small Group Language Dive -- Long Version

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This video is a long version of a small group Language Dive with Stephanie Clayton and 3rd graders at Lead Academy in Greenville, South Carolina. This small group consists of six English language learners whose native language is Spanish, and two language minority students, all on various academic levels. 

A Language Dive empowers students to analyze, understand, and use the language of academic sentences by slowing down to have a conversation about the meaning, purpose, and structure of a compelling sentence from a complex text or tool. Following the engaging deconstruct-reconstruct-practice routine of the Language Dive, students play with the smallest “chunks” of the sentence, paying close attention to how language works, acquiring the necessary facility with academic English, and fostering overall language ability.

Language Dives promote equity for all learners, and are a key part of the EL Education K-5 Language Arts Curriculum, created by teachers for teachers.

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Grade 1

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How Learning Profiles Can Strengthen Your Teaching

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How Learning Profiles Can Strengthen Your Teaching

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Lesson planning should reflect a variety of ways to offer access and opportunity for all students.

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

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Grades 2-3

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WIDA Key Uses: Unlocking Academic Language

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WIDA Key Uses: Unlocking Academic Language

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Empowering ELLs Blog Post

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I once chaperoned a group of Model United Nations (MUN) students as they participated in a MUN Conference. Each student represented the interests of a particular country and entered debates with the goal of persuading other Delegates to vote favorably for their country. The language used to debate was particularly scripted, and no deviation was allowed. It looked like this:

The Model MUN coach said that she spent days teaching the students to use this language. Without it, the students wouldn't be able to participate.

Teaching Academic Language

This example demonstrates the need to teach the language required to achieve academic success. That's the central message of WIDA's Action 10 from their E ssential Actions: A Handbook for Implementing WIDA's Framework for English Language Development Standards .

WIDA'S Action 10 encourages educators to explicitly teach the language needed to be successful on a given task (Gottlieb, 2013). The previous article presented a case study that showed how to teach ELs to use science-specific language. In this article, I broaden the scope to share how most content areas use language in at least four specific ways.

WIDA analyzed the language used most frequently in college papers, peer-reviewed journals, and reports produced by the business world. They also examined the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards for the types of language that these framework standards expected of students.

WIDA found that the type of language used most often in academic and business settings were recount, explain, argue, and discuss. They decided to group these four forms of languages into what they call Key Uses because they represented the "keys" to academic success ( Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, 2016; Lundgren, 2015).

Language Across the Disciplines

These 4 Key Uses provide a common framework for students to understand academic language. For example, when educators across disciplines have a shared understanding of the word "explain", ELs can then learn this common understanding and implement it. If a student is taught in history class how to explain why the printing press changed society, she'll know exactly how to structure her writing since she was already expected to explain in science why coral reefs are important to coastal communities.

The task of explaining remains the same, but the content and context can change. However, the more she does these tasks in any context, the more they reinforce each other; the task in science class is reinforced by the task in history class. The student will be more successful in any area because her teachers have explicitly taught how to explain her ideas in writing. When this student enters college and joins the workforce, she'll be prepared to produce reports that explain why things occur or how things work.

Now that we've learned why these Key Uses are important, let's examine each of them in more detail.

RECOUNT

A recount structure is used to narrate events or identify facts. If a teacher want students to narrate a story or experience, then he will have to reinforce the importance of correctly sequencing events. An example from history class might be to recount the events that occurred after Hernan Cortez made contact with the Aztecs.

Sequence recounts have signal words such as "first", "then", "after"; "finally" that signify changes in events. One easy framework when teaching narrative recount is having students identify the "W" Questions - , , , and . In our history example, we might have students recount what Cortez was trying to find, where was he trying to go, and how the Aztecs received him.

Another purpose of recounting is to display knowledge. When used for this purpose, the focus is on identifying facts, not sequencing events. For example, a science teacher might ask students to recount all the types of renewable forms of energy. In this example, there are no events at all, just facts that need to be identified. When students are expected to recount the features something, teachers can use a mind map like the one below. The main topic is at the center and is surrounded by its identifying traits.

For example, if students are asked to describe a cat, the cat would be the center of the mind map. The traits of a cat are its appearance, behavior, diet and so forth. Each trait has a set of details. We can break down the cat's appearance into finer details to describe its fur, tail, legs, whiskers, and so forth.

