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This image shows the process and policy that goes into identifying EB/EL students. It is important as a future teacher to understand the process.

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This website provides a variety of resources and information for teachers about LPAC and other program requirements. It is important to have quick updated access to TEA requirements.

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The Emergent Bilingual Support Division provides direction and leadership with the implementation of Bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) Programs for emergent bilingual (EB) students/English learners (ELs).

Announcements

Check out the Emergent Bilingual Student Web Portal TXEL.ORG for continuously updated resources for Teachers, Leaders, Parents and families of Emergent Bilingual Students, and Community Partners.

Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC) Guidance and Resources

Current School Year

2022-2023 Emergent Bilingual Support Update Meetings with LEAs and ESCs

The TEA Emergent Bilingual Support Division welcomes Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and regional Education Service Centers (ESCs) to join our English Learner Support Update Meetings. See our EL Portal for dates, meeting links, presentations, and recordings.

Program Requirement Resources

These resources, tools, and web pages provide guidance on bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) program requirements:

Program Requirement Resource Web Pages

Program Implementation

The TEA Emergent Bilingual Support Division has developed program implementation rubrics and associated tools to support LEAs with evaluating and enhancing their bilingual education and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.

Program Statutes

The following statutes relate to bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) programs:

Title III, Part A - English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act

Title III, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as reauthorized under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), aims to ensure that English learners (ELs) and immigrant students attain English proficiency and develop high levels of academic achievement in English. Title III will also assist all English learners meet the same challenging State academic standards that all children are expected to meet.

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Bilingual and English as a Second Language Education Programs

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The Emergent Bilingual Support Division provides direction and leadership with the implementation of Bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) Programs for emergent bilingual (EB) students/English learners (ELs). Check out the Emergent Bilingual Student Web Portal TXEL.ORG for continuously updated resources for Teachers, Leaders, Parents and families of Emergent Bilingual Students, and Community Partners.

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This picture shows the basic structure of English. It is a good reminder for me when assessing students on the language skills and proficiency.

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This website shows the difference between English and Spanish. Most likely the majority of my EL/EB students that I will be teaching will speak Spanish, so I think it is good to have handy to recognize and know the differences.

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Fortunately for Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs), there are many similarities between English and Spanish.

First of all, both languages use the Roman alphabet. That knowledge helps build a phonemic and phonological foundation.

Secondly, 30% to 40% of all words in English have a related word in Spanish. With similar sound, appearance, and meaning, these cognates help students transfer that word knowledge into their second language.

Thirdly, except for a couple of word order exceptions (adjective before noun in English and noun before adjective in Spanish), sentences in both languages have the same basic structures (as compared to English and Chinese or other non-Latin derived languages).

And fourth, learning to read and write uses the same basic processes (phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, comprehension, writing mechanics).

When teachers and students know these basic similarities between the two languages, it saves time and guess work as students transfer their knowledge of Spanish literacy into English literacy.

Phonemic and phonological differences between Spanish and English

There are also some differences between the two languages that may interfere with English pronunciation (phonemic differences) and with decoding or spelling (phonological differences).

Perhaps the greatest difference between English and Spanish is that Spanish has only five vowel sounds while English has more than 14, depending on regional dialects. This is the reason Spanish speakers have difficulty differentiating between vowel phonemes in words like seat and sit. Both phonemes are pronounced differently from the Spanish sí ( yes), which is pronounced somewhere between those two English phonemes. These differences also affect students' spelling. Here are some other examples of possible interference from Spanish:

Here are a few differences between Spanish and English:

Combinations in Spanish that are pronounced differently: que, qui, güe, güi. For example: the u is not pronounced unless it is written as ü; therefore, students may not be sure how to pronounce words like queen, quiet, or quick

Quotation marks vs. dashes: "Come here," he said. -Ven aquí-le dijo.

Spanish does not have the following sounds (listed by category):

Strategies for Spanish-speaking ELLs

Point out differences when you introduce phonemic awareness activities (distinguishing sounds) by showing students how to make those sounds.

Say to students, for example:

To make the sound for /sh/ in ship, pronounce it like the Spanish /sh/ by letting air out between your teeth. Notice how you can stretch the /sh/ sound until you run out of air. But, to make the sound /ch/ in chip, you touch the top of your mouth with your tongue and let the air out with a little explosion. Notice how you cannot stretch that sound.

Spanish speakers have difficulty distinguishing the ways to pronounce the final -s in plurals and third person.

Give students examples for each as follows:

Spanish speakers have difficulty distinguishing the ways to pronounce the -ed in past-tense verbs.

Give students examples for each as follows:

"We pronounce it /d/ when the word ends with..."

"We pronounce it /t/ when the word ends with..."

"When the word ends with t, it sounds like /tid/ as in patted."

"When the word ends with d, it sounds like /did/ as in added."

Spanish speakers may leave out word endings when saying or spelling a word.

For example: restauran instead of restaurant; end instead of ended. They may also have problems spelling words that contain the consonant blends, initial sounds, and final sounds listed in the box above.

Additionally, students might substitute:

ll for y (because ll is the nearest sound in Spanish. For example: llelow instead of yellow.)

j for h (because h is silent in Spanish, they might use j. For example: jope instead of hope.)

There are also some differences in question and sentence structures between both languages.

Question markers

Do you want to go to the movies tonight?
¿Quieres ir al cine esta noche?
(Spanish speakers will likely leave out do)

Adjective-Nouns

white horse
caballo blanco (horse white)
(Spanish speakers will often use the adjective after the noun)

With these similarities and differences in mind, pay close attention to your Spanish-speaking ELLs' written and spoken "errors." When you recognize a student saying horse white, for example, point out that in English the noun and adjective are reversed: white horse, brown cow, etc. Once ELLs understand these patterns, they will begin to apply them on their own to new situations.

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Capitalizing on Similarities and Differences between Spanish and English

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Fortunately for Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs), there are many similarities between English and Spanish. First of all, both languages use the Roman alphabet. That knowledge helps build a phonemic and phonological foundation. Secondly, 30% to 40% of all words in English have a related word in Spanish.

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This website shows various books that can be used to represent all students in the classroom. As a future teacher it is good to have access to multicultural books so that every student can feel represented and welcomed in the classroom.

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Diversity in literature goes beyond ethnicity. Diversity may include the various facets of sexuality and gender, cultural, and societal groups. Whether characters in the books we read reflect others or ourselves, what is most important is connecting with them in ways that help us understand who we are today. Sometimes learning about our history through the eyes of diverse characters can be unsettling or even painful, but it also can be an awakening to the unknown. In this collection, I focus on books that reflect multiple cultures in the text or illustrations, sometimes subtle, other times more direct. I believe these books reflect the mosaic beauty of our world.
Ages 4-8
Ada has been an inquisitive child from the time she could crawl. At first, her insatiable curiosity, constant questions, and taking things apart to see how they work frustrate her parents, but soon they nurture Ada's quest for answers instead. As her search for knowledge flourishes, Ada also realizes she might encourage other kindred budding scientists by taking her latest experiment to her classroom. Features reflecting diversity in the rhyming text and expressive mixed-media illustrations include the race of this young girl scientist and the racial makeup of her classroom.

If you need a book to explain airports to children (or adults) who are new to flying this book is perfect because of the range of perspectives Lisa Brown captures through her detailed ink-and-watercolor illustrations, narrative text, and cartoon bubble conversations. Clearly Brown has spent some time coming from, going to, and being in airports. Her depiction of the variety of people (including the featured biracial family going on a trip), movement, sounds, conversations, vendors, crying babies, limited seat space, and more at the airport are impeccable. Her sense of humor comes through in some unexpected details. Look closely!

This delightful picture book describes the life of two people who love ballet: Emma, a beginner, and Julia, a professional. Similarities between these two characters' daily routines and lessons, presented in both the text and softly colored illustrations, provide the perfect staging for the relationship that unfolds at the end of the story. Emma gets to meet Julia backstage, and their encounter is heartwarming. This book is a nice reflection of how two different, yet similar, people come together naturally. A good companion book is Allegra Kent's Ballerina Gets Ready (2016), which also features an African American dancer.

This insightful and realistic story is told through the eyes of Hee Jun, a recent arrival in America from South Korea. Hee Jun, his family, and his grandmother left behind their home and friends. Everything looks, sounds, and feels different in their new surroundings, and everyone is having a difficult time adjusting to living in West Virginia. Things begin to look up when his grandmother visits his sister's kindergarten class to help her transition and he meets a friend. In his new friend's yard, Hee Jun is surprised to find mugunghwa (the Korean national flower that is called Rose of Sharon in the United States). For Hee Jun and his grandmother, the flower is "a piece of home," a remembrance of Korea.
Who We Are!: All About Being the Same and Being Different (Let's Talk About You and Me series). Robie H. Harris. Ill. Nadine Bernard Westcott. 2016. Candlewick. Ages 9-11
Similarities and differences are real among the people in our world. This fifth book in the Let's Talk About You and Me series captures the beauty of diversity within a family and in the broader world. Everything from physical appearance to likes and dislikes, with an emphasis on the importance of accepting-and celebrating-who you are, is clearly presented in the narrative text and cartoon illustrations. A charming companion book is Mixed Me! (2015)by Taye Diggs, a story about a young boy in a biracial family.
Elizabeth Started All the Trouble. Doreen Rappaport. Ill. Matt Faulkner. 2016. Disney/Hyperion.
Following the same engaging format as the original Children Just Like Me, which was published in 1995, this new edition is an engaging visual celebration of children around the world. Each of the six sections (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Southeast Asia, and Australia) features an abundance of captioned photographs, carefully selected images of children, diverse families, world religions, homes, food, hobbies, and interesting facts, which will hold readers' attention for hours. A cool activity would be to compare the original version with this new book. How have things changed?

Spunk and determination abound in this delightful picture book about the women's suffrage movement. Although Abigail Adams pressed her husband, John Adams, to make sure the Founding Fathers included women in the Declaration of Independence, women were not mentioned. However, the fight for women's rights did not end. Years later, in 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton took up the cause for women's right to vote. Her movement gained a large following of women across the United States. Wyoming became the first state to give women the right to vote in 1869, but it was not until 1920 that women across the nation were allowed to vote. Readers will meet many of the key players throughout history that helped the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. This is a timely book, with the Democratic Party being the first major political party to nominate a woman for president.
Ages 12-14
Determination, patience, and diligence paid off for Mary Garber, who crossed the gender barrier to become the first and longest working female sports writer in U.S. history. She gained her reputation from writing truthfully about the exceptional ability of Jackie Robinson, the first African American major league baseball player. Her sports writing career spanned more than 50 years. Mary Garber was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Sportscaster and Sportswriters Association in 2008, just months before she died at age 92.

