The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide E-Book

Larry Ferlazzo

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 917

Beschreibung

Maximize the educational potential of your ESL/ELL class with this singular resource The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide: Ready-to-Use Strategies, Tools, and Activities for Teaching English Language Learners of All Levels, 2nd Edition offers readers a comprehensive range of instructional strategies and educational resources for teaching English. The newly revised 2nd Edition includes brand new chapters on: * Working with Long-Term English Language Learners * Teaching English internationally * Teaching Elementary Age ELLs * Teaching Adult ELLs * Teaching ELLs with learning challenges * Culturally Responsive Instruction * Effective online instruction * Working with co-teachers and para-professionals In addition to the new chapters, The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide contains updated material on topics including math, science, social studies, Common Core Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards and 150 pages of new, highly engaging content. An essential resource for anyone involved in teaching English as a Second Language to students of all ages, this book is perfect for general education teachers and ESL specialists for students in grades six through twelve. It's also highly instructive for teachers of adult ESL classes, elementary and teacher educators, and resource specialists.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Praise for

The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide

Title Page

Copyright

About the Authors

Acknowledgments

About the Contributors

Introduction

Note

PART ONE: Getting Started with English Language Learners

CHAPTER ONE: ELL Instruction: The Big Picture

ELL Population Growth

How Are English Language Learners Described?

Adolescent English Language Learners

A Primer on ELL Research

A Quick Tour of ELL Best Practices

Notes

CHAPTER TWO: ELL Classroom Basics: Building a Positive and Effective Learning Environment

The First R: Building

Relationships

The Second R:

Resources

in the ELL Classroom

The Third R: Establishing

Routines

Notes

PART TWO: Teaching Beginning English Language Learners

CHAPTER THREE: Key Elements of a Curriculum for Beginning ELLs

Key Elements of a Curriculum

Notes

CHAPTER FOUR: Daily Instruction for Beginning ELLs

Picture Word Inductive Model Unit Plan

Notes

PART THREE: Teaching Intermediate English Language Learners

CHAPTER FIVE: Key Elements of a Curriculum for Intermediate ELLs

Key Elements of a Curriculum

Notes

CHAPTER SIX: Daily Instruction for Intermediate ELLs

Designing Thematic Genre Units

A Sample Unit: Problem‐Solution

Sample Lesson Plans

Inductive Lesson Plan

Using Text to Generate Analytical Writing Lesson Plan

A Sample Week in a Two‐Period Intermediate ELL Class

Notes

PART FOUR: Teaching English Language Learners in the Content Areas

CHAPTER SEVEN: English Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom

What Is the Organizing Cycle?

Notes

CHAPTER EIGHT: Teaching Social Studies

Building Relationships with Students

Notes

CHAPTER NINE: Teaching Science

Introduction: Science and Language

Notes

CHAPTER TEN: Teaching Math

Introduction

Challenge: Reading Mathematics Texts

Challenge: Knowledge of Appropriate Academic Vocabulary

Challenge: Participating in Mathematics Conversations

Challenge: Understanding Abstract Concepts

Notes

PART FIVE: Working with Specific Groups of English Language Learners

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Supporting Long‐Term English Language Learners

Who Are Long‐Term English Language Learners?

How Can We Best Support LTELLs?

How Did Larry and His School Try to Put These Recommendations into Action?

Notes

CHAPTER TWELVE: Working with Elementary ELLs

Who Are Elementary English Learners?

Do Elementary English Language Learners Have Different Needs? Does Their Instruction Need to be Different from that of Older English Learners?

Program Types in Elementary

The Core Elements of Supportive Instruction for Elementary English Language Learners

What Does a Model Classroom that is Highly Supportive of Elementary English Learners Look Like?

What Does a Model Classroom that Is Highly Supportive of Elementary English Learners Sound Like?

What Does a Model Classroom that Is Highly Supportive of Elementary ELLs Feel Like?

Instructional Strategies that Support Elementary ELLs

Notes

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Teaching Adult ELLs

The Differences in Teaching English to Adults Versus Children

How to Foster Success with Adult Learners

Notes

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Teaching ELLs with Learning Differences

Considerations for Further Investigation

Considerations for Determining Services

Considerations for Placement/Scheduling

Resources

Notes

PART SIX: Further Strategies to Ensure Success

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teaching

What Is Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teaching?

The Organizing Cycle

Notes

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Addressing Additional Opportunities and Challenges

Student Motivation

The Advantages of Being Bilingual or Multilingual Lesson Plan

Social Emotional Learning

Textbook Integration

Error Correction

Limited Access to Educational Technology

Multilevel Classes

Co‐Teaching and/or Working with an Aide/Paraprofessional

Classroom Management

Book Selection

Supporting ELL Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFEs)

Notes

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Home Language of ELLs

Seeing Home Language as an Asset

A Mini Lesson on the Value of Home Languages

Research on Home Languages in the Classroom

Turning Bloom's Taxonomy into a Home‐Language Framework

Abandoning English‐Only Policies

Conclusion

Notes

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Using Learning Games in the ELL Classroom

Research Support

What Are the Qualities of a Good Learning Game?

Notes

CHAPTER NINETEEN: Assessing English Language Learners

Assessing ELLs: Key Principles

Notes

CHAPTER TWENTY: Reflective Teaching/Professional Development

The Bread in the Pond

Why Should We Have an Intentional, Formal Process for Reflecting?

