BICS vs. CALP..What do they mean again??
There are so many acronyms in education. I think two of the most important ones in thinking about language education are BICS and CALP. Take a look at the chart below to start thinking about these 2 different kinds of language that language learners produce: Why is it important...
The Goodness and Challenge of Writing Language Objectives
What do I see least of in K-12 classrooms? Language objectives. In my work with K-12 teachers of language learners (LLs), I see a lot of sound research-based sheltering strategies like using graphic organizers to help LLs get their feet wet with new language and concepts or showing pictures to...
“A Love Affair of Mine: Objectives”
“Simply said, when students understand the purpose of a lesson, they learn more” (Fraser, Walberg, Welch, & Hattie, 1987; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001 in Fisher & Frey, 2010, p. 1) It has been stirring for a while. At first I didn’t even notice him. He kept coming around more...
Marzano’s Six Step Vocabulary Teaching Process
Robert J. Marzano has become famous for testing instructional strategies to see if they result in quantitative achievement gains. The following is a summary of his vocabulary learning strategy and some products that may help you to implement the process. (Be sure to do all six steps! His research has...
USING WIPE & WRITE POCKETS IN THE CLASSROOM FOR LANGUAGE PRACTICE
This is my new favorite teaching tool!
Write and Wipe Pockets are so flexible and give students the
opportunity to practice reading and writing in English! Check out my
YouTube video with lots of ideas for how to use them!
How to Use Blank Cubes in the Classroom
Watch my short video blog on flexible ways to use cubes in the classroom to enhance language practice and reinforce content and language learning. This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 at 4:27 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry...
How to Use Whiteboards in the Classroom
Watch my short video blog for ideas about how and why to use whiteboards in the classroom with your English Language Learners! This entry was posted on Friday, April 29th, 2011 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry...
Doing What Works Site is a Good Resource for Teaching ELLs
I was doing some research on the Department of Education website (ed.gov) for a book I am writing and stumbled upon a new tool for educators and administrators. Their Doing What Works website makes sense of research-based practices for teaching English Language Learners and more. They’ve got videos, classroom examples,...
What is Sheltered Instruction?
When you walk into a classroom where all students understand what is happening (including English Language Learners) you are probably going to encounter strategies that fall under the umbrella of what is called sheltered instruction. Basically, when you shelter your instruction in English, or any language for that matter, you...
A New Study on What Vocabulary to Teach Young Children
In their study of 238 preschoolers, Leung, Silverman, Nandakumar, Qian, and Hines’ (2011) findings suggest that both monolingual English speakers and English Language Learners learned English words in a similar order – meaning that the order of word difficulty of their word list was the similar for both groups. However,...