Language AcquisitionPart II in a 4 Part Series

Essential Question

How can we help all of our students acquire the necessary language to be successful in all content areas?

Six Key Strategies

•Vocabulary & Language Development•Guided Interaction•Metacognition & Authentic Assessment•Explicit Instruction•Meaning-Based Context & Universal Themes•Modeling, Graphic Organizers, & Visuals

PDSA

Reflect and Connect

Directions: Record the language acquisition strategies that you implemented, the data you collected, and any other thoughts or reflections that you want to record.

Root Causes

Successful Not Successful

PDSA

Think-Pair-Share

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher 1889-1951

ActivityDirections: On page 7 document the impact of the language acquisition structures and/or strategies. of the PB, numbers 1 and 2 will read about BICS. Numbers 3 and 4 will read about CALP. When both sets of partners are finished reading, share the highlights of what you read. When finished, show me a Team Table Tent.

Things to keep in mind when teaching academic language…

1. Academic language must be introduced and then reinforced.

2. Academic language can be more than content area vocabulary.

3. It is important to create assessments that measure knowledge in a meaningful way.

Life Cycle of a Frog2nd Grade Science, Unit 9

Introducing and ReinforcingAcademic Vocabulary – the What

•Preview the text and identify vocabulary or sentence structures that might be new.

•Write these words and phrases on the board; provide a way for students to have a reference.

•Use visuals, realia, translations, or synonyms to share the meaning of the words.

•Reinforce the newly learned language.

Introducing and ReinforcingAcademic Vocabulary – the How

1. Preview the lesson and identify academic language vocabulary.

Life Cycle of a Frog

lifeyolkcyclegrowthtadpoletailfertilize

nextsplit or dividedevelopingfirstsecondthirdfourth

Introducing and ReinforcingAcademic Vocabulary – the How

2. Teach the academic vocabulary.

Life Cycle of a Frog

life

growth

split

Introducing and ReinforcingAcademic Vocabulary – the How

3. Have students demonstrate the vocabulary concepts by using them in explanations or illustrations.

Go Beyond the Basic Vocabulary

Don’t forget about the functional vocabulary!

•Model its correct use in content•Guide students by asking them to repeat a

phrase and complete the sentence

“In the life cycle…”

Measure Knowledge in a Meaningful Way– the What

•Have the students show what they know!• “Unpack” Transfer Tasks sooner than later.•Create meaningful assessments that address

the lesson objective but also measure the student’s use of appropriate academic language.

Measure Knowledge in a Meaningful Way– the How

Students could:1. write a response using the rubric as a

guideline.2. give a presentation.3. work in small groups and respond to

questions.

Ramping up Your Lesson

•Take a look at the Unit Objective for the lesson you brought.

•Read through all three Transfer Tasks for the unit.

•Pull out the academic vocabulary that will need to be taught and put structures and/or strategies to teach the vocabulary. Make the vocabulary instruction explicit!

PDSA

PDSA

Evidence of Language Acquisition Strategies

What data and/or evidence can we collect to determine if the language acquisition strategies we are using are increasing the level of student achievement?

Our Evidence

Our data points on the effectiveness of the language acquisition strategies on our students’ academic achievement will be:

Teaching Academic Language

• Plan lessons thoughtfully to determine what academic vocabulary needs to be explicitly taught and how to teach it.

• Keep in mind the cooperative learning structures being used to allow for as much student discourse as possible.

Language AcquisitionPart II in a 4 Part Series