Why I Began Filming Myself and Why I Continued

Adopting a Reflective Mindset

Notes

Afterword

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1

Figure 1.1. BICS and CALP

Figure 1.2. English Proficiency Level “Labels”

Chapter 2

Figure 2.1. Four Squares

Figure 2.2. Teacher Model

Figure 2.3. Sample Concept Map

Chapter 3

Figure 3.1 Example of Photo Used in the Picture Word Inductive Model

Chapter 4

Figure 4.1. Graphic Organizer

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1. Immigration Word Web

Figure 5.2. Persuading My Parents Student Sample

Chapter 6

Figure 6.1. Student Sample of Category Poster for Data Set (Photo)

Figure 6.2. Student Sample of Synthesis Chart Poster (Photo)

Figure 6.3. Teacher Sample of Dissecting the Prompt

Chapter 7

Figure 7.1. Differentiation TipsPublished with permission of Wendi Pillars...

Chapter 9

Figure 9.1. Percentage of general population (gray), ELL (light green), or f...

Figure 9.2. Constructivist Visuals Example Text“Prophase, in which dense ...

Figure 9.3. Example set of visuals and word bank for Tap and Talk activity. ...

Chapter 12

Figure 12.1. ELLs in the US

FIGURE 12.2. What an Elementary Classroom Should Look Like

FIGURE 12.3. What an Elementary Classroom Should Sound Like

FIGURE 12.4. What an Elementary Classroom Should Feel Like

Chapter 17

Figure 17.1. No Food in the Classroom

Figure 17.2. Diagram: How Much to Integrate the Home Language

Figure 17.3. Two Tabs in Two Languages

Figure 17.4. Example of Auto‐Translated Subtitles

Figure 17.5. Online Annotated Text for Comprehension

Figure 17.6. Handwritten Annotated Text for Comprehension

Figure 17.7. Handwritten Mind map for Analysis: Example of Translanguaging...

Figure 17.8. English Spoken Here Sign

Figure 17.9 No Matter Where You Are From, I'm Glad You're My Student

Guide

Cover Page

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

About the Authors

Acknowledgments

About the Contributors

Introduction

Begin Reading

Afterword

Index

WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

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Bonus Web Content

Companion papers are available online, at www.wiley.com/go/eslsurvivalguide2, on these topics related to teaching english online and around the world:

Distance Learning

Teaching English Internationally

Non Native English Speakers Teaching English

Teaching Science (from 1

st

edition)

Teaching Math (from 1

st

edition)

Praise for The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide

“An engaging, practical, and highly accessible book … . The authors share strategies that have been proven effective through research as well as their own practice. There is truly something valuable for any teacher, even those who have extensive experience with ESL classes.”

—PIA WONG, professor, Bilingual/Multicultural Education, California State University, Sacramento

“This is an invaluable resource for all new and experienced teachers who desire to see their language learning students thrive and achieve at high levels.”

—DANA DUSBIBER, classroom teacher with over 30 years of experience working with ELLs

The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide

Ready‐to‐Use Strategies, Tools, & Activities for Teaching All Levels

LARRY FERLAZZO AND KATIE HULL SYPNIESKI

SECOND EDITION

Copyright © 2022 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 750‐4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781119550389 (paperback)ISBN 9781119550426 (ePDf)ISBN 9781119550419 (ePub)

Cover Design: Wiley

Cover Image: © banyumilistudio/Shutterstock

About the Authors

Larry Ferlazzo teaches English and social studies to English language learners and English‐proficient students at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. He has written, co‐authored, or edited 12 books on education.

He has won numerous awards, including the Leadership for a Changing World Award from the Ford Foundation, and was the grand prize winner of the International Reading Association Award for Technology and Reading.

He writes a popular education blog at http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org and writes a weekly teacher advice column for Education Week. His articles on education policy regularly appear in The Washington Post. In addition, his work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, ASCD Educational Leadership, Social Policy, and Language Magazine.

Ferlazzo was a community organizer for 19 years prior to becoming a public school teacher. He is married and has three children and four grandchildren.

Katie Hull Sypnieski has taught English language learners of all proficiency levels and English‐proficient students for 25 years in the Sacramento City Unified School District. She has served as a teaching consultant with the Area 3 Writing Project housed at University of California‐Davis for the past 20 years.

She has co‐authored three books on teaching ELLs and has co‐edited three books on education. She has published articles and instructional videos for Education Week. In addition, she has co‐authored articles for Edutopia, The New York Times Learning Network, and ASCD Educational Leadership.

Sypnieski currently teaches English to English language learners and English‐proficient students at Arthur A. Benjamin Health Professions High School in Sacramento, California. She is married and has three children.

Larry and Katie have co‐authored two other books on teaching English language learners, The ELL Teacher's Toolbox and Navigating the Common Core with English Language Learners, both from Jossey‐Bass/Wiley.

Acknowledgments

Larry Ferlazzo. I'd like to thank my family—Stacia, Rich, Shea, Ava, Nik, Katie, Karli, Federico and especially, my wife, Jan—for their support. In addition, I need to express appreciation to my co‐author, Katie Hull Sypnieski, who has also been a colleague and friend for eighteen years. I would like to thank my many colleagues at Luther Burbank High School, including Principal Jim Peterson, for their assistance over the years. And, probably most important, I'd like to thank the many English language learner students who have made me a better teacher—and a better person.

Katie Hull Sypnieski. I would like to thank all the students I've had over the years for their determination, their creative energy, and for helping me to grow as an educator and as a person. In addition, I am grateful for all of the support I have received from my colleagues, especially Larry Ferlazzo, my co‐author, co‐teacher, and friend. Finally, to all of my family members, especially my husband, David, and children Drew, Ryan, and Rachel, I want to thank you for supporting me in this process—you are the best!