EXPLAIN

If you want to have students explain factors of something, you can replace "cause" for "factors" and leave the "effect" boxes. Every factor has a particular effect on the phenomena. For example, the drama teacher might want students to explain how a play is produced. The diagram should have boxes that capture the factors involved in running the play such as lighting, staging, music, and custom design.

ARGUE

In an academic context, to argue means to create a claim and provide justifications to support it. After stating the claim, students should provide a reason that leads them to this assertion followed by evidence that supports their reason. An example might come science class where the teacher asks students to argue whether climate change is a real or fictional phenomenon.

Students are sent off to read articles, watch documentaries, and listen to podcasts to gather information. Their research forms their claim, which is supported by the evidence that they find.

The most sophisticated arguments present a counterargument to a claim. By providing one, a students show they are analytical and aware of opposing perspectives. These students can also provide a rebuttal to the counterargument to further reinforce their claim. Use the following diagram to guide your students as they structure a thoughtful argument.

DISCUSS

Many educators explicitly teach writing to ELs, but how often do we explicitly teach how to participate in a discussion? For some ELs, their cultural expectations might not permit people to ask questions, provide opinions, offer inferences, or assert claims. In U.S. schools, these forms of interactions are highly valued and welcomed, but many ELs don't know how to contribute, so they remain silent.

But remaining silent handicaps them from fully participating in college or the workplace where 21st Century tasks are becoming increasingly more collaborative. We have to first teach ELs that contributing in discussions is both valued and expected.

One way to do so is to point out the types of contributions students can make during discussions, such as asking questions, offering an analysis, forming opinions, and making connections. Coax students to gradually experience each contribution one by one. For example, instruct students to provide an opinion about a video they just watched by producing a Quick Write that starts with "I disagree/agree with...because...."

Then let students share their opinions and discuss their reasoning. Allow ELs to observe their peers assert claims and defend opinions. Even if they're hesitant to jump head first into the discussion, at least they formed their own opinions and witnessed that opinions are valued and welcomed in discussions. Allowing them to tiptoe into a discussion honors their understandable hesitancy.

Takeaways

Next Post

We'll visit WIDA's Action 11, which is about planning language instruction around the topics found in content classes - a practice pioneered by Echevarria, Vogt, and Short (2008). I'll provide several case studies for how to literacy instruction around disciplines other than English literature. If you have the room in your curriculum, I hope this action encourages you to use science and social studies topics as the context for teaching English.

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32. WIDA's Key Uses: Unlocking Academic Language | ELL Strategies | Empowering ELLs

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I once chaperoned a group of Model United Nations (MUN) students as they participated in a MUN Conference. Each student represented the interests of a particular country and entered debates with the goal of persuading other Delegates to vote favorably for their country. The language used to debate was particularly scripted, and no deviation was allowed.

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Grades 4-5

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How to Develop a Lesson Plan that Includes ELLs

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How to Develop a Lesson Plan that Includes ELLs

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Effective lesson planning can support students facing the double challenge of learning language and content at the same time.

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In content-area classes, English language learners (ELLs) face a double challenge: they must learn language and content at the same time. In order to succeed in these classes, ELLs need the literacy, language skills, and background knowledge necessary to master that new content knowledge.

One way to address that challenge is through effective lesson planning. Depending on their different stages of English proficiency and literacy, ELLs will benefit from the skills that a well-designed lesson can address. For additional tips on language instruction, see our tips for mainstream teachers.

This video showcases a 5 th-grade team planning a science lesson. ESOL specialist Katy Padilla plays a key role in advocating for ELLs throughout the lesson planning process.

Lesson planning for the ELLs: Step by step

Effective lesson planning requires a number of steps from initial preparation to the final review of material. This blog post on lesson planning with sheltered instruction offers a general roadmap for that process.

Identify standards and objectives

First, identify your goals for the lesson. What are your target standards? It is helpful to post these clearly so that students know what they will be focused on learning and eliminate unnecessary information that does not meet your objective.

Next, identify your content objectives and language objectives:

The content objectives focus on the content you will be teaching, such as a math, Science, Social Studies, or language arts objective.

