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by Valentina Gonzalez I have to admit that when I first began my role as an ESL teacher years ago, I didn’t know much about ELs other than through my own experiences. My experience growing up…

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View the interactive image by Starkweather

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Family Guides for Student Success (Spanish versions)

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Mississippi Department of Education P.O. Box 771 Jackson, MS 39205-0771 Educator Licensure Related Information: 601-359-3483 General MDE Related Information: 601-359-3513

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A Great Resource for Differentiating Instruction for English Learners

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A Great Resource for Differentiating Instruction for English Learners

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As an ESL teacher, one of my go-to resources for planning instruction was the by John Seidlitz. The flip book helped me to personalize instruction and differentiate learning for each of my English learners. I took it with me as I planned collaboratively with grade-level teams. I loved the instructional guidance it provided as we planned for ELs at various levels of proficiency. And when co-teachers asked me what types of accommodations certain students needed, I could easily flip through the tabs in the guide to find the supports we needed.
What is the ELPS Flip Book?
The ELPS Flip Book is a user-friendly guide for building English learners' listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. The guide helps educators identify accurate linguistic supports tailored to meet students' proficiency levels in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The ELPS Flip Book includes the following:

An overview of the ELPS

Charts for recording levels of proficiency

Accommodations based on language domains and proficiency levels

Stems and activities that promote language development

How does the ELPS Flip Book support English learners?
The ELPS Flip Book is a resource that educators can dip in and out of while planning instruction for English learners. As you look at your list of English learners and their proficiency levels, you will be able to use the flip book as a guide to advance each EL to the next level of proficiency. The flip book has suggestions for accommodations, scaffolds, sentence stems, and activities that can easily be weaved into classroom instruction.
Who would benefit from having this resource? ALL Teachers
If you have an English learner in your classroom, you will benefit from the ELPS Flip Book . Both elementary and secondary teachers alike can use this resource in all content areas to support instruction and language development. As a teacher, this resource will assist you in planning a path to language growth.
Instructional Coaches
As an academic coach (ELA, math, science, or social studies), teachers come to you with questions about how to differentiate, scaffold, and accommodate instruction to meet the needs of the learners in their classrooms. The ELPS Flip Book has suggestions at your fingertips! This resource is also excellent for grade-level planning sessions. Bring it to planning meetings with teachers to help them create lessons that are differentiated.
Professional Development Leaders
If you plan professional development around differentiation, accommodation, and planning for English learners, the ELPS Flip Book will be your best friend! When you hold workshops or planning sessions for teachers, the flip book is the perfect resource to have at your side or at each table. Model how to use it as an effective planning tool and provide teachers with time to try it out using their class list of English learners.

When Should You Buy It? Buy it NOW because it's on until July 15, 2019!!
(Please note: "ELPS" refers to the English Language Proficiency Standards, which are the standards that Texas educators use to meet the needs of their ELs. Although the resource was originally designed using the standards specific to Texas, it can easily be adapted to for EL instruction nationwide.)

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Differentiating Instruction for English Learners: ELPS Flip Book

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by Valentina Gonzalez As an ESL teacher, one of my go-to resources for planning instruction was the ELPS Flip Book by John Seidlitz. The flip book helped me to personalize instruction and differentiate learning for each of my English learners. I took it with me as I planned collaboratively with grade-level teams. I loved the...

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Getting to Know your English Learner Students

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Getting to Know your English Learner Students

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Serving Multilingual Learners of All Ages

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“There is something special about the languages we learn early in life”, research indicates. Worldwide over 7,000 languages are spoken. While linguistic diversity is valued by many countries in…

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by Natalia Heckman

"My English learners need help. I have about 100 students across grades six through eight who need immediate language support. Did you know they read at the second-grade level? What are your suggestions? How can we better prepare them for the state exams? What can we set up for these kiddos? Can we get some pull-outs started? Should they work with ESL aides during advisory? Can you help my ESL aide pull together some materials?"

If you've ever supported English learners as an ESL teacher, an ESL instructional coach, or an ESL program specialist, you know that well-meaning principals want the best for English Learners on their campuses. Hearing the urgency in the principal's voice, you convey your readiness to help. At the same time, you know quite well that the needs of those 100 students range as widely as their backgrounds and personalities, and there is no program that would be a panacea for all.