There are also several people we would both like to thank:

We must offer a big thank‐you to Amy Fandrei and Pete Gaughan at Jossey‐Bass for their patience and guidance in preparing this book, and to David Powell for his assistance in formatting our manuscript submission.

And, of course, we have to thank the 10 other contributors to this second edition (you can see their complete biographies elsewhere in this book):

Laura Gibbs

Stephen Fleenor

Cindy Garcia

Valentina Gonzalez

Antoinette Perez

Jessica Bell

Tan Huynh

Carol Salva

Jenny Vo

Lorie Hammond

About the Contributors

Nine other educators have made sizable contributions to this second edition.

Laura Gibbs received her PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley in 1999. She joined the University of Oklahoma faculty where she taught online courses in folklore and mythology; she retired from teaching in 2021 in order to write full‐time. She is the author of a translation of Aesop's Fables for Oxford University Press, and she is also the author of a free OER book series: Tiny Tales, which is available online at LauraGibbs.net.

Stephen Fleenor is an educational consultant in San Antonio, Texas with Seidlitz Education (www.seidlitzeducation.com). Stephen earned a PhD in Developmental Neurobiology from the University of Oxford before teaching high school science in a highly disadvantaged community in San Antonio. His pedagogy developed out of a passion to serve English learners and other at‐risk students while spreading his love for science. As a facilitator of professional development and developer of educational materials, he advocates for a growth‐minded approach to teaching and learning that encourages and strengthens learners' academic expression.

Cindy Garcia has been a bilingual educator for 15 years and is currently a districtwide specialist for P‐6 bilingual/ESL mathematics. She is active on Twitter at @CindyGarciaTX and on her blog (https://teachingelementaryels.weebly.com/).

Valentina Gonzalez has more than 20 years of experience teaching and working with multilingual students from around the globe. Her personal experience as an immigrant from Yugoslavia and language learner fuel her desire to advocate for English learners and support teachers with the best research‐based teaching methods. Her work's primary focuses have been on literacy, culture, and language. Valentina is the coauthor of Reading & Writing with English Learners: A Framework for K‐5.

Antoinette Perez has more than 10 years of experience working with English Language Learners of all levels, including extensive experience with international and adult learners. She has worked in California and Georgia at schools with high percentages of ELs, which motivated her to obtain TEFL certification to teach English abroad. She currently serves as the English Co‐Department Chair at Buena High School in Ventura, California where she runs the ELD program and teaches honors and AP English. In another capacity, she instructs online English classes for children and adults. Her dedication to students and ESL instruction has taken her around the world to enrich her ability to connect with students and enhance her professional practice.

Jessica Bell, M.Ed, taught English and ENL for 19 years, serving students from a diverse mix of backgrounds. A SIOP practitioner while in the classroom, she believes all students deserve equitable access to rigorous academic instruction. Jessica has transitioned from the classroom to the EdTech space, helping provide teachers with digitals tools to enhance instruction.

Tan Huynh (@TanKHuynh) is a career teacher specializing in language acquisition. He nerds out on all things related to multilingual students and shares what he has learned from experts, scholars, and master teachers through his writings, podcast, courses, conference, and workshops.

Carol Salva is an international education consultant with elementary, middle and high school teaching experience. She provides sheltered instruction workshops, coaching and modeling through Seidlitz Education. Carol is the co‐author of Boosting Achievement: Reaching Students with Interrupted or Minimal Education.

Jenny Vo earned her B.A. in English from Rice University and her M.Ed in Educational Leadership from Lamar University. She has worked with English Learners during all of her 27 years in education, first in Houston Independent School District and then in Katy Independent School District. Jenny recently made the move to International Leadership of Texas and serves as the Houston area EL Coordinator. Jenny has served on the Board of TexTESOL IV for several years and was the 2020–2021 president. She works to advocate for all English learners and enjoys sharing her knowledge and passion with others at local and state conferences. She loves learning from her #PLN on Twitter so feel free to follow her @JennyVo15.

Introduction

There was a great forest fire—everything was burning and all the animals were scared and didn't know what they could do. A hummingbird, though, went to a lake and got a drop of water. It flew to the fire and dropped the water there, and it kept on going back again. The other animals kept on telling the hummingbird that it was wasting its time, telling it there was no way a little water was going to make a difference. The hummingbird replied, “I'm doing the best I can.”

—Modern ecological parable1

The hummingbird did its best in the face of many challenges and adversity, and nothing could stop it.

While it would have been ideal for the hummingbird to organize all the animals to join it in fighting the fire, always encouraging the use of that kind of strategy is not the main point of the story or this book. This book is primarily designed to help secondary‐level ELL teachers do the best they can in their classrooms (though it does also include a chapter on how to help mainstream educators make their content more accessible to English language learners, too). In addition, the majority of approaches and strategies we discuss can be easily modified for younger ELLs.

This book is primarily written by two committed and experienced educators who have a rich family life outside of school, plan on continuing to teach for years to come, and who are always interested in providing high‐quality education to their students without requiring enormous extra work for the teacher. In addition, nine—count ‘em, nine—other very experienced educators have contributed towards making this book nearly twice the size of the first edition!

It is not written by or for teachers who lack awareness of their own limitations and what is needed to stay in education for the long haul.

This book is a careful distillation of selected instructional strategies that have been used successfully by us for years in the classroom.

It is not a laundry list of every ELL teaching method that's been discussed in the literature.

In addition to providing a selective review of ELL teaching methods, this book shares highly regarded research supporting just about everything we suggest.

