LANGUAGE ARTS IN A Facilitators Guide

EMERGENCY CONTEXTS
This instructional unit will work to propose a bilingual academic model
for refugee youth that integrates core academic content areas and
comprehensive life skills geared toward the host community.

Jessica A. White, M.Ed.

American University
Emergency Teachers Handbook

The purpose of this handbook is to provide a series of unit shells that are adaptable to a variety

of contexts and languages. It is encouraged that teachers begin with the introductory survey that

will help them to consider the exact needs of their students. Points from the survey will direct

teachers to the appropriate shell with which to begin based on immediate need.

Shells model appropriate progression based on the priorities for varying groups of learners.

Lessons within the shells each contain at least one academic goal based on The International

Baccalaureates programming and assessment models. This is meant to maintain consistent, high

academic standards for the non-traditional academic experience of students in emergencies.

Each unit shell contains guidelines for Primary Years (ages 3-11), Middle Years (ages 12-16),

Secondary Years (academic, ages 16-21) and Career Readiness (vocational, ages 16+).

Table of Contents
1. Introductory Survey & Scorecard
2. Priority 1: New Language Environment
3. Priority 2: Unfamiliar Laborforce Participation
4. Priority 3: Youth Exploitation
5. Priority 4: Gender and Sexuality Identity Development
6. Priority 5: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
7. Priority 6: Other/Unknown Psychological Distress

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A Note Regarding the Necessity and Use of this Handbook

A number of high-profile organizations across the globe have worked tirelessly to provide

programming to support the continued well-being of people in emergencies. Focus from these

organizations has centered around health and wellness, shelter and medicine (UNHCR 2015). It

bears noting, however, that education provides a means of stability and development for people

of all ages in all situations, particularly for young people in emergencies.

According to UNHCR (2015): The term emergency education is used at inter-agency level to

refer to education in situations where children lack access to their national education systems,

due to man-made crises or natural disasters. Due to this lack of access, it can be assumed that

young learners will require an international standard of education in order to assimilate into any

given education system following the resolution of the crisis that put them in their emergency

situation.

While tireless effort has been made to provide stability programming for young people in

emergencies across the globe, emergency education provisions are visibly lacking. If there is a

system for education in place in a given emergency, it is often inappropriately leveled and results

in the underdevelopment of youth in emergencies around the world (UNHCR 2015). Utilizing

program standards from the internationally renowned and respected International

Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), this handbook instills a high quality of academic expectation

and progress in individuals finding themselves in instructional roles for youth in emergencies. By

converting IBO program standards to flexible and adaptable educational program shells, this

handbook will provide immediate and accessible high quality education program to young people

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in emergency situations, allowing them to settle into a consistent and stable environment that

will also translate well into any national education system following the emergency situation.

This handbook is not limited in scope to a particular audience, nor is it intended for a particular

level of teaching. Per the formulas provided by modern cognition theorists such as Dr. Jean Piaget

(1936), Dr. Lev Vygotsky (1925) and Dr. Benjamin Bloom (1956) coupled with experiential learning

theories coined by Dr. John Dewey (1938), Dr. Howard Gardner (1983) and David Kolb (1984), the

following shells provide essential guidelines for creating experiential, secure learning

environments suitable for students with a variety of cognitive, developmental and psychological

statuses. As a result, there are multiple opportunities to differentiate instruction for a variety of

learning and behavioral needs.

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Priority 1: New Language Environment

Just as there are attempts to eradicate discrimination based on color and creed, so people within

this orientation will argue that language prejudice and discrimination need to be eradicated in a

democratic society by establishing language rights (May, 2001; Skutnab-Kangas, 1999b, 2000,

2008; Skutnabb-Kangas & Phillipson, 1994, 2008), (Baker, C. 2011).

According to Colin Baker, language rights concern protection from discrimination, (Baker 2011).

It is critical that students in emergency situations who are placed in a new language environment

are given appropriate academic support to help them (1) continue high-standard academic

progress, (2) develop a working knowledge of the new language for purposes of integration and

basic survival in the event of a long-term displacement and (3) establish a linguistic foundation

that will allow for continuing education.

The following unit shells allow persons in instructional roles to deliver language instruction for

life skills, job readiness and environment adaptation while also activating student knowledge in

order to progress in academic content.

Shell 1: Primary Years Language Arts & Humanities

Shell 2: Primary Years STEM

Shell 3: Middle Years Language Arts & Humanities

Shell 4: Middle Years STEM

Shell 5: Diploma Program Language Arts & Humanities

Shell 6: Diploma Program STEM

Shell 7: Career Readiness Program

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Shell 3: Middle Years Language Arts & Humanities

Language Acquisition shells assume that students have had no prior exposure to L2, that

instruction is being delivered by a native L2 speaker with limited- to proficient-level teaching

experience.

