The Dictionary

I still have the ideas, Walter, but I

can’t find the words to clothe them.

(from Winston Churchill to Walter Monckton)

Lorraine Smith

“Since there is no time like the present, I thought it was time to present the present.”

Stop for a moment and marvel at the wonder of your own word knowledge.

Lorraine Smith

Meaning Leads To Comprehension

ELL students need to develop a repertoire of English vocabulary and be freed to build vocabulary at their own pace.

Lorraine Smith

It’s A Must

The Meta Consent Decree of 1990 states

that ELL students must have access to comprehensible instruction.

Lorraine Smith

Providing For Comprehensible Instruction

One of the best ways to provide comprehensible input is to give students access to bilingual dictionaries along with training on how to use them.

Doing so will provide the necessary scaffolding to build language skills.

Lorraine Smith

Dictionaries are underused by many learners.

It is a worthwhile investment of class time to model and practice a variety of dictionary skills.

Lorraine Smith

Model the Use of Dictionaries

During class stop and look up a word that is unfamiliar to many students.

1. Interpret the abbreviations and notes( part of speech, etc.)

2. Model alphabetical principle and use of guide words.

3. Talk about root words and inflectional endings if relevant.

4. Model use of context to decide which meaning to select. Lorraine Smith

Practice

Students will need to practice over a period of time to increase speed in finding words AND to increase in confidence in using a dictionary.

With increased practice, students will rely on their dictionary as a source of support in learning the academic English necessary to succeed.

Lorraine Smith

Keeping Up With Content

It is important that ELLs lose no time in keeping up with content area instruction… so by feeling free to use a bilingual dictionary, they can have a chance at keeping up with instruction.

Lorraine Smith

Independence

Students who know how to use a dictionary, can independently unlock the meaning of words.

ELL students who can do this, will meet

with greater success in school.

Lorraine Smith

Get Them Off The Shelf

The ELL department has purchased bilingual dictionaries for classroom use, most of which are housed in the media centers.

We need to make them accessible for students to use while working on class assignments. Lorraine Smith

What’s Out There?

Picture dictionaries (English ONLY, English/Spanish, English/Creole)

Bilingual classroom dictionaries (use the word in context through a sample sentence – English/Spanish, English/Creole)

FCAT dictionaries (word to word, many languages)

Lorraine Smith

Suggestions for Contacts and Counselors

Keep your FCAT dictionaries (word to word) in your area for use during State testing. If a student of another language (not Spanish or Creole) would benefit from the use of a word to word, independently assign him a dictionary.

Lorraine Smith

How You Can Help Inventory your dictionary resources. Determine the language needs in your

classrooms. Assist the support of your media specialist

in preparing a pack of bilingual dictionaries for each teacher.

Email your teachers to sign out the dictionaries.

At the end of the school year, email a reminder for return of dictionaries.

Lorraine Smith

Remember

Dictionaries are really not a resource if they never make it off the shelf.

Lorraine Smith

Lorraine Smith

Lorraine Smith

Lorraine Smith