It is not just speaking from our experience and what we think is good. This book shares numerous specific suggestions about how ELL teachers can use technology to bring a value‐added benefit to their language‐learning students.

It is not a treatise on how educational technology is the “magic bullet” that is always (or even often) superior to nontech strategies.

This book recognizes that teachers need to deal with standards (we discuss both Common Core and The Next Generation Science Standards), textbooks, and standardized tests. This book also recognizes that not everything always goes according to plan, and includes a lengthy chapter on how to deal with potential problems. This book understands the realities of what work in the classroom world actually is like.

It does not offer a pie‐in‐the‐sky view assuming we operate in an ideal classroom world all the time.

This book emphasizes the importance of learners being co‐creators of their education.

It does not encourage the teacher being the “sage on stage.”

The point of this book is not to claim it is the be‐all and end‐all for ELL teacher professional development. We strongly encourage teachers and their schools to develop ongoing mentor relationships with experienced educator organizations, and we recommend three of them in the Afterword.

This book does not promote the idea that any teacher is an island and only needs a few books and informal professional relationships to reach his full potential.

We hope that you can gain from the second edition of this guide at least as much as we learned from writing it.

Bonus Web Content

The last five chapters are “web‐only” and available without any registration required. These include the original chapters on teaching Science and Math that appeared in the first edition. This second edition contains entirely new chapters, but we still believe the original ones can be very helpful to teachers of ELLs. Two of the chapters relate to teaching internationally. We thought that putting them online would increase their accessibility to teachers outside of the United States. The final chapter is about distance learning, and Wiley graciously allowed us to put it freely online in the middle of the COVID‐19 pandemic (though, we have made some minor changes since then). Numerous Tech Tools supporting the lessons and instructional strategies that we discuss are highlighted throughout this book. In addition, we have a lengthy web page listing links to all the tools we cite, as well as to many others that we did not have space to include. All Exhibits (primarily student handouts) in the book can also be downloaded. Readers can access these resources by going to www.wiley.com/go/eslsurvivalguide2.

Note

1. The story of the hummingbird and the forest fire is from the book

Flight of the Hummingbird: A Parable for the Environment

by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, published in 2008.

PART ONEGetting Started with English Language Learners

CHAPTER ONEELL Instruction: The Big Picture

Long ago a wise, old teacher lived in a village near a range of mountains. Climbing the highest of these mountains was considered an important accomplishment, and all the young boys of the village couldn't wait until they were old enough to make the climb on their own.

One night, the wise teacher gathered a group of boys together and said to them, “You have reached the age to take on the challenge. Tomorrow you may all go and climb that mountain with my blessings. Go as far as you can, and when you are tired, turn around and come home. Remember to bring back a twig from the place where you turned around.”

The next morning, the boys began the long‐awaited climb. A few hours later, one of the boys returned with a piece of buckthorn. The teacher smiled and said, “I can see you made it to the first rockslide. Wonderful!” Later in the afternoon, another boy arrived with a cedar frond. “You made it halfway up! Well done!” remarked the teacher. An hour later another boy returned with a branch of pine, and the teacher said, “Good job. It looks like you made it three‐quarters of the way. If you keep trying, next year you will surely reach the top!”

As the sun began to set, the teacher began to worry about the last boy, who still had not returned. Just when the teacher was about to send out a search party, the boy finally returned. He ran to the teacher and held out his hand. His hand was empty, but his eyes sparkled with happiness as he said, “Teacher, there were no trees where I turned around. I saw no twigs, no living things at the very top of the peak, and far away I could see the majestic sun shining off the sea.”

The teacher's eyes also sparkled with joy as he proclaimed, “I knew it! When I looked in your eyes I could see that you made it! You have been to the top! It shines in your eyes and sings in your voice! My son, you do not need twigs or branches as prizes of your victory. You have felt the prize in your spirit because you have seen the wonder of the mountain!”1

This tale describes the satisfaction and joy felt by the boy who reached the mountain's peak and witnessed the compelling view from the top. He didn't return with any physical “prizes” but instead carried the treasures of his journey within himself. The next time he climbs the mountain, he will be motivated from within, not because there are tokens or prizes to be collected.

As educators, we hope all of our students will “see the view from the peak” and will feel compelled to take on many more journeys as they learn and grow. Researcher Stephen Krashen explains how “compelling input” relates to language learning: Compelling means that the input is so interesting you forget that it is in another language. It means you are in a state of “flow.”2 In flow, the concerns of everyday life and even the sense of self disappear—our sense of time is altered and nothing but the activity itself seems to matter.3

This idea will be reflected throughout this book as we identify and describe research‐based instructional strategies and approaches that “compel” students to want to learn English. Compelling input can help students “reach the peak” of acquiring language without seeking external rewards. However, it is ultimately important for students to come to their own conclusions about the value of “reaching the peak.” Once students see the value of language learning and become intrinsically motivated to learn English, they will take the risk and climb that mountain over and over again. Sometimes they will need encouragement and support from us, especially when the peak is obscured by clouds along the way.

This book contains strategies and tools for teachers of English Language Learners to act as guides on this trek up the mountain. We hope it will help you feel prepared and excited about this journey. We know that everyone's trail will be different, and we hope this “survival guide” will serve as a compass rather than a direct map.

In the following subsections we will lay out a big picture of ELL instruction, including statistics on the English language learner population, research on language development, and several ELL instructional best practices. Later chapters will go into more detail on how to implement these big picture research findings and practices in your own classroom.