Per the IBO standards for Language Acquisition, students should be constantly assessed

according to the following criteria on an achievement scale of 1-8, regardless of content matter:

Criterion A: Comprehending spoken and visual text - Students interpret and construct meaning from

spoken and visual texts to understand how images presented with oral text interplay to convey ideas,

values and attitudes.

Criterion B: Comprehending written and visual text - Students construct meaning and interpret written

and visual text to understand how images presented with written text interplay to convey ideas, values

and attitudes.

Criterion C: Communicating in response to spoken and/or written and/or visual text - Students develop

their communication skills by interacting on a range of topics of personal, local and global interest and

significance, and responding to spoken, written and visual text in the target language.

Criterion D: Using language in spoken and/or written form - Students recognize and use language

suitable to the audience and purpose (for example, home, classroom, formal and informal, social,

academic contexts). Students apply their understanding of linguistic and literary concepts to develop a

variety of structures, strategies and techniques.

(www.ibo.org/programmes)

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Data Driven Standards

According to a program evaluation conducted by Ester J. de Jong in 2002, frequent use of achievement

data is critical to the success of a two-way bilingual education program. As such, constant summative and

formative assessment are woven throughout to measure the effectiveness of the program and allow for

instructional adjustment.

Utilizing de Jongs (2002) program evaluation, the following three questions should be constantly

considered by instructors: (1) L1 Component: Are learners developing at appropriate levels of L1

proficiency? (2) L1-L2 Relationship: Does the transfer from L1 literacy skills to L2 literacy skills occur for all

students? What literacy skills transfer? How can we explicitly support this transfer? (3) L2 Component:

Are we providing learners with appropriate and sufficient L2 instruction? (paraphrase de Jong, E. 2002).

Middle Years Language Acquisition & Humanities Essential Shell

In this essential shell, students will utilize current, context-appropriate authentic materials and their

authentic environment to be introduced to key target vocabulary in L2 for purposes of literacy

development. With higher goals of dual-language communication and comprehension per IBO (2016)

standards, given a contemporary newspaper or magazine article the students will draw inferences from

literary cues (e.g. images, repetitive diction) utilizing given sentence structures and new target vocabulary.

Students will demonstrate comprehension of the material through the use of multiple languages by

writing a short, illustrated response article to the given material. Ultimately, students will produce their

own news report on events in their environment using L1, and orally reporting on their findings using

target structures in L2, per the expectations for IBO Standards of Language Acquisition (IBO 2016).

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Instructors would be well-advised to select a human interest or other non-political, universally-themed

article when using authentic materials to align with INEE (2010) standards, meaning materials and learning

products should:

Promote equitable distribution of services across identity groups (ethnic, religious, geographic,

gender)

Avoid pockets of exclusion and marginalization

Focus on the reintegration of out-of-school children and youth

Deliver teaching and learning for peace through pedagogy, curriculum and materials that are free

of gender and social prejudices and build competencies for responsible citizenship, conflict

transformation and resilience

Provide psycho-social protection for children

Involve parents, communities, civil society and local leadership

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Essential Language Development Delivery Shell

The following steps serve as an essential formula for language development with learners with limited-
to no L2 language proficiency. This structure is also encouraged for learners with higher levels of
proficiency.

Phase 1: Warmer Room to Write / Reflect L1 Familiarization with Artifact

1. Indicate a local (L2) newspaper, flyer or

other authentic, visual-heavy artifact.
2. Model reflection utilizing heavy visual
cues (e.g. pointing to head, eyes;
exaggerated use of pen and paper, etc.)
and limited L2 speech.
3. Again utilizing heavy visual cues, indicate
an opportunity to discuss the visual with a
partner in L1.
4. Bring the class to silence.

Phase 2: L2 Target Vocabulary Introduction

5. Introduce target vocabulary in L2.

6. Utilize other authentic materials to emphasize meaning of L2 target vocabulary.
7. Model physical response to L2
target vocabulary.
8. Elicit choral (group) oral delivery
of L2 target vocabulary utilizing
authentic visual cues.
9. Encourage small group or paired
oral delivery of L2 target
vocabulary utilizing Paired
Activity.
10. Encourage individual oral delivery of L2 target vocabulary.
11. When confidence in L2 target vocabulary is achieved, bring the class to silence.

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Phase 3: L2 Target Sentence Structure Introduction

12. Present written form of L2 target vocabulary utilizing available materials and drill.
13. Model oral presentation of desired sentence structure.
14. Elicit choral repetition of target structure.
15. Orally and visually sentence structure to utilize L2 target vocabulary by indicating written forms
of different words.
16. Elicit choral, small group and individual delivery of target structure using different target
vocabulary words.
17. Present written form of structure and demonstrate various sentences using target vocabulary.
18. Encourage paired drilling of target structure.
19. After a given amount of time for mastery, bring the class to silence.

Phase 4: Meaningful Utilization of Target Structure

20. Return to the original authentic visual cue.

21. Elicit target structure from individuals, encouraging physical indication of subjects on visual.
22. Indicate the presence of the target structure in authentic material if applicable.