Given the ongoing occurrence of veteran-related news, the timing of this book is perfect. Robert C. Snyder, a veteran, does a good job of capturing the crux of what it meant to be a veteran in the past and what it means today in a factual, yet gentle, tone. Through expressive watercolor illustrations and accessible text, this book provides a good overview of veterans in the United States, those who served in the military and have returned to civilian life, as well as mentioning those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Imagine traveling to or even living in space someday. Already, more than 200 astronauts from more than a dozen nations, cultures, and religions have visited the International Space Station. With a narrator who represents humanity throughout history, this intriguing nonfiction book presents a chronological survey of what humans have believed and learned about the universe. Reading this book will likely leave readers with an increased curiosity about the future of space exploration. With recent emphasis on science and math in schools, this book has many applications, including aviation, space exploration, astronomy, astrophysics, women in science, and more. This book is also available in a Spanish edition, Yo Soy la Humanidad (2016).
Ages 15+
In this page-turning mystery and humorous tale, Gidwitz remarkably threads medieval history through stories within a story. Unfortunate circumstances and perceived unnatural powers bring an unlikely group of children and a dog together. King Louis IX issues a death warrant, as it is rumored these children may possess supernatural powers considered blasphemous by the church and state. Jeanne, whose life was saved by Gwenforte, the dog, has seizures and sees into the future. William, a well-read, dark-skinned oblate, has Hulk-like strength. Jacob was forced to leave his Jewish community when a group of anti-Semitic teens sets fire to homes. Gidwitz gives readers much to think about in the parallels implied through the racial bigotry and persecution of the past compared with the present.
Stan Steiner teaches Children's/Young Adult Literature at Boise State University. He has had a long relationship with bringing awareness to multicultural literature through his teaching and publications.
Our world has been changed for the better by women. However, most of the time their accomplishments and contributions have been slighted in the history books. This carefully selected and diverse collection of women who paved the way, including such figures as Pocahontas, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Beyoncé, and Hillary Clinton, would be a good addition to libraries and classrooms. Fifty one-page biographies of American women, arranged chronologically, include facts, family status, and major accomplishments that have made an impact on the world. A portrait and an illustration highlight the entry for each woman. An additional sixteen women are listed along with a glossary at the end of the book.

With recent Supreme Court decisions on gay and lesbian rights, this book is a fitting addition to libraries. Historical background and global perspective serve as an awakening to the growing number of voices that were silenced in the past but are now a unified call for equality. Photographs of smiling participants and bystanders flourish in this perceptive nonfiction book, reflecting Pride activism around the world. The book is organized in four sections: The History of Pride, Pride and Identity, Celebrating Pride Today, and Activism Around the World. Back matter includes a glossary, references, resources, and an index.

These reviews are submitted by members of the International Literacy Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) and are published weekly on Literacy Daily.

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Diversity in literature goes beyond ethnicity. Diversity may include the various facets of sexuality and gender, cultural, and societal groups. Whether characters in the books we read reflect others or ourselves, what is most important is connecting with them in ways that help us understand who we are today.

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This website gives five practical ways that I can create an engaging classroom environment that will benefit EL/EB students when they have to take an assessment.

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Linden Global Learning

By Dr Erin Furtak

In recent years, schools have increasingly moved to student-centered classroom environments. In these settings, students and their ideas and questions drive learning and teaching. Students have the chance to create ways of showing what they know that align with these ways of teaching; portfolios, performances, and other ways of doing things that are aligned with/more authentic to students' experiences in their lives/future work.

We also know that the ways that we assess what students know - both while their learning is still in progress, and at the end of instructional units - doesn't always align with these student-centered ways of knowing. Modern approaches to assessment are based on efforts to sort, rank, and measure students in ways that provided access to further opportunities, or excluded students from these opportunities . These outmoded ways of doing assessment can constrain the curriculum in ways that limit students' access to learning & opportunities. In addition, we know from research that language and culture influence how learners take assessments (Arbuthnot, 2020; Solano-Flores, 2016). We also know that the traditional 'canon' of knowledge taught in schools comes from White, Western ways of knowing. This makes it more important than ever that we take the time to rethink how we design and use subject assessments in schools with kids - particularly in multilingual and multicultural settings.

As a visiting scholar with Linden Global Learning and Support during March 2022, I visited many teachers, school leaders, parents and students working and learning at International Schools. They shared their experiences, which align with many research-based findings, to identify several ways to better support learners across linguistic and cultural differences through the ways we design and enact classroom assessments.

Five ways to support learners in classroom assessment

1. Make it safe

Perhaps the most important place to start is to help students know they are safe to share their ideas. A complication of classroom assessment is that teachers have the dual role of both supporting and evaluating students' learning. In order to help students learn, teachers need to let students know that it is safe to talk with them and let them know where they need support. Students might need more encouragement to ask for help or will need support to bridge different cultural or linguistic differences. In turn, teachers can also let students know that their ideas, their experiences, and their questions all have a place in the classroom. Building on a foundation of trust - which means opening up classroom space for student ideas, rather than shutting students down - can help students feel comfortable to take risks and ask questions.

2. Make it relevant

We all know that when we are planning lessons for students, it's important to make connections with students' ideas and experiences. The same is also true for assessment - rather than switching into unfamiliar contexts, we want to build on what students know and invite them to apply their learning to questions, scenarios, and problems that are relevant to their lives. Mandy Watson, science teacher and Vice Principal of Teaching and Learning at Berlin Metropolitan School, invites students to study human demographics in a community they connect with, and then places students in pairs to share their presentations. This creates a low-stakes learning environment where a student from Costa Rica can connect with a student from Sweden, and Ms. Watson drops in to find out what students learned. This can help to motivate the students to share what they know, and to make connections with other learners in class.

3. Make it accessible

International schools serve a wide spectrum of students from various linguistic backgrounds, but are not designed/intended to assess students in all these languages. As students develop competency in English, we need to be aware that assessing them in this language will require design features of those assessments so that all students can show what they know. Fortunately, we know a lot about how assessments can be designed to be more accessible by bi/multilingual learners (Fine & Furtak, 2020). You can find a sample of a modified middle school science assessment with annotations here .

Allow students to use all their linguistic resources, not just English. This means that they might occasionally mix a word from their home or other language into a sentence with English words; this is a natural way of communicating at the hybrid space between languages, and doesn't limit students as much. You can also invite students to share relevant vocabulary words in their own languages, so that they can draw on (and celebrate) their expertise in their own language to inform what they're learning about at home.

Avoid complicated sentence structure/words in assessment questions and instructions. Over complicated sentences and vocabulary can hold students back from sharing everything they know. If there's a simpler way to ask a question, use it!

Using graphics to support the text. When possible, use graphical representations, pictures, and other visuals to support the text. Students can use these together with the words they know to interpret what's being asked.

Provide support not just around vocabulary, but also the 'action' words in assessment questions. While students might be able to figure out the meaning of science vocabulary, the other words in the instructions - like compare, describe, deduce - might be less familiar. You can pre-teach these words or, like Ms. Watson does, use brackets after the word to describe what the word means in simpler terms. Students who already know the word will skip over the bracketed text, but it will provide crucial support to others who need it.

4. Use multiple modalities

While our default method of assessment is often to ask students to write down their responses, there are many ways to capture all they know and are able to do. As the ways we think about learning shift to be more inclusive of students' varying knowledge and experiences, the kinds of assessments we use in schools should also reflect ways of learning and doing that mirror the most important ideas and competencies we hope students will learn. We can create multiple kinds of spaces where students can show what they know; this means they should be able not just to write their responses but to draw, diagram, and otherwise represent their thinking. Teachers I spoke with use whiteboards, tables, posters - all sorts of ways for students to capture these ideas. These representations can serve as a way for students to show teachers their ideas, and then talk about them.

5. Build bridges, not gates

Christine Orkisz Lang, A former elementary international school teacher and principal, encourages us to think about where we "meet in the middle" between the summative assessment that students experience in schools, and what we do in our own classrooms at the start of and throughout the learning process to support improved understanding.

At the end of the day, we want to provide all learners with opportunities to build on their current ideas and to grow in new directions in school. In order to do this, we need to help students make many connections between those ideas and the goals for their learning. This means we seek to use assessment in classrooms in ways that build bridges, not gates that can close out learning opportunities for some students.

What can school leaders do?

While these shifts may seem small, they can make huge differences in students' ability to learn through classroom assessment. School leaders can create spaces for teachers to come together and talk about how to make these changes in small, grade-level or content-specific groups. In this way, ongoing conversations about diversity and inclusion at international schools can extend to assessment as well.

We might think about assessments as something that is curriculum-based or administered by an external authority, but teachers actually have a lot to do with how students access learning - and particularly how they experience assessment - in their classrooms. Our own histories and identities influence the way we see and hear students. We need to be aware of how our own instructional decisions and responses to students in assessments can open up their opportunities to learn. As teachers, we ask students questions and respond to them in ways intended to support their learning; we must be aware of the filters of our own ideas and experiences, and how those intersect with the ideas and identities of the learners in our classes.

In regular meetings - think weekly or monthly - teachers can talk about learning goals, their own identities as teachers conducting assessment, and their students' interests and what assets they bring to the classroom. Then teachers can select and adapt assessments together that better encapsulate these changes, and come together to look at student responses to determine next steps for instruction.

About the author:

Erin Marie Furtak is Professor of STEM Education at the University of Colorado Boulder . A former high school science teacher, she studies the design and practice of classroom assessments; her recent research has sought to determine ways to design assessments that better support multilingual students in sharing what they know, as well as in supporting teachers in listening to and supporting students through formative assessment. Her partnership with Linden Global Learning and Support is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation .

References

Arbuthnot, K. (2020). Reimagining Assessments in the Postpandemic Era: Creating a Blueprint for the Future. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 39(3), 97-99. https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12376

Fine, C. G. M. C., & Furtak, E. M. (2020). A framework for science classroom assessment task design for emergent bilingual learners. Science Education, 104(3), 393-420. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21565

Solano-Flores, G. (2016). Assessing English language learners: Theory and practice. Routledge.

By Dr Erin Furtak

In recent years, schools have increasingly moved to student-centered classroom environments. In these settings, students and their ideas and questions drive learning and teaching. Students have the chance to create ways of showing what they know that align with these ways of teaching; portfolios, performances, and other ways of doing things that are aligned with/more authentic to students' experiences in their lives/future work.

We also know that the ways that we assess what students know - both while their learning is still in progress, and at the end of instructional units - doesn't always align with these student-centered ways of knowing. Modern approaches to assessment are based on efforts to sort, rank, and measure students in ways that provided access to further opportunities, or excluded students from these opportunities . These outmoded ways of doing assessment can constrain the curriculum in ways that limit students' access to learning & opportunities. In addition, we know from research that language and culture influence how learners take assessments (Arbuthnot, 2020; Solano-Flores, 2016). We also know that the traditional 'canon' of knowledge taught in schools comes from White, Western ways of knowing. This makes it more important than ever that we take the time to rethink how we design and use subject assessments in schools with kids - particularly in multilingual and multicultural settings.

As a visiting scholar with Linden Global Learning and Support during March 2022, I visited many teachers, school leaders, parents and students working and learning at International Schools. They shared their experiences, which align with many research-based findings, to identify several ways to better support learners across linguistic and cultural differences through the ways we design and enact classroom assessments.

Five ways to support learners in classroom assessment

1. Make it safe

Perhaps the most important place to start is to help students know they are safe to share their ideas. A complication of classroom assessment is that teachers have the dual role of both supporting and evaluating students' learning. In order to help students learn, teachers need to let students know that it is safe to talk with them and let them know where they need support. Students might need more encouragement to ask for help or will need support to bridge different cultural or linguistic differences. In turn, teachers can also let students know that their ideas, their experiences, and their questions all have a place in the classroom. Building on a foundation of trust - which means opening up classroom space for student ideas, rather than shutting students down - can help students feel comfortable to take risks and ask questions.

2. Make it relevant

We all know that when we are planning lessons for students, it's important to make connections with students' ideas and experiences. The same is also true for assessment - rather than switching into unfamiliar contexts, we want to build on what students know and invite them to apply their learning to questions, scenarios, and problems that are relevant to their lives. Mandy Watson, science teacher and Vice Principal of Teaching and Learning at Berlin Metropolitan School, invites students to study human demographics in a community they connect with, and then places students in pairs to share their presentations. This creates a low-stakes learning environment where a student from Costa Rica can connect with a student from Sweden, and Ms. Watson drops in to find out what students learned. This can help to motivate the students to share what they know, and to make connections with other learners in class.

3. Make it accessible

International schools serve a wide spectrum of students from various linguistic backgrounds, but are not designed/intended to assess students in all these languages. As students develop competency in English, we need to be aware that assessing them in this language will require design features of those assessments so that all students can show what they know. Fortunately, we know a lot about how assessments can be designed to be more accessible by bi/multilingual learners (Fine & Furtak, 2020). You can find a sample of a modified middle school science assessment with annotations here .

Allow students to use all their linguistic resources, not just English. This means that they might occasionally mix a word from their home or other language into a sentence with English words; this is a natural way of communicating at the hybrid space between languages, and doesn't limit students as much. You can also invite students to share relevant vocabulary words in their own languages, so that they can draw on (and celebrate) their expertise in their own language to inform what they're learning about at home.

Avoid complicated sentence structure/words in assessment questions and instructions. Over complicated sentences and vocabulary can hold students back from sharing everything they know. If there's a simpler way to ask a question, use it!

Using graphics to support the text. When possible, use graphical representations, pictures, and other visuals to support the text. Students can use these together with the words they know to interpret what's being asked.

Provide support not just around vocabulary, but also the 'action' words in assessment questions. While students might be able to figure out the meaning of science vocabulary, the other words in the instructions - like compare, describe, deduce - might be less familiar. You can pre-teach these words or, like Ms. Watson does, use brackets after the word to describe what the word means in simpler terms. Students who already know the word will skip over the bracketed text, but it will provide crucial support to others who need it.

4. Use multiple modalities

While our default method of assessment is often to ask students to write down their responses, there are many ways to capture all they know and are able to do. As the ways we think about learning shift to be more inclusive of students' varying knowledge and experiences, the kinds of assessments we use in schools should also reflect ways of learning and doing that mirror the most important ideas and competencies we hope students will learn. We can create multiple kinds of spaces where students can show what they know; this means they should be able not just to write their responses but to draw, diagram, and otherwise represent their thinking. Teachers I spoke with use whiteboards, tables, posters - all sorts of ways for students to capture these ideas. These representations can serve as a way for students to show teachers their ideas, and then talk about them.

5. Build bridges, not gates

Christine Orkisz Lang, A former elementary international school teacher and principal, encourages us to think about where we "meet in the middle" between the summative assessment that students experience in schools, and what we do in our own classrooms at the start of and throughout the learning process to support improved understanding.

At the end of the day, we want to provide all learners with opportunities to build on their current ideas and to grow in new directions in school. In order to do this, we need to help students make many connections between those ideas and the goals for their learning. This means we seek to use assessment in classrooms in ways that build bridges, not gates that can close out learning opportunities for some students.

What can school leaders do?

While these shifts may seem small, they can make huge differences in students' ability to learn through classroom assessment. School leaders can create spaces for teachers to come together and talk about how to make these changes in small, grade-level or content-specific groups. In this way, ongoing conversations about diversity and inclusion at international schools can extend to assessment as well.

We might think about assessments as something that is curriculum-based or administered by an external authority, but teachers actually have a lot to do with how students access learning - and particularly how they experience assessment - in their classrooms. Our own histories and identities influence the way we see and hear students. We need to be aware of how our own instructional decisions and responses to students in assessments can open up their opportunities to learn. As teachers, we ask students questions and respond to them in ways intended to support their learning; we must be aware of the filters of our own ideas and experiences, and how those intersect with the ideas and identities of the learners in our classes.

In regular meetings - think weekly or monthly - teachers can talk about learning goals, their own identities as teachers conducting assessment, and their students' interests and what assets they bring to the classroom. Then teachers can select and adapt assessments together that better encapsulate these changes, and come together to look at student responses to determine next steps for instruction.

About the author:

Erin Marie Furtak is Professor of STEM Education at the University of Colorado Boulder . A former high school science teacher, she studies the design and practice of classroom assessments; her recent research has sought to determine ways to design assessments that better support multilingual students in sharing what they know, as well as in supporting teachers in listening to and supporting students through formative assessment. Her partnership with Linden Global Learning and Support is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation .

References

Arbuthnot, K. (2020). Reimagining Assessments in the Postpandemic Era: Creating a Blueprint for the Future. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 39(3), 97-99. https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12376

Fine, C. G. M. C., & Furtak, E. M. (2020). A framework for science classroom assessment task design for emergent bilingual learners. Science Education, 104(3), 393-420. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21565

Solano-Flores, G. (2016). Assessing English language learners: Theory and practice. Routledge.

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Five ways teachers can engage multilingual & multicultural learners in classroom assessment

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As a visiting scholar with Linden Global Learning and Support during March 2022, Dr Erin Furtak visited many teachers, school leaders, parents and students working and learning at International Schools. They shared their experiences, which align with many research-based findings, to identify several ways to better support learners across linguistic and cultural differences through the ways we design and enact classroom assessments.

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This slide gives information that as a future teacher I need to keep in mind when trying to understand all of my students.

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This website shows strategies and important information for teacher to keep in mind when they try to connect with EL/EB students parents and the community.

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The following strategies offer tips for building relationships with the families of English language learners (ELLs), getting to know their strengths and stories, and creating a welcoming environment.

Supporting immigrant families

For related ideas, see the following:

1. Learn about your ELL population

A. What you need to know

Learning about your ELL families provides an important foundation for everything else you do at the school. Even basic information about students' ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, or the situations from which they have come, can help you match students with the appropriate services and programs.

B. Reflection

Answer the following questions about your ELL families using a KWL chart:

What do you know about your ELL students and families?

What do you want to learn?

Who on the staff works most closely with your ELL families?

What would be valuable for your school-wide staff to know?

C. Strategies

If you do not yet know this information about your ELLs, find out:

What countries your families come from

How many of your ELLs were born in the U.S.

What languages they speak (which may be at least two or three!)

If families who speak the same language, such as Spanish, come from different countries or different regions within the same country

The educational background of families and the school system of their countries

If any of your ELLs are refugees or students with interrupted formal education

If your families have experienced war or another traumatic event such as a natural disaster.

In order to learn more about your ELL families:

Start with your ELL/bilingual educators. These individuals are an important resource whose experience working with ELL students and families can benefit the entire school community - and they will appreciate the opportunity to share their expertise!

Find out what resources are available from the district and community. This may include helpful background information as well as a network of interpreters.

Enlist a knowledgeable staff member, community member, or parent. If you find such a person, examine his/her background as it relates to what you need. For example, you may know a Somali young adult who is bilingual but doesn't remember Somalia. He may be more helpful as an interpreter than as a liaison for Somali families who have just arrived in the U.S.

Ask the families. You may want to include some questions in your home language survey or a very basic questionnaire that ELL parents fill out with an interpreter during student enrollment.

Note: Remember that your ELL population is not homogeneous. The child of a migrant worker from Mexico and the child of a teacher from Mexico probably won't have the same educational and economic needs. Learn what you can about each child's unique circumstances to the extent possible.

D. Example

An administrator from Minnesota wanted to better understand the needs of the children who were arriving at her school directly from Kenyan refugee camps. She wrote a grant that enabled her to travel to Kenya and visit the camps from which they were coming. What she learned at the camps was not only helpful for her; it was helpful for the entire staff. Based on her experience, she was also able to prevent some major misunderstandings around discipline issues. (Related video: Understanding Student Background, Dr. Cynthia Lundgren)

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2. Integrate cultural traditions of your ELL families throughout the school

A. What you need to know

Becoming familiar with and including the cultural traditions of your ELL families within the larger school community not only enhances your ability to create a welcoming and respectful school environment - it has practical considerations as well. These include:

Scheduling: Scheduling around important cultural or religious holidays will help prevent large numbers of students from missing important instruction time, exams, and school events.

Classroom opportunities: Familiarity with ELL families' cultural traditions will provide teachers a base from which to build upon ELLs' background knowledge, create educational opportunities for other students, and foster a sense of respect among students for their peers.

Improved communication: Learning about your ELL families' traditions may help avoid miscommunication or cultural blunders that can damage a budding relationship.

B. Reflection

What are your ELLs' cultural behaviors and values? Which celebrations and holidays do they observe? How does your staff feel about the changes in your school population? How do they feel about working with ELLs?

C. Strategies

Avoid scheduling important events such as conferences or tests on major holidays and celebrations that large numbers of students are likely to miss.

Share these dates with the entire staff.

Share information about cultural celebrations with teachers so that they are able to positively support them and incorporate them into lessons. Even a simple memo that explains why students will be out and offers some ideas for follow-up activities will be helpful. (Encourage teachers to start with children's books, which often have background information and activities, such as these titles about Ramadan, Chinese New Year, and Día de los muertos.)

Learn about, recognize, and celebrate special events or holidays throughout the school.

Invite parents to share food, activities, and music at school events and in the classroom.

Encourage students to share traditions in school assemblies, talent shows, potlucks, and fairs.

Offer food that reflects the cultural influences of your families on the cafeteria menu.