The language objectives focus on the academic language functions that students need to master in order to access grade-level content.

It is critical to teach language objectives explicitly so that ELLs (and their peers) can learn the content and language they need.

For example, Jennifer Himmel shares the following examples in her popular article about how to write language objectives for content-area lessons:

3rd grade Science, States of Matter

Content Area Standard

Content Objective

Language Objective

California: Students know that matter has three forms: solid, liquid, and gas.

Students will be able to distinguish between liquids, solids, and gases and provide an example of each.

Students will be able to orally describe characteristics of liquids, solids, and gases to a partner.

Build background knowledge

Background knowledge is the hook that students hang new information on. When planning lessons for ELLs, it is important to both:

access students' existing background knowledge

build background knowledge that students.

To start this process, you need to:

1. Identify key background knowledge needed for the lesson

2. Identify students' existing background knowledge

3. Build background knowledge students need

Teach key vocabulary

Selecting words to teach

Select key vocabulary that students need to understand the content. Dr. Diane August notes that there are different kinds of vocabulary words that may need to be taught across different content areas:

words that are critical to the meaning of the lesson or text

words with multiple meanings ("plot," "table," "key," and "yard")

homonyms ("son"/"sun")

general academic words

academic vocabulary in a particular content area.

You can see additional recommendations on how to choose which vocabulary words to teach in this overview of the ACCELL project that Dr. August led at the American Institutes for Research.

Strategies for instruction

Write an ELL-friendly definition for each and post them where students can see them throughout the lesson.

Try different strategies to teach each word. If there are five words to be pre-taught, use different ways of engaging the students to hear and produce each word in context.

Give students ample opportunities to practice each new word both in oral and written languages.

Look for cognates, or words from different languages that are related. For example, Spanish and English have many cognates ("information" /"información") and they are particularly common in terms related to academic content. Learning how to use cognates can bolster Spanish-speaking ELLs' comprehension significantly.

Discuss word families and how different forms of words are used. ELLs may need explicit instruction in which form of a word to use. Help students look for spelling and usage patterns, such as past tense verbs ending in "-ed." Since English has so many exceptions, this isn't always a foolproof strategy, but a basic knowledge of these patterns, rules, and spellings will help.

Related resources

Support academic language development

Academic language, or the language of schooling, is the language that students need to succeed in their content-area classes. It is important for educators and students alike to understand the differences between social and academic language and why textbooks, tests, assignments, or class presentations may be more challenging for students than social conversations.

There are a number of ways to support academic language development, such as:

previewing the text

teaching grammatical structures relevant to a particular content area ("greater than" and "less than" in math class)

showing how the targeted academic language is used in reading, writing, speaking, and listening in your content area.

For example, what is the difference between the language students use to write a science report vs. the language used in a class message board? Sharing examples and teaching specific phrases or structures, especially when they related to a specific content area, can be a helpful way to help students feel comfortable in multiple settings.

Dr. August also encourages educators to familiarize themselves with some features of academic language that may present challenges such as the following:

visual presenations of information, such as graphs, charts, diagrams, maps, and equations

figurative language

syntax, such as passive voice and complex sentences

nominalization, which refers to using a word that is not a noun as a noun or noun phrase (i.e., "the rich").

Collaborating with an ESL specialist can be a helpful way to start identifying areas of academic language where additional support would be helpful.

Related resources

Video: Instruction of Key Academic Vocabulary with High School ELLs

Video: Pre-teaching concepts and vocabulary before a lesson

ESOL specialist Katy Padilla shares more in-depth information about her "Super Secret Science Club," an informal lunch activity for 5th-grade ELLs where they see a preview of the afternoon's lesson.

Video: Bricks and mortar in language instruction

Dr. Cindy Lundgren discusses the concept of "bricks and mortar" when thinking about effective vocabulary instruction for ELLs.

Learn some additional strategies for scaffolding and differentiating instruction.

Scaffolding instruction means to put in place some supports that can help students access grade-level content. In addition, your students may be at varying levels of English language proficiency, and some differentiation might be necessary. It's ok to start small -- and remember that this is an area where an ESL teacher can provide some helpful ideas!