ELL Population Growth

It is hard to find a school district in this country that doesn't have an English Language Learner population. For teachers in states like Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington, it is sometimes hard to find a school or even a classroom without any English language learners. ELL enrollment in K‐12 schools increased 28 percent between the 2000–2001 school year and the 2016–2017 school year.4 In fact, the US Department of Education estimates that approximately five million English language learners are enrolled in public schools across the country—roughly 10 percent of all students enrolled in K–12 schools in the United States.5

While English learners in this country come from over 400 different language backgrounds, the majority (around 75 percent) of English Language Learners are Spanish speakers.6 Arabic and Chinese are the second most common home languages spoken among ELLs (accounting for 2.7 percent and 2 percent, respectively, of the ELL population).7 English is the fourth most common home language (spoken by about 2 percent of ELLs) and may reflect students raised in multilingual households as well as students adopted from other countries who were raised speaking a different language but who now live in an English‐speaking household.8

US school districts in more urban areas have higher percentages of ELL students. ELLs make up 14 percent of students in city school districts, compared with just 4 percent in rural districts. Suburban districts and towns fall in the middle with ELLs making up 9 percent and 6 percent of total public school enrollees.9

In general, most ELLs are in the elementary school grades. In 2018, 15.1 percent of kindergarteners were ELL students, 8.9 percent of 6th‐graders and 7.4 percent of 8th‐graders were ELLs. Only 5.1 percent of 12th graders were ELL students. It is believed this pattern reflects, in part, students who were identified as ELLs when they entered elementary school but gained enough English Language Proficiency by the upper grades to be reclassified as proficient.10 However, the majority of public school districts in the United States do have English Language Learners in their high schools. In fact, 62 percent of public high schools have at least some number of ELLs enrolled with around 800,000 high school ELL students nationwide.11

How Are English Language Learners Described?

ELLs are a diverse, dynamic group, which is evident in the variety of terms used to describe them. Here are several of the most common:

ELL, or English Language Learner.

ELL (or EL)

is the most common term currently used in the United States to describe students who are in various stages of acquiring English and who require different levels of language support and development in order to become fully proficient in English.

Emergent Bilingual.

The term emergent bilingual, coined and popularized by Dr. Ofelia García, focuses on “an asset‐based view of the capabilities of emergent bilingual students, who are simultaneously acquiring a new set of linguistic capabilities in school and building on the valuable knowledge of their first language.”

12

EMLL, or Emergent Multilingual Learner.

EMLL, or Multilingual Learner (MLL)

, further expands the term

emergent bilingual

to highlight students as speakers of multiple languages with many linguistic resources upon which they can build.

13

DLL, or Dual language learner.

A DLL is a child between the ages of zero and eight and who is in the process of learning English in addition to their home language(s) or who is learning two or more languages at the same time. DLLs may or may not be considered English language learners by their schools, depending on their performance on English language proficiency assessments.

14

LEP, or limited English proficiency.

LEP

was used for many years by the US Department of Education for ELLs who had not yet demonstrated proficiency in English, according to state standards and assessments. When referring to students, the term LEP has been replaced by the term English Learner (EL) or ELL. However, when referring to parents of ELLs, the Department of Education still refers to them as LEP (Limited English Proficient) parents.

15

ESL, or English as a Second Language.

The term

ESL

was formerly used as a designation for ELL students, but is more commonly used as a general term for a program of instruction (e.g., the study of English in an English‐speaking country) or a field of study.

16

ESL is sometimes still used at the postsecondary level to refer to multilingual students.

ELD, or English language development.

ELD

is often used to describe instruction and programs for ELL students that focus on specifically developing English language proficiency in the domains of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. ELD differs from

Sheltered Instruction

where instruction in a content area is being “adjusted” or scaffolded in order to help students learn content skills and knowledge while also supporting the learning of English. To put it simply, ELD instruction is mainly focused on developing proficiency in English, while Sheltered Instruction focuses on academic success in the content areas.

17

TESOL, or Teaching English to speakers of other languages.

TESOL

is widely used to describe both TESL (teaching English as a Second Language) and TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language). In general, TESL tends to emphasize the needs of English language learners living in English‐speaking countries who will need to use English in their daily lives, while TEFL involves teaching English as a foreign language in countries where English is not widely used.

18

Many educators and researchers, including the authors of this book, prefer the term ELL because it emphasizes that students are active learners of English, as opposed to being limited or deficient in some way.

Adolescent English Language Learners

Adolescent ELL students are a fast‐growing population and come from a variety of cultural, linguistic, and educational backgrounds.

Newcomer or refugee students represent a smaller, but highly vulnerable section of the adolescent English learner population. While it is difficult to know exactly how many newly arrived immigrant learners enroll in secondary schools each year, data suggests in 2015 around 42 percent of ELLs in US schools grades 6–12 were foreign‐born.19 More recently, there has been a sharp rise in unaccompanied minors at the Southern border of the United States. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security projects there will be 117,000 unaccompanied child migrants crossing the border in 2021, a large number of whom are teenagers.20 In addition, increasing numbers of refugee students have been arriving from Afghanistan.

While some newcomer and refugee students come with high literacy skills and content knowledge, many arrive with limited or interrupted formal education and are described by researchers as Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE). A recent study found that 11.4 percent of foreign‐born 10th‐grade students have experienced school interruptions upon arrival in the United States.21 SLIFE students face huge challenges as they enter US schools with limited educational experiences and lower levels of literacy in their home languages. Not only are they met with the academic demands of secondary school while adjusting to a new language and culture, but some are also dealing with poverty, the stresses of family separation and/or reunification, and trauma due to violence suffered in their home country or during migration.22 See Chapter Sixteen for a more detailed discussion on working with this group of students.