Be mindful that students who are fasting may be less energetic in the afternoon. If possible, avoid school-wide parties or food-centered activities during these times.

Notes: Staff may resist the changes happening around them, and they may be uncomfortable discussing those changes. Such was the case of a school custodian in Minnesota who asked a receptionist "why they (the Muslim students) get special days off and we can't even celebrate Christmas." Dr. Lundgren explains the importance of having an open, non-threatening conversation with the entire staff that acknowledges the challenges of serving a new ELL population and explores steps the school can take to address those challenges. (Related video: Cultural shifts, Dr. Lundgren)

You may find it helpful to bring in a neutral, outside party who specializes in cross-cultural education and communication in order to help moderate these conversations if they seem particularly fraught with tension. An open dialogue with a professional will give your staff the tools they need to adjust to the new reality and create a more positive, welcoming environment for everyone in the school.

D. Examples

Storyteller Lucía González remembers a storyteller-in-residence program she led at a Colorado elementary school. The program was going to culminate with a Spanish-language story hour for the Latino families at the school. On the night of the event, the weather was bad, and few people had arrived as she was getting ready to start. Seeing the small crowd, the principal turned to her and said, "Don't worry if they don't come, because usually they don't come." At 7:00 p.m., however, the parents began to arrive, led by the excited children who had heard her stories. (Related video: A dream come true - The Storyteller's Candle, Lucía González)

A group of Muslim students at Forest Heights Collegiate Institute in Ontario approached principal Jim Woolley about finding a place to pray within the school. After working with an immigration settlement worker and local imam, the school reserved a classroom in which students pray on Friday afternoon after the school is closed. They use the classroom and then lock the door when they finish. According to Mr. Woolley, it doesn't cost the school anything and it doesn't require supervision. "We trust them," he said (D'Amato, 2011).

3. Create a welcoming environment for families

A. What you need to know

A welcoming environment can make a tremendous difference for all families, including ELL families. Entering a friendly, vibrant atmosphere lets families know that the school is "an integral part of the community" (Houk, 63) and that they are valued members of that community. This is especially important for immigrant families who may be intimidated by the formal school environment and the English language needed to participate.

Another way to think of this is to keep your ELLs visible. ELLs are often treated as an invisible minority, but ELLs and their families should "see themselves" throughout the school:

On the walls, through student work and photos

In the classroom, with books and lessons that incorporate their experiences and traditions

In school-wide cultural activities

In the faces of staff and volunteers who come from similar backgrounds.

B. Reflection

Imagine that you have arrived in a new country where you don't speak the language and where you will be enrolling your child in a local school. Think about arriving at the school for the first time, only to discover that no one at the school speaks English. Imagine the feeling of leaving your child in the hands of people with whom you can't communicate. Now envision, instead, that someone who speaks English greets you at the door, and you see a picture of an American flag in the front hallway. What might you be able to accomplish as a parent in the second situation that you wouldn't in the first?

C. Strategies

Make sure parents know how to get into the building, especially if doors are usually locked during the school day.

Post signs in multiple languages.

Display student work on the walls.

Display student and family photos on the walls.

Display the maps and flags of your students' native countries.

Display a large map in the front lobby where parents can mark their native countries with a pin.

Enlist a bilingual morning greeter to welcome students and families.

Ensure that your bilingual staff and volunteers are visible throughout the building.

Create a parent room (such as a lounge or classroom) with bilingual information and magazine subscriptions, a bulletin board, a lending library, and a computer (Houk, 58, 63).

Include bilingual books in the school library and classrooms.

Consider playing music in the front entryway or lobby.

Encourage teachers to create a welcoming environment within the classroom.

D. Example

At Lincoln Options School, in Olympia, Washington, there are photos of the entire school community - students, staff, and families - to greet guests in the front lobby. Each year, the school hires a photographer to attend its annual back-to-school barbeque and take informal photos (Houk, 9). In addition, student work is posted throughout the building (16).

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4. Make a personal connection with families

A. What you need to know

Getting to know ELL families helps build an important relationship based on trust, which in turn can pave the way to student success. This approach is most effective when the communication is personal and face-to-face (Hori, 40; Alford 85). While it will require additional time and effort, building a more personal relationship with ELL families early in the year will yield big dividends throughout the rest of the year (Hori, 40). It will also provide opportunities for the staff to see just how deeply ELL parents care about their children's education.

Indeed, as Dr. Lundgren notes, many ELL families have come to this country with the hopes of offering their children a better future, and they are eager to talk with their children's teachers about what they can do to help their child be successful. (Related video: A better life, Dr. Lundgren)

B. Reflection

What are the challenges in meeting your ELL families personally? What are some ways to facilitate more personal interaction?

C. Strategies

Hold a special back-to-school event or picnic for ELL families in which they have time to meet you, other school leaders, their children's teachers, and school staff.

Create a welcome DVD in multiple languages. This may even be a great student project!

Provide staff the opportunity to learn some common phrases in your families' languages, as well as cultural gestures.

Visit local neighborhoods to meet families.

Connect new families with a contact person who speaks their language as soon as they enroll in the school for guidance and information (Houk, 66).

Create an "ambassador" program in which students and parents are trained to give tours.

D. Examples

Educator Maricela Rincon in Las Cruces, NM calls a different parent every day to share something positive about his/her child. According to Rincon, some parents say, "This is the first time I've had a positive phone call about my child." While Rincon is enthusiastic about the calls, they weren't her idea - they were required by the school principal (Flannery, NEA.org). (Related video: Parent outreach in high school, Bobbi Ciriza Houtchens)

A group of school educators asked experts from a local university to help them learn more about their ELL community. After the initial conversation, it was clear that the school leaders assumed that the parents' lack of input, communication, and attendance reflected a lack of interest in their child's education. After getting some parent input, however, the educators discovered that the parents weren't enthusiastic about the school letters inviting them to events. They didn't feel that the events were planned with them in mind, and the letters seemed very impersonal. The parents didn't see the letters as the invitations they were intended to be. They expressed preference for more personal contact and invitations from the school, at least in the beginning of the year, in order to establish a strong relationship (Alford and Niño, 81-82).

This is an excerpt from a parent letter to the principal about her first visit to her child's school:
I was very surprised when we were not able to speak to Lupe's teacher, Mrs. Gibbons, individually. In Guatemala we all knew the teachers and the teachers knew the parents...We do not know anyone here nor does anyone know us...we would have liked to tell Mrs. Gibbons how much we value education (Amaya, 53).

5. Show that you value families' native languages

A. What you need to know

As the school leader, one of your most important roles is defining the terms of engagement when it comes to ELLs' native languages. Do you see those languages as a barrier or an asset? Do you see native language literacy and instruction as a crutch or a tool?

Unfortunately, the political climate often dictates district or state policy regarding native language support (Wright, 51), and important information regarding the value of native language literacy is often left out of the debate. Frequently, ELL parents themselves are the party most resistant to promoting their native language at home or in school because they believe it will hinder their child's ability to learn English. While this belief is entirely understandable, the research is clear that strong native language skills contribute to ELLs' academic success throughout their education - in their native language and in English.

What can you do to navigate this tricky terrain and encourage the continued development of students' native language skills, as well as biliteracy and bilingualism for all students?

Respect parents' intentions: It is critical to assure parents that you respect their wishes and goals for their children; you can do so by explaining that strong native language skills will help their children learn English. This reassures parents that you have their children's best interests at heart and that you view their native language as an asset, not an obstacle.

Encourage native language use at home: Don't miss any opportunity to encourage parents to use their native language, whether it's through reading (which will help their children's reading skills in English) or taking the time to talk to each other at home. Look for ways that the school can support this interaction by offering bilingual books, educational materials, and activities.

Professional development: Provide training to all staff on the importance of maintaining students' native language and ways in which they can support students' bilingual development. Understandably, many teachers still feel that the best way to help ELLs is to forbid native language use in the classroom. Often, in this case, the teachers have good intentions - they just need more information. There may also be some anxiety about not being able to understand what students are saying. The best way to address this issue is through good professional development with an expert in second language or dual-language acquisition. Not only will the staff learn strategies that will help them and their students, they will learn how to answer parent questions about this topic with confidence as well!

B. Reflection

What is the current attitude towards ELLs' native languages in your school? Is a student's use of his/her native language encouraged or discouraged in the classroom? Do parents know where to get information in their language? How do teachers approach this issue?

C. Strategies

Post information in multiple languages.

Discuss with parents the value of strong native language skills and being bilingual.

Encourage parents to read or tell stories to their children in their native language.

Offer parent sessions, workshops, and classes in parents' native languages (Meyers, 44).

Include books in students' native languages in the school and classroom libraries (Freeman, 42).

Make resources available to students in their native languages to support content learning.

Consider the possibility of adding academic coursework (such as Spanish Literature for Spanish speakers) or AP courses in students' native languages.

Hire bilingual staff and recruit bilingual volunteers to the extent possible.

Inform parents that they are welcome to bring their own interpreter to a school meeting.

Provide training to all staff on why maintaining students' native language is important and how to support students' bilingual development.

Offer staff guidance on how to respond to parents' questions and comments.

D. Examples

In Illinois' Evanston/Skokie School District 65, parents are continually encouraged to use their native language at home and read to their children in their native languages daily. Washington School, a two-way immersion school, offers a family literacy program funded with a state grant in which parents participate in afternoon and evening literacy activities at the school and public libraries. Parents also learn how to help their children with homework - all in their native language (Yturriago, 51-52).

At Webster Elementary School in Long Beach, California, the school library has a large collection of books in Spanish and Samoan, the two dominant languages of the school's ELLs. Parents are encouraged to borrow books and bring younger siblings to the library (Houk, 45-56).

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Connecting with ELL Families: Strategies for Success

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The following strategies offer tips for building relationships with the families of English language learners (ELLs), getting to know their strengths and stories, and creating a welcoming environment. Supporting immigrant families For related ideas, see the following: A. What you need to know Learning about your ELL families provides an important foundation for everything else you do at the school.

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This image shows the language variation and the different areas in which English is spoken. It is important to know how much English the students have been exposed to before coming into the classroom. This allows the teacher to provide the best support to the students.

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This website is useful because it explains what Standard English is and the variety of ways it is used.

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This article gives examples of ways to integrate technology into the classroom that will benefit language learning and language development assessment.

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One of the most challenging aspects for educators of English language learners (ELLs) is accurately assessing language development over time - oral language, in particular. Due to the conversational nature of language, it can be incredibly difficult to assess oral language while simultaneously engaging in conversation, not to mention recording the data as you go.

While the speaking and listening domains can be the hardest to objectively assess over time, reading and writing shouldn't be overlooked. ELL educators are always looking through two lenses - content knowledge and English language development (ELD).

A few savvy strategies coupled with technology integration can enhance not only English language learning within the four domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) of ELD, but your assessment of language development over time as well.

