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I am looking forward to attending this Virtual Conference.  This is an area about which I feel most unsure in my teaching practice. I am excited to learn more helpful strategies and methods of best practice to use with my English Learners. Thank you for the link to the report, Flavio.  I will check it out. 

Hi Flavio,

Thank you for the link to the book - free download at NAP!  It is an easy read and chock full of great information.  It didn't take me long to find this helpful list on page 98: Five promising instructional strategies to help ELLs build on their home languages include:

1. Engage Students in Disciplinary Practices

2. Engage Students in Productive Discourse and Interactions with Others

3. Utilize and Encourage Students to Use Multiple Registers and Multiple Modalities

4. Leverage Multiple Meaning-Making Resources

5. Provide Some Explicit Focus on How Language Functions in the Discipline

I hope to have the book read before Saturday.  I am really lookiing forward to the virtual conference and to learn more from our distinquished presenters on ways to provide higher levels of rigorous engagement with science.

Hi everyone. First I would like to explain what my teaching background is. I have never taught in the US. My entire teaching career thus far has been abroad in China. All of the students in my classroom are ELLs. I have taught all ages from 3 to 23 in mutliple subjects. What follows is my take on teaching STEM (or any subject really) to Primary or lower Secondary level students (CEFR A-1 to B-2 ablility level for those of you who are familiar with that system). One question I often get from new teachers is : "How do you teach science to students who don't know the vocabulary? I (the person asking) seem to spend all my time explaining vocabulary and not actually teachig content." The idea is that the most significant roadblock to comprehension in class is vocabulary. Students may very well understand a concept in their L1, but they lack the vocabulary or academic language sckills to fully comprehend the same topic in a second language.  My response:   Find a way to contextualize the necessary vocabulary, but allow the students to discover the meaning for themselves. Don't just frontload vocabulary. Vocabulary and definitions mean NOTHING to a student who does not have academic English language skills. The vocabulary must be contextualized . This allows the student to draw conclusions about the new vocabulary without resorting to translation. Example: --When teaching the Rock Cycle to my year 4 class, I provide the vocabulary list, but I don't define the words at first. I as the students to first write down what they think the words mean (making inferences based on prior knowledge). Then I provide a contextualized explanation. For this particular example, this meant getting volunteers up to the front of the room to SHOW the meaning of the different stages of the rock cycle. Included in the short acting session was a story about a band: "They came onto the scene like they were shot from a volcano (previously learnt vocabulary). They called themselves the Igneous Rock Band. The band travelled around the world. As they travelled they got tired and worn out. Many years later, they were weathered  by the sun, wind and rain, and very tired looking. One day, the top singer and the drummer in the band decided to leave the band. The band broke apart. Some of the members went to live among other rockers who had also left their bands. They lived in a place called S ediment  at the bottom of the ocean. After many more years, more and more people came to Sediment . They started calling the place  Sedimentary Rocks because so many former band members lived there that everyone was living close together and they stuck together in small groups. Eventually, after many more years, some groups got really big. The children and grand children of the people in Sedimentary Rocks started hanging out in new places. They moved lower down in the Earth where there was more room. There, they lived in new, hot places. They made a new band. The name of this new band was  Metamorphic Rock . But to get out of the neighborhood, they had to get REALLY HOT! Eventually, they got so hot that they melted. When they melted, they re-named the band the Igneous Rock Band (2) and they began the cycle again." -- After the story and acting session (it only takes about 5 minutes), the lesson moves on. I do provide a vocabulary list, but we don't dwell on the vocabulary. At one point in the lesson, the instruction moves into doscovery groups where students work together to acheive the daily targets or complete the tasks. More proficient students assist those still struggling within the group. Self-discovery is the aim of these groups. At this point, the students are free to use whatever resources they need to solidify their understanding of the vocabulary or lesson targets. At the end of each lesson is a reflection section, "what I learned today", "what I would like to spend more time on" and "what I want to learn tomorrow", where each student orally or in writing will summarize the topics that were covered in that lesson in their own words (this also provides me a way to check the overall comprehension level of the class). *Telling a story and asking a group to act out the story is just one way to help ELLs to internalize the vocabulary. I realise that storytelling is not everyone's strong suit, but the main goal is to provide a visual or tactile way for students to discover the language for themsleves. Using multiple modalities (storytelling, diagrams, oral and written re-telling, etc.) makes the subject being taught the vehicle by which language is acquired rather than the other way around

Hi Flavio,

I'm in the ESEE teaching program at UH Manoa. We have learned some strategies to help ELL and MLL students in the classroom. Some inlcude providing many visuals with words in both english and their language (ex. make a STEM 'dictionary'), have students work in small groups with another student who can translate some of the basic content, and/or make a step-by-step sheet with visuals and simple kid friendly language. Hope this helps.

Monica

Hi Flavio,

I am currently studying to be a teacher.  Last year, I worked with students at a school where most of the students were ELs.  Concerning one of the kindergarteners, he didn't even want to listen or pay attention, so there were a lot more behavioral issues.  Thus, I had to work extra hard in coming up with strategies to best help him and motivate him to want to learn.  I found that making connections to his first language and discussing the English translation was one way to motivate him and keep him engaged.  One other really big advice is to include a lot of modeling and not making assumptions about student knowledge.  Providing visuals and hands-on examples will also greatly help.  Another helpful tool may include providing pictures in your instructions, so the students have a better idea of what they need to do and how to do it.  After all, this is a STEM lesson — not a language arts lesson.  

I wish I had discovered many more conferences like this years ago. Everything I have acquired in terms of tricks of the trade have been acquired the hard way; trial and error (sometimes a lot of error). Don't be afraid to try out a new technique or method. Use what works, throw away what doesn't. That's generally my life motto. ;) 

I agree it is important for all students to create meaning out of new vocabulary, ELLs or Native English speakers alike. When learning new vocabulary, simply copying down definitions from the dictionary does not seem like the most effective technique. This includes other disciplines as well and not exclusively science. I am wondering what effective strategies for contextualizing science-related vocabulary would look like?

Hello, I like the idea you mentioned that STEM teaching should steer away from vocabulary for a moment. I think it is critically important to know the student's actual conceptual understanding level. Regardless of vocabulary, visual representing can be another great strategy for students to represent what they have learned. In this process, they will also acquire the key vocabulary. Thanks for sharing!

Hi,

Yes! If we can design some projects that may help students spontaneously acquire new vocabulary, I think our instruction will be more effective! Thanks for sharing!