Understanding the Instructional Needs of ELLs

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Understanding the Instructional Needs of ELLs

• Catawba County Schools

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Anticipation/Reaction Guide

• The Classroom Teacher or the ESL Teacher?
• Whose responsibility is it to
• Use the NC Essential Standards for English
  Language Development
• Use the CCSS for Math and ELA
• Have a deep understanding of second language
  acquisition
• Speak ELLs native language
• Teach content knowledge
• Teach academic language
• Communicate ELLs successes and challenges
• Collaborate with other teachers
• Know ELLs English language proficiency levels
• Understand how ELLs English language proficiency
  levels impact academic performance

Leticia M. TrowerGaston County Schools
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English Language Proficiency

• English language learners in North Carolina are
  administered the ACCESS Language Proficiency Test
  developed by the WIDA Consortium on an annual
  basis. This assessment determines the students
  level of English language proficiency.

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ESL Numbers

• ____Limited English Proficient Students
• ____ Students Served by the ESL Program
• ____ National Origin Minority Students (Students
  who are classified as proficient in English
  according to federal assessment of language
  skills, not served by ESL.)
• ____ Total Language Minority Students Enrolled
• Total Membership at _________ School
  approximately ______ students.

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______ Percentages

• LEP _____
• NOM ____
• Total Language Minority at ______ School ____

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English Language Proficiency Levels
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5
4
3
2
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ENTERING
BEGINNING
DEVELOPING
EXPANDING
BRIDGING
REACHING
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What are the Language Proficiency Levels?

• 1 Entering
• minimal social and academic language with
  support
• 2 Beginning
• uses some social and academic language with
  support
• 3 Developing
• uses social English and SOME academic language
  with support
• 4 Expanding
• uses social English and some technical academic
  language
• 5 Bridging
• uses social and academic language working with
  grade level material
• 6 Reaching
• uses social and academic language at the highest
  level

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ELP Levels Performance Definitions
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The second language acquisition process involves
the gradual scaffolding from

• Concrete ideas and concepts
• Explicit meaning
• Familiar situations
• Informal registers
• General vocabulary
• Single words and phrases
• Non-conventional forms

• Abstract ideas and concepts
• Implicit meaning
• Unfamiliar situations
• Formal registers
• Technical vocabulary
• Extended discourse
• Conventional forms

to
Leticia M. Trower Gaston County Schools
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The Four Language Domains
Listening - process, understand, interpret, and
evaluate spoken language in a variety of
situations   Speaking - engage in oral
communication in a variety of situations for a
variety of purposes and audiences   Reading -
process, interpret, and evaluate written
language, symbols, and text with understanding
and fluency   Writing - engage in written
communication in a variety of forms for a variety
of purposes and audiences
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WIDA Can Do Descriptorshttp//www.wida.us/stand
ards/CAN_DOs/index.aspx

• Describe how English language learners process
  and use language for each language domain and
  level of language proficiency by grade level
  cluster. (PreK-K) (1-2) (3-5) (6-8) (9-12)
• Designed to support teachers by providing them
  with information on the language students are
  able to understand and produce in the classroom.
• Provide an opportunity to link language
  development across all academic content areas.

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What should we expect from our students?

• Important references
• ACCESS Score Reports
• Performance Definitions
• Can Do Descriptors

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• Lets plot Jose Carlos ACCESS for ELLs results
  on the
• CAN DO Descriptors
• Listening 4.1
• Speaking 6.0
• Reading 5.0
• Writing 3.8

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Think Ink Pair - Share

• Using the Can Dos and Performance Definitions,
  discuss how the rubrics can help you understand
  what the student can do and what we should expect
  them to do.

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Testing Accommodations

• Eligibility for testing accommodations is based
  on the students level of English language
  proficiency.
• ELLs must be identified as limited English
  proficient to be eligible.
• ELLs must have a score less than 5.0 on the
  reading subtest to qualify for accommodations on
• Reading EOG
• Math EOG
• Science EOG
• High School EOCs
• CTE examinations.

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Purpose and Philosophy of Testing Accommodations

• Provide for equalization, not performance
  enhancement.
• Accommodations should be consistent with
  instructional practice.
• LEP students who do not receive ESL Services are
  still eligible for instructional and testing
  accommodations. Work with your ESL teacher and
  testing coordinator to ensure that accommodations
  are appropriate and allowable.
• Standard administration is essential.
• The need for accommodations must be documented in
  the LEP Educational Plan.

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Accommodations Available for Use by Limited
English Proficient Students

• -Testing in a separate room
• -Scheduled extended time
• -Multiple test sessions
• -Test administrator reads test aloud in English
  (non-reading tests only) Administrator reads the
  test verbatim in English. Administrator does not
  provide explanation or answer questions
• -Student Reads Test Aloud to Self
• -Use of English/native language dictionary or
  electronic translatorThe dictionary or
  electronic translator is word-to-word/phrase. It
  may not contain written notes, formulas,
  diagrams, examples, or sample sentences. It must
  be approved in the school system prior to its use
  during state tests.

