2013 Conference: Crossroads, Connections,ohiotesolmoodle.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Ohio_TESOL... · 2013 Conference: Crossroads, Connections, ... research notes to a detailed

Spring 2013 http://ohiotesol.org Vol. 5, No. 3

2013 Conference: Crossroads, Connections, and Collaboration

Interactive Reading

Matching ESL Learners and Teachers-in-Training

What You Should Know About Ohio’s Resident Educator License

Aligning Technology to Achievement with iPads

And more inside...

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Ohio TESOL Journal -- Volume 5, Number 32

Ohio TESOL BoardExecutive Committee - Voting MembersPresidentJessica [email protected]

First Vice PresidentDavid [email protected]

Second Vice PresidentSara [email protected]

Interest Section RepresentativesK-12Elizabeth [email protected] [email protected]

Post Secondary/Higher Ed.Don [email protected]

Adult EducationWendy [email protected]

Research /Teacher Ed. /Applied LinguisticsTim [email protected]

Advisory Board - Non-Voting MembersTreasurerMarty [email protected]

Recording SecretaryJill [email protected]

Past PresidentBeverly [email protected]

Membership CoordinatorLinda [email protected]

Advisory LiaisonsAdvocacyBev [email protected] [email protected]

OFLA LiasonLillian [email protected]

ODE Lau Resource Center LiaisonDan [email protected] [email protected]

CommitteesAwards and GrantsSusy [email protected] [email protected]

2013 ConferenceBrenda Custodio, [email protected] [email protected]

Volunteer CoordinatorElizabeth [email protected]

Exhibitor LiasonMary [email protected]

Communications Team

Web ManagerMike [email protected]

Journal Editors Content: Brenda [email protected]: Chris [email protected]

Listserv ManagerBob [email protected]

Ohio TESOL Journal is published three times a year by Ohio TESOL. The deadlines for the next three issues are August 15 (Autumn issue), December 15 (Winter issue), and March 15 (Spring issue). Ohio TESOL is not responsible for any opinions expressed by contributors to the Journal. Submissions accepted for publication may be edited and / or republished on our website and in other media. Photo credits: Kevin Dowey (front / back cover).

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http://ohiotesol.org 3

Proposals are accepted for the following types of sessions:

Papers50-minute sessions. These are mainly of a pre-sentation format (40 minutes) followed by 10 minutes of questions and answers and discus-sion.

Demonstrations50-minute sessions with substantial audience participation. Demonstrations involve the actual doing of a task, or series of tasks. For example, the presenter could explain the steps in the actu-al performance of a language learning simulation by having the audience participate in one. Dem-

onstrations of computer or technology activities in the computer lab are welcome. “Make it and Take it” activities are also encouraged.

Panel Discussion50-minute sessions, with 3 or 4 panel members, leading to substantial audience discussion; one specific topic should be pursued by all speakers, while the coordinator introduces speakers, sum-marizes their approach to the topic, and leads the discussion. Submissions should include a clear description of the thematic focus, the proposed contents of the discussion, and a list of the ac-tive participants. Topics can include research or practice. For example, with respect to research, a panel could offer several points of view on a con-

Ohio TESOL Conferencein Conjunction with the Lau Center

Ohio Department of Education

Crossroads, Connections, and Collaboration

November 15 and 16, 2013Hilton Columbus Downtown

Ohio TESOL welcomes proposals for sessions at its 2013 conference. Proposals are be-ing accepted for non-commercial sessions. Please read this entire page before submit-ting a proposal. General Presentations: This Call for Proposal form is for submissions that are non-commercial in nature. You may submit your general proposal electronically http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GHFJCKB or go to OhioTESOL.org for more information.

Proposals are due June 21, 2013.

2013 Conference Information

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troversial subject such as the pedagogical value of explicit grammar instruction. On the other hand, the coordinator of a non-academic topic provides the initiative for the session. She/he will approach colleagues and invite them to partici-pate and coordinate their efforts.

Poster PresentationsPosters will be on display during a set time to be announced later. Presenters will be expected to remain at the presentation site (a bulletin board) for approximately half an hour in order to discuss their topics with attendees. Poster presentations are designed to depict a topic by means of pictures and brief notes. Many possible topics suitable for posters can be pursued, from research notes to a detailed lesson plan. For ex-ample, a language learning field trip for intensive English students could be depicted with pictures, maps and samples of materials.

Graduate ResearchGraduate students are invited to discuss their re-search projects with conference attendees. Three students with similar topics will be scheduled for one concurrent session; each presenter will talk for approximately 15 minutes. Proposals may be from individual students or a group interested in working together.

Proposal Format• Title of Presentation (15 words or less)

• Brief Description (30-40 words)-This informa-tion will be included in the conference program.

• Abstract (200 word maximum)

Please note: Due to time constraints, double sessions are rarely scheduled.

Proposals on all topics of relevance to teach-ing English to Speakers of Other Languages are encouraged. Feedback from previous conferences showed that the following topics are of interest:

• Preparing students for the new PARCC assess-ments

• How to get parents involved

• Meeting the needs of employers

• Suggestions for teaching grammar/writing

• Low-literacy ELLs

• Ideas for parent or community nights

• Collaboration between classroom teachers and the ESL teacher

• Low incidence school districts

• Implementing the Common Core with ELLs

• Sessions geared toward paraprofessionals

• Cultural information on ethnic groups new to Ohio

• Special needs English language learners

• Ways to integrate technology easily into the classroom

• Reading Recovery and ELLs

• Collaboration between refugee resettlement providers and educators

• Basic information for people new to the field

• Sessions for general education/mainstream teachers

Presenters are also encouraged to submit 4-5 page articles of their presentations to the Ohio TESOL Journal.


What an Interactive Reading Lesson for ESL Learners Looks Like

An Interactive Approach to reading instruction attempts to balance two traditional focuses within the teaching of reading, namely, bottom-up and top-down instruction. As most readers already know, bottom-up reading skills refer to smaller reading skills such as identifying letters, recog-nizing letter patterns and being able to con-vert individual letters and letter clusters into sound (decod-ing). Top-down skills, on the other hand, generally encompass more global reading skills such as identifying and recalling story sequences, characters, main ideas, supporting details, and also include higher think-ing skills such as making inferences and applying story themes to one’s own life. The Interactive Ap-proach has also been given the name of Balanced Approach by some reading professionals, because it balances the time devoted to instruction of both bottom-up and top down skills.

This article will first specify the basic elements of an Interactive Approach to reading as given by reading experts. After providing this summary, I will delineate the reasons why I believe this Inter-active Approach represents an optimal pedagogy for our K-8 ELL population, and why it addresses the current assessment demands placed on these students.

