ESOL Writing Techniques for Grades 4 and 5

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ESOL Writing Techniques for Grades 4 and 5

• Abby Nelms, Audra Stanley, Lisa Dickey, and Jason
  Hall

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Webbing

• ELL Level Speech emergence and/or intermediate
  fluency stage(3 and 4).
• Strategy Webbing is a strategy in which the
  student(s) choose a main idea and then brainstorm
  for words that would connect to the main idea or
  vice versa. There are no rules for what can go
  into a cluster.
• Appropriateness for ELLs Webbing assists ELL
  writers in developing vocabulary and preparing
  them for writing in general. It is appropriate
  for all levels of ELLs that are learning how to
  write. Webbing helps ELL students bring together
  ideas so they can use them to write a story. The
  beginning ELL can use the cluster that they
  created to orally tell their story if they have
  limited writing abilities. This strategy does not
  assume that a student has literacy in their
  primary language.
• Source
• http//www.youthlearn.org/learning/teaching/webbin
  g.html

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Example of Webbing
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Decoding by Analogy

• ELL Level Early Production Stage (2).
• Strategy There are many high frequency words
  with predictable patterns that students can learn
  to spell through an analogy strategy. The teacher
  teaches the students the phrase If I can spell,
  then I can spell. The students apply this
  strategy while writing to help them spell words.
• Appropriateness for ELLs It is appropriate for
  ELL learners that have a basic knowledge of
  phonics. This strategy does not assume that the
  students have literacy in their primary language.
  
• Source
• Kulesza, Dorothy and Maria Meyerson. Strategies
  for Struggling Readers and Writers Step by Step.
  Pgs. 40-41. 2006. Upper Saddle River Pearson
  Education, Inc.

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Highlighting Strategy

• ELL Level Speech Emergence and Intermediate
  Fluency Stage (3 4)
• Strategy This strategy consists of teaching
  children how to use highlighting of main ideas
  and supporting details. All that is needed are a
  handful of different colored highlighters, a
  sample essay you have written yourself, and a
  space to sit with the child. Have the child watch
  you use one highlighter to mark your essays main
  idea or topic sentence and any coinciding
  sentences that support the main idea. Then use a
  second highlighter in a different color to mark
  all secondary points and following sentences. The
  teacher explains to the child what she is doing
  and reads the sentences aloud as she marks them.
  Then, she discusses with the child what she sees.
  For example, she may find that you need to add
  more details or expand on some ideas. She may
  determine that your sentences may need to be
  moved around to make better sense. Discuss with
  the student that, when you mark your paper, you
  can see how you may like to revise or reorganize
  it. In short, you can see where details and ideas
  belong.
• Appropriateness for ELLs ELL students are able
  to visually see their main ideas and how many
  supporting sentences that they provided.
• Source
• http//www.gse.buffalo.edu/org/writingstrategies/3
  -6highlighting.htm

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COPS Editing Strategy

• ELL Level Speech Emergence and Intermediate
  Fluency (3 and 4)
• Strategy This strategy entitled COPS
  (Capitalization, Overall appearance and
  readability, Punctuation, and Spelling) assists
  the student in organizing editing in the writing
  process.  It focuses on different aspects of the
  writing separately thus helping the student look
  for errors in various criteria areas as they work
  through the editing process.
• Appropriateness for ELLs This strategy helps
  ELLs with organizing and editing in the writing
  process. This strategy helps the students check
  for capitalization errors, overall appearance of
  the sample, punctuation in the sample, and
  spelling used in the sample.
• Source
• http//www.k12.nf.ca/fatima/semmap.htm

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I-Search

• ELL Level Intermediate Fluency
• Strategy This process encourages students to be
  on a topic of personal interest based on their
  experience. The I-Search format helps students
  learn to uncover their own curiosity, find and
  use sources helpful in answering questions, write
  what they find and judge the rigor of their own
  work. The last phase of this process includes
  students creating drafts, revising, editing, and
  publishing information. This strategy does assume
  that a student can use a language proficiently.
• Appropriateness for ELLs This method is
  appropriate for ELL learners because it provides
  practice of many different types of necessary
  skills that they need to be successful. This
  strategy helps students with the process of
  completing a research paper.
• Source Kulesza, Dorothy and Maria Meyerson.
  Strategies for Struggling Readers and Writers
  Step by Step. Pgs. 40-41. 2006. Upper Saddle
  River Pearson Education, Inc.

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IBC Strategy

• ELL Level Intermediate Fluency and above
• Strategy It helps students to understand that
  not only does their essay have an introduction, a
  body, and a conclusion, but each paragraph should
  have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion
  also. It is important for the teacher to model
  the IBC pattern so that students fully understand
  the entire process. The teacher should make a
  table on the board like the one below
• The letters down the side of the table represent
  the introduction, three body points, and the
  conclusion of each paragraph. The letters across
  the top of the table represent the individual
  paragraphs (Introduction, three body paragraphs,
  and a conclusion). If you anticipate the essay
  should have fewer or more paragraphs, you can
  eliminate or add body sections. Students should
  fill in each box in the table along with the
  teacher as they collaborate on prewriting an
  essay.

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Cont.
  I B B B C
I          
B          
B          
B          
C        

• Once the teacher has modeled the strategy, it is
  crucial for the teacher to work individually with
  students to make sure they understand how to fill
  in the table for themselves. It is also important
  to help students transfer and process information
  from their table into a cohesive essay.The IBC
  pattern is an effective way to help students
  visualize how the information in their essay can
  be organized. Many students who have used this
  pattern say they can now visualize the table in
  their minds while they are writing and they
  stress its effectiveness for planning.
• Appropriateness for ELLs The IBC strategy is a
  prewriting strategy that provides students with a
  way of organizing information for their essays to
  ensure that they have enough support in each
  paragraph to prove their points.
• Source http//www.gse.buffalo.edu/org/writingstr
  ategies/6-12introbodyconcl.htm

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Raft Technique

• ELL Level Intermediate Fluency (4)
• Strategy The RAFT technique provides an easy,
  meaningful way to incorporate writing into
  content area instruction. It includes the
  following four components
• R Role of Writer Who are you?
• A Audience To whom is this written?
• F Format What form will it take?
• T Topic strong verb What important topic
  have I chosen? The students choose a strong verb
  to describe their intent.
• Appropriateness for ELLs This strategy helps
  students to develop a better written language and
  better writing concepts. It can help students to
  visually observe the writing process.
•  Source http//edservices.aea7.k12.ia.us/framewor
  k/strategies/raft1.pdf