So, here are some things you want your principal to know as you embark on this adventure of building an effective English Language Development Program:

What an English Language Development Program Is NOT

1. ELD is not a support class driven by grade-level ELA learning objectives.

2. ELD is not Tier 1 instruction on steroids where students relearn ELA content or prep for state exams.

3. ELD is not a place to get help with current projects or homework

The above characteristics are more appropriate to sheltered instruction models, focusing on content and addressing language skills to help students understand the content. In contrast, an ELD program focuses solely on the language. Once we draw a clear line between an ELD program and a sheltered instruction classroom or an ELA tutorial, several other components come into focus: How do I select resources, schedule students, and hire the right teacher?

Unfortunately, even with good intentions in mind and our hearts in the right place, we may still be seduced by educational jingles, falling victim to wishful thinking and failing to recognize the reality.

Let's look at a few of the appealing soundbites we might come across as we start planning our ELD versus the realities of the students' needs.
Soundbite #1 English learners will receive small-group instruction aligned with the learning goals of a regular ELA classroom. An ESL teacher will address ELA content objectives using appropriate Lexile level materials (leveled readers) accessible to English Learners. Reality
English learners aren't deficient in cognition, and very often, comprehension of ELA concepts isn't the issue. Failing test scores often reflect English Learners' inabilities to access the text independently or form an oral or written response; therefore, the program's goal is to focus on explicit language instruction: decoding, comprehension, syntax, and grammar. According to Saunders, Goldenberg, & Marcelletti, "In ELD instruction, language is the primary objective and content is secondary" (2013). If we intend to build literacy, we must provide instruction to empower English learners to become independent readers and writers. Reteaching an ELA concept is appropriate for an ELA remediation program, but it does absolutely nothing for building functional literacy.
Soundbite #2 An ELD teacher will continuously coordinate with ELA teachers to select resources for struggling English learners. Reality
Well, this is easier said than done. First of all, teachers' planning times are limited, and "coordinating continuously" sounds like a lofty dream. In reality, it's likely this effort to coordinate continuously will devolve into simply "pulling something together" for each session. The haphazard nature of this approach presents several hurdles. It puts tremendous pressure on the ELA teacher, who ends up sharing her/his worksheets with the ELD teacher or encourages the teacher to "just do whatever you can." Also, the ELA teacher may lack the training necessary to select appropriate ESL materials. For example, very few secondary level ELA teachers have training in decoding, phonics, or ESL grammar. That's why hiring an elementary reading specialist to provide ELD instruction has become a common practice among secondary campuses.

Soundbite # 3

The ELD teacher will work with students of various proficiency levels and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students.
Reality
From the beginning, the term differentiation has often been thrown around as a catch-all response to refer to "what to do" with a lack of manpower, time, and resources to meet the needs of diverse students. Widely accepted in public education (sometimes out of necessity), the concept sometimes doesn't make sense in the real world. When applied to high-stakes situations, our expectations for differentiation can fail the test of logic.

If you're preparing for the Winter Olympics, would you like to spend an hour of your precious training time every morning in a tots-on-ice class where the coach helps you whenever he/she has a chance? Of course not! English learners, especially at the secondary level, are in high-stakes situations, and every minute of instructional time counts.

Let's say an ESL teacher has ten students of various levels who show up for 30 minutes per day during advisory/enrichment time. In this setting, the teacher spends about 10 minutes addressing the learning needs of a particular group. The rest of the time goes into logistics.

To grow in language skills, students need to receive a full dose of instruction that's one level higher than their current language proficiency.

This doesn't mean the students will be segregated by their language levels throughout the day! The ELD section shouldn't ever pull students away from grade-level instruction in a mainstream or sheltered class.

Sample Scenario

Jose speaks English fluently. In his seventh grade ELA class, he follows the teacher's explanations effortlessly and answers questions during the interactive lecture. Jose understands the concepts clearly: in fact, he can turn to his shoulder partner and explain the meaning of mood or tone, providing examples from popular movies. However, when the class reads short passages and answers multiple choice questions about mood and tone, Jose only answers 3 out of 30 questions correctly. The teacher asks Jose what caused the difficulties on the test, and Jose replies that "it was boring" and "he didn't get it." The teacher notices that Jose is coded as an English learner, so he adds him to the list of candidates for the ELD enrichment.