According to Reutzel and Couter (1996), an In-teractive Approach to reading is characterized by adherence to the following principles. Foremost, this approach blends the bottom-up phonics in-

struction with top-down comprehension skills. Furthermore, it assumes that effective reading instruction relies on a significant quantity of skill-based instruction, and thus, teacher control of a portion of the reading lesson is assumed. Concom-itantly, there is an acknowledgement that skills

instruction alone does not create com-petent readers, es-pecially given the higher-level think-ing skills demanded after grade 3. Pro-ponents of this ap-

proach acknowledge that readers must be taught how to interact with a text, make inferences and draw conclusions. Because meaning and enjoy-ment of a text are critical within the reading pro-cess, presentation of the text as an organic whole which is bigger than the sum of the parts is also a key feature.

Proponents of the Interactive Approach depict the brain as a ‘parallel processor’ in which one part focuses on decoding efforts while another part directs energy toward the automatic recog-nition of words, while simultaneously bringing background information to bear in order to derive meaning from a text. Finally, the Interactive Ap-proach highlights the importance of recognizing that diverse student experiences allow for various interpretations of a text.

Given this overview of the Interactive Approach, as a next step it seems appropriate to make the case for its application to ELL readers. First, we must acknowledge that schools throughout the nation

By Michael Reed

The Interactive Approach balances the time devoted to instruction of both bottom-up and top down skills.


are still dominated by high stakes testing and an accountability structure which disproportionately rewards mastery of reading subskills. Thus, ELL readers are required to show an ability to handle lower level reading skills such as basic phonics awareness, and identifying rhyming words, main ideas, sequences, and details. Despite the fact that reading success in high school and beyond requires more analytical, critical thinking, educa-tors must focus initially on assuring that our sec-ond language readers have mastered the bottom-up skills associated with lower level processing of reading a text. The Interactive Approach aptly ac-complishes this goal

Although an excessive concentration on smaller reading skills at the expense of higher order en-gagement with reading texts creates readers with limited ability, the time spent teaching ELL learn-ers phonics based skills has notable merit. As the following quote underscores, at the beginning reading stages, ELLs need decoding skills just to enter the door to basic reading:

Any learners who have not been exposed to basic principles of decoding in English will have to acquire them, no matter their age. In addition, any learner of English will have to learn that some English words are simply not decodable, and must be memorized as whole words, sometimes called `sight words.’ There is no way around this, either for native speak-ers or ELL’s due to the opaque nature of Eng-lish orthography. Lems, Miller & Soro (2010, p. 80)

Another strength of the Interactive Approach to reading rests on its simultaneous emphasis on top-down reading skills related to text interpre-tation, drawing inferences and conclusions, and application of concepts in a text or story to the student’s personal life. The benefit of a balanced focus on higher level thinking skills within the reading process is underscored by the following argument:

The benefits of children learning to decode early on, however, do not necessarily trans-late into long term superiority in reading com-prehension, because reading is so much more

than decoding. Lems, Miller & Soro (2010, p. 78)

The Interactive Reading Approach recognizes that while decoding is part of what readers need to do, higher order skills are also needed.

Having made the case for the application of the Interactive Reading Approach for ELLs, the ques-tion arises as to whether there are special adap-tions that teachers should adhere to when trying to apply this method to actual second language readers. The answer, from my perspective, is ̀ ab-solutely.’ Most fundamentally, teachers of ELLs must focus first on meaningful events when intro-ducing a story or other reading text. ELLs inhabit a world in which they are constantly striving to derive meaning from language input, and often unsuccessfully. Reading teachers may inadver-tently compound this situation by infusing inten-sive, direct instruction about sound-letter combi-nations, much of which may be unconnected to the typical ELL’s life. Meaningful discussion of stories, on the other hand, holds the intrinsic po-tential to relate to the lives of all students. Thus, step number one in an Interactive Reading lesson should consist of efforts by the teacher to eluci-date various aspects of a text’s content, which can be done through discussion of the major themes and story parts through illustrations, graphic or-ganizers, word clusters, picture walks, etc. The ultimate intention here relates to enhancing com-prehension during the initial reading and piquing students’ interest through the weaving of possible connections with their lives.

Secondly, a wealth of “scaffolds” of all varieties must be added to the pre and post activities related to a reading text. Visual scaffolds such as pictures, diagrams, drawings, etc. tend to be the most effec-tive with lower level ELLs but the teacher should also give serious consideration to other scaffolds. Good candidates are drama, music, group work, realia and movement of all variety.

The third suggestion relates to the use of real liter-ature, preferably predictable books. The repetitive patterns in this genre of literature tends to limit the number of new vocabulary words which ELL readers encounter, while simultaneously allowing


them to focus on learning just one new grammar structure rather than a mélange of grammar pat-terns contained within non-predictable books.

Fourth, the Interactive Reading lesson must mul-tiply opportunities for ELL’s to improve their oral language skills. This enhancement highlights an aspect of reading instruction which effective teach-ers of mainstream students already know. That is, comprehension, language development and cog-nitive abilities are all simultaneously enhanced when reading texts are linked to meaningful oral discussions. These discussions usually take the form small peer-to-peer group interactions such as Literature Response groups, creating a story map or developing an alternative ending.

Before describing the details of an Interactive Reading lesson based on a real trade book, be-low are the major elements which I think should be included in most Interactive Reading lessons. The order may be reshuffled depending on the lesson, and not every item needs to be covered in any given lesson.

1. Warm-up & Student Engagement2. Preview of the text3. Reading strategy instruction4. Reading the book multiple times using multiple approaches5. Vocabulary & syntax work6. Phonics & reading skills work7. Extension activities

With these elements as a backdrop, let’s take a look at some of them as they would be applied to an Interactive reading lesson based on the pre-dictable book, Over in the Meadow. The warm-up can be achieved by showing pictures of some of the animals and places that will be mentioned in the story. Thus, pictures of bluebirds, fish, and lizards can be shown along with different story locations such as meadows, streams and glens. Students can be engaged by asking related ques-tions such as: Have you ever walked in a meadow? What did you see there? When you walked near a stream, what did you see or hear? What animals live near streams? etc.

To create competent, independent readers, most

reading authorities recommend strategy instruc-tion as an integral part of the reading lesson. Due to the sequential numbering of animals in this book and their attachment to a given location, I would emphasize the strategy of ‘ordering of story events.’ To accomplish this, I would have the numbers from one to ten written out on large cards, and on the second reading, I would have students who are holding either a number or pic-ture card, try to match the number with the correct picture as the text is read. To cement the idea of sequence, I would mix the numbers and pictures up again after the reading and ask students to re-pair the numbers to the correct animal picture.

This book presents multiple themes around which vocabulary can be taught, ranging from animals to locations to verbs. I’ve selected locations and any accompanying adjectives from the book as the vocabulary words to focus on. Examples from the book are meadow, stream, snug beehive, mossy gate and soft shady glen. These settings are all re-inforceable through pictures which can be found on line or taken directly from the book.

On the third reading, groups of four can be as-signed three pages apiece to read aloud to the class, after some practice in the smaller group. When all groups have read their parts, they will line up in order, which gives a `structured visu-al’ of the story’s sequence. A final reading can be done silently, with students answering teacher-generated questions every four pages to assure comprehension.

The story lends itself to practice with both verbs in their infinitive form (commands) and past tense. Verb practice can be implemented through a dra-matic-type reading activity. Within this activity, the teacher stands at the side of the class, and di-rects one half of the students (Group 1) to read the command form. This is followed by the other side that gives a reply consistent with the book format, in the past tense . Examples are shown below:

“Swim said the mother.”“So we swam said the two.”

“Buzz said the mother”“So we buzzed said the five.”



“Chirp said the mother”“So we chirped said the seven.”

There are multiple opportunities for phonics prac-tice since there are several conspicuous patterns that appear with frequency. One good possibil-ity is practice with the long “o” sound, formed by two patterns: 1) initial long “o” as in over and old or 2) final long “o” created by the `ow’ sequence as in meadow and crow. For consonant practice I would select initial “m” because the words mead-ow and mother appear on every page.

Finally, to complete the category of extension ac-tivities, I would recommend a reader’s theater in which students act out the actions of each animal as other classmates read different parts. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how students might dramatize the actions of swimming, digging, buzz-ing and cawing. An additional extension activity that involves writing would have students rewrite and illustrate two pages of the story, changing both the animals and the actions. Thus, instead of “Over in the meadow where the stream runs blue lived an old mother fishy and her little fishies two,” a creative student might write: “Over in the ocean where the waves run blue, lived an old mother whale and her little whalies two.

To summarize, the Interactive Reading Approach is one that best serves the complete needs of K-6 ELL readers. However, it can not be applied to the ESL reading classroom without some major, thoughtful modifications such as more visuals, more student dialogues, and additional efforts related to text clarification. Teachers must focus first on meaning, and create and enhance this meaning through a healthy dose of scaffolds. Fi-nally, there must be a conscious and deliberate ef-fort to attach meaningful, communicative activi-ties to the pre and post reading instruction.

Implicit in this description of a reading lesson for ELLs comes the notion of “depth over breadth.” In other words, ESL teachers must become dedi-cated to the practice of taking extra time to move through the various stages of a reading lesson, making sure comprehension has been achieved, and backtracking when comprehension breaks down. This should not, however, be viewed in a

negative light. Instead, these are positive modifi-cations designed to meet our ELL readers, not at the level of language and reading proficiency that we might wistfully hope for. They are attempts to meet these students at the levels at which they ar-rive.

Dr. Michael Reed is a Professor of TESOL and Bi-lingual Education at The University of Findlay.


ReferencesKeats, E.J. (1999). Over in the Meadow. New York: Penguin Group USA.

Lems, K. Miller, D. & Soro, T.M. (2010). Teaching reading to English Language Learners. New York: The Guilford Press.

Reutzel, D.R. & Cooter, R.B. (1996). Teaching Children to Read. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Matching up ESL Learners and Teachers-in-Training to Maximize Learning

The practical application of theories learned in TESOL graduate classes for teacher training pro-grams in the United States is an integral part of a program. While programs expose students to language learning theory, methodology and other field specific courses and practicums, stu-dents may desire to have more practical training with English Language Learners (ELLs) in a super-vised manner. This approach is often beneficial for TESOL gradu-ate students as well as for the ELLs. It provides a platform in which master’s students can uti-lize the pedagogy they learn in the classrooms as well as a chance for the ELLs to have specialized one-on-one attention with a tutor in their subject area. This is a chance to utilize their training in a teaching setting. Many of the instructors in the Linguistics Department’s Ohio Program of Inten-sive English (OPIE) are collaborating with the master’s students to work with the ELLs through-out the semester. This is a double benefit for the university because ELLs need as much experience as possible communicating in English as well as individualized attention, while teachers-in-train-ing benefit from applying what they learn in class. The remainder of this article discusses one such project at Ohio University, including the theoreti-cal background as well as project specifics.

Theoretical Background

The primary learning theory this project was built upon was constructivism. Considered one of the

founders of social learning, Vygotsky (1978) stated that “human learning presupposes a specific so-cial nature and a process by which children grow into the intellectual life of those around them” (p. 88). Von Glasersfeld (1982) points out the active

role of the individu-al, in that according to constructivism “there is no way of transferring knowl-edge — every know-er has to build it up for himself” (p. 1).

He goes on to describe learners as organizers who shape their world through interpretation. Auton-omy and self-directed learning were also called upon, as good language learners have been found to be self-directed and display autonomy in their language learning (Benson, 2001). In this specific project, the ELLs and teachers-in-training worked together to build their own knowledge of both the English language and of the process of learning itself.

Project Specifics

The teachers-in-training at Ohio University were first year graduate students taking a Teaching Reading and Writing Course. These graduate students consisted of 21 students with native or near-native English speaking abilities. The Lan-guage Learners in the Intensive English Program were full-time English, and were advanced level students enrolled in the Core Class in which the content included advanced reading, writing, and grammar. The class consisted of 13 students (9 from China, 4 from Saudi Arabia); there were

By Dawn Bikowski and Jessy Hendrickx


The practical application of theories learned in TESOL graduate classes is an integral part of a teacher training program.


three graduate students and 10 undergraduate students and their majors were in Education, Business, Engineering, and Art. Due to the great-er number of Linguistics MA students, teams con-sisted of one or two teachers-in-training and two or three ELLs. Topics of the tutoring sessions in-cluded grammar, reading and writing and skills and strategies to improve them, in addition to useful online resources.

Grouping and class time were carefully consid-ered. The same groups were maintained through-out the quarter and met four times in class in a computer lab and a minimum of three times out-side of class. This configuration was chosen for a number of reasons: a.) to integrate the project into the courses and provide sufficient account-ability and any necessary trouble-shooting, b.) to align the curricular goals for both courses, and c.) to allow the university instructors to help the stu-dents build rapport. Requiring sessions outside of class allowed the ELLs and teachers-in-training to have sufficient time to work more closely to-gether. In all sessions, students were told that the ELLs should be driving the content of the tutor-ing sessions — the teachers-in-training should al-low the learners to lead. The ELLs were prepped for this process as well before it began. The OPIE instructor made sure they understood the social standards in this type of academic situation as well as the responsibility of the student. The students were required to attend outside of class. The ELLs also wrote their own goals and objectives before participating in the project.

Reading topics worked on in their tutoring ses-sions including rate and fluency, comprehen-sion, skimming, scanning, drawing inferences and distinguishing details. Writing topics focused on grammar, organization, timed writings, using sources and proofreading.