A larger group of secondary ELL students have been described by researchers as Long‐Term English Language Learners, or LTELLs. These are ELL students who have attended school for six years or more but who continue to require language support services. The population of LTELLs in US schools has been steadily increasing and has been estimated to represent one quarter to one half of the total ELL population.23 In California, the number of LTELLs grew from 62 percent of all secondary school ELLs in 2008 to 82 percent in 2016.24 Typically, these students have high levels of oral English proficiency, but may lack the academic language and literacy skills needed to master subject matter. Many are “stuck” at the intermediate level of proficiency and face disproportionately high drop‐out rates.25 Many of these students may not have received targeted language development, may have been placed with teachers lacking the professional development needed to meet specific language needs, and may have lived in particularly challenging socioeconomic conditions, including poverty.26 See Chapter Eleven for more research and resources on LTELLs.

With such diversity among adolescent ELLs, it is important for teachers to learn as much as possible about their students and to have knowledge of strategies that directly address the needs of these students. Chapter Two contains ideas for getting to know students and for building relationships of trust with students and their families. It also outlines important resources for working with adolescent ELLs and gives ideas for establishing classroom routines that promote a positive learning environment. Chapters Three and Four present instructional strategies designed for newcomer and beginning students, and Chapters Five and Six offer numerous strategies designed for intermediate‐level learners, including long‐term ELLs.

While adolescent learners enter our classrooms with diverse needs and challenges, it is important to remember that they also possess creative minds capable of processing higher‐order thinking and learning. The general public may often have the impression that language learning is easiest for young children and becomes harder and harder with age. However, recent research has shown that teens can learn a language as quickly as young children. One study found that the optimal window for language learning could be open a decade longer than previously thought—until the age of 17! 27

A Primer on ELL Research

The following subsections present basic descriptions of research and concepts that are foundational components of ELL instruction. While this is not a comprehensive summary of all the research on language development, it is an introduction to several key concepts that are highly important for teachers of ELLs and can serve as launching points for further study.

L1 AND L2

Researchers and educators commonly use the term L1 to refer to a student's home language (also called first language, native language, or heritage language) and L2 to refer to the language a student is acquiring in addition to their home language, which in the United States is English. Children exposed to their first and second languages at the same time (usually prior to age three) are referred to as simultaneous bilinguals. Individuals who develop their second language after their first are known as sequential bilinguals. In general, if a child is exposed to their second language after the age of three, then they will become a sequential bilingual.28

The next subsection, on ELL best practices, will discuss the important link between L1 and L2 in language learning.

BICS AND CALP

Jim Cummins, a professor at the University of Toronto, first introduced the distinction between BICS (basic interpersonal communicative skills) and CALP (cognitive academic language proficiency).29 His research has had a major impact on policy and practices in second language education. Figure 1.1 summarizes Cummins's distinctions.

More recent research has extended CALP to include the following three dimensions of academic English: linguistic (knowledge of word forms, functions, grammatical elements, and discourse patterns used in academic settings), cognitive (higher‐order thinking involved in academic settings), and sociocultural‐psychological (knowledge of social practices involved in academic settings).30

Instruction based on CALP is still widely accepted as best practice,31 as many researchers agree upon the need to focus on academic language proficiency in order for ELLs to succeed in school.

ACQUISITION VERSUS LEARNING

Most researchers acknowledge a distinction between language acquisition and language learning. A simple explanation of the difference is that acquisition involves being able to easily use the language to communicate, while language learning might place more emphasis on filling out grammar worksheets correctly. This does not mean, however, that the two are mutually exclusive.

BICS

CALP

Listening and speaking skills that are acquired quickly in a new language in order to communicate in social situations

Usually acquired within the first couple of years

Context‐embedded (meaning is accomplished with the assistance of contextual cues such as pictures, body language or intonation)

Example: Asking someone for directions or talking with friends on the soccer field

The academic language and more cognitively demanding skills required for academic success

Often takes longer to develop, between five and seven years, or longer for students with less proficiency in their home language

Context‐reduced (meaning must be constructed without the benefit of contextual cues and literacy demands are high)

Example: Responding to an essay prompt or summarizing a chapter in a textbook

Figure 1.1. BICS and CALP

From L. Ferlazzo and K. H. Sypnieski, Navigating the Common Core with English Language Learners (San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass, 2016), p. 6.

This distinction has led to much debate over the place of explicit grammar study in language development. Some linguists have argued for a more communicative approach, where the focus is on the message versus the form and fosters language acquisition, while others believe students need direct instruction in grammatical forms of the target language.32

Recent research has proposed a more balanced approach—that second language instruction can provide a combination of both explicit teaching focused on features of the second language such as grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, and implicit learning stemming from meaningful communication in the second language.33 We agree that the best language instruction uses meaningful input and contexts to help students develop their English skills, but we also feel that teaching language features in context is also necessary for students to develop proficiency. Specific strategies for how to employ this kind of balanced approach in the classroom will be described in later chapters.

STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

While it is important to note that ELL students come with different cultural and educational experiences that can affect their language development, researchers, beginning with Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell,34 have generally agreed on the following five stages of second language acquisition:

Preproduction.

This phase is also called the “Silent or Receptive Stage” and is when the student is “taking in” the target language. The student may spend time learning vocabulary and may or may not practice pronouncing new words. The length of this phase is dependent on each individual learner and can last several hours or several months.

Early Production.