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Authentic Utilization of Target Language Assessment Shell

The following serves as a model for the utilization of an authentic new-language environment
to enhance language acquisition while also meeting cross-curricular IBO standards for
Individuals & Societies (IBO 2016).

IBO standards are best met through portfolio assessment. As such, it is expected that any
materials collected in this section are maintained for later progress assessment. Materials
collected should be evaluated on the following criteria:

Each individuals and societies objective corresponds to one of four equally weighted
assessment criteria. Each criterion has eight possible achievement levels (18), divided into four
bands with unique descriptor that teachers use to make judgments about students work.

Criterion A: Knowing and understanding

Students develop factual and conceptual knowledge about individuals and societies.

Criterion B: Investigating

Students develop systematic research skills and processes associated with disciplines in the
humanities and social sciences. Students develop successful strategies for investigating
independently and in collaboration with others.

Criterion C: Communicating

Students develop skills to organize, document and communicate their learning using a variety
of media and presentation formats.

Criterion D: Thinking critically

Students use critical-thinking skills to develop and apply their understanding of individuals and
societies and the process of investigation.

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Phase 1: Modeling and Evaluation of Desired Product

1. Using minimal L2 speech, present students with a sample community evaluation project
(e.g. interview set, newspaper op-ed, photography/sketch collection, etc.)
2. Work backwards to deconstruct the project:
a. Demonstrate the use of finishing paper
b. Demonstrate drafting
c. Demonstrate collecting artifacts
d. Demonstrate critical observation
e. Demonstrate planning
3. Indicate that the students will begin planning

Phase 2: Planning

1. Present students with a structured outline (it is recommended that each student has a
copy, but if copies are not available, students may create their own).
2. Ask: what do you want to know about your community*? (*insert appropriate
vocabulary word here; if not community, could be neighborhood, family, classmates,
food, etc.)
3. Provide visual cues (images or vocabulary words)
4. Model: Elicit questions from students using encouragement from the images and
vocabulary words and visibly record them. Then, break questions into bullet-able points
and demonstrate
5. Model, using outline: I want to know about 3-5 points.
6. Encourage students to build their own outline.
7. Encourage sharing and/or discussion of outlines.

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Phase 3: Critical Observation

It is highly recommended that observation take place in such a way that the instructor may
escort and assist students, but in some cases (e.g. learning about family) this may not be
necessary.

1. Model: indicate and orally repeat targets from outline

2. Model: pretend to observe your environment and, using exaggerated visual cues,
demonstrate note-taking about your surroundings; using limited L2 speech, think out
loud.
3. Encourage students to participate, eliciting their observations
4. Encourage students to also record their observations in either language
5. Travel: what else can we see? Venture into the community to observe targets.
6. Return: Encourage students to discuss, in either language, what they observed.
7. Assess: Using learned targets, encourage students to share their findings in L2.

Phase 4: Collection of Artifacts

1. Model: using model outline, create a list of questions to be answered

2. Model: if materials are available to do so, dress a volunteer student up like a stranger
and proceed to ask model questions about given topic. Elicit other questions from class.
3. Encourage half the class to dress as strangers and practice asking and answering
model questions.
4. Indicate students outlines and encourage them to write questions.
5. Travel: Venture into the community and encourage the collection of artifacts
6. Return: Encourage students to discuss, in either language, what they observed.
7. Assess: Using learned targets, encourage students to share their findings in L2. Passively
correct language (do not interfere with communication) as needed.

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Phase 5: Drafting

1. Model: Using observation notes and outline, demonstrate the creation of complete
sentences. Leave spaces for photographs/sketches if appropriate to do so.
2. Encourage students to return to their own notes and create sentences.
3. Assess: elicit sample sentences from students in L2, actively correcting language as
needed.
4. Model: order sentences in logical progression
5. Encourage students to continue writing sentences from their observations and to place
them in logical order.

Phase 6: Finishing

In some environments, actual finishing materials may not be available. Clean paper will suffice
in most instances.

1. Model: transfer rough sentences and/or images from draft to finishing material
2. Encourage students to do the same with their own materials.

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References

Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. Bristol, UK: Multilingual
Matters.

INEE. (2015) Education in Emergencies. Retrieved December 04, 2016, from

http://www.ineesite.org/en/education-in-emergencies

UNESCO. (2016). Education in Emergencies. Retrieved December 04, 2016, from

http://en.unesco.org/themes/education-emergencies

UNICEF (2006) Education in Emergencies: A Resource Toolkit Retrieved December 04, 2016,
from http://www.unicef.org/2frosa/2fRosa-Education_in_Emergencies_ToolKit.pdf

Jong, E. J. (2002). Effective Bilingual Education: From Theory to Academic Achievement in a

Two-Way Bilingual Program. Bilingual Research Journal, 26(1), 65-84.
doi:10.1080/15235882.2002.10668699

IBO. (2015). Middle years | 11 to 16 | International Baccalaureate. Retrieved December 1,

2016, from http://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/

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