Student Project Outcomes

While the master’s students were working with the ELLs they were also completing a project for their course work. This project was as Language Learner Case Study that required three outside sources and consisted of the following:

• Introduction — including project background and the learners’ and MA students’ goals• Project plan and activities — including needs as-sessments, activities, samples of students’ work, evaluations• Activity justifications — a brief write-up of why each activity was chosen, linking the activity to needs assessment or learner goals, and also an explanation of activities that had been considered but were not chosen • Final reflection — a conclusion including what they learned or did not learn, what they enjoyed or did not enjoy, and accomplishment toward goals

The graduate students practiced activities in their MA class in order to prepare them for their role as teachers in their tutoring sessions. As well, guidelines for working with the ELLs were given, such as being a learner and professional; work-ing toward specific goals; and discussing goals, strategies, and learning with the ELLs. Class time also consisted of considering the role of culture in the learning process, linking theories to practice, and discussing which activities worked with the learners and under what conditions. In this way, the teachers-in-training were able to support each other as they led their tutoring groups.

In their IEP course, the ELLs were required to write a Final Course Reflection, which asked them to consider what they had learned from the expe-rience in the skill areas of reading and writing. Overall, there was positive feedback from both the teachers in training and the ELLs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both the teachers-in-training and the ELLs greatly benefited from being matched up in this scenario. This situation not only gave the teachers-in-training a means to practice the theo-ries they learned, but it also gave them a chance to reflect on their experiences. The ELLs benefited from one-on-one tutoring throughout the quarter. They not only received assistance in their weaker language skill areas, but they were able to use Eng-lish while working with their tutors. In the words of one ELL, “The tutors are good for me. My tutor gave me so much help in reading and vocabulary. We have met several times outside the class and I


got some experience about study skills from her.” A teacher in training also noted, “I realized how crucial reading fluency is for non-native English speakers. Before this project, my idea of reading was to go over the reading material, help students understand the main idea and supporting ideas, pick up the important grammar points to explain, and finally, ask students to do multiple choice quizzes to prove that they had full understand-ing of the text… Now I realize that as language teachers, we should help students build their real reading ability instead of just test-taking reading skills.” These are wonderful observations indeed. While organizing these types of instructional ex-changes requires sufficient time and planning, the instructors and all students can greatly benefit from everyone learning collaboratively.

Dawn Bikowski, PhD, is Director of the English Language Improvement Program in the Linguis-tics Department at Ohio University.

Jessy Hendrickx is a faculty member in the Ohio Program of Intensive English, at Ohio University and serves as the Listening and Speaking Skill Area Coordinator.


ReferencesBenson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. London, England: Longman.

Von Glasersfeld, E. (1982). An interpretation of Piaget’s con-structivism. Revue Internationale de Philosophie, 36(4): 612-35.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.


Using a Website Editing Project to Teach High School Academic English Writing in Science Content

Both science content and English writing are hard for many high school students to deal with. Hence, the “High School Science-Writing Collab-orative Project” was designed to teach high school students in a Columbus City High School. Stu-dent writing samples and steps for teaching writing of web-page content will be includ-ed in this article. Any English teacher who wants to integrate spe-cific content knowl-edge into academic English reading and writing course can modify the ideas from this project to reach different learning goals. In this project, stu-dents were guided to find student-friendly aca-demic articles from www.infohio.org to present their findings on specific environmental issues, such as acid rain, dust storms, and bio-fuels, on a website they created. The author of this article is the curriculum designer and leading teacher of this project.

The first step is to select a life-relevant theme and a suitable type of final work for your students based on the given length of class meeting time for one project. The life-relevant theme of this project is going green, which starts from the care of people’s daily habits and actions that can bring benefit or harm to our environment. This theme was cho-sen by the high school science teacher who decid-ed to collaborate with the Outreach team (which was composed of Graduate Teaching Associates and Undergraduate Tutors) from the Ohio State University. The Outreach team met the science teacher’s students (Grade 9-10) only one class

period (50 minutes) per week to help them learn content-based academic writing (MLA style). Since the content of this project was not test-oriented for students who want to focus on Ohio General Test, all of the writing and reading activi-

ties were required to be completed in class and no homework was assigned. The stu-dents have learned ba-sic computer skills in their prior technology class, therefore, teach-

ing them how to upload the content and pictures into the website management system did not take too much time. The science teacher chose to let students publish their final product on websites as the way to display students’ learning through-out the semester. For other teachers who already have their teaching blogs to showcase students’ writing, letting students edit the blog articles or create slides/video record of their project will be good alternatives for final products.

The second step is to select several types of inter-active activities that can engage students longer and challenge them properly without letting them lose confidence or interest. In this project, stu-dents needed to read articles and find relevant in-formation from the assigned readings to choose a specific environmental issue that he or she would like to focus for writing the content of their indi-vidual websites of the going green project. Each week, students played different roles to sharpen their skills in reading, speaking, and writing skills by participating in interactive classroom activi-ties. For example, they acted as experts talking on

By Shiao-Chen Tsai


We want our students to gain prac-tical technology skills and develop critical thinking when doing the English writing practice.

environmental issues in one week on the topic of renewable energy, and they became the design-ers and narrators of their collective picture-sto-rybook to address the needs of people’s daily ac-tion to reduce the chance of acid rain around the world. Each student presents his/her work briefly in class. After listening to everyone’s explanation, they decided the sequence of each page in the col-lective storybook. Students shared their opinions on how to put everyone’s drawing or writing in what sequence and gave reasons by speaking up in class. After class, the teacher marked numbers on each paper and put them into the first period’s folder to make a Power Point slide show to pres-ent their collective story next week.

On the other hand, teacher-led presentation/lec-ture can be interactive as well. For example, using Power-point slides or Prezi to show some pictures and video clips of the serious effects of dust storm around the world can lead students to guess what these countries were. Students enjoy the guessing games and also pay more attention to the impact of such environmental problems. Power-point can be an easy-to-use tool for making a Bingo chart for engaging the whole class to participate in reading activity. For instance, a 2-page hand-out on the use of bio-fuels in different industries and the potential benefits or limitation/drawback is suitable for a 10-15 minute of small group read-ing and practicing highlighting key ideas. The teacher will need to select several concise news article or well-written paragraphs from a student-friendly academic website like www.infohio.org to make the handout first. After the group read-ing and discussion for marking the main ideas with highlighters, the whole class will form two large groups for competition in the Bingo game. A Bingo chart can be filled with numbers (1-9) in the 3x3 boxes or numbers (1-16) in the 4x4 boxes to show the total number of questions related to the handout. Each group will choose a number to answer the question it represents. When the cho-sen question is answered correctly by referring to the handout within the time limit (30 seconds to 1 minute, depends on the difficulty level of the question), the group can take that box. When a line of 3 (in the 3X2 boxes) or 4 (in the 4X4 boxes) are connected by one group earlier than the other group, the faster is the winner.

These above examples are interactive and inter-esting classroom activities for introducing new concepts and reviewing key ideas. Through those activities, students’ perceptions toward science and writing instruction have been changed gradu-ally because they loved the challenge/competition as well as teamwork in those activities. Any of the above activities can be applied into projects with content-specific readings with English writing/speaking tasks.

The third step is to let students brainstorm the ideas and write an outline for searching further information online. What makes this convention-al step more interactive is to have one consultant or one experienced peer writer to take care of each group (2-3 students) by giving peer feedback dur-ing the brainstorming and outlining stage. The teacher will need to walk around to check each group’s progress and give some help on site. One or two of the best group’s work from that class pe-riod will be presented on the smart board or pro-jected on the large screen to let other students see why such writing is more academic and logical in organizing ideas for academic English writing.

The fourth step is to help them distinguish reli-able online sources from unreliable ones before teaching them how to cite the sources in MLA style. Students tend to learn the search skills first rather than the way to appreciate the quality of the information online. Hence, giving students bad and good examples to help them be aware of the quality gap in the online sources is the first thing we should have taught our students. After they knew which source is more reliable than another one, then we showed them how to use the citation tool on www.infohio.org, and also in similar library search engines. We also gave stu-dents a cheat sheet of different sources of materi-als cited in MLA style as example for them to look up whenever they forgot some details about the format requirement.

The fifth step is to give them some time to practice paraphrasing some direct quotations in students’ own words with peers. We asked students to cover the sentences they wrote with direct quotations and imaged that they met a friend in the eleva-



tor who would like to know their current proj-ects. They needed to use peer-friend language to explain what they are doing. The listener in the elevator will also help the speaker complete what he/she tries to say if some words were forgotten or don’t know how to put it in right order due to nervousness. Peer feedback at this stage focuses on only content and clarity of description/defini-tion.

The sixth step is to ask students to revise their drafts based on teacher’s and peer’s feedback. Peer feedback at this stage focus on organiza-tion. Students spent two weeks finishing revision for publish the content online. Collecting the common weakness of stu-dents’ previous drafts and share their critical peer feedback will help students figure out how to apply the advice into their own writing more easily.

The seventh step is to publish the final draft with the images/photos/student artwork online. Students then will follow a checklist to examine their own website content and also review a peer’s. The li-brarian will need to give the student a mini-lesson on how to cite materials with copyright if the subject/English teacher has not spent enough time on teaching this part. Student writing samples and drawing will be included in their website to enrich the content and to catch more readers’ attention. Here are some examples:

The following short poem with the acronym of “Bio-Fuels” was one of the student writing samples that showed their comprehension and contempla-tion over the impact of bio-fuels. The words writ-ten in italic were suggested by the teacher to make the sentence more grammatical and clear.

Better effect on the environmentIs created from plants and waste as well as Obtained from nature.Few negative effect when it wasUsed in cars. It’sEasy to save your money.Let’sSave the Earth.

From the above student’s poem, we can see that this student was required to use the key idea in-troduced in this course as the acronym to get readers’ attention when reading this poem. The poem itself is a short summary written in student-friendly language to introduce their peers the im-portance of using biofuels and its possible effects that we should know. When students post their own poems on their home pages, the poems will be very eye-catching as the following student’s comic strips on the theme “acid rain” can draw reader’s interest quickly.

The science teacher and I want our students to gain practical technology skills and develop criti-cal thinking when doing the English writing prac-tice and explore the target content knowledge more deeply than knowing the facts reported in the textbook. From the above eight steps, Eng-lish teachers can see tips for their curriculum de-sign and things that they can modify for various themes based on their current teaching needs. Things to consider, such as students’ different degree of motivation and available class meeting for doing it, are also included in this article. Stu-dents’ current writing proficiency and technology experiences will affect teachers’ expected learning outcome easily. Hence, their students may need longer or short time than what my high school stu-dents can do in one semester (given the meeting time is only 50 minutes per week). It is important


to consult with the content area teacher who has showed interest to collaborate with you to design a co-teaching project like this. Setting up manage-able goals for both teachers and students is the key for successful learning outcome.

In addition, make best use of students’ peer pres-sure and creating a fun and positive competitive atmosphere for group activities will engage our students longer and keep them interested in show-ing their expertise and team work/spirit as well. I believe that students are interested and confi-dent at displaying different types of writing and I encourage them to start with where they are but not just stay there. Therefore, the various genres (such as poem, comic strips, story book, and re-search report) they learned has helped them see their potentials to be great writers in a wide vari-ety of genres.

Shiao-Chen Tsai is a PhD student in Foreign and Second Language Education at the Ohio State University, and she has taught EFL secondary school students in Taipei and ELL high school students in a Columbus City school as an out-reach consultant from the Ohio State University.



P-12 Concerns: What should TESOL Specialists Know about Ohio’s Resident Educator License?

In a recent special topic issue of the journal TES-OL Quarterly, Thomas Farrell noted the need for novice second language teachers to receive mentoring as they transition from preservice train-ing to working in schools. On a broader scale, the National Center for Education Sta-tistics reports that among all K-12 teachers, 4 out of every 10 choose to leave the teaching profession permanently be-fore completing their 5th year (NCES, 2009).

As a novice English teacher in Bogotá, Colom-bia, Donna’s school, the Centro Colombo Ameri-cano, had a 6-month mentor program. Clara, an energetic veteran teacher, was among those who agreed to provide one-to-one support to new fac-ulty. During the first months of school, Donna ob-served some of Clara’s English classes and took notes. They met in the school cafeteria outside of class to talk about the lessons observed and to plan future instruction. Besides helping her tran-sition to living and working in a different country, Clara’s mentorship gave her opportunities to get advice on the nuts and bolts of being a teacher at the Colombo, promoting a communicative class-room, presenting grammar concepts, and using formative and summative assessments. Clara helped her take the next steps to survive (and thrive) during the first year of teaching.

Not all teachers are fortunate to receive such con-structive mentoring and professional support.

Research suggests that one main reason teachers leave the profession is lack of support on the job (Farrell, 2012). Teacher induction programs aim

to stem the loss of trained, expe-rienced teachers from the class-room. Over the past decade, in-duction programs have developed across the nation.

In 2011, Ohio’s revised licensure system began implementation of the four-year Resident Educa-tor License, a prerequisite for teachers to receive a 5-year professional license (Ohio Revised Code 3301-24-04). Resident Educators participate in an induction system to document their progress under the guidance of district-designated men-tors. A school district Resident Education Pro-gram Coordinator oversees the work of the certi-fied mentors and school staff working with new residents.

Why is knowing about the Resident Educator Li-cense important for Teachers of English to Speak-ers of Other Languages (TESOL)? Experienced ESL teachers are needed to provide information and support to resident educators. Findings from the first year field-test of the Ohio Resident Educa-tor Program indicated that one of the skills teach-ers need to improve is differentiating instruction for English language learners (ELLs). To this end, the induction process requires that new residents demonstrate lesson planning skills and provide evidence of the progress made by their ELLs. The participation of ESL teachers in the Resident Edu-

By Donna Villareal and Crystal Kaiser


There is a need for novice second language teachers to receive mentoring as they transition from preservice training to working in schools.

cator process is an opportunity to nurture positive relationships and integrate communication with culturally and linguistically diverse families into the professional development process.

What are some action steps TESOL members can take to promote an integrated Resident Educator Program that promotes professional development to support ELLs?

New Resident Educators

Understand the structure of Ohio’ teacher licen-sure system and how the district is implementing your Resident Educator Program. Review the re-quired forms for the Resident Educator process and be aware that districts have flexibility in how mentors work with individual or small groups of new teachers (e.g., co-teaching may be part of the mentoring process). The State Resident Educator website provides the most current information.

Identify exemplary teachers in your school, par-ticularly those who model areas you want to de-velop. Learn how to implement the instructional strategies recommended by curriculum coordina-tors. Stay in contact with your field and student teaching supervisors to help smooth the transi-tion.

It is important for educators to discern the dif-ference between personal opinion and research-validated instructional strategies and interven-tions for ELLs. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (2001) requires districts to identify and use scientifically-based research in imple-menting educational programs. Learn and deliver research-based instruction for English Language Learners.

TESOL Specialists

Personally introduce yourself to new Residents. Explain how you support culturally and linguisti-cally diverse students and their families.

Find ways to collaborate with your school’s certi-fied Resident Educator Mentors, e.g., invite resi-dents and mentors to observe your teaching and

share resources. Understand that the first year of the Resident Educator process follows a more structured model while the second and third years allow more choice: one-on-one mentoring, cohorts, and co-teaching. Co-teachers are not re-quired to have mentor certification or the same license as the Resident. Discuss the possibility of arranging short or long-term co-teaching with the Resident Educator.

Contact the district’s Resident Educator Program Coordinator who works directly with the Ohio De-partment of Education trainers, mentors, and new residents. Identify yourself as a TESOL specialist who can assist new teachers in helping ELLs meet the Ohio Standards.

Train at an Ohio Educational Service Center to become a state-certified Resident Educator Men-tor. The task of mentors is to provide coaching as well as formative assessment and feedback to the Resident for their ongoing professional develop-ment.

Share resources and information from confer-ences, trainings and newsletters. Help other teachers learn how to create environments that develop the potential and achievement of ELLs in the school community. The professional organi-zation TESOL International website (TESOL.org) provides information and links to training such as the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP).

TESOL specialists have much to offer, and much to gain, from participating in Ohio’s teacher induc-tion program, currently the longest in the nation. The extent to which the Ohio Teacher Residency will ameliorate high teacher attrition rates is yet to be determined. What is certain is that Eng-lish Language Learners need their teachers and all staff to build caring learning environments. Teachers with TESOL endorsement, Mentors, and Resident Educators can, together, design effective learning plans that include both English language proficiency goals and differentiation strategies that promote language development within every content area. Resident Educators need your sup-port and encouragement. Like the teacher men-tor Clara, TESOL members can make a difference



in the career paths of new teachers by being part of their induction process and long-term profes-sional development.

Dr. Donna Villareal is a state-certified mentor and instructor in the TESOL Endorsement pro-gram at Ashland University. Dr. Crystal Kaiser is an associate professor with Ashland Univer-sity’s Department of Early Childhood Education, and a state-certified mentor

Acronyms Related to the Resident Educator ProgramAcronym DefinitionSTARS

System to Achieve Results for Students

The ODE online system for educators to register for professional develop-ment throughout the state. Teachers may pursue Resident Educator training by first registering for a SAFE account on the SAFE Sign In at the top of any ODE web page. From there, they can go to STARS to register.

IM and RE-1

Instructional Men-toring and Resident Educator Training-1

Both IM and RE-1 are two required single-day trainings for teachers to re-ceive Resident Educator state-certification. Sign up for each using STARS. Cost is $85.00, which may be reimbursed by a school district.

OCTD

Ohio Continuum of Teacher Develop-ment

Resident Educators are assessed across 34 performance standards described for developing teachers on the Ohio Continuum of Teacher Development: A Resource Tool for Educators (http://esb.ode.state.oh.us), (e.g., “respect and value the languages and dialects of their students and demonstrate an aware-ness of English Language Learners’ needs by incorporating instructional strategies and resources that support language acquisition”).

SMART Goal

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound

The RE goal setting process includes developing SMART goals. The acronym is used to guide both the setting of goals and objectives in teacher’s lesson plans as well as the annual professional goals proposed by the RE and re-viewed by the Mentor.

Ohio’s 4-Tiered Teacher LicensureResident Educator 4 years, non-renewableProfessional Educator 5 years, renewableSenior Professional Educator

5 years, renewable, requirements: Master’s degree; 9 years of teaching w/Professional Certificate; demonstration of effective practice at the accom-plished or distinguished level of performance as defined in the Ohio Stan-dards for the Teaching Profession (available at: http://esb.ode.state.oh.us); successful completion of the Master Teacher portfolio.

Lead Professional Educator

5 years, renewable, requirements: Master’s degree; 9 years teaching w/Professional Certificate; demonstration of effective practice at the distin-guished level of performance defined in the Ohio Standards for the Teach-ing Profession by holding active National Board Certification, OR, suc-cessful completion of the Master Teacher portfolio and the Teacher Leader Endorsement.


ReferencesFarrell, T. S. C. (2012). Novice-service language teacher de-velopment: Bridging the gap between preservice and in-service education and development. TESOL Quarterly, 46(3), 435-449. doi: 10.1002/tesq.36

Ohio Department of Education. Resident Educator http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/Resident-Educator.aspx?page=987

19

Bridging Needs and Expectations in an ESP Model

The Prison Management Certificate Program (PMCP) is a contracted two-year certificate pro-gram between Ohio Northern University (ONU) and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior / the Di-rectorate of Prisons. In the summer of 2009, the first cohort of Saudi officers arrived at ONU. The program consists of three components, English as a Second Language, academic classes focused on prison management and an internship. English language instruction provides students with enough English to survive in everyday com-munication, to succeed in all their academic class-es and finally to participate in a 10-week intern-ship in different rehabilitation and correctional institutions in Ohio.

English language instruction is critical to stu-dents’ success in academic classes and intern-ships. Understanding the language and cultural needs of students is crucial. PMCP students are neither regular international students nor adult refugees/immigrants. They are highly-trained prison officials from Saudi Arabia. With little or no exposure to the English language before they arrive at ONU, these officers are expected, over the course of two years, to not only learn enough English to function in their academic courses and internships, but to also be able to apply their training when they return to Saudi Arabia. At the same time, they and their families also must adapt to the cultural, school and community settings. While the English language instruction is based mainly on the content of the academic classes,

it does not overlook general English instruction. English instruction is intensive because students need to function linguistically in a variety of situ-ations.

As students’ language abilities develop, English instructors make recommendations for students

to begin the academ-ic component of the program. Language and content support, i.e, content-based instruction (CBI) ac-companies all aca-

demic classes. Students are required to pass eight academic classes based on the American justice system and prison management. Throughout the two years of study, students tour many rehabilita-tion and corrections institutions across the state of Ohio and participate in a number of profes-sional seminars.

From the beginning, the PMCP program coordi-nators envisioned the use of a Defense Language Institute (DLI) approach for the English compo-nent of the program. Implementing a more fo-cused and specific intensive program proved to be a challenge and required the addition of a faculty member familiar with English for Specific Pur-poses (ESP). The current ESP model was partially adopted with the first cohort of PMCP and fully implemented with the second cohort. Coopera-tion and communication with the program coor-dinators, faculty, the Ohio Department of Reha-bilitation and Correction (ODRC) and the Saudi Arabian Directorate of Prisons has been the key to the program’s success.

By Umar Sulayman, Shauna McMillan, and Zebo Abduvakhabova


Students participate in a 10-week internship in different rehabilitation and correctional institutions in Ohio.


Cultural and Linguistic Challenges

A university is a social setting with its own tenets of culture and subculture created by professors and students. Instructors who have taught adult Eng-lish language learners in American universities know that highlighting academic and cultural dif-ferences is critical to new international students. PMCP students also come to ONU with particular academic expectations as well as certain language needs and backgrounds. As a result, students and faculty in the PMCP have encountered several cultural and linguistic challenges.

The first challenge deals with differing educational philosophies. PMCP students come from a teach-er-centered and predominantly lecture-based ed-ucational background. They expect professors to teach everything in a lecture format. They do not expect to be called upon to participate in discus-sion groups or make presentations. In contrast, professors utilize various teaching approaches in their classes. They mix lecture with discussion and group work. To prepare students for this style of instruction, ESP instructors introduce a variety of learner-based activities, such as pair work, group work, presentations and discussions throughout the ESP curriculum. Academic professors par-ticipate in special discussions and presentations designed to ease the transition from ESP instruc-tion to academic courses. This student-centered approach utilizes students’ prior knowledge and background experiences while also guaranteeing the content is relevant to the students’ needs and interests within their discipline (Parrish, 2004).

Furthermore, there is a discrepancy between learning expectations between the student and academic professors. Students believe that profes-sors are fully responsible for the learning process and professors expect students to take responsi-bility for their own learning by completing out-side assignments. Mediating these differing ex-pectations is crucial. ESP instructors teach these students the skills needed to become independent learners by encouraging students to participate in classroom tasks such as discussions, group work and presentations. Additionally, study and read-ing skills are heavily emphasized in the ESP cur-riculum.

The second challenge involves different percep-tions of respect in two very different cultures. PMCP students do not perceive their behavior as disrespectful or irresponsible when they arrive to class late or miss classes without a suitable ex-cuse. Many students view cheating on exams and plagiarizing on written assignments as simply helping out a brother. Professors view these very differently. From teachers’ perspective, cheating and plagiarism are unacceptable and intention-ally deceptive.

A third issue involves a limitation of open com-munication between students and professors. For a variety of reasons, PMCP students often do not choose to go through the proper channels regard-ing their complaints. These reasons may include issues of respect, limitations in their language ability, cultural issues involving religion, gender or age, or even the approachability of the instructor. Instead of voicing their complaints and concerns directly to their professor, they work through a third party or a group. As a consequence, profes-sors may not be fully aware of student complaints and cannot address the issues. ESP instructors play a significant role in bridging these gaps.

The fourth problem deals with unrealistic expec-tations concerning fluency. In the beginning, both the PMCP students and faculty expect fluency and competence to be possible in months. Students and faculty lack understanding of the language learning process. Content-based support for aca-demic courses and communicating openly with professors about students’ English language lev-els and abilities help students and faculty to arrive at more realistic expectations.

Bridging the Gaps: Collaboration between ESP and Professors

In any program, collaboration among instructors and students is essential. That collaboration be-comes increasingly more important when incor-porating academic professors. As demonstrated in the previous section, both professors and stu-dents come to the classroom with differing expec-tations. As a result, ESP instructors must serve as a bridge to gap those differences.


First, although professors are experts in their field of study, very few have had training in dealing with low level second language learners. Often times, second language learners do not begin academic course work until they have acquired a more ad-vanced level of English or a high TOEFL score. As a result, some professors may believe a student’s low linguistic ability reflects a lazy attitude, a poor aptitude for learning or even as a negative reflec-tion on that student’s culture. This is rarely the case. A learner’s inability to express his ideas is a reflection of a “limited ability to communicate and express themselves in English” (Parrish, 2004). These learners feel that their knowledge and expe-rience is “locked inside of them” (Parrish, 2004). Thus, it is essential that ESP instructors inform professors of their students’ current language lev-els and cite examples of what a realistic level of performance looks like in the classroom. At the same time, ESP instructors can offer recommen-dations on the types of assignments and tasks that allow students the most success at both express-ing their thoughts, in English and in understand-ing the academic content involved.

Secondly, ESP instructors also need to encour-age careful communication between students and their professors. Many students find communicat-ing with their professors intimidating. Thus, they tend to remain quiet in class and seldom express their concerns to their professors. Instead, for the reasons previously mentioned, they refer their problems to a third party. ESP instructors need to assist in these communications until the students and professors have developed a comfortable professor-student relationship. ESP instructors should not speak for the student. Doing so only hinders communications. Rather the ESP instruc-tor should facilitate and encourage the student to approach their professors and when needed at-tend meetings to assist in language negotiation and to facilitate communication.

ESP instructors also can help bridge the gap between students and professors through team teaching and assisting with language modification within the course. Team teaching proves to be a beneficial approach to facilitating student learn-ing. This requires professors and ESP instructors to develop an evolving system. In the model used

by the PMPC program, the professor maintains the lead in the classroom. The ESP instructor at-tends classes and assists the professor in simplify-ing the language used to express complex ideas. This modification also applies to the handouts and reading materials. The ESP instructor assists the academic instructor in any language modi-fications that may be necessary throughout the course. Furthermore, the ESP instructor assists in the running classroom activities and learns the materials along with the student.