In this phase, which may last about six months, the student begins to try speaking using words and short phrases, even though they may not be grammatically correct. A big focus is still on listening and absorbing the new language.

Speech Emergence or Production.

By this stage, learners have typically acquired a few thousand words. Words and sentences are longer, but the student still relies heavily on context clues and familiar topics. This is an important stage where learners are developing greater comprehension and begin reading and writing in the new language.

Intermediate Fluency.

In this stage, learners begin to communicate in complex sentences in speaking and writing. Learners also begin thinking in their second language which results in even more proficiency gains.

Advanced Fluency/Continued Language Development.

As students reach advanced fluency they are able to communicate fluently and can maneuver successfully in new contexts and when exposed to new academic information. Learners need ongoing opportunities to further improve their accuracy and to maintain their fluency.

It is important to remember that not all students' experiences fall neatly into these categories, and that prior educational experiences, and literacy in their L1 can have a great impact on students' language acquisition processes. Researchers believe oral proficiency can take three to five years to develop and academic English proficiency can take four to seven years, or even longer for students with less proficiency in their first language.35

Knowing students' proficiency levels can help teachers differentiate their instruction and address the language needs of each student. For example, when working with students in preproduction and early production stages, it can be useful to ask yes‐or‐no questions. Students at the speech emergent level could be asked questions that require fairly short, literal answers, and students at the intermediate fluency stage could be asked if they agree or disagree with a statement and why.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY LEVELS

As described earlier, research has found that ELLs progress through several stages of language acquisition. These stages have traditionally been divided into five levels of English proficiency: Beginning, Early Intermediate, Intermediate, Early Advanced, and Advanced. Some states and organizations (like WIDA and ELPA21 which are consortiums comprised of states, territories and/or federal agencies) have developed their own terminology for these progressions. See Figure 1.2 for a chart illustrating how these different proficiency level labels correspond. Also, see the first chapter in our book Navigating the Common Core with English Language Learners36 for an in‐depth discussion on the various English Language Proficiency (ELP) Standards and ELP Assessments used nationwide.

Researchers have also discovered that students generally progress much more quickly from beginning to intermediate level (often taking two to three years) than from intermediate to advanced (often taking four or more years).37 This is likely because the lower levels of proficiency require simpler vocabulary and sentence patterns and involve language situations that are highly contextualized (familiar, recurrent, and supported by nonlinguistic clues such as gestures and intonation). Full proficiency, on the other hand, means students must have command of more complex sentence structures and vocabulary. They must have the academic English to function well in less contextualized situations (for example, a classroom discussion or a prompted essay), where they must clearly communicate their ideas on higher‐level, more abstract concepts.

Traditional Labels

Beginning

Early Intermediate

Intermediate

Early Advanced

Advanced

Proficient

WIDA

Entering

Emerging

Developing

Expanding

Bridging

Reaching

ELPA21

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Proficient

California

Emerging

→

Expanding

→

Bridging

Proficient/ Life Long Language Learning

New York

Entering

Emerging

Transitioning

Expanding

→

Commanding

Texas

Beginning

Intermediate

Advanced

→

Advanced High

→

Figure 1.2. English Proficiency Level “Labels”

Modified from L. Ferlazzo and K. H. Sypnieski, Navigating the Common Core with English Language Learners (San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass, 2016), p. 7.

This research directly contradicts the argument that students who are immersed in all‐English instruction will quickly become fluent, and it challenges the policies previously proposed and implemented in some states requiring students to move into mainstream classes after just one year of school.38

Of course, students' language acquisition often doesn't progress in a linear fashion within and across these proficiency levels. Students can demonstrate higher levels of proficiency in one domain versus another (e.g., speaking versus writing) and may even demonstrate different levels of proficiency within a domain, depending on the task.

It is also important to remember that a label of “Level 1” or “Beginner” doesn't identify the student's academic or social skills or potential, instead it only identifies what a student knows and can do at their current stage of English Language Development.

A Quick Tour of ELL Best Practices

The following are a few basic best practices in ELL instruction that will guide the strategies and activities presented in the following chapters. We have found that consistently using these practices makes our lessons more efficient and effective. We also feel it is important to include a few “worst” practices we have witnessed over the years in the hopes that they will not be repeated! The best practices outlined below, as well as others, will be explained in greater detail in subsequent chapters.

MODELING

Do

model for students what they are expected to do or produce, especially for new skills or activities, by explaining and demonstrating the learning actions, sharing your thinking processes aloud and showing samples of good teacher and student work. Modeling (or demonstrating) is one way for teachers to provide students with “critical input” in order to help students process content more “deeply and comprehensively.”

39

Effective modeling should make the expectations of a task clear (without providing the “answer”) and remain available for student access throughout the activity.

40

Teacher modeling can take a variety of forms including providing sentence starters or frames to support discussion and writing tasks, completing the first example in a set of questions/problems, or demonstrating a learning process step‐by‐step while “thinking aloud” about what the teacher is doing and why.

Don't

just tell students what to do and expect them to do it.

RATE OF SPEECH AND WAIT TIME

Do

speak slowly and clearly and provide students with enough time to formulate their responses, whether in speaking or in writing. Remember—they are thinking and producing in two or more languages! After asking a question, wait for a few seconds before calling on someone to respond. This wait time provides all students with an opportunity to think and process, and gives ELLs an especially needed period to formulate a response.

41

Research shows incorporating three to five seconds of wait time increases student participation, improves the quality of student responses, and develops learning while boosting confidence.

