Pedagogy and Modifications for English Language Learners
This curriculum unit will be an introductory unit presented at the beginning of the school year. The rationale for this timing is to facilitate and ease the adjustment of my immigrant students to their new life and their new school. Immigration is an experience which is common to all of the students and presents a unique opportunity to reflect on and study immigration issues. This unit will serve to be both an ice breaker unit and an introductory unit to American curriculum. Students will be more able to open up and participate in a variety of activities which relate to immigration and will hopefully build a sense of community and mutual respect and understanding. These students will be provided with a chance to tell their stories and to hear other students' stories and reflect on these experiences. This dialogue and exchange will hopefully promote understanding and tolerance. We live in a global world of interconnectedness of economies, of people, of cultures, and of governments and this study of immigration factors will highlight this reality.
English language development is a continuum that begins with being completely unfamiliar with the language and continues to a point where students can be completely fluent in respect to speaking, reading, and writing. Many of my students are at the beginning of the continuum, that is, they are at a—-silent or receptive phase—-listening, but speaking very little. Some are at the social fluency stage. They can speak to their friends and make themselves understood in very basic terms. Language is also dependent on age. The language needs of a five year old starting out in kindergarten are quite different than those of a seventeen year old in high school. The latter student has a much higher bar to reach to attain English proficiency. Pedagogy must include many modifications that focus on language acquisition and on core curriculum.
All my students are English Language Learners and the unit takes into consequence the unique instructional needs of these students. They need to learn English, both academic and social, while also taking classes in the core curriculum that will enable them to progress in the goal of graduating from high school. Learning new content in an unfamiliar language is very challenging so it's important for teachers to make certain pedagogical modifications for English learners. Some of these are aimed at building English proficiency and some are designed to give students greater access to academic content.
Following is a discussion of some of these modifications. (1) The selection of immigration as the opening unit of instruction is one of these instructional strategies: immigration is content that students are familiar with which makes the content more comprehensible. (2) The use of visual representation of concepts, and not just language—based explanation is another instructional modification. The incorporation of the films is an example. Films are an important component of the teaching process in this unit. The films movingly and powerfully demonstrate the many aspects of immigration and migration and capture the angst, hopes, challenges, and dreams especially as these relate to youth. Students can readily access these visual representations of immigration. (3) Vocabulary and explicit teaching of words is enhanced with multiple exposures to and uses of the words in numerous contexts. The strategic use of primary language translation of key words is also effective. Many students have electronic dictionaries with translators and use these aides extensively. This previewing of language both teaches vocabulary and facilitates acquisition of content. (4) Another instructional modification is the use of the primary language to introduce new concepts for clarification and explanation. Explaining or clarifying concepts in the home language can help English Language Learners access what is going on in the classroom. This is referred to as "frontloading" the new learning in the students' primary language and following it with a lesson delivered in English when the students are somewhat familiar with the content. The content is then more comprehensible to the students and they also learn English as well as the content. All of the above modifications are predicated on the teacher being bilingual and that a bilingual approach is permissible in the classroom. In the San Francisco Unified School District, program design clusters students where there are bilingual primary language teachers in the most commonly spoken languages so these modifications can be utilized.
In the English only classroom, as well as in the bilingual classroom, additional scaffolds and supports can be implemented, including the following: (1) A consistent use of visuals such as easy—to—read lists, diagrams, maps, and charts (2) Graphic organizers that make content and the relationship among concepts more comprehensible (3) Charting, highlighting and clarifying difficult words and passages within texts to facilitate comprehension (4) Adjusting the rate of speech by speaking slowly and enunciating words crisply and carefully (5) Incorporating choral reading in the classroom to enable students to practice oral language (6) Reading content to the students, stopping to check for comprehension, and paraphrasing passages that students do not understand. (7) Re—teaching and presentation of content in multiple formats. This repetition reinforces learning of content curriculum and facilitates the learning of English in all strands of reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
Modifications for English Language Learners will be needed until students have developed fluency in academic English. This is the highest level of English proficiency and is in the range of equivalency to an English native speaking student. The modifications and strategies discussed above are incorporated into the lesson plans and activities discussed in the following section of lesson plans and activities.
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