The In-Flipped Classroom

When you're facing the teacher time crunch, the in-flipped classroom can be your best friend. A traditional flipped classroom has students watch lessons at home and come back to school for practice. Unfortunately, not all of our ELLs have the resources at home to make this model work. With an in-flipped classroom, students watch the lesson in school ahead of direct instruction. Whether you're a classroom teacher looking to push content ahead of a lesson, or a resource teacher looking to maximize your time, recording your lessons ahead of time can greatly impact the growth that your ELLs make.

The short video clip above is a read-aloud lesson that was taped before the teacher came into the class. Notice how the classroom teacher is able to monitor not only the students' on-task listening progress with the "Easter eggs" hidden in the video, but by asking the students to demonstrate actions from the video, the teacher can embed new vocabulary like "rapping on a desk" in an authentic way. When the teacher sits down, students are ready to dive into the discussion portion of the lesson, maximizing the amount of time ELLs can spend speaking and listening.

Videos like these can be used for reteaching or review, too. Students have the ability to take control of their own learning when they can independently access lessons they need to spend more time on. It's also particularly useful for fostering a home-school connection. When parents have access to lessons taught in class, they have a good understanding of what's happened during school and are better able to help at home.

Guided Reading

Primary ELL teachers know that reading, reading, and re-reading are the keys to early literacy success, but listening to every reader in a group can be a challenge. Round robin reading doesn't provide a natural reading setting, yet making sure every reader gets the attention they deserve can be difficult.

Luckily, there's an easy solution. Using PDF books with an app like Explain Everything gives early learners access to digital content in a kid-friendly way. Students can record themselves as they read, and you can go back later to assess their reading more closely and accurately with a running record. An added benefit? Students can listen to themselves reading and are motivated to read it again until it's perfect. It's a great way to motivate a reluctant re-reader!

While this is particularly useful in giving ELL students repeated exposure to new reading, it's a great trick for any reader. Don't forget to add a few blank pages at the end of the PDF. Students can write about their reading for a balanced literacy connection. Here are two examples that show different levels of kindergarten writing at the end of this guided reading book:

Formative Assessments

ELL teachers are always looking for authentic ways to assess what new vocabulary their students have learned in the course of a lesson. Why not have students record their learning as an exit ticket?

In the video above, you can hear all kinds of new academic language like disc, shaft, ramp, and wobbled. This student is also adding modifiers like red, beside, and straight to describe her experiment. We can hear her accurately using plural nouns, adverbs, and prepositions like across the room. By recording her response we have a clear understanding of not only this student's content knowledge, but also the sophistication of her English language development as well. Not bad for second grade!

Summative Assessments

Having students orally demonstrate their learning can be a great way for them to show what they've learned and to practice their oral language at the same time. However, for your shyest ELLs, it can be an intimidating experience. Why not let them try pre-recording their summative assessment ahead of time?

Students can add their own pictures and record their voices at the same time. This first-grade clip not only has a lot of academic vocabulary, but also gives the teacher a recorded example of how this child's English language development has progressed. Her use of language is sophisticated for a first grader, but she is misusing prepositions when she says, "This is a closer look of krils." It's a small mistake, but the perfect place for reinforcement on when to use of and at in English. For an older student, it might be the right place for direct instruction on the use of prepositions.

ELL teachers are always evaluating student progress through two lenses: assessing content knowledge and the progression of English language development. Why not use technology to make the task a little easier? Try these four strategies to accurately assess English language development over time.
For more ideas on helping your ELLs with English language development, see
What strategies do you find useful to evaluate both content knowledge and the progression of English language development? Share your ideas in the comments below.

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Technology Integration to Support Language Development

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A few strategies coupled with technology integration can enhance English language learning in the primary classroom.

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This website gives step by step process of digital story telling. Digital story telling allows anyone to create a story and share it with the world.

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Transform Learning ~ written by Samantha Morra

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First appeared on Edudemic. (Updated 3/14/2014)

Stories bring us together, encourage us to understand and empathize, and help us to communicate. Long before paper and books were common and affordable, information passed from generation to generation through this oral tradition of storytelling. Consider Digital Storytelling as the 21st Century version of the age-old art of storytelling with a twist: digital tools now make it possible for anyone to create a story and share it with the world.

WHY Digital Storytelling?

Digital stories push students to become creators of content, rather than just consumers. Weaving together images, music, text, and voice, digital stories can be created in all content areas and at all grade levels while incorporating the 21st century skills of creating, communicating, and collaborating.

Movies, created over a century ago, represent the beginning of digital storytelling. Consuming movies has become a cultural phenomenon, but making them was inaccessible to the average person for decades. Film cameras, 8mm and even video cameras served as big breakthroughs, but editing posed a challenge until technology progressed with software, websites, and apps exploding on the scene and putting advanced editing skills into the hands of everyone. Look at the meteoric rise of YouTube and other video sharing websites. At no other time in history have we been able to create, edit and share video on both a personal and global scale. In fact, video and images have become primary ways of communicating, taking the place of traditional print literacies in some areas.

8 Steps to Great Digital Stories

Great digital stories:

Are personal

Begin with the story/script

Are concise

Use readily-available source materials

Include universal story elements

Involve collaboration at a variety of levels

In order to achieve this level of greatness, students need to work through a Digital Storytelling Process.

1. Start with an Idea

All stories begin with an idea, and digital stories are no different. This idea could be the topic of a lesson, a chapter heading in a textbook, or a question asked in class. Digital stories might be fiction or non-fiction. Once you or your student have an idea, make it concrete: write a proposal, craft a paragraph, draw a mind-map, or use any other pre-writing tool.

I once had 5th graders write their proposal on National Parks as a paragraph. The topic sentence was the park that they picked and its location. Then, they had to include three interesting facts about the park. Finally. the conclusion sentence had to explain why they picked that park or were excited to study it. In the process, we not only wrote the proposal but also improved our paragraph writing. One student commented, "I think I finally have this paragraph thing down."
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2. Research/Explore/Learn

Whether writing a fiction or nonfiction digital story, students need to research, explore or learn about the topic in order to create a base of information on which the story will be built. During this process, students learn both about validating information and information bias as they delve deeper into a topic.

At this stage, organization is very important. I often use mind-mapping to help students keep track of information. Outlines, index cards, and online note-taking tools all work as well. If students can organize their information digitally, then it makes the next steps much easier.
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3. Write/Script

When you are trying to write, there is nothing worse than a blank sheet of paper. That's why I strongly encourage the 2 pre-writing steps above. If students have a proposal, with a little bit of editing, it can become the introduction. If students research and explored a topic well, the body of the script should fall into place like a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces are already there, students just need to make them fit.

This is also the time where literary decisions come into play. Ask students to determine whether they will use first, second or third person. Challenge them to expand word choices. Give them an opportunity to break out a dictionary or thesaurus. I once worked with high school social studies teachers who had the students write a full essay or research paper before turning it into a script. They told me that when they were done with the project, the students should be "experts" on the topic. It depends all on your goal and your students.
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4. Storyboard/Plan

Good stories start with a good script, but they don't end there. This is where we transition into visual media literacies. George Lucas once said, "If people aren't taught the language of sound and images, shouldn't they be considered as illiterate as if they left college without being able to read or write?" Storyboarding is the first step towards understanding sound and images. It is the plan or blueprint that will guide decision making about images, video and sound. Simple storyboards will just have room for images/video and the script. More advanced ones might even include room for transitions, and background music.
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5. Gather and Create Images, Audio and Video

This is the "stuff" that makes magic happen and writing come alive. Using their storyboard as a guide, students will gather - or create - images, audio and video. Everything they choose will impact and set the tone for their digital story. Introduce concepts such as visual hierarchy, tone, and illustration. This is also a great time to talk about Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons. Students should use this time to record themselves reading their scripts. I have often noticed that students rewrite their scripts as they record. Through this step in the process, they become acutely aware of mistakes and poor word choices.
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6. Put It All Together

This is where the magic happens - where students discover if their storyboard needs tweaking and if they have enough "stuff" to create their masterpiece. You will see students revisit and revise their storyboard. I love this stage. This is usually when students are so engrossed in their work that they don't leave when the bell rings, or they come back at lunch or after-school to work on the project. They will find ways to push the technology and tools beyond your expectations - blending images, creating unique transitions between video clips, incorporating music or sound effects. I also use this stage to provide students with a rubric so they understand what is necessary for a completed project as well as how to push themselves beyond the expectations.
Resources Rubrics
7. Share

Sharing online has become deeply embedded in our culture, so as educators, we might as well embrace it. Review your school or district's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and then look for a way to share your students' stories with a broader audience. Knowing that other people might see their work often raises student motivation to make it the best possible work that they can do.
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8. Reflection and Feedback

Too often in education, we do not teach or allow time for reflection and feedback. What did I learn? What do I know about myself that I did not know before? How can I do better next time?

Students need to be taught how to reflect on their own work and give feedback to others that is both constructive and valuable. Blogs, wikis discussion boards, and student response systems or polling tools can all be used to help students at this stage.
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Beyond Traditional Assessment

Schools across the country are embracing digital storytelling as an amazing tool for students to communicate their personal understanding of a topic. Digital stories create a bridge across content areas and provide opportunities for students to break free from print literacies to add deeper dimension to their work. It is critical that schools embraces digital storytelling and video creation as skills our students must learn in order to successfully communicate in the 21st century. This is a "Gutenberg" moment where communication and storytelling have changed so drastically that it "shakes-up" our cultural, social, and academic norms. Digital stories provide us with information that knowledge has been shared and understood. They allow us to ask our students: "What is the story? What is your story."
To learn more about Digital Storytelling, come join me for Digital Storytelling & Multimedia Projects, July 8-10 in Boston.

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First appeared on Edudemic. (Updated 3/14/2014) 8 Steps To Great Digital Storytelling Stories bring us together, encourage us to understand and empathize, and help us to communicate. Long before paper and books were common and affordable, information passed from generation to generation through this oral tradition of storytelling.

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This website provides simple ways to begin using science curriculum for language learning. It explains the importance of learning vocabulary words in meaningful ways and being exposed to valuable science concepts.

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Using Science to Develop ELLs' Language Skills

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"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka! I found it!' but 'That's funny...'" - Isaac Asimov "Oh, you mean the life cycle." This was my pre-school daughter's response to my long explanation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly.

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This article talks about the benefits of using science talk in the classroom which can be beneficial to use in the future. It is a simple what to not only have science learning but also language development.

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This article dispels some misconceptions that people may have about English learners and special education.

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Some Myths Regarding ELLs and Special Education

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Several myths prevail in the area of special education for ELLs. These myths guide us in the way we approach education in general, in the way we interpret students' behaviors, and in how we teach and assess students. The following are commonly held misconceptions regarding ELLs and special education.