42

In addition, providing a few seconds of wait time

after

a student responds and the teacher has acknowledged this response can allow for further elaboration from the student. This additional wait time also gives the rest of the students time to consider the responses and to formulate their own.

Don't

speak too fast, and if a student tells you they didn't understand what you said, never, ever repeat the same thing in a louder voice!

USE OF NONLINGUISTIC CUES

Do

use visuals (such as pictures), sketches, gestures, intonation, and other nonverbal cues to make both language and content more accessible to students. Teaching with visual representations of concepts can be hugely helpful to ELLs.

43

Specific suggestions are included throughout this book.

Don't

stand in front of the class and lecture or rely on a textbook as your only visual aid.

GIVING INSTRUCTIONS

Do

give verbal

and

written instructions—this practice can help all learners, especially ELLs. In addition, it is far easier for a teacher to point to the board in response to the inevitable repeated question, “What are we supposed to do?”

44

Don't

act surprised if students are lost when you haven't clearly written and explained step‐by‐step directions.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

Do

regularly check that students are understanding the lesson. After an explanation or lesson, a teacher could say, “Please put thumbs up, thumbs down, or sideways to let me know if this is clear,

and it's perfectly fine if you don't understand or are unsure—I just need to know

.” This last phrase is essential if you want students to respond honestly.

Teachers can also have students write answers to specific comprehension questions on a sticky note that they place on their desks or on mini‐whiteboards. The teacher can then quickly circulate to check responses.

When teachers regularly check for understanding in the classroom, students become increasingly aware of monitoring their own understanding, which serves as a model of good study skills. It also helps ensure that students are learning, thinking, understanding, comprehending, and processing at high levels.45

Don't

simply ask “Are there any questions?” This is not an effective way to gauge what all your students are thinking. Waiting until the end of class to see what people write in their learning log is not going to provide timely feedback. Also, don't assume that students are understanding because they are smiling and nodding their heads—sometimes they are just being polite!

ENCOURAGE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME LANGUAGE

Do

encourage students to use their home language (L1) to support learning in your classroom. Research has found that learning to read in a home language can transfer to increased English acquisition. These transfers may include phonological awareness, comprehension skills, and background knowledge.

46

Identify the home languages of your ELLs, make sure you have the appropriate bilingual dictionaries in your classroom, and allow students to access their smartphones to use for translation. Remember that validating students' home languages and encouraging them to continue reading and writing in their L1 has been identified as a best practice.47

While the research on transfer of L1 skills to L2 cannot be denied, it doesn't mean that we should not encourage the use of English in class and outside of the classroom. For ideas on how to balance the use of L1 and L2 in the classroom, see Chapter Seventeen.

Don't

“ban” students from using their home language in the classroom. Forbidding students from using their home languages does not promote a positive learning environment where they feel safe to take risks and make mistakes. This practice can be harmful to the relationships between teachers and students, especially if teachers act more like language police than language coaches.

PROVIDE GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS AND LANGUAGE FRAMES

Do

provide students with graphic organizers to help them organize their learning, make connections between new and prior knowledge, support demanding cognitive and linguistic tasks, and to promote active learning and engagement. Give students practice with a variety of organizers, ask them to reflect on which ones are more effective and why, and then encourage them to create their own.

Support student thinking, writing, and speaking by providing sentence stems, frames, and writing structures. These types of scaffolds can help ELLs build their language skills by providing a “push” to get started, reducing students' stress levels, and serving as models of the language features students are learning. See Chapter Five for information on Graphic Organizers, Writing Frames and Writing Structures.

Don't

“hand out” graphic organizers without any instruction or modeling of how to use them and then expect them to be effective. Don't think of these kinds of scaffolds as a form of cheating! Scaffolds are meant to be temporary, but serve as a critical support in building students' English proficiency.

RECOGNIZE THE ASSETS ELLS POSSESS

Do

remember the many assets that ELL students bring with them every day to your classroom, the school, and the community! The presence of immigrant students in a school has been shown to increase achievement for

all

students.

48

Don't

look at ELLs through a lens of deficits. Recognize and build upon what students

can do

and honor the resilience, perseverance, and many other powerful qualities demonstrated by these students and their families.

We hope you will keep this big picture of ELL demographics, research, and best practices in mind as you explore the rest of this book and as you teach in your classroom.

Additional resources, including ones on current ELL research and instructional strategies, can be found on our book's web site at www.wiley.com/go/eslsurvivalguide2.

Notes

1.

    “Legend of the Mountain” is an inspirational story used in the Boy Scouts; see the US Scouting Service website:

http://usscouts.org/usscouts/smminute/legend2.asp

.

2.

    Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990).

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

(New York: Harper Perennial).

3.

    Krashen, S. (2011).

The Compelling (Not Just Interesting) Input Hypothesis

. Retrieved from

http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/the_compelling_input_hypothesis.pdf

4.

    US Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition,

English Learners: Demographic Trends

, February 2020. Retrieved from

https://ncela.ed.gov/files/fast_facts/19-0193_Del4.4_ELDemographicTrends_021220_508.pdf

5.

    National Center for Education Statistics,

English Language Learners in Public Schools

, May 2021. Retrieved from

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgf

6.

    US Department of Education,

Our Nation's English Learners: What are Their Characteristics?

n.d. Retrieved from

https://www2.ed.gov/datastory/el-characteristics/index.html#intro

.

7.

    Bialik, K., Scheller, A. and Walker, K. (2018).

6 Facts About English Learners in U.S. Public Schools

. Pew Research Center, October 25. Retrieved from

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/25/6-facts-about-english-language-learners-in-u-s-public-schools/

.