In the PMCP program, every academic course is accompanied by a secondary CBI support course. In these CBI courses, ESP instructors can further break down or review materials, frontload new content or assist with difficult assignments. This requires constant communication with academic professors. As explained by JoAnn Crandall and Dorit Kaufman, “Collaboration by instructors across disciplines is at the heart of successful CBI programs, both in developing the program and in gaining recognition for the discipline of language pedagogy and the value of CBI.” (Crandall & Kauf-man, 2002)

Umar Sulayman is the director of ESP in the PMCP at Ohio Northern University. He holds an M.A. in English Language and Linguistics from the University of Baghdad and an M.A. in TESOL from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Shauna McMillan is an ESP instructor in the PMCP at Ohio Northern University. She has an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Ohio University.

Zebo Abduvakhabova is an ESP instructor in the PMCP at Ohio Northern University. She holds an M.A. in Linguistics from Uzbek State World Languages University and an M.Ed in Literacy /Second Language Studies from the University of Cincinnati.

21http://ohiotesol.org

ReferencesParrish, B. (2004). Teaching Adult ESL. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Crandall, J. and Kaufman, D. (2002). Content-Based Instruc-tion in Higher Education Settings: Evolving Models for Di-verse Contexts. In JoAnn (Jodi) C. & Dorit Kaufman (Eds.), Content-Based Instruction in Higher Education Settings (pp. 1-9). Alexandia , VA: TESOL, Inc.


Aligning Technology to Achievement For English Language Learners

There is no doubt that students today are differ-ent because of technology. Access to internet con-nectivity, social networking, gaming and mobile computing has produced a new kind of learner. Our students are becoming more self-directed, less inhibited and more inclined to collaborate, ex-plore, question and understand. Students across the world are better equipped to capture up to date information quickly to satisfy their curiosity. They are exposed to various text and multi-media allowing them to be more creative in their dis-coveries and in their responses. For my English language learners, the use of the iPad has become an integral part of enhancing early literacy skills in acquiring English. I have seen students more comfortable and confident in demonstrating lan-guage domains with technology.

As teachers, we never turn away free materials and resources for our students, especially if they are emergent ESL students who do not have di-rect access to technology at home. We must seize every opportunity to get materials or experiences for children. This opportunity happened one day while sitting in a meeting. From across the table, a woman from my district’s central office, turned to me and said, “If I get you an iPad will you help me train the ESL teachers on how to use them with their students?”, I replied sarcastically, “Only if I get two.” In less than two weeks I received a phone call letting me know that the devices were at the main office ready for pick up. Had I known how this was going to play out, I would have said, “Only if I get 30!” Needless to say, I was speech-less that this woman and advocate for student success, made this opportunity happen for the children and for me. Many teachers have written

grants and have asked their parent teacher orga-nizations and local community foundations for iP-ads for student enrichment. I would recommend writing a grant through the National Education Association, which supports technology use in the classroom, to get a classroom set of iPads.

I had to generate a plan to integrate the iPad into an existing rigorous reading intervention program that would support language acquisition. I did not want my colleagues to assume that the students were “playing games” or just “fooling around” when they were using the device. I needed this new member of my classroom to be integrated carefully and strategically so that optimal student learning could be supported by the iPad as a tool to help the children make connections to their ul-timate intended learning.

In using the iPad with emergent English language learners, there are some non-negotiable rules for implementation. These rules should guide technology usage in an ESL instruction, as well as defend how the iPad can be integrated into a pre-existing curriculum. The iPad must accom-pany the instruction or intervention, NOT be the intervention; provide differentiated enrichment and reinforcement for various learning styles and needs; create opportunities for students to excel, practice and make connections to meet goals; and most importantly to personalize learning the cur-riculum in an effortless way.

As an early educator, I applied the five big ideas of beginning reading from Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read (2001), into my plan. Aligning the five big

By Helen Vassilou


ideas, phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency, is crucial for using the iPad with emergent English language learners. These elements served as my guiding principles as to how to integrate the iPad in daily instruction to increase speaking, listening, writing, reading and comprehension. For early childhood students these foundational reading elements combined with digital literacy can yield successful early lit-eracy skills. Teachers who use iPads for instruc-tion at the early literacy stages should investigate apps that support each area of reading, align with Ohio’s New Learning Standards in English Lan-guage Arts, and include a focus to make learning and practice relevant for academic improvement. These three elements can also increase knowledge of basic vocabulary providing students with great-er reading abilities in the future. In your own apps discovery, think about how you will compliment your instruction to support the early foundations of reading.

When Steve Jobs talked about creating the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, he talked about wanting peo-ple to have that sensory input when touching the devices so that they could learn more by touch-ing. Many students have developed “technology-handling skills” and we should not be afraid to let them learn from technology devices. Teachers must provide explicit instruction when modeling the apps and allow students to physically touch the iPad. Students need to make the kinesthetic connection with the device and the cognitive in-put they are receiving.

Technology can increase student achievement and improve literacy skills in English if usage is appropriate and does not interfere with, but rath-er compliments learning. Teachers must provide rich language experiences to build vocabulary for English language learners beginning with a visual, verbal, and aural Bloom’s taxonomy-like scaffolding method. We must use the iPad to in-troduce basic vocabulary, starting easy and then getting more complex and difficult. With the iPad students will recognize words in context with pic-torial representation to enhance their memory and understanding. Gestures, pantomime, move-ment, actions, sounds, pictures, graphics, and video increase the likelihood that students will

understand conveyed messages. Through iPad discovery, students increase vocabulary inciden-tally making them more prepared to comprehend written text and spoken language.

The following apps are recommended free apps that support the Five Big Ideas of reading at the emergent level of English language learning:

• Phonics/Phonemic Awareness: Phonics Tic-Tac-Toe, Word Family Phonics, Word Abacus, Phonics CVC (hear, identify, and manipulate in-dividual sounds in spoken words; make words to show understanding of relationship between pho-nemes and graphemes)

• Vocabulary: Photo Vocab, Flash Cards INKids, Phonics Genius, 3D Verbs (knowledge of high fre-quency words; consonant vowel consonant words; understanding, communicating, expressing and listening to vocabulary words)

• Comprehension: Booksy, Sight Words, Toontas-tic (reading and writing stories; showing under-standing of oral language, written language, and communicative language; word meanings)

• Fluency: Read Me Stories, Booksy (reading speed and accuracy; literacy)

Our children live in a world where they are grow-ing up at ease with digital devices. These tools are becoming part of school, home and community cultures. The content, purpose, device and user experience must be paired with guidance so that our technology tools can be harnessed for learning and development as students begin to assimilate into American schools and engage in the English language. To increase student-learning success and to close the achievement for English language learners, ask yourself, “What other literacy and vocabulary development techniques or strategies can I use to help students reach their fullest po-tential?” Seek to unlock the door to learning and allow literacy to enter the lives of students in any way possible.

Helen M. Vassiliou is a Teaching and Learning Consultant and ESL Liaison for the Lakota Local School District in Liberty Township, Ohio.

23http://ohiotesol.org


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