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This article compares disabilities and language disabilities. It is important to know the differences so students can be provided the correct services and support for them to be successful.

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This gives a simple break down of how to write language objectives. It is a good tool to have when struggling to write strong language objectives.

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Writing Effective Language Objectives Handouts (1)

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This gives examples of content and language objectives used with different subjects which is helpful. It also allows us to see the difference between the two which is important when creating a lesson plan.

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This article provides strategies to help create a lesson plan for Social studies. It points out important concepts to keep in mind when trying to create a lesson plan that will help the students comprehend the information.

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Consider the following scenario:

A fifth-grade teacher was preparing her class to learn about the American Revolution. She enlisted the students' help in acting out the events that led to the Revolution with elaborate props and exercises. When the class ended, the students were told they would read more about the Revolution the following day. As they left the room, an ESL student stopped and asked urgently, "But who won?"

This situation highlights some of the challenges that teachers face when helping English language learners, or ELLs, master social studies content:

Background knowledge
ELLs may not have the same background knowledge that their peers have or that textbook authors take for granted, as explained in this video clip with ELL teacher Amber Prentice.

Different perspectives
ELLs bring their own valuable and important experiences to the classroom. Often those experiences can be connected to the content in meaningful ways; however, if different points of view or ideas aren't expressed or identified, students may miss key concepts and ideas in the lesson.

Academic language and vocabulary
ELLs must learn the academic language and vocabulary needed to comprehend and produce new content - all while learning the new content and concepts at the same time!

For content-area teachers with limited experience working with ELLs, planning a lesson that engages them and helps them learn new material may seem daunting. The good news is that there are a number of ways to engage ELLs with social studies content and draw on their own unique background knowledge and perspectives. This article will describe some strategies for planning social studies lessons with ELLs in mind.

In addition, I recommend taking a look at the following resources:

Note: Lesson Planning to Ensure Optimal Engagement of ELLs (Chapter 2 of Teaching English Language Learners Across the Content Areas), is available online and provides a number of helpful resources, including a checklist for modifying lesson plans for ELLs. In addition, Appendix Two of the book (not available online) provides a lesson modification worksheet.

Lesson Planning Strategies

Identify key concepts necessary for understanding the lesson

When choosing your key concepts, keep in mind the following:

Background knowledge
ELLs with limited or interrupted schooling may not have that same level of knowledge as their peers, especially when it comes to historical or cultural topics. When starting a new lesson, look for references or concepts that may need to be explicitly explained.

Language proficiency
Students may already possess content knowledge that they cannot yet demonstrate in English. Look for opportunities to make associations between students' experiences and new content.

Perspective
Students may have a different perspective on the content than their peers. These differences provide an important opportunity for class discussion and learning as long as they are handled in a sensitive and respectful ways.

In addition, plan to find out what students know about the topic you are teaching before getting started. This will help you fill in gaps and build on prior knowledge. A great tool for this activity is a Circle Map, in which you place the main topic in a small circle and add student ideas in a bigger circle around the topic. You may wish to allow ELLs to use their native language with peers for a quick brainstorm before presenting their ideas to the whole class.

Identify content and language objectives

These objectives are a great way to focus on the most important information and language structures you want your students to master. Content objectives focus on the material while language objectives focus on vocabulary or language structures that students should be able to use throughout the lesson (Haynes and Zacarian, 28).

Think about how you are going to:

introduce these concepts using simple language,

break the concepts down into the most basic elements,

keep the objectives visible to students during the unit (i.e., post them on the board or provide a simple outline to keep in binders).

Identify key vocabulary and academic vocabulary

Identify key terms, words, idioms and phrases - TWIPS, according to Dr. Zacarian (19). Choose the vocabulary that your students need to know in order to support their reading development and content-area learning, in addition to key content vocabulary. Remember to prepare student-friendly definitions for TWIPS ahead of time. It may be helpful to look at other social studies vocabulary lists as well.

In addition:

Look for problem areas
Clarify potential areas of confusion, such as homonyms or words with more than one meaning.

Include signal and directional words
Remember that students may also need explicit instruction in signal or directional words ("because" and "explain"), especially those words that are likely to appear frequently in the content materials or activities.

Don't overlook the basic words
There may be many words used through a lesson that native English-speaking students will understand but that ELLs don't know. Keep an eye out for these words, no matter how basic, and make a list of words that your students have questions about so that you can refer back to it when teaching the lesson in the future.

Use visuals and manipulatives when possible
Having a visual reference for new words is particularly helpful for ELLs.

Keep words visible and accessible to students
Post words on a word wall, or try using a "portable word wall" chart that students can put in their binder. The chart might include categories such as new words, old words, people, everyday words, words to review, etc. (Haynes and Zacarian, 59-60).

Remember to include lots of student practice
For students to really know a word, they must use it - or they will lose it. Use new words in class discussions or outside of class in other contexts if appropriate, such as on field trips. Give the students as many opportunities to use and master the new vocabulary as possible, both in writing and speaking activities. You may find this six-step process for teaching academic vocabulary from Dr. Robert Marzano helpful.

Prepare to preview the text

One strategy is a "chapter walk", where students predict what the chapter will be about based on pictures and highlighted features of the textbook.

An activity like this may take some time at first because it's time-consuming to teach. If you use it with regularity, however, it will become easier and quicker, and students will be able to do this on their own at the beginning of a new chapter.

You can also use the "BIG FOX" strategy, published by McGraw-Hill. This graphic organizer helps students pick out important terms and pieces of information before reading. I recommend practicing this strategy with some simple readings about familiar topics before jumping in with the textbook. The students will understand the strategy better if they start out with concepts that they understand.

Prepare multimedia, visuals, and related readings

These resources can be used to build background knowledge and provide context for ELLs, especially when students are learning new concepts and words. Ideas include:

Using photos from books, magazines, or the Internet to supplement textbooks.

Showing brief, focused video clips of history or social studies programs.

Listening to a short podcast or radio clip of an interview or speech.

Discussing additional readings such as related articles, poems, letters, and graphic novels.

Enlist native language support when possible

These strategies can help students identify content they already know, or master new concepts before transferring those ideas and learning how to express them in English:

Collaborate with a bilingual paraprofessional and identify areas where bilingual language support will be most helpful.

Look for related content materials in the students' native language from publishers like Scholastic or National Geographic/Cengage.

Plan group work in which students can use their native language with peers to discuss main ideas or vocabulary words.

Plan to include group work throughout the unit

Peer learning activities such as Reciprocal Teaching and Think-Pair-Share can be powerful tools for engaging ELLs with content learning.

Use modeling and clear instructions to ensure students understand:

how the activity works

their role in group work

the objective of the activity

any key vocabulary or phrases they should be using.

Here are some other tips on group work for ELLs from Haynes and Zacarian:

Assign students group roles that match their language ability (37).

Promote students to new roles as their language skills improve (42).

Make sure that mainstream students understand that they will be working in diverse groups, and that everyone's contributions are important (41).

Keep an eye on the balance of student participation; if some students are speaking more than others, ask them to think of some ways to even participation out (42).

Ask students to reflect on their group work after they have finished an activity. Haynes and Zacarian include a chart in their book with some guiding statements for student reflection (48).

Plan plenty of opportunities for students to interact with the content

Give students lots of opportunities to engage with and review the material in different ways:

Graphic organizers
Use graphic organizers to review key concepts and vocabulary words.

Flash cards
Have students make their own flash cards with pictures, definitions, key facts, etc.

Working with the text
Teach students to underline, highlight, and make notes. You may also find that sticky notes, Wikki Stix, and highlighting tape are a big hit with students (68). According to Haynes, some school districts order extra textbooks for their ELL classes so that teachers can keep a highlighted copy on hand as a student reference.

Use acting
Have the students write skits about the material they are learning, or create an activity in which students provide a physical representation of a particular event or vocabulary word.

Be creative and flexible with writing assignments

Writing can be an important way for students to show what they've learned:

Be creative and flexible
When choosing writing activities for students, be creative and open to different ways for students to express their new knowledge. I have seen students successfully convey what they learned by writing letters, poems, news articles and mosaics with vocabulary key points. Writing an essay may be more difficult for ELLs, and although they need to learn how to write a good essay eventually, they should be allowed to demonstrate their learning through a variety of writing activities.

Look for writing exercises that relate to the topic at hand
This may include a biography or autobiography, a letter from the point of view of a historical figure, or a short news article about a famous event.

Provide models
Give ELLs explicit structures and sentence frames to follow. Frames may vary in complexity and specificity, but they will help students to model correct structures and usage from the beginning.

Plan to adapt homework and assessment as needed

While it's important to have high expectations of ELLs, it is also important to have realistic expectations of the amount of work they can do. Haynes and Zacarian note, "The teacher's goal should be to making learning accessible and meaningful for every student without lowering expectations or sacrificing rigor" (104-105).

They continue in Chapter 7 of their book to provide a number of helpful rubrics and step-by-step procedures for evaluating your homework and assessment activities with ELLs in mind. In Twenty-Five Quick Tips for Classroom Teachers, Haynes suggests that teachers "adjust homework assignment to your ELLs' English language proficiency (and) modify assessment so that your ELLs have an opportunity to show what they have learned."

As you look for ways to help your students learn this new content, remember that you aren't just teaching them required social studies standards - you are helping your students adjust to a new life and country. That preparation has a potentially significant ripple effect because your students may be helping their own parents navigate this new country as well, and they may need to prepare for a U.S. Citizenship exam one day in the future.

Through social studies lessons, you also can prepare your students to be engaged and well-informed participants in our society and democracy, an opportunity they might not have had in their own country due to their religion, gender, or ethnicity. When you think about it that way, teaching ELLs to master new social studies content is so much more than adapting a lesson plan - it's a chance to prepare a new generation of young people to lead us into the future.

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Preparing an Engaging Social Studies Lesson for English Language Learners

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Consider the following scenario: A fifth-grade teacher was preparing her class to learn about the American Revolution. She enlisted the students' help in acting out the events that led to the Revolution with elaborate props and exercises. When the class ended, the students were told they would read more about the Revolution the following day.

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This article explains different strategies that can help students vocabulary development in regards to math. It goes into depth of how to use sentence frames and the value of using them in the classroom.

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This website provides glossaries to teachers, parents and students to support instruction for English learners. Schools have to provide testing accommodations to English learners so it is important to know where these accommodation like a glossary can be found and obtained.

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year. These glossaries may be downloaded, printed and disseminated to educators, parents and ELLs/MLLs.

Bilingual glossaries are an essential and expected test accommodation for ELLs/MLLs in the State of New York. The languages of these glossaries cover the top 10 languages at the state level, with new languages added based on changing language populations in the NY State student demographic data.