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Accommodations Checklist
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Best Practices for Educating ELLs

• clear goals and objectives
• well-designed instruction and instructional
  routines
• clear input and modeling
• active engagement and participation
• informative feedback
• application of new learning
• practice and periodic review
• interaction with other students
• frequent assessments, with re-teaching as needed
• (August Shanahan, 2006)

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Scheduling ELLs for ESL

• Determine Service Model (Noted on LEP
  Educational Plan)
• Co-Teaching
• Pull-Out
• Scheduled ESL Class
• Refusal of Services

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Why give support?

• Levels the language playing field
• Makes challenging vocabulary understandable

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The Resource GuideSupport Examples RG- 20-21
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The Resource GuideAdding Supports RG-23
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Reflection Activity

• At your table, think of one objective you have
  taught recently.
• How would you teach it?
• Talk briefly at your tables about this
• Did you use language to teach the objective?

Leticia M. TrowerGaston County Schools
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How to create a language objective

• Language Objectives have 3 parts
• Verb Topic Support

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Creating a language objective step-by-step
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Everyone is a Language Teacher

• All teachers should include language objectives
  in all content lessons.

Leticia M. Trower Gaston County Schools
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Used with permission
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Look at all of our resources!!!!
ESL Teachers
Verbs
Can Dos
ACCESS scores
Performance Definitions
Supports
Please visit www.wida.us for many useful
resources!
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• Why are English language development
• (ELD) standards necessary? We already have our
  Common Core and Essential Standards!
• To facilitate ELLs English proficiency
  attainment, access to content knowledge and
  ultimately, their academic success
• To provide a curriculum/assessment resource
  anchored in academic content standards
• To establish a common yardstick to define and
  measure how ELLs acquire language across the
  domains of listening, speaking, reading and
  writing
• To comply with federal law (No Child Left Behind
  Act of 2001)
• requiring ELD standards and ELD
  standards-based assessments

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NC English Language Development Essential
Standards (WIDA Standards)

• Providing Educational Equity
• to ELLs through
• Language Development

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NC English Language Development Essential
Standards

• Five Essential Standards
• Standard 1 Social Instructional Language
• English language learners communicate for social
  and instructional purposes in the school setting.
• Standard 2 Language of Language Arts
• English language learners communicate
  information, ideas and concepts necessary for
  academic success in the content area of Language
  Arts.
• Standard 3 Language of Mathematics
• English language learners communicate
  information, ideas and concepts necessary for
  academic success in the content area of Math.
• Standard 4 Language of Science
• English language learners communicate
  information, ideas and concepts necessary for
  academic success in the content area of Science.
• Standard 5 Language of Social Studies
• English language learners communicate
  information, ideas and concepts necessary for
  academic success in the content area of Social
  Studies.

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Strands by Language Domain

• Listening
• Sounds, stress, intonation
• Directions
• Questions
• Discussions
• Oral presentations and stories
• Reading
• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics and decoding
• Vocabulary development
• Fluency
• Reading comprehension
• Comprehending text structure

• Speaking
• Sounds, stress, intonation
• Directions and processes
• Questions
• Discussions
• Oral presentations
• Writing
• Focus
• Organization
• Support and elaboration
• Style
• Conventions (spelling, punctuation,
  capitalization, grammar, paragraphing)

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Essential Standard 1 ELLs communicate for
Social and Instructional purposes within the
school setting

• Social Language
• Greetings
• Personal experiences
• Current events
• Community events
• Information about family
• Information about friends
• Health and safety
• Social events
• Personal opinions

• Instructional Language
• Classroom and academic topics
• Materials/supplies
• Information gathering
• School/classroom rules
• Instructions/directions
• Class discussion/discourse
• School events
• Requests for information

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Essential Standard 2 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of Language
Arts

• Academic language uses complex grammar found in
  expository structures
• Description _____ is made up of ____ and looks
  like _____.
• Sequence First, ______. Next, _____.
  Finally,____.
• Compare-contrast Both ____ and ____ are _____.
  _____ is a ____, but ____ is not.
• Cause-effect _____ leads to _____ because
  _____.
• Problem solution One answer to _____ is ____.
• Evaluate Sample A is the best choice
  because____
• Analysis A _____ is composed of ____ parts.

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Essential Standard 2 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of Language
Arts, contd.

