More than Good Teaching: Explicit
Language Instruction for ELLs in
Mainstream Classrooms
Webinar: Kathy Salmon
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#1
Intake
#4
Explicit
Language
Strategies
ESL
Series
#3
Differentiation
#2
Language
Acquisition
Session Overview
Review
Getting Ready to Teach
Strategies
1. Graphic Organizers
2. Vocabulary
3. Grammar
4. Syntax
5. Anchor Charts
6. Technology
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
• is the difference between what a
child can do on their own and what
they can do with assistance.
•It includes all things that a child can
do only with the help of a moreknowledgeable other.
•It is a scaffolding process, where
supports are provided by a parent,
teacher, or peer who has already has
mastery of the task.
http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/constructivism.htm
Comprehensible Input Hypothesis
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The learner learn
language he can
understand by connecting
it to known concepts and
prior knowledge.
Language that is not
understood is just “L2
noise”
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html
http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/rw/krashenbk.htm
Comprehensible Input + 1 (CI +1)
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Input must be
comprehensible and also
needs to be one level of
linguistic complexity
beyond the learner’s level
to develop L2 proficiency.
CI + 1
CI + 10
Getting Ready to Teach:
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Write down the things that you think you should
know prior to planning a lesson:
Getting Ready to Teach
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Know the curriculum
Be aware of resources (text, digital, assistive, etc.)
Be aware of materials
Know human resources
Know the Learners
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Language Proficiency
Skills, Abilities, Preferences
Ask questions
Prepare to learn yourself!
Principles for Successful Instruction
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Identify student abilities: Start with what the
student can do… and build… and practice…
Narrow the focus (every journey starts with a
single step)
Modify or differentiate opportunities to learn
and demonstrate understanding of outcome.
Select the strategy that aligns to the outcome and
the student’s abilities
Bridging to Building
Curriculum
Instruction
Language
Intentional
Building
Student
Graphic Organizers:
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We often use graphic organizers to help ESL students
organize information for understanding. However:
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We often don’t recognize the language that the graphic
organizer itself requires for using it:
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Structure, language, concept
We need to teach the language of the Graphic
Organizer too!
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Label the parts
Model the language
Making Graphic Organizers Work!
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Each graphic organizer has specific linguistic
structures
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i.e.Venn Diