ENDR 557 Discuss how educators can provide ELL students with authentic classroom experiences that serve

to utilize different language functions and develop communicative competence. In all classrooms, but particularly for classrooms with ELLs, I think it is very important to provide students with a chance to learn through social interaction. This, in turn, will help students to build their communicative competence. To do this, we can provide our students with several opportunities to share their thoughts in class discussion or maybe even share their written work. For some, sharing in front of the class may be too intimidating, while others may enjoy the attention from their peers and teacher. For those who feel insecure about sharing with the entire class, we can organize small groups or Think Pair Share activities. This would give them the opportunity to practice their oral language skills and learn from the way other students are using oral language. In either case, it is very important, as the Freeman & Freeman text points out, for teachers to give explicit instructions. Whenever students are communicating orally or through writing, it is important that they have guidelines for what they should be doing. This may help them to remember important verbal/written cues in future interactions, perhaps even ones that take place outside the classroom, where there is little guidance.

Distinguish between BICS and CALP. Explain how BICS can lead to a false perception about an ELL students language development, preventing the student from receiving the support necessary for academic achievement. We need to be very careful in observing our students language proficiency because BICS (basic interpersonal communicative skills) can be very misleading. For example, if we hear one of our ELL students conversing well with a peer during recess or snack time, we may believe that this student is very proficient in English. As a result, we may not modify instruction or activities for this student. However, we may later find that this student struggles with CALP (cognitive academic language proficiency), which would mean that we had missed opportunities to help this student be well rounded in their language and more successful in their future. Explain how you plan to incorporate language objectives in your lesson planning. Describe how you plan to support these language objectives in your instruction. Today when I was observing one of the Literacy Squared classrooms at Chavez, I noticed that the teacher posts objectives under the heading Oracy worded as I can statements. Today it was, I can retell a story. Language Form (how language looks) and Language Function (how language works) were listed as subheadings. This is a very literal way of making students aware and accountable for their own progress. In terms of incorporating them into lesson planning, I think there are several ways to build literacy in academic subjects aside from Language Arts and Social Studies. For example, Alicia and I have been teaching our students about the scientific inquiry process, so we gave them each a Science Inquiry Journal to record their observations. Because they are ELLs and need a bit more

structure, we included lined spaces and specific questions or sentence starters in their journals. As we complete these activities, we scaffold vocabulary instruction (i.e. discuss what observations are before getting making predictions and hypotheses.) In this way, the language builds on itself. Discuss how you might move your ELL students beyond word calling. For example, in what ways can you provide engaging literacy and/or content area instruction that encourages ELL students to read to learn rather than word call? This is a perfect time to bring in our CAFE and Daily 5 models. I think the CAFE model would be particularly effective for younger students, because we can tailor each of the categories (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expanding Vocabulary to meet their needs, which may require more teacher guidance. We can work with students to help them determine which areas they are struggling in so they can get extra help and practice. If we see that a student is reading with fluency, we need to make sure that they are not just word calling by having them spend more time on expanding vocabulary and comprehension. At this point, we can determine which reading strategies will best help them to build this skill. This may be where the Daily 5 (Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, Work With Words) comes in, because it will give them a chance to learn through different kinds of reading and help us discover how each student learns best. Design and share a word learning strategy you might use with ELL students. How will your strategy support vocabulary development for ELLs? My mentor teacher helps students learn new vocabulary by posting a new antonym (opposites) pair each week. This past week it was "Gordo/Flaco" or "Fat/Skinny." She also has a huge chart of the kids names with two vocab words next to each name. While I've seen these things posted in the classroom, I'm not exactly sure how she uses them. Perhaps they do some discussion practice with the opposites on a day when I don't normally come. I would guess that the vocab. word chart refers to words that each student is working on for homework or an in-class assignment I haven't seen. I think having words of the week or words of the day could be a great strategy, as long as those words are not static. If we are making a point of announcing them and posting them, we need to integrate the words into activities. Perhaps the words of the week can be unit-specific vocabulary that students will need to find and define in the midst of our activities. For example, it might appear in a reading. Students can build lists of clues or ideas throughout the week, and at the end of the week they can share their ideas before we look up the actual definition. I also really like Anna's idea of making vocabulary lists based on words you hear and see in everyday life. I think this may be a challenge for some of my 3rd grade ELLs, because it may be hard for them to write unknown words that they hear. I worry that I may not even be able to decipher some of these words, especially because they tend to mix English and Spanish sounds. For example, today, one of my students wrote in a reading response "Cuando dices estap...." It took my partner and I a few minutes to realize that "estap," which is not a word in English or Spanish, was actually supposed to be the English

word "stop." However, I think it is important for them to practice writing what they hear, so I would still be interested in trying this strategy. Discuss how youve seen language objectives implemented in your current clinical placement. What role do language objectives play in instructional design and delivery for ELL students? My teacher posts reading and writing objectives next to the daily schedule. This week's objectives were: In reading I can...describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events .(traits, motivations, and feelings) 3.RL.3 In writing I can...write narrative to develop real experiences using descriptive details and clear event sequences. 3.W.3 I think this kind of transparency is great, particularly for ELL students, because it establishes very clear expectations from the beginning of a lesson or unit. However, I worry that students will have trouble understanding the language of the standards. If it were my classroom, I would use more kid-friendly (or ELL friendly) language in the "I can" statements, unless I plan to clarify any confusing language in the standards as soon as I post them. I think it is important for all students to know why they are doing an activity because it makes their learning purposeful. Of course, teachers always know that what we do in class is purposeful, but students need to know that in order to stay engaged. If students feel that they are just going through the motions, they will lose interest and ultimately, they won't learn. Students need to have specific, achievable goals in order to be successful and feel successful. ENDR 558 Providing both content objectives and language objectives supports the learning process of ELL students by... Providing both content objectives and language objectives supports the learning process of ELL students by holding teachers accountable for guiding students in academic language acquisition. Content objectives usually require students to learn and meaningfully use content-specific vocabulary. Teachers need to make sure that they include proper language scaffolding in such cases so they are helping ELL students be as successful as they can be. Language objectives also help extend the content area to give students more opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned.