SAMUEL IIFor

Elementary Teachers

2014-2015

Promising Instructional Practices for ELs

1. Teach content, literacy, and language in an integrated and meaningful way.

2. Scaffold language based on student English proficiency to make sure it is comprehensible.

3. Build on what students already know and help them develop background knowledge they need.

4. Explicitly teach vocabulary and academic language (formal language required to be successful in school settings).

5. Provide ample opportunities for carefully designed interaction with teacher and peers.

6. Strategically provide native language supports.

7. Teach reading comprehension strategies explicitly.

Source: CAL Center for Applied Linguistics

Promising Instructional Practices for ELs2. Scaffold language based on students’ English proficiency to make sure it is

comprehensible using:

− visuals and realia (objects from real life)

− hands-on materials

− graphic organizers

− gestures

− modified speech

− adapted text (i.e., simple sentence structure, elaboration)

− leveled readers

− repetition / rereading

− narrow reading (reading several texts about the same topic)

Sources: August & Shanahan (2008); Cloud, Genesee & Hamayan (2009); Echeverria, Vogt, & Short (2007); Goldenberg (2008); Klinger (2006); IES (2007); Short & Fitzsimmons (2007)

Promising Instructional Practices for ELs

4. Explicitly teach vocabulary and academic language (formal language required to be successful in school settings).

Key Vocabulary

“One of the most persistent findings in reading research is that the extent of students’ vocabulary knowledge relates strongly to their reading comprehension and to their overall academic success.”

Source: Lehr, Osborn, & Hiebert (2005)

Research-Based Vocabulary Instruction for ELLs

Pre-teach key vocabulary before reading or learning tasks.

Make word meanings accessible by drawing on students’ prior knowledge, providing student-friendly definitions and contextual information through meaningful text, visuals, gestures, and examples.

Use students’ first language (i.e., cognates – train/tren, and L1 text) to support vocabulary development.

Sources: August, Carlo, Dressler, & Snow (2005); Carlo, August, McLaughlin, Snow, Dressler, Lippman, Lively, White (2003); Calderon (2008)

Accommodate Instruction based on English Learners’ language proficiency

1. Lesson Plans

RL.4.10Level 1: Identify words or phrases related to Save the Elephants from illustrated text or word wallsLevel 2: Make predictions from illustrated text using prior knowledge or personal experiences

RI.4.3Level 1: Match labeled pictures representing elephants with vocabularyLevel 2: Sort descriptive phrases according to pictures of elephants

Elephant Alert!What makes elephants so fascinating, why they're in danger and how you can help.Apr 15, 2013 | TFK Extra! Promotion

Scaffold Instruction: Adapt text

elephants

weigh up to 13,200 pounds

stand up to 10 feet tall

For centuries, elephants have captured our admiration and imaginations, and it's easy to see why.  The planet's largest land animals can stand up to 10 feet tall and weigh up to 13,200 pounds.  But they're not just about brawn.

1

brain

clever

care for their families

2With their complex brains, elephants are incredibly clever and sensitive: caring for their families and capable of remembering faraway places and old pals. In fact, when elephants spot friends, they often show affection by wrapping their trunks together or resting them on each other's foreheads.

trunk

reach high hanging food

3 Trunks come in handy for more than just greeting. (An elephant trunk has tens of thousands of muscles; the entire human body has fewer than 650).  For instance, elephant babies suck their trunks for comfort, just as human babies suck their thumbs.  Trunks are also handy for reaching high hanging food. 

tusk

chew

teeth

4 And chewing is no problem for these herbivores!  Elephants have back teeth the size of small bricks and, of course, elongated incisor teeth called tusks.

pull bark off trees dig for

water fight enemies

5 They use tusks to carry things, pull bark off trees, clear paths, dig for roots and water, fight enemies and impress other elephants.  

carry things

Unfortunately, it's those amazing tusks that put elephants' lives at risk.  The desire for tusk ivory is the reason so many elephants have been slaughtered.

slaughtered

6

tusks

Accommodate Instruction based on English Learners’ language proficiency

1. Lesson Plans2. Assessments

Picture Sentences

Elephants have trunks.

Elephants are slaughtered for their tusks.

are for their .

have .