english language learners and the social studies: an urgent priority, a moral imperative vital...
TRANSCRIPT
English Language Learners and the Social Studies:
An Urgent Priority, A Moral Imperative
Vital Issues PanelNational Council for the Social
Studies November 14, 2008
Houston, Texas
Overview of ELLs in the U.S.
Bárbara C. Cruz
Professor, Social Science Education
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida
Who are the ELLs in our classrooms?
In the U.S., 1 in 5 school-age children are immigrants
¾ of the children of immigrants are native-born; about ¼ foreign-born
Where are they from?
Country or Region of Birth for Foreign-Born Children, PK to 5th Grade, 2000
Where are they in the U.S.?
States with the Highest Shares of Children of Immigrants in PK to 5th Grade, 2000
What languages do they speak?
Roughly 1 of 7 students in our nation’s classrooms speaks a language other than English at home; this figure will soon be 1 in 4
Do teachers feel well-equipped to meet the needs of ELLs?
More school systems now require ELLs to receive their English instruction not through stand-alone ESOL classes, but directly through their curriculum content classes
Almost half of all teachers have ELLs in their classrooms, yet only 13% to 30% of those teachers have received instruction in ESOL methods
Preservice education: in a study of 25 popular teacher education texts, it was found that less than 1% of the text included useable content related to the teaching of ELLs; in many cases, the topic of English language learning was not identified at all
Special Needs of ELLs
Vivian Pratts
Director for Bilingual/ESL
Spring Branch ISD
Houston, Texas
An English Language Learner Acquisition of Language is Like this Picture
Academic Language Proficiency
BICSBasic Interpersonal Communicative Skills
CALPCognitive Academic Language Proficiency
(Cummins, 1986)
BICS
CALP
Theory and Application
Martha Martínez
Elementary Bilingual/ESL Coordinator
Spring Branch ISD
Houston, Texas
Planning Language Framework
Planning Language Framework
Language functions and sentence patterns and structures to be practiced to be successful in the lesson.
Planning Language Framework
Topic Activity Language Function
Language Structure
Vocabulary
Communities Discuss Compare/
Contrast
A farm has…
In the city…
There are fewer…
community, houses, people, animals, more, fewer
Continents Identifying Expressing They are all.. (continents)
North America,
South America,
Europe, Asia, Africa.
Functions of
Language
Language
Arts
Social
Studies
Science
Mathematics
Language Structure Syntax
Functional Language
Language necessary
to perform tasks
Connect Find Compare Sequence Tell Retell Visualize Create
List Choose Label Build
Build Which Name Tell Label Collect Shake
Sort Ask Count Omit Place Show Point Move
They are all ... This one is different... I like this because…
Cognitive Strategies
Bloom ’s
Higher Order Thinking
Inquir e Infer Analyz e Decide Summarize Explain Compare Classify Opinion Criticize
Compare Classify Categorize
Create Categorize Classify
Problem solving Solve compare
What happened after...? Rule 1 is not fair... What would happen…
Content Vocabulary:
Making Content Accessible to English
Language Learners
Becky HamptonSecondary ESL Coordinator
Galena Park ISDHouston, Texas
Learning in a Second Language
Cognitively Demanding
Cognitively Undemanding
Context Embedded
(Concrete)
Context Reduced
(Abstract)
S.E.E..
TALK
DO Transfer
Where do these activities belong in the lesson?
The students complete a map of major civil war
battles.
The students quiz one another about the impactof the Civil WarAmendments.
The students read a chapter about Lincoln’s Election and Southern Secession.
The students view pictures of the Civil War.
Where do these activities belong in the lesson?
The students quiz one another about the impacts
of the Civil War Amendments.
The students complete a map of major civil war
battles.
The students read a chapter about Lincoln’sElection and Southern
Secession.
The students view pictures of the Civil War.
S.E.E.
DO
TALK
Transfer
Free Form Map
Thirteen Colonies
Characterization Chart
Triangular Trade
Words Across Contexts
a mathematician?
an astronomer?
a gardener?
a historian?
A chiropractor?
Someone Wanted But So…..
Someone Wanted But So…
THE DAY I BECAME A BEAR BY PETER J. NEGRONI
The Day I Became a Bear…a poem by Peter J. Negroni
School had been uncomfortable for the first few years.
I had been told to speak in English
and forget my Spanish.
I had become ashamed of my first
language.
The teachers had drummed it
into me.
Spanish was bad and English was good.
By the third grade I was reading very well in English and had forgotten a great deal of my Spanish.
During the first week of school in the third grade,
I was assigned to the Jets
for reading.
It was the very best reading
group.
I was a Jet and I was soaring.
About a month into the year, the teacher asked me if I spoke Spanish at home.
I said yes.
The next day I became a Bluebird.
All of us knew the difference between a Jet and a Bluebird.
We knew it by the way
the teacher treated us.
Jets were the best and the teacher loved Jets.
Bluebirds were next and I had become one.
I felt bad that I could not stay a Jet.
I felt even worse that I did not know why I could not stay a Jet.
Three months went by.
It was a cold day in February.
My mother who spoke no English had visited my teacher the previous week.
My teacher asked me about my life at home. Don’t you ever speak English at home?
No, I answered --- my parents don’t speak English at all.
Again, it was a cold day in February when the teacher looked at me and said,
Today I am moving you to the Bears.
The Bears? I questioned. Why the Bears?
They are the lowest --- the worst --- the bottom.
Because you belong with the Bears.
In six short months,
I went from a Jet to a Bear.
While I did not fully understand why I had become a bear, I knew, like every other Bear, it was not the thing we wanted to be.
Why were there Jets, Bluebirds, and Bears?Why couldn’t everyone be a Jet?While I didn’t understand it quite
as I understand it today, I began my real education
the day I became a Bear.