Schools should provide testing accommodations to ELLs/MLLs, as needed, on all NYS ELA and content-area assessments (i.e., Mathematics, Science and Social Studies). Districts/schools must make all necessary arrangements to make these accommodations available for ELLs/MLLs who need them. Please click here for the New York State Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages Webpage on "Assessment and Testing Accommodations".

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year.

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This shows the main things that English learners might struggle with when it comes to Social studies. It is important to consider the things students may struggle with so the correct support can be provided.

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This shows the components that make a good assessment which is important to take into consideration before giving a student an assessment. It is important that we give students a valid assessments so we can be able to accurately identify where they need support.

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This shows the difference between formative and summative assessments. It is important to recognize their differences so they can be used effectively.

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This article is an in depth description of the elements that a good assessment contains. This can be useful whenever I am unsure that an assessment I am giving is good or not.

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This article gives seven simple ways to approach formative assessments. It can be intimidating having to make sure that you are having enough formative assessments throughout your lessons.

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Formative assessment-discovering what students know while they're still in the process of learning it-can be tricky. Designing just the right assessment can feel high stakes-for teachers, not students-because we're using it to figure out what comes next. Are we ready to move on? Do our students need a different path into the concepts? Or, more likely, which students are ready to move on and which need a different path?

When it comes to figuring out what our students really know, we have to look at more than one kind of information. A single data point-no matter how well designed the quiz, presentation, or problem behind it-isn't enough information to help us plan the next step in our instruction.

Add to that the fact that different learning tasks are best measured in different ways, and we can see why we need a variety of formative assessment tools we can deploy quickly, seamlessly, and in a low-stakes way-all while not creating an unmanageable workload. That's why it's important to keep it simple: Formative assessments generally just need to be checked, not graded, as the point is to get a basic read on the progress of individuals, or the class as a whole.

7 Approaches to Formative Assessment

1. Entry and exit slips: Those marginal minutes at the beginning and end of class can provide some great opportunities to find out what kids remember. Start the class off with a quick question about the previous day's work while students are getting settled-you can ask differentiated questions written out on chart paper or projected on the board, for example.

A quick way to see the big picture if you use paper exit tickets is to sort the papers into three piles: Students got the point; they sort of got it; and they didn't get it. The size of the stacks is your clue about what to do next.

No matter the tool, the key to keeping students engaged in the process of just-walked-in or almost-out-the-door formative assessment is the questions. Ask students to write for one minute on the most meaningful thing they learned. You can try prompts like:

What are three things you learned, two things you're still curious about, and one thing you don't understand?

How would you have done things differently today, if you had the choice?

What I found interesting about this work was...

Right now I'm feeling...

Today was hard because...

Or skip the words completely and have students draw or circle emojis to represent their assessment of their understanding.

2. Low-stakes quizzes and polls: If you want to find out whether your students really know as much as you think they know, polls and quizzes created with Socrative or Quizlet or in-class games and tools like Quizalize, Kahoot, FlipQuiz, Gimkit, Plickers, and Flippity can help you get a better sense of how much they really understand. (Grading quizzes but assigning low point values is a great way to make sure students really try: The quizzes matter, but an individual low score can't kill a student's grade.) Kids in many classes are always logged in to these tools, so formative assessments can be done very quickly. Teachers can see each kid's response, and determine both individually and in aggregate how students are doing.

Because you can design the questions yourself, you determine the level of complexity. Ask questions at the bottom of Bloom's taxonomy and you'll get insight into what facts, vocabulary terms, or processes kids remember. Ask more complicated questions ("What advice do you think Katniss Everdeen would offer Scout Finch if the two of them were talking at the end of chapter 3?"), and you'll get more sophisticated insights.

3. Dipsticks: So-called alternative formative assessments are meant to be as easy and quick as checking the oil in your car, so they're sometimes referred to as dipsticks. These can be things like asking students to:

write a letter explaining a key idea to a friend,

draw a sketch to visually represent new knowledge, or

do a think, pair, share exercise with a partner.

Your own observations of students at work in class can provide valuable data as well, but they can be tricky to keep track of. Taking quick notes on a tablet or smartphone, or using a copy of your roster, is one approach. A focused observation form is more formal and can help you narrow your note-taking focus as you watch students work.

4. Interview assessments: If you want to dig a little deeper into students' understanding of content, try discussion-based assessment methods. Casual chats with students in the classroom can help them feel at ease even as you get a sense of what they know, and you may find that five-minute interview assessments work really well. Five minutes per student would take quite a bit of time, but you don't have to talk to every student about every project or lesson.

You can also shift some of this work to students using a peer-feedback process called TAG feedback (Tell your peer something they did well, Ask a thoughtful question, Give a positive suggestion). When you have students share the feedback they have for a peer, you gain insight into both students' learning.

For more introverted students-or for more private assessments-use Flipgrid, Explain Everything, or Seesaw to have students record their answers to prompts and demonstrate what they can do.

5. Methods that incorporate art: Consider using visual art or photography or videography as an assessment tool. Whether students draw, create a collage, or sculpt, you may find that the assessment helps them synthesize their learning. Or think beyond the visual and have kids act out their understanding of the content. They can create a dance to model cell mitosis or act out stories like Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" to explore the subtext.

6. Misconceptions and errors: Sometimes it's helpful to see if students understand why something is incorrect or why a concept is hard. Ask students to explain the " muddiest point" in the lesson-the place where things got confusing or particularly difficult or where they still lack clarity. Or do a misconception check: Present students with a common misunderstanding and ask them to apply previous knowledge to correct the mistake, or ask them to decide if a statement contains any mistakes at all, and then discuss their answers.

You can use sticky notes to get a quick insight into what areas your kids think they need to work on. Ask them to pick their own trouble spot from three or four areas where you think the class as a whole needs work, and write those areas in separate columns on a whiteboard. Have you students answer on a sticky note and then put the note in the correct column-you can see the results at a glance.

Several self-assessments let the teacher see what every kid thinks very quickly. For example, you can use colored stacking cups that allow kids to flag that they're all set (green cup), working through some confusion (yellow), or really confused and in need of help (red).

Similar strategies involve using participation cards for discussions (each student has three cards-"I agree," "I disagree," and "I don't know how to respond") and thumbs-up responses (instead of raising a hand, students hold a fist at their belly and put their thumb up when they're ready to contribute). Students can instead use six hand gestures to silently signal that they agree, disagree, have something to add, and more. All of these strategies give teachers an unobtrusive way to see what students are thinking.

No matter which tools you select, make time to do your own reflection to ensure that you're only assessing the content and not getting lost in the assessment fog. If a tool is too complicated, is not reliable or accessible, or takes up a disproportionate amount of time, it's OK to put it aside and try something different.

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7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment

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Within these methods you'll find close to 40 tools and tricks for finding out what your students know while they're still learning.

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Vocabulary is an integral part of reading comprehension. This website provides reading techniques that will help develop students vocabulary and reading skills.

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Gianfranco Conti, Phd (Applied Linguistics), MA (TEFL), MA (English Lit.), PGCE (Modern Languages and P.E.)

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Eight narrow reading techniques that will enhance your students’ vocabulary and reading skills

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1. Introduction This post describes eight Narrow reading techniques that have significantly enhanced my students’ vocabulary and reading skills. As explained in previous posts, Narrow …

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This website talks about the benefits of using shared reading in a classrooms daily routine. It is a simple strategy that can benefit English learners in their confidence, oral language, and social interactions.

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This website gives tips and advice on the different tiers of vocabulary words that can be selected to teach ELLs. It also shows that vocabulary development can be accomplished through oral language activities.

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This article offers guidance for selecting vocabulary words when teaching ELLs and explains the difference between Tier 1, 2, and 3 words.

A student's maximum level of reading comprehension is determined by his or her knowledge of words. This word knowledge allows students to comprehend text. As the teacher, you can explicitly teach word meanings to improve comprehension. However, to know a word means knowing it in all of the following dimensions:

The ability to define a word

The ability to recognize when to use that word

Knowledge of its multiple meanings

The ability to decode and spell that word

Therefore, it is vitally important to teach key words that children will need to comprehend texts, learn the content in those texts, and pass tests. Words are taught through direct instruction of word meanings as well as through discussions about words (including prefixes, suffixes, and roots) - all combined with a lot of reading.

For English language learners (ELLs), vocabulary development is especially critical for their ability to read and comprehend texts. The selection of vocabulary words to teach ELLs can be grouped into three tiers.

Tier 1 words

Tier 1 words are words that ELLs typically know the concept of in their primary language, but not the label in English. For example, a Tier 1 word might be butterfly. This is a word that English language learners may not know, but it can be easily taught by pointing to a picture of a butterfly during text discussion.

Another Tier 1 word might be march (move like a soldier). A word like march can be easily instructed during text discussion by marching in place. But because this word has multiple meanings, it also merits further instruction. This can be accomplished through oral language activities that follow the text discussion.

Teaching Tier 1 words

We take it for granted that native English-speakers know most Tier 1 words, but this is not the case for ELLs. Many Tier 1 words may be unknown to ELLs and key to the comprehension of a passage. Different types of Tier 1 words require different teaching strategies:

Some Tier 1 words cannot be demonstrated and do not have multiple meanings, but students will need to know them. An example of this is the word uncle. A simple explanation of the word's meaning during the story reading will suffice. Or, if the teacher and students are bilingual, a quick translation is sufficient.

Idioms and everyday expressions (like "make up your mind," "let's hit the books," and "once upon a time") are also in the Tier 1 category. Teachers will need to explain the meanings of these phrases to students.

Some Tier 1 words are simple cognates (like family/familia or preparation/preparación). The cognates in this category consist of words that are high-frequency words in Spanish and English. They may not require substantial instruction because students may know the word meanings in Spanish. The teacher can merely state the English cognate and have students provide the Spanish cognate. Or, the teacher can provide the English cognate and students can say both the English word and Spanish cognate.

It is also important to point out false cognates and give the correct translation. Examples of false cognates are: rope/ropa (clothing) and embarrassed/embarazada (pregnant). There are also some false cognates that have multiple meanings in one language, and one or some of those meanings do not coincide with the meaning of the other language.

Here is a list of helpful Spanish-English cognates.

Tier 2 words

Tier 2 words are more complex than Tier 1 words. They may also be more abstract. These include:

1. Words that are important and useful to understanding the text, such as: character, setting, plot, even numbers, and country.

2. Words that have connections to other words and concepts, such as: between, among, by, combine, and estimate.

3. Words for which students understand the general concept, but need greater precision and specificity in describing a concept or a person, such as: sets, tables (for math or science, or for a table of contents), shy, ashamed, and stubborn.