During advisory, Jose goes to an ESL teacher who talks about mood and tone again and shows some examples from picture books and high/low readers. The principal pops into the advisory room and seems pleased, noticing that English learners are involved in HOTS (higher-order thinking skills) that are in perfect alignment with the ELA learning goals he/she previously observed in the class next door. When the principal leaves, Jose asks the ESL teacher why he has to be in the class with "all the kids who don't speak English." Jose is visibly frustrated and asks to go back to his regular advisory, where he can "chill with his buds" or "get some math homework done with his girlfriend." To be honest, for this student's emotional and academic well-being, the latter would have been more beneficial.

So, What Seems to Be the Problem?

Jose doesn't need help with the ELA concept of mood and tone, and his oral English is near-native. He gets frustrated (and rightfully so) when he's taught the same concept twice - the second time using high-interest/low-Lexile readers. Language development doesn't happen during the language support class because the instruction is lower than Jose's current proficiency and it fails to address his needs.

Jose struggles with independent reading because he lacks decoding skills and vocabulary. Jose can sight-read, meaning he guesses some memorized words (the high-frequency words sounded out in class), but he can't sound out unfamiliar words on his own - even the ones he understands in spoken English. He doesn't recognize these words in print because he hasn't developed good orthographic mapping, which is a prerequisite for independent reading.

Jose also lacks vocabulary. Since he hasn't learned to decode well, he doesn't have the opportunity to expand his vocabulary through independent reading. Jose acquires new words through listening but can't recognize those words in print. During the daily SSR, he sits quietly and "fake-reads." Therefore, the gap between decoders and non-decoders like Jose gets larger by the minute. On the test, Jose didn't struggle with identifying mood and tone but with reading. He had no idea what those passages said, so he randomly bubbled the answers. However, he would've probably scored 100 if someone read the passages to him. Although coded as an English learner, Jose could be more comfortable in a decoding class side-by-side with native speakers. This situation is not unique.

Let's Get It Right!

When developing your school's ELD program, consider these best practices to ensure it meets students' needs.

The ESL specialist meets with every student and identifies their specific needs.

These meetings may delay the full implementation of a specialized ELD program, but identifying specific needs is well worth the time. One important decision to make is whether or not a student requires decoding instruction. This can be done by administering a quick fluency and comprehension test. However, this doesn't mean the student will stay in a phonics instruction group for the rest of the year. Be fluid and flexible with grouping, and be prepared to move students based on changes in their instructional needs.

Campus leadership understands and recognizes different types of rigor.

Don't underestimate basic skills. Please don't expect to see higher-order thinking every time you visit your language development groups. When you see high school students repeatedly sounding out multisyllabic words, that may be exactly what those specific readers need to become independent readers. If you see students learning to write basic questions with the help of auxiliary verbs (do/does), rest assured that this could be a quite a rigorous task because it doesn't come naturally to English learners. Some secondary students may need to learn these skills explicitly, so we may need to teach them explicitly. The language development class could be the only place where students receive this very narrow and highly specialized type of instruction.

Campus administration coordinates with the ESL specialist to group and schedule students by their language proficiency levels.

Saunders, Goldenberg,and Marcelletti recommend that "school personnel should strongly consider establishing, within the daily schedule and without compromising access to the core curriculum, a block of time dedicated exclusively to ELD instruction. To the greatest extent possible, ELs should be grouped by language proficiency levels for ELD instruction. Still they should not be segregated by language proficiency throughout the rest of the day" (2013).

The ELD teacher implements a reputable, thoroughly sequenced ESL/reading program.

Supplying a vetted ESL print/digital program ensures lesson continuity, skill progression, consistency, and accountability. All ELD teachers should receive sufficient training and be able to adhere to the guidelines of the program. Availability of a reliable resource is one of the major factors in the quality and sustainability of an ELD program. Grammar for Great Writing, by Keith Folse, is an example of a high-quality print resource for English Learners.

Don't measure the success of the ELD program by end-of-year ELA scores.

