Quality Teaching with English Language Learners: … Teaching with English Language Learners: What Does it Entail? Aída Walqui, PhD ... (María Elena Walsh) © WestEd, Teacher Professional

© WestEd, Teacher Professional Development, 2006

Quality Teaching with EnglishLanguage Learners:What Does it Entail?

Aída Walqui, PhDDirector, Teacher Professional Development Program, WestEd

[email protected]/qtel

National Association for Bilingual Education 2006 Annual ConferencePhoenix, January 19, 2006


Presentation will focus on:

• The need to turn around the status quo

• Principles that sustain quality teaching with secondlanguage learners

• Visions of the possible


ELLs in American Schools:Four Facts


LEP Population by State, 2003-2004


More LEP Adolescents Are Native Than Foreign Born

Batalova & Fix, 2005


Average Scores of 8th Graders in Reading by English Language Proficiency and State: 2003


69.16.43.33.02.92.01.51.21.0

91.2217,678

SpanishVietnameseChineseTagalogKoreanMiao, HmongRussianCantoneseMon_Khmer, CamboMandarinPercentage speaking10 top languagesTotal LEP students

1st gen.California

Top 10 Languages Spoken in LEPAdolescents’ Homes — First Generation

Batalova & Fix, 2005


A Pedagogy of Promise and Hope:Sociocultural Approaches

• Development follows learning (therefore,instruction precedes development)

• Participation in activity is central in thedevelopment of knowledge

• Participation in activity progresses fromapprenticeship to appropriation, from the social tothe individual plane

• Learning can be observed as changes inparticipation over time


Quality Teaching with ELLs

Premised on apprenticeship notions of schooling. Thismeans that students:

• Are perceived and treated as capable, legitimateparticipants

• Engage in rich, intellectually demanding interactionsthat have been deliberately crafted

• Engage in high-challenge, high-support tasks thatprovide them with multiple points of entry to theacademic community

• Take over responsibilities that are handed over tothem


Principles of Quality Teaching withSecond Language Learners

• Sustain Academic Rigor in teaching English learners

• Hold High Expectations in teaching English learners

• Engage in Quality Interactions with English learners

• Sustain a Language Focus in teaching English learners

• Develop Quality Curricula in teaching English learners


Sustain Academic Rigor withEnglish Language Learners

• Promote deep disciplinary knowledge(interconnections)

• Require higher-order thinking skills

• Develop substantive, generative concepts and skills


Video Segment 1:Scaffolding the Teaching of the 14th

Amendment

• Class: American History

• School: International High School at La GuardiaCommunity College

• Teacher: Janet Price

• Students: 11th and 12th graders, between 3 and 4years in the United States


Hold High Expectations in TeachingEnglish Language Learners

• Engage students in tasks that are high challengeand high support

• Engage students in the explicit development oftheir own understanding

• Have clear criteria for high expectations


¿Para qué se escribe?

“…“…En la unidadEn la unidadlos nilos niñños han leos han leíídodola historietala historieta““La ostra queLa ostra queperdiperdióó su perla su perla””

Unidad 3 - 1º Básico“¡Ya puedo escribir!”


¿Qué se logró? Ejemplo 1Ejemplo 1

•Primera escritura


•Reescritura


Video Segment 2:Discussing the Internship Experience

• Class: Internship


• Teacher: Noreen Perlmutter

• Students: 11th graders


Engage in Quality Interactions withEnglish Learners

• Engage in sustained, deep interactions to build knowledge- Dialogue between teacher and student and between peers issustained and builds on the participants’ ideas to promote improvedunderstanding of concepts- Dialogue involves the exchange of ideas and is not scripted or dominatedby one party

• Jointly construct knowledge mediated through language-talk is about the subject matter of the discipline and encouragesreasoning, application of ideas, argumentation, forming generalizations,and asking questions.


¿Para qué se escribe?

Unidad 2 - 4º Básico“Todos podemos ser poetas”

“…“…en la unidad los nien la unidad los niñños han leos han leíído,do,comentado y recitado el poema:comentado y recitado el poema:

““Una cajita de fUna cajita de fóósforossforos”” (Mar(Maríía Elena Walsh)a Elena Walsh)


“…“…TambiTambiéén han trabajado en el n han trabajado en el manejo de la lengua en torno al poema,manejo de la lengua en torno al poema,

identificando artidentificando artíículos y sustantivos.culos y sustantivos.Luego, se les pide que escriban lo queLuego, se les pide que escriban lo que

guardarguardaríían en una cajita dean en una cajita deffóósforossforos…”…”


¿Qué se logró? Ejemplo Ejemplo


Sustain a Language Focus inTeaching English Language Learners

• Explicitly develop disciplinary language (genrespecific: emphasis on purpose)

• Explicitly discuss how language works

• Amplify, rather than simplify, communications


Genre Studies (Halliday)

“Very good writers manipulate genre, reasonablewriters use genre, only poor writers do not knowgenre.” Jim Martin

1. Social purpose

2. Organizational structure

3. Language instantiations




Video Segment 3

• Class: Intermediate ESL, 7th graders

• School: MS 131, Chinatown, NYC

• Teacher: Roza Ng

• Students: 15 Chinese students from Mainland China,1 Dominican student


Oral Development Jigsaw

AA BB CC DD AA BB CC DD AA BB CC DD AA BB CC DD

BASE GROUP


BASE GROUP

AA AA AA AA BB BB BB BB CC CC CC CC DD DD DD DD

EXPERT GROUP


The StructureTask: Oral Development Jigsaw


BASE GROUP




BASE GROUP


EXPERT GROUPGenre:Description


Teacher Scaffolds the Process:Guidelines for the Apprenticeship of

the Genre: Description

Discussion of purposeStructure:• Where does the scene take place?• Who is the central character(s) in the picture?• What does this person look like (approximate age,

sex, height, face, hair, clothes)?• What is this person doing?• Any other relevant information?


Teacher Offers Models of LanguageThat Students May Use:

• This scene takes place in …• My picture shows …• The picture I have shows a …

• The central character in my picture is• In my picture you can see a …








BASE GROUP


BASE GROUP


EXPERT GROUPDescription

FromDescriptionTo Narrative


Apprenticing a Second Genre:Narratives… Short Stories

Discussion of the purpose

Structure:• Setting, title• There is a central character (and other character/s)• Something happens to the character• The event transforms the character


Information About the Class

• Class: Intermediate ESL

• School: MS 131

• Teacher: Roza Ng

• Students: 8th grade, 15 Chinese immigrant students and 1student from the Dominican Republic


Develop a Quality Curriculumfor Teaching ELLs

• Curriculum has long-term goals that include benchmarkmoments

• Curriculum is problem-based and requires knowledgeconstruction and sustained attention beyond a single lesson

• Curriculum is spiraling in nature, enabling students toincreasingly understand new concepts, new language, andnew skills, and enabling students to move from ambiguity toincreasing clarity

• Curriculum weaves knowledge in ways that interconnect theworld of ideas to the students’ reality and that of the worldaround them

• Curriculum builds from the students’ linguistic and culturalknowledge and group identities


Video Segment 4:Where Do You Want To Go Next?

• Class: Humanities (ESL), Intermediate


• Teacher: Anthony DeFazio

• Students: 9th and 10th graders

Documents

Quality Teaching with English Language Learners: … Teaching with English Language Learners: What Does it Entail? Aída Walqui, PhD ... (María Elena Walsh) © WestEd, Teacher Professional