• Academic language also uses
• Transition words (next, then, first, also)
• Supporting information
• Elaboration (I predict., I predict ____ because
  ., My prediction was confirmed/refuted because
  ., I know from my own experience(s) _____ so I
  can predict/infer.)
• The language of English language arts includes
  narrative and expository structures. Readings may
  reflect cultural values, shared knowledge, and
  discourse organization that differs from the
  English learners native culture. It may be
  necessary to help students build background
  knowledge of unfamiliar contexts.

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Essential Standard 2 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of Language
Arts, contd.

• Vocabulary in academic language includes
  discipline-specific words and words that support
  or explain technical concepts such as criteria,
  required, and significant. It also includes
• Polysemous words words with more than one
  meaning (example table, face)
• Synonyms and antonyms
• Prepositions by, between, among
• Word forms like, likeable, likely, likelihood,
  liken, likeness, likewise
• Prefixes and suffixes
• Cognates words that are similar in spelling and
  pronunciation to words in another language such
  as fortunate/afortunado (Spanish), traditional
  tradicional (Spanish)
• Idioms raining cats and dogs, cover all the
  bases
• Pronunciation and spelling that change word forms
  verb organize and noun organization

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Essential Standard 3 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of
Mathematics

• The language of mathematics uses complex
  structures not typically found in everyday
  activities
• comparatives 7is 3 greater than 4 x is three
  times as dense as y
• prepositions divided into, divided by,
  multiplied by, x exceeds 3 by 5
• passive voice when 3 is added to a number, the
  result is 8
• reversals the number b is 6 less than c

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Essential Standard 3 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of
Mathematics, contd.

• The language of math lacks redundancy.
• There are no repetitions to allow students to
  confirm meaning.
• There is also a lack of one-to-one correspondence
  between symbols and words. For example, ?The
  number a is 7 less than the number b is not a 7
  b.
• When reading equations and word problems,
  students must be able to comprehend dense
  vocabulary and symbols.
• Frequently two or more concepts are used to form
  a new concept
• Several words can signal the same mathematical
  operation add, sum, total, and, plus, and
  combine.

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Essential Standard 3 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of
Mathematics, contd.

• Cultural differences also pose difficulties for
  LEP students learning mathematics.
• Measurement may be challenging, as prior
  knowledge may be based upon the metric system,
  not the English system of measurement.
• Fractions may be unfamiliar, as previous
  instruction most likely focused on decimals.
• The use of periods and commas in numeric
  expressions may be another source of confusion.
• Some languages use periods, whereas English uses
  commas in writing multiples of 1000 (7.532 v.
  7,532) and a comma instead of a period in
  decimals (6,5 v. 6.5).

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Essential Standard 4 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of Science

• The language of science includes complex
  grammatical forms and structures
• Passive voice Prokaryotes are identified by
  their
• Multiple embeddings a new procedure that
  combines two different technologies with digital
  processing
• Long noun phrases Growing a new plant from a
  cutting of another plant.
• Ifthen constructions If the ____, then ____.

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Essential Standard 4 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of Science

• Instruction
• Set purpose for learning
• Pre-teach vocabulary
• Display language obj. with science obj.
• Active engagement (mandatory participation)
• Road Maps/Outline for videos (cloze exercises)
• Show long videos in short segments
• Go beyond vocabulary- apply to processes
• Include writing component
• Hands-on activities

• Scaffolding
• Word bank
• Diagrams
• Cognates
• Visuals/realia
• Graphic organizers
• Read aloud classroom tests
• Modify test/assignments, beyond just eliminating
  an answer option
• Resources
• www.dogonews.com
• Discovery education- Science text book

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Essential Standard 5 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of Social
Studies

• The language of social studies assumes a high
  level of literacy and includes complex
  grammatical structures
• Long sentences
• Multiple embeddings the officer who fought in
  the conflict, which was the first act of defiance
  before an alliance was forged...
• Complex past tense forms
• Extensive use of pronouns as referents
• Cause effect with ?Because at the beginning
  of the sentence Because of the cold winters, New
  England has a short growing season.

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Essential Standard 5 ELLs communicate
information, ideas, and concepts necessary for
academic success in the content area of Social
Studies

• Tips from ESL Teachers
• Focus on academic vocabulary (narrow focus)
• Focus on main events of history (the who, what,
  when, where)
• Stage opportunities to practice specific
  concepts and patterns of communication to
  demonstrate learning
• Apply events from the past to a modern day
  concept and demonstrate how history repeats
  itself
• Focus student assignment on Non-Fiction skills
  and application- use context clues from
  graphics/photos/headings subheadings, etc.
• Model and practice interpretation of
  charts/tables/maps/etc. and have students create
  their own with a rubric
• Help students decode long passage- have students
  bullet and summarize main ideas
• Study cause effect patterns and analyze why and
  how
• Chunk and hit the highlights
• Use Thinking Maps and manipulatives to grasp main
  concepts

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Resources

• World Class Instructional Design and Assessment,
  www.wida.us