Give yourself patience and grace! Moving forward sometimes requires taking a step back, filling in the gaps, and banking on the bursts of success. Future success rests on granular improvements. Don't expect immediate results such as spikes in test scores. If a seventh-grader becomes a fluent decoder, that's something to celebrate! From that point on on, the student will be able to access the written language in all content areas. The growth may not necessarily be immediately manifested on the seventh-grade ELA exam, but you've laid the pathway for future success.
References
Maguire, C. (2018) When Language Teachers Don't Teach Language: A Narrative Inquiry of Language Focused ESL Instruction in Content-Based Settings. Retrieved on July 11, 2020, from https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/194575/Maguire_umn_0130E_18801.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Parker, S. (2019) "Sight Words, Orthographic Mapping, Phonemic Awareness " The Science of Reading. Retrieved on October 17, 2020, from https://www.parkerphonics.com/post/sight-words-orthographic-mapping-and-self-teaching

Saunders, W., Goldenberg, W., & and Marcelletti (2013) "Unlocking the Research on English Learners", American Educator Vol. 37, No. 2, Summer 2013, AFT. Retrieved July 11, 2020, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1014023.pdf

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Considerations for English Language Development Programs

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by Natalia Heckman "My English learners need help. I have about 100 students across grades six through eight who need immediate language support. Did you know they read at the second-grade level? What are your suggestions? How can we better prepare them for the state exams? What can we set up for these kiddos?

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Welcome to the ESL LIteracy Readers. Our collection of forty theme-based readers, along with an instructors guide, will support ESL literacy instructors to create comprehensive, theme-based lessons for adult ESL literacy learners. The themes were carefully chosen and are both of high interest to learners, and more importantly, relevant to their lives.

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Teaching Techniques to Scaffold Reading for English Learners

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Teaching Techniques to Scaffold Reading for English Learners

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by Valentina Gonzalez

"Learners who know the language can concentrate on the academic content. But learners who do not know the language, or do not know it well enough, must devote part of their attention to learning and understanding the very language in which the content is taught" ( Goldenberg & Coleman, 2010).

Imagine that for a moment. Let it soak in. If you didn't yet know a language well enough, you would need to spend energy understanding the very words and not just the reading. Maybe you've experienced this before. It's a literal struggle, trying to decode and put together sounds, then figure out and translate the words. This can take a toll on a person!

Now imagine a child doing this daily. Or for that matter, doing this all day long . Picture a newcomer in a high school biology class at the end of the day. If they are new to the language, they will most likely have to translate complicated text word by word after having spent every previous class that day translating each word. To help students, we can adapt and scaffold reading instruction to fit their unique needs.

The National Literacy Panel (2000) identified phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing as the five key components of literacy. With these components in mind, let's look at a few scaffolds (temporary supports meant to be gradually released) for reading that may work to enhance English learners' success with comprehension.

These reading scaffolds can be implemented in any grade level and content area through whole group, small group, or individual settings for differentiation:

Chunking

Chunking is a technique that breaks larger reading texts into smaller portions for students. When texts are dense or lengthy, they can seem overwhelming. By breaking them down into smaller pieces, we help to lower students' anxiety. Think of a large pizza. Would you eat the entire pizza in one bite? Probably not. It's sliced for us to hold a piece at a time. Then we take small bites from that one piece. It's manageable that way. Chunking texts is especially useful in areas like social studies and science, where text has the tendency to be vocabulary heavy.

Adding in opportunities to talk makes content even more comprehensive. For instance, a routine such as Nancy Motley's Talk, Read, Talk, Write offers students chances to access prior knowledge and build background before reading. Students discuss with a group or partner. Then students read a text with a purpose for reading that is given to them by the teacher. Once everyone has signaled that they are finished reading, they participate in structured discussion again. And finally students write about their reading while using the discussions they've had to support their thoughts. Teachers can chunk reading even more for students who are at beginner levels of English proficiency: talk, read, talk, read, talk, read, talk, write.

Shared Reading

Shared reading (Holdaway,1979) is the act of reading together in unison as a group. All students have access to the text. Shared reading is not just for elementary levels. In primary grades, teachers may read from big books, but in secondary classes, shared reading can be poetry, brochures, an excerpt from a chapter, a paragraph, song lyrics, etc. Teachers can provide each student with a copy of the text or can project the text on a screen for everyone to see. First the teacher models expectations by reading the text. Then the teacher invites the class to read together. This oral reading practice provides students with an opportunity to gain fluency in a risk-free setting. Everyone is reading aloud. Shy students can listen and read aloud as they feel brave enough, and more vocal students gain practice, too. Students benefit from practicing intonation and appropriate rate of speed.

Three ways to differentiate shared reading are Echo reading, Choral reading, and Reader's Theater.

Echo Reading is perfect when students need to hear the teacher model each sentence first while they are tracking print. Then students repeat the sentence. This technique is best for students at beginner proficiency levels or when a new language structure is being shared.

Choral Reading is a typical shared reading experience in which students and teacher read in unison, often with the teacher tracking print. English learners gain fluency and benefit from the low-risk environment. They have the ability to listen and join the reading at their comfort level.

Reader's Theater is an excellent method to use with students after they have had a chance to hear a text in its entirety. Reader's Theater can be done by dividing a text into parts and assigning students or groups to read certain lines or paragraphs. English learners benefit from rehearsal time with the lines or paragraphs they will read aloud to the whole group. Some teachers ask students to create props for their characters or parts. Acting out a story is both enjoyable and engaging for students as they participate in listening, speaking, and reading with expression.

Adapted Texts

Adapted texts are texts that have the same content but are at different reading levels. Using adapted texts helps English learners continue to learn content while they are learning English. Many teachers create their own adapted texts, which allows them to control the vocabulary that is embedded. However, creating adapted texts does take time. There are also many online platforms that offer adapted texts such as Newsela, Newsinlevels, and Wordify.

Partner Reading

Providing time and space for students to read together, or partner read, supports English learners with reading comprehension, listening, and speaking. Peer-to-peer interaction is important for English learners' language development. Partners usually read the same text and hold their own copies. In primary grades, and many times in secondary too, students are more successful when the teacher offers explicit modeling of expectations ahead of time. For example:

"During partner reading, I'm looking for partners who are sitting with their knees close to touching. You will take turns reading a page. After your partner reads, you will share what the main idea of their reading was. I'm listening for sentences like: 'The main idea was...' or 'I didn't understand...'"

Primary Language Support

When I was an ESL teacher, the students I taught spoke Korean, Urdu, Japanese, Russian, etc. I was not able to speak all of their languages, but I could still provide primary language supports. I provided my ELs with bilingual dictionaries and taught them how to use them. We also worked hard at valuing all languages. It was important for me to show my ELs that the literacy they had in their primary language was valuable and useful as they acquired English. We labeled the classroom in the students' home languages. I also made it known to them that continuing to read, write, and speak in their primary language was important, and so I encouraged them to read books in their primary language. Anytime we had extra funds, I asked to purchase books in our students' primary languages for the library.

Another way to include primary language support is through preview-review. This technique is sometimes referred to as preview-view-review and takes only a few extra minutes before and after a lesson ( Wright, 2015). It has been found to be effective in increasing comprehension, especially for students at beginning levels of English proficiency. Preview-review includes providing students with primary language support before and after a lesson or a read aloud. Let's look at a classroom example:

The second grade class is preparing to learn about living and nonliving things. The ESL teacher gathers English learners prior to the lesson to preview in their primary language. She asks them what they know about living and nonliving things. They discuss and make a chart in their primary language. The teacher reads a short passage and checks for comprehension, and then they return to the whole group.

The mainstream teacher conducts the whole-class lesson on living and nonliving things in English. The teacher shelters instruction to ensure that ELs comprehend the lesson. She uses repetition, visuals, and gestures. Then she sends them off to read and write with a partner in English.

Following the English lesson, the ESL teacher pulls the ELs back together once again to review what they learned in their primary language. This is an excellent opportunity to clear up misconceptions.
Note that, In this example, the ESL teacher is able to speak the students' primary language. But that is not always the case. It is suggested that if the teacher cannot speak the students' home languages, a same-language-speaking paraprofessional can provide the preview-review.
The bottom line of all this is that, when students enjoy what they are reading and they understand what they are reading, they will feel successful. The more often this feeling occurs, the more they will want to read, and the more their comprehension will increase.

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Teaching Techniques to Scaffold Reading for English Learners

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by Valentina Gonzalez "Learners who know the language can concentrate on the academic content. But learners who do not know the language, or do not know it well enough, must devote part of their attention to learning and understanding the very language in which the content is taught" (Goldenberg & Coleman, 2010).