Some strategies for scaffolding and differentiating include:

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

Video: Pre-teaching concepts and vocabulary before a lesson

Video: Using "realia" to build background

Use peer review and cooperative learning strategies

Using peer learning can be a powerful way to help students master content. Here are some ways to get students working together:

Use graphic organizers. Have students work in collaborative groups and use a graphic organizer as a scaffold for specific tasks, such as identifying main ideas or relationships between information, etc. It gives a purpose while reading while interacting and using the language.

Assign reading partners. Pair ELLs with friendly fluent readers. Ask partners to read aloud to each other, alternating sentences or pages. After partner reading, ask them to summarize what they read. For variety, use choral reading once in a while. Assign different sections to each team, ask them to rehearse, and then ask teams to read chorally.

Use Think-Pair-Share (TPS). TPS is a collaborative learning strategy in which students work together to solve a problem or answer a question about an assigned reading. This technique requires students to (1) think individually about a topic or answer to a question; and (2) share ideas with classmates. Discussing an answer with a partner serves to maximize participation, focus attention and engage students in comprehending the reading material. Read more in the following articles:

1. Increase Student Interaction with "Think-Pair-Shares" and "Circle Chats"

2. AdLit.org Classroom Strategy: Think-Pair-Share

You may also wish to look for ways to engage students through hands-on learning and project-based learning. Learn about other ways to effectively using cooperative learning strategies in these articles:

Consider how to incorporate different language skills into the lesson

When learning a new language, students need to master four key skills:

(Drs. Andrea Honigsfeld and Maria Dove note that they like the acronym SWIRL, which includes "interaction" in the list.)

You can learn more about these skills in What Language Skills Do ELLs Need?, as well as ideas for teaching these skills both in person and online in Teaching ELLs Online: How to Develop Students' Language Skills.

For example, you can support ELLs' writing skills by modeling the kinds of writing used frequently in your particular content area, such as lab reports in chemistry class, or a persuasive essay in social studies. Help students understand what the purpose of different kinds of writing are, and review vocabulary that would be typically used in these kinds of assignments. Be sure to provide examples of the different kinds of writing to your students so they can learn and compare models.

Review and assess what students have learned

There are many ways to review and assess content following instruction. For example, graphic organizers are a helpful way for students to demonstrate that they understood the concepts and content, even if they only use a symbol or write one or two words for each category. Graphic organizers can also be used as a pre-teaching or post-teaching strategy for introducing or reinforcing key concepts and how they are related. The more connections ELLs make to the overall content and organization of the content before reading, the easier it will be to focus on and understand what is important. When teachers and/or students use graphic organizers at the end of a lesson, this helps to reinforce and synthesize lesson content.

For example:

Related resources

Video: Using informal assessment with ELLs

In this video, Ms. Samantha Kirch demonstrates the ways she uses informal assessment to gauge student understanding, as well as the kinds of support offered to ELLs who need some extra practice with the concept of drawing conclusions.

Examples from the Content Areas

For examples of content-related lesson plans and strategies for ELLs, take a look at the following:

Closing Thoughts

Finally, we want to close with some thoughts from expert ELL educator and administrator Kristina Robertson. First, she encourages educators to only introduce one new thing at a time when teaching ELLs. And she reminds educators not to be afraid to go back to the drawing board if it doesn't go well the first time! While your lesson planning process may involve some trial and error, you will start to see positive results when you take ELLs into account in your planning. You will soon be on your way to planning lessons that engage, include, and support the ELLs in your class.

Video: Try one new thing at a time

Video: When new things don't work

Kristina Robertson shares her advice for dealing with strategies that just don't work.

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How to Develop a Lesson Plan that Includes ELLs

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In content-area classes, English language learners (ELLs) face a double challenge: they must learn language and content at the same time. In order to succeed in these classes, ELLs need the literacy, language skills, and background knowledge necessary to master that new content knowledge. One way to address that challenge is through effective lesson planning.

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Grades 6-8

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Scaffolding Options for K-12 Teachers of Language Learners

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Grades 9-12

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Strategies for Teaching Academic Language

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Strategies for Teaching Academic Language

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

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Language Objectives: Amy's formula and examples

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Language Objectives: Amy's formula and examples

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A game you can copy and adapt for your course!