Teaching Tier 2 words

Tier 2 words appear in grade-level texts. They can be worked with in a variety of ways so that ELLs build rich representations of them and connect them to other words and concepts. Different types of Tier 2 words require different teaching strategies:

Some Tier 2 words will not require elaborate discussion, because they can be demonstrated. These include words with multiple meanings, such as trunk, which can be taught by using gestures to show that it is part of an elephant, part of a tree, part of our body, and the back of a car.

In addition, many Tier 2 words are cognates. In this tier, they are high frequency words in Spanish and low frequency words in English. This means that Spanish-speaking ELLs will have a head start with these words (such as coincidence/coincidencia, industrious/industrioso, and fortunate/afortunado) because they will know both the concept and an approximation of the label in English.

The Tier 2 words that should be targeted for pre-teaching include words that cannot be demonstrated and are not cognates.

ELLs should be expected to master Tier 2 words in order to do well on comprehension and on tests.

Tier 3 words

These are low-frequency words that are found mostly in content books in the upper grades. Examples include witticism, isotope, procrastinate, amoeba, or words that are not demonstrable or cognates. These words are rarely encountered in the early grades, but if they do appear, you can translate them or briefly explain them in either English or in the ELLs' first language.

Note: It is advisable at all grade levels to have bilingual dictionaries available in the classroom. If you do not know the translation for a vocabulary word into students' native language, it is an easy reference and clarification tool. Also, when reading texts on their own, students can look up unknown words and ensure their own comprehension.

References

Beck, I., McKeown, M. & Kucan, L (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: The Gilford Press.

Calderón, M., August, D., Durán, D., Madden, N., R. Slavin & M. Gil (2003 and in press). Spanish to English Transitional Reading: Teacher's Manual. Baltimore, MD: The Success for All Foundation.

Calderón, M. & L. Minaya-Rowe (2004). Expediting Comprehension to English Language Learners (ExC-ELL) Teachers Manual. Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education, Johns Hopkins University.

Calderón, M. & L. Minaya-Rowe (in press). Teaching Reading, Oral Language and Content to English Language Learners - How ELLs Keep Pace With Mainstream Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Reprints

For any reprint requests, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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Selecting Vocabulary Words to Teach English Language Learners

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This article offers guidance for selecting vocabulary words when teaching ELLs and explains the difference between Tier 1, 2, and 3 words. A student's maximum level of reading comprehension is determined by his or her knowledge of words. This word knowledge allows students to comprehend text.

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This website gives an honest questions that teachers may have going into a classroom where they have students who don't speak English. It provides simple tricks that can be used to help develop students oral language.

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In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione shares five key challenges related to the oral language development of ELLs, as well as tips for addressing each of the challenges.

Dr. Moses Guccione is the co-author of Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies That Cross Proficiency Levels ( Heinemann, 2009).

Getting Started

As a former elementary teacher in a bilingual school, I developed a love and passion for finding effective ways to support oral language and oral reading development of emerging English language learners (ELLs). I discovered this passion when I began my first year of teaching in a second-grade classroom, where I encountered a handful of challenges related to my students' oral language development.

Many students were transitioning from a classroom with Spanish instruction into my classroom with instruction provided in English. I had students ranging from monolingual English speakers to students who had just recently moved to the U.S. from a Spanish-speaking country. The range of language proficiency levels crossed the entire spectrum. Having minimal experience with this range of diverse students and needs, I began reading, researching, and implementing new instructional ideas into my classroom. With each challenge I encountered, I gained new information about my students and their parents. I also began learning more about my own methods of instruction, and I learned a great deal each year about new challenges and successes.

Currently, I am fortunate to work with many teachers who have the opportunity to impact the lives of children and families who speak more than one language. As I work with these teachers and families, I have found five common and reoccurring challenges that they seem to face in the area of oral language development that parallel my own experiences. I detail these challenges and questions below, as well as suggestions for addressing each challenges based on strategies I used in my classroom.

Questions and Classroom Scenarios

1. What do I do if they don't know ANY English?

Understanding the characteristics of language learners at different proficiency levels helps to think about how we can best support students in their oral language and reading development. Below is a chart that gives a description of the first two levels of language proficiency as well as implications for using oral reading. This is a nice place to start when thinking about how to interact with and support our Starting and Emerging English speakers.

Levels of Language Proficiency

Description

Implications For Using Oral Reading

Level 1: Starting
Students are in a silent period in which they listen, but do not speak in English. They may respond using nonverbal cues in attempt to communicate basic needs.

The teacher and other more advanced students should model oral reading. Students in the silent period should not be forced to speak, but should be given the opportunity to participate in a group activity where they won't be singled out.

Level 2: Emerging
Students are beginning to understand more oral language. They respond using one- or two-word phrases and start to produce simple sentences for basic social interactions and to meet basic needs.

Teacher and students should continue to model oral reading. Students should be encouraged to begin taking risks with simple, rehearsed oral reading in non-threatening situations.

Opitz & Guccione (2009). Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies that Cross Proficiency Levels.

2. How do I provide instruction and support for the ELLs without holding back the students who are fluent in English?

Differentiation is the key to effective instruction for all students. Students of varying proficiency levels can learn the same content when the teacher provides a wide range of learning opportunities for students with different academic and linguistic needs. Three key strategies for this approach include differentiating or modifying the texts, creating grouping structures, and targeting the amount and nature of support based on students' needs (Opitz & Ford, 2008).

Modifying the text: Teachers can differentiate the text by selecting various levels of text difficulty on similar content, or they can also divide the text up into smaller portions appropriate for certain groups/individuals for a jigsaw activity. Another idea is to summarize text that might be too difficult and provide ways to make the text more accessible (such as vocabulary support, visual support, connecting to background knowledge, etc.).

Creating grouping structures that set students up for success: While some grouping structures can be established according to language or literacy skill levels and needs, it is also important to think about providing students exposure to interact with peers who demonstrate a wide range of different language and literacy skills. Additionally, teachers can improve engagement and motivation by creating choice/interest groups where students gather, read, discuss and work together on topics of common interest.

Targeting the amount and nature of student support: It is important to think about scaffolding the experience and using comprehensible input to make it accessible for all students. Comprehensible input means that students should be able to understand the gist of what is being said or presented. There are many ways to do this, such as selecting key vocabulary, using context or visual cues, building background knowledge, building on experiences the students have had, using consistent language, and providing images or visual representations to support vocabulary and content. Teachers can support their students by embedding comprehensible input into their whole-group instruction, but this also becomes particularly effective when used in the different grouping structures. Teachers can also modify the amount of support and interaction between teachers and students depending on their individual and group needs.

3. This student knows English - I hear him talking to his friends and on the playground. He just doesn't want to try in class.

I have heard many teachers discussing variations of this same idea. However, I would caution teachers and parents about jumping to this conclusion. Academic language (or the language specifically related to school and/or academic content) can be complicated to acquire. Students often first develop social language and demonstrate near proficiency or proficiency in English in social settings. A student may be demonstrating sophisticated use of social language, but they may have difficulty using language in more formal settings such as school.

Much of the academic language required to be successful in school - everything from instructions to expectations to content-specific vocabulary - requires assistance in acquiring. Students hear and use their social language in various settings from home, community, and school, but academic language is often only used in the school setting. These students need specific instruction and support surrounding their language development in this area.

The same children who appear to be functioning at a high level of English proficiency in social settings may actually be functioning at a beginning stage in other settings, depending on how they are called on to use language. The students need to feel safe and in a low-anxiety environment in order to begin to feel comfortable taking risks with their oral language. When they have less exposure and instruction related to academic language, this can often cause students to feel intimidated and less likely to be willing to share in class.

One idea for reducing anxiety and encouraging students to experiment with language might include allowing students to read, practice, and discuss their responses in partners and small groups before sharing out to the entire group. This allows students an opportunity to hear language modeled by peers, practice what they want to say, and possibly revise their original thought and/or language before sharing it in a public way. As students find more success with their language production and classroom participation, they will be more likely to share and take risks, and in turn continue building their confidence.

4. How is the child ever going to learn English if they don't speak it at home?

It is important to celebrate being bilingual and biliterate. Research has shown that development of a students' first language can facilitate development in the second language (Genessee, Geva, Dressler, and Kamil, 2007). Understanding this helps parents, teachers, and children to encourage the use and development of the students' home language while they are at home. All of the home literacy activities that we recommend for English speakers, such as reading aloud, making lists, discussing books, reading environmental print, etc., should also be encouraged for the English language learners in their home language. Students can begin to use more English as they feel comfortable in different settings, but it is important to note that speaking two languages will not hinder their English development.

Another important idea to remember is that we want to invite parents to feel confident in their interactions with their children regardless of their English proficiency level. As they begin to read or retell stories and discuss them at home, they are developing vital oral language and comprehension skills, and these skills will transfer over into their school language.

5. What kinds of activities should I be doing to help the student develop their oral language and oral reading?

McCauley and McCauley (1992) report four factors as necessary for acquiring a second language: a low-anxiety environment, repeated practice, comprehensible input, and drama. These are all important components of setting children up for success and language development.

A low-anxiety environment includes a setting where students feel nurtured and supported by their teacher and peers, and in turn, they feel safe to take risks without the fear of being laughed at or made fun of.

Repeated practice is just like what it sounds! Students need repeated practice hearing and using a new language. They need multiple opportunities to comprehend and express their ideas in a new language. Like with anything new that we learn, practice helps us get better.

Comprehensible input, as explained above, means finding different ways to make what is being said comprehensible and easier to understand. Things to consider with comprehensible input might include using speech that is appropriate for students' language proficiency, providing a clear, step-by-step explanation of tasks, and using a variety of techniques to support their understanding.

Drama, or a sense of excitement and engagement, can be found in activities like Reader's Theatre, dramatic play, puppetry, narrating wordless picture books, etc. All of these activities also have the other three factors embedded within them. These activities assist in the development of oral language in addition to introducing students to oral reading and rich literacy experiences and responses in a classroom setting.

Closing Thoughts

As you can see from these questions and examples, there are a lot of different approaches to helping ELLs build their oral language development skills, and you may have to try different activities until you find what works for your students. The most important thing, however, is to build your students' confidence while giving them new words and phrases to practice. Don't be afraid to try something new - and most of all, don't be afraid to have fun doing it!

About the Author

Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione is a coauthor of Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies that Cross Proficiency Levels. She is an assistant professor at the University of Northern Colorado and teaches courses in Early Childhood Education, Literacy, and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education. She is a former elementary teacher of English language learners and is currently researching how ELLs make sense of texts.

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Oral Language Development and ELLs: 5 Challenges and Solutions

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In this article written for Colorín Colorado, Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione shares five key challenges related to the oral language development of ELLs, as well as tips for addressing each of the challenges. Dr. Moses Guccione is the co-author of Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies That Cross Proficiency Levels ( Heinemann, 2009).