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The U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) provides national leadership to help ensure that English Learners and immigrant students attain English proficiency and achieve academic success. In addition to preserving heritage languages and cultures, OELA is committed to prompting opportunities for biliteracy or multiliteracy skills for all students. OELA accomplishes this in the following ways:

Providing national leadership by informing policy decisions

Administering discretionary grant programs to prepare professionals for teaching and supporting English Learners

Investing in research and evaluation studies that have practical applications for preparing English Learners to meet college and career learning standards

Disseminating information about educational research, practices, and policies for English Learners through our National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA)

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bilingual education; school reform; language proficiency; english (second language); multicultural education;

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The Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA)

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The Office of English Language Acquisition's mission is to identify issues effecting the Education of English language learners, and to assist and support State and local systemic reform efforts that emphasize high academic standards and school accountability.

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Using Games to Develop Language with Middle and High School ELs

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Using Games to Develop Language with Middle and High School ELs

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By Valentina Gonzalez

Recently, a member of the Facebook Group Advocating for ELLs asked colleagues for suggestions on games to play with middle school multilingual learners. This question reminded me of the magical power games have for our learners.

Gamifying learning has a unique way of increasing engagement, motivation, and participation while at the same time helping students learn content and acquire language. That truly is magical.

In fact, many studies show the value games have on teaching and learning. Tracy Retherford's very recent research (2020) examined the effects games have on English learners' vocabulary and motivation. Her study found that ELs using gamification had an overall growth of more than 40% on vocabulary assessment compared with ELs that were assigned traditional worksheets.

Games can provide multilingual learners with repetitive everyday and academic language practice. No matter the age or content area, games can help learners participate and connect with peers. They can be a highly motivating, low-stress option for instructional time.

Many language teachers enthusiastically responded to the question above, and a few shared details of the games they play with their students.

Imposter(s) Among Us

Natalia Heckman, former secondary ELA teacher and current educational consultant, shares a game called Imposters Among Us, which hits all four language domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Her students loved this game because it created a low-stress environment during learning.

The steps:

1. Distribute the same question to most of the class except one or two students (these will be the imposters) who will get a different question. Heckman suggests putting the question on strips of paper.

2. Give students two to three minutes to independently write their responses to the question in their notebooks.

3. Call on at least six students (including the imposter(s)) to read their written responses aloud to the group.

4. Have students listen to their peers' responses with an ear for who the imposter(s) might be. The imposter(s) is finally revealed at the end.

Sometimes Heckman has done a variation of this game by having students mingle with one another to read their written responses instead of calling on them (Step 3).

GUESS WHO?™

If you are searching for a fun and helpful game for English learners at beginning proficiency levels, Beth Wolff, a high school newcomer ESOL teacher in Maryland, has one that she describes as simple, repetitive, and easy to learn. GUESS WHO?™ is a barrier game (opponents sit across from each other with a barrier between them) that provides listening and speaking opportunities for learners. Many teachers have used the board game version; however, there is also a digital version available. Some teachers create their own version of the game around a unit of study.

The steps:

1. Two players or teams sit across from each other with their own set of mystery cards. A barrier, such as an opened folder or an easel, is placed between the teams. In the board game GUESS WHO?™, the cards are people's faces. Some teachers create custom cards related to the content and curriculum studied.

2. Each team draws a card without sharing it with the other team. This is their Mystery Card.

3. Teams take turns asking one yes/no question at a time. Wolff recommends using sentence frames and picture-word banks as extra scaffolds. For example:

Does your ___ have...

Does your person have...

Does your landform have...

Does your mystery card have a living/nonliving thing?

Is your animal a mammal?

Does your character have...

Does your math problem...

Is the answer...(positive/negative, odd/even, below 50)

Adjective Bingo!

Sheltered Instruction Reading and Language Arts Teacher Nancy Turbyfill plays her own version of Bingo based on adjectives with her high school multilingual learners. Through this game, they relax and have a good time practicing listening and reading while strengthening and learning new vocabulary.

The steps:

1. Provide each student with a card that has pictures on it. Some teachers use free clipart and a simple table in Word to create this.

