Vanessa L. Capaldo

Wedgwood Middle School

Understanding the Needs of English Language Learners

• ELL students need help increasing background

knowledge.

• ELL students need visual aids such as images, graphs,

photos, and maps to build visual literacy.

• Make the abstract concrete. An abstract concept is

difficult for ELL students. To make the concept

concrete, use a kinesthetic approach, such as a

foldable.

• ELL students need teacher modeling and guided

interaction. Use graphic organizers for every content

area and model how to use them.

Understanding the Needs of English Language Learners

• ELL students need to learn authentically. Lessons

must be connected to real world use, which will

increase their motivation to learn.

• ELL students need explicit, direct instruction in all

content areas concepts, academic language and

reading comprehension.

• ELL students will be most successful when learning in

a social environment. Pairing ELL students with an

English-proficient student will benefit them greatly as

a scaffolding technique.

• ELL students lack knowledge of vocabulary,

particularly academic vocabulary in science, social

studies, and math.

Building Background Knowledge

• ELL students struggle academically because of lack of

background knowledge.

• Teachers must EXPLICITLY link concepts to students’

background experience.

• Teachers must make CLEAR LINKS between students’

past learning and new concepts. For example, ask

students to do a brainstorm on what they may

already know about a concept before introducing it.

• Key vocabulary must be EMPHASIZED.

Using Visual Aids

• Make visual aids meaningful to support understanding.

• Have students respond to visuals orally and in writing to

check for understanding.

• To introduce a new concept with visuals, try a gallery

walk. Display pictures related to the concept around the

room. Give students a note card and have them walk to

each picture and make predictions about what they

think the new concept will be based on what they see.

Using Graphic Organizers

• Graphic organizers are beneficial for interpreting and

summarizing texts and concepts.

• Graphic organizers promote active learning and

engagement.

• Graphic organizers can help develop higher order

thinking skills.

• Model how to use them.

• There are MANY graphic organizers available online for

every content area.

Modeling

• When modeling how to do an activity:

• Slow down

• Use repetition, particularly when modeling a

vocabulary assignment. The more students hear the

new word, the better.

• Model in steps. For example, “Step one, let’s say the

word”, “Step two, let’s spell the word.”

• Use think-aloud strategies. Tell students how you

would think when doing the assignment.

Vocabulary

• Scaffold the teaching of vocabulary. Provide word banks,

word walls, and graphic organizers.

• Vocabulary should be studied in many different ways for

words to be learned and remembered. Use word sorts,

cloze sentences, vocabulary games, songs, etc. Expose

students to vocabulary in as many ways as possible.

• Have students create personal dictionaries for learned

vocabulary. They can refer to the words when needed.

• Take any chance to explain the many idioms, prefixes,

suffixes and odd words/phrases in the English language.

Additional Tips

• A good rule of thumb for teaching ELL students is to

always provide “think time” when asking a question.

Then, require that they write down their answer before

speaking. This helps them get their thoughts in order to

avoid embarrassment.

• Check for understanding and use informal assessments

as often as possible. Informal assessments can be as

simple as “thumbs up, thumbs down”, white boards, and

response cards.

Think-Pair-Share Strategy

• Cooperative learning strategy that helps promote higher

order thinking and helps students focus their thinking

and stay actively engaged.

• Helps students to build on the ideas of other students.

• Low risk strategy to test for background knowledge.

When sharing thoughts first, ELL students can avoid the

embarrassment that could come from giving an

incorrect answer.

Think-Pair-Share Strategy

• Step One

• Pair ELL students with a pre-assigned, English

proficient student.

• Ask students to determine who will go first: the

person with the longest hair, most buttons on

clothes, etc. This will be Partner A.

• Step Two

• Pose a question related to the day’s lesson or as a

review from a previous lesson.

• Give students at least 15 seconds to think on their

own ("think time").

Think-Pair-Share Strategy

• Step Three

• Give 30 seconds (use a timer) for Partner A to

respond to the question. Partner B can write down

Partner A’s answer.

• When time is up, tell students it is time for Partner B

to share. Don’t forget to add think time again!

Partner A will record Partner B’s answer. Give 30

seconds again.

• Step Four

• Ask for volunteers to share with the whole group.

• Allow each partner to share, or, as a variation, ask a

partnership to share each other’s answers.

Think-Pair-Share Strategy

• Especially for ELL students, it is important to provide

think stems for them to use with this strategy. This is

to help them respond and not be at a loss as to how

to begin or what to say.

• Write them on sentence strips and hang around the

room for future reference.

• Thinks Stems to begin with could include:

• I think….

• I believe…

• An example of _______ could be…

• I learned…

• The difference between ______ and ______?

Think-Pair-Share Strategy

• Variations on the Think-Pair-Share Strategy:

• Think-Pair-Write-Share – after giving think time,

have students write their answer first and then share

with their partner. Build in time for writing answers.

• Read-Write-Pair-Share – have students read a short

passage from a text, write their response, share with

a partner. Again, adjust the time frame.

• Draw-Pair-Share – have students view to an image,

write a response to it, and share with a partner and

whole group.

Let’s Try It!

• With the person seating next to you, decide who has

the earliest birthday of the year. That person is

Partner A.

• Your question to ponder is:

• “What is something new that you learned about

ELL students so far today?”

• Think time (15 seconds)

• Partner A share

• Think time (15 seconds)

• Partner B share

• Whole group share

Stop & Jot Strategy

• This strategy can help students connect prior

knowledge to information in the text, promote better

understanding of the content, and can be used as an

informal assessment.

• Tell students that you are going to read the text

together and stop at regular intervals to record

thoughts. Tell students that they should write for

about I minute when asked to respond to the reading.

This time can increase as students get used to

responding.

• Remind them that you do not want them to

summarize or retell the story.

Stop & Jot Strategy

• To help them begin their response, post sentence

starters, such as*:

I think...

I wish…

I wonder…

• At the end of the reading selection, students will

select a thinking stem and write for 3 minutes. This is

when they will write what they learned or something

they did not understand about the reading.

• Volunteers may share their response to the whole

group.*Additional stems are available in your handout.

Get the Picture Strategy

• ELL Students often have trouble forming pictures in

their minds while reading. As a result, they have

trouble getting involved in the context of the reading.

• Give students a piece of white paper. Have them fold

the paper into fourths. You may have them number

the panels.

• Tell students you want them to read along with you,

and that you will stop and ask them to picture what is

going on in the text.

Get the Picture Strategy

• Have students draw pictures within their squares of

what is happening in the text.

• Tell students that they can use stick figures if they feel

they cannot draw what they are thinking.

• For content area text, if students are struggling with

what to draw, ask them to draw a scene of someone

performing the concept or speaking about it with

someone.

• Ask them to add a caption.

• Ask volunteers to share by holding up their drawing or

re-drawing it on the board.

Let’s Try it!• As a practice, you can choose to do a Stop & Jot OR a

Get the Picture strategy. Respond to the following

newspaper passage:

“Compared with cars, motorcycles are an especially

dangerous form of travel. The federal government

estimates that per mile traveled, the number of deaths

on motorcycles in 2009 was about 37 times the number

in cars. Motorcyclist deaths have been rising in recent

years—more than doubling by 2008 from the record low

in 1997. In 2008, more motorcyclists died in crashes than

in any year since the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration (NHTSA) began collecting these fatal

crash data. In contrast, passenger vehicle occupant

deaths reached a record low in 2008.” (Daniels, 2011)

Vocabulary Attribute Web

• An attribute web is a fancy term for a bubble map or a

brainstorming map.

• In the center triangle, students will write the term or

concept being studied.

• As a class and as teacher models, students will fill in

the rest of the circles with the term or concept

definition, synonyms of the term or concept,

antonyms, part of speech, examples in real life, etc. It is

the teacher’s choice as to what goes in the circles.

Four Corners Vocabulary

• Students can do this with an English-proficient

partner.

• Using several different vocabulary words from the

current unit, assign one to each partnership.

• Partners will discuss the word and what they

remember about it from a previous lesson.

• To demonstrate their knowledge, they will

complete the Four Corners chart by writing in the

word, using the word in a sentence, providing the

definition, and drawing an illustration of the term.

Vocabulary Foldable

• ELL students benefit from a hands-on activity.

• My students love foldables and we use them every

chance we get.

• This foldable is taken from Laura Candler’s site:

• http://www.lauracandler.com/ - great site for K-12 and

covers all content areas.

Vocabulary Foldable

• Have students fold their papers in half the long way

(hotdog) and cut on the four dotted lines to form five

flaps.

• Choose 5 vocabulary words to introduce to your

students. Have them write one word on the outside of

each flap in the top triangle.

• Give students time to complete the other three

sections of the flap. In the bottom triangle, under the

word, have them draw a symbol or picture that will

help them remember the word. Then have them open

the flap and write the definition and a sentence.

Words to Use

• Slither - To glide or slide along like a reptile

• Vehicle - Something used to take people or goods

from one place to another

• Identical - Exactly alike and equal

• Unique - Being the only one of its kind

• Probability - a number expressing the likelihood

that an event will happen; chance

Vocabulary Foldable

• Allow students to color their foldable and make it their

own.

• When all the flaps are completed, allow some time for

students to share their pictures and sentences with a

partner or with the class.

• They can then glue their foldable into a notebook for

future reference.

Content Area Lesson Planning Opportunity

• Using your ELPS handout, plan a lesson geared

toward your ELL students.

• Lesson plan templates are provided if you

would like to use one.

References and Resources

Books

The SIOP Model for Teaching English Language Learners

Vogt, Echevarria & Short

Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners

Vogt, Echevarria & Short

Texts and Lessons in Content Area Reading

Daniels and Steineke

Websites

Laura Candler’s Teaching Resources

http://www.lauracandler.com

Eduplace Graphic Organizers

http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/