2. Call out an adjective. Read it aloud to the class and write it on the board.

3. Have students cover one picture that is described by each adjective called out.

Games are Multifunctional

"Group games like Pictionary, Jeopardy!, and Kahoot motivate students through competition," says Linda Vinay, a transitional bilingual humanities teacher working with sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade multilingual learners. Vinay adds that "board games like Monopoly, Life, and Uno require students to negotiate rules, read task cards, and follow multi-step directions." Vinay loves the smaller group sizes that games offer, allowing more students to interact and practice speaking. But not all games are effective for developing language, nor might they be worth our limited time in the classroom. In this article, Dr. Katie Toppel, co-author of the new book , shares the criteria for games to be effective in developing language.

Kay Elizabeth, one of two English learner teachers for Portage Public Schools in Portage, Michigan, compiled an extensive list of games and shares them with us here: Good Games for English Learners...and Where to Find Them. Among her list are a few of my favorites: Headbands, Mad-Libs, Charades, and Pictionary. Another favorite is Kahoot, and longtime Kahoot ambassador Dr. Carol Salva explains how she uses the digital game to motivate newcomer ELs, build community, promote language development, and increase academic success.

Language teachers around the world are harnessing the power of games to increase language acquisition. You and your students likely have a favored game as well, and we would love to hear about it in the comments below.
Want to read more from Valentina about supporting English learners? Check out Reading and Writing with English Learners, co-written by Valentina Gonzalez and Dr. Melinda Miller.

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Using Games to Develop Language with Middle and High School ELs

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By Valentina Gonzalez Recently, a member of the Facebook Group Advocating for ELLs asked colleagues for suggestions on games to play with middle school multilingual learners. This question reminded me of the magical power games have for our learners. Gamifying learning has a unique way of increasing engagement, motivation, and participation while at the same...

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Vietnamese- English Learner Parent Guide

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Vietnamese- English Learner Parent Guide

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I Have a New Multilingual Learner. What Do I Do? A Step-By-Step Guide

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I Have a New Multilingual Learner. What Do I Do? A Step-By-Step Guide

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I Have a New Multilingual Learner. What Do I Do? A Step-By-Step Guide

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by Valentina Gonzalez The quality and quantity of preservice instruction in teaching multilingual learners vary, leaving many teachers feeling inadequately prepared. And even those who did re…

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The Potential of Wordless Picture Books for English Learners

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The Potential of Wordless Picture Books for English Learners

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Imagine you are a second grade student born in America, and you only speak English. You've attended English schools until now. But your father's job has relocated your family to France, and now you are in a classroom filled with students and a teacher who only speak French (a language you have never spoken). The science teacher hands you a book and signals for you to read it. You open the book and find that it is filled with pictures...no words. First a group of horses. A mare feeding a foal. A colt running wild. Then a group of pigs, chickens, cows, etc. Instantly, you begin to think about the information you know about animals. What they are called, where they live, what they eat, etc.

Though you aren't able to communicate this information in French yet, you are able to follow along with the class and think in English using the schema and background knowledge you have about animals.

Why Use Wordless Picture Books?

While wordless picture books have commonly been used with emergent readers and primary students in elementary grades, they are also useful when developing English in older students. Books that lack words allow for students themselves to produce language needed for each page, think critically about the ideas, and engage in deep inferencing to develop a plot and theme while building language skills.

Wordless picture books are accessible to learners who speak any language, as seen in the example above. No matter the language our learners speak, they can interpret pictures almost instantly in their minds. When we use wordless picture books with students, we are able to communicate with them at many levels.

As an ESL teacher, I had students who spoke several languages all in one classroom at the same time. Each student was unique. They had

various proficiency levels in their native languages and in English,

different background experiences, and

different educational histories.

But all of my students could access a visual representation at the same time. Using wordless picture books allows learners to think and process information using their own linguistic repertoires.

Wordless picture books lend themselves to opportunities for oral and written storytelling. The power of sharing a story and interpreting visuals in multiple perspectives is great with wordless picture books. When books include words, readers are somewhat limited to the ideas and text held by the author. However, wordless picture books give readers freedom to interpret the visuals through their own eyes, thoughts, and experiences.

Using wordless picture books with English learners can support all language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Listening: students listen to a partner or the teacher "read" or interpret the pictures from the book

Speaking/Reading: students share their interpretation of the book with a partner

Writing: students write captions or text for wordless picture books, or students create their own wordless picture books

How Can I Implement Wordless Picture Books With My English Learners?

Students love wordless picture books! They are fun because students get to interact with the book by adding their ideas.

Wordless picture books can be shared or interpreted together as a whole group. It's important to begin with ample modeling of the art of storytelling through shared experiences. After much modeling, encourage readers to try with a partner, and then be sure to make these books available for independent reading.

Students can also write captions or text for wordless picture books. This exercise shows learners that each page or picture tells readers something new and expresses main ideas and details. Take time to model for students how to glean the main idea and supporting details. When modeling writing for students, weave in authentic grammar instruction too. "Should we put a capital here? Why?" "Do we need a period at the end?" "Is there a word missing in this sentence?" "Let's read it one more time together to make sure it makes sense."

Once students see many examples of wordless picture books, they can create their own, too. Drawing is an excellent way to process information and is known for boosting memory while increasing recall of information. In addition, allowing students to create provides space for self-reflection and creativity.

Make Space for Nonfiction

Not all wordless picture books are fiction. Students can create nonfiction picture books related to information they are learning in specific content areas or to share their own lived experiences. In an Edutopia article, Kathryn Fishman-Weaver wrote, "Art gave the students I worked with new ways to process and tease out meaning, and to share their lived experiences." The student-created wordless picture books can be used to teach younger students, too.

A Short List of Wordless Picture Books

When considering which books to use with your students, think about not only grade level and content, but also student choice and interest. Allowing students to self-select wordless picture books to read gives them a sense of freedom and autonomy. English learners at earlier language proficiency levels will benefit from reading books that the teacher has already read to the group. The list below is not an exhaustive list but it's a good start for those interested in trying out wordless picture books with students.

Can Wordless Picture Books Be Used in Remote or Distance Learning?

The short answer is yes, they can. Remote or distance learning can be defined as learning situations where the teacher and the student are separated and unable to interact in the same classroom setting. Yet, not all families have access to computers and the internet, so providing instruction that is accessible to all children is important. If your school is using remote or distance learning for any reason, wordless picture books are one way to accommodate English learners because they lean on the total linguistic repertoire and not solely on English. Using a child's whole language repertoire, we can build the target language.

Teachers who have prior notice of school closures have the luxury of pulling together wordless picture books from the public or campus library and distributing them to English learners with choice boards such as this one.

What Does Reading a Wordless Picture Book Look Like?

Reading is more than decoding words. Wordless picture books provide students with the opportunity to analyze visuals, synthesize ideas, infer meaning, and create language structures to support their thoughts. Students are encouraged to narrate the pages.Older students benefit from being told that this practice will support their English development.

This is where the Gradual Release of Responsibility fits right in. Copious amounts of modeling for students will yield greater gains. Students who know and understand the expectations for reading a wordless picture book will be more successful. Show students exactly what reading a wordless picture book sounds like, then move to guided practice. Read wordless picture books together as a class or in small groups. Some students will need the support of questions such as "What is happening in this picture?" or "What makes you think that?" and "What will happen next?" Finally, have students practice reading wordless picture books independently and with partners.

If students have access to technology, they can record themselves reading wordless picture books on platforms such as Flipgrid and Seesaw. Students can watch their peers read and comment on their videos. Providing English learners with a model and sentence stems for sharing will enhance their experience. For instance, have them introduce the book with a stem like, "Today, I'm going to read a book to you called..." or "This is a wordless picture book I made. It's a (how to/all about/fiction/nonfiction) book. Let me share it with you." And after they read, have them comment with phrases like, "My favorite part was when..." or "I like this book because..." Or, they can ask questions about the book for their fellow students to answer, themselves.

Final Thoughts

Author Tanny McGregor recently shared the hashtag #WordlessBookWeekend on a Twitter chat. It's filled with ideas for wordless picture books and how teachers are using them with students.

No matter a student's language, language proficiency level, or grade, and no matter what content area you teach, wordless picture books can support learning. Wordless picture books are fun, engaging, multimodal, and interactive. Give them a try, and be sure to share with us how it goes with your students.

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The Potential of Wordless Picture Books for English Learners

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by Valentina Gonzalez Imagine you are a second grade student born in America, and you only speak English. You've attended English schools until now. But your father's job has relocated your family to France, and now you are in a classroom filled with students and a teacher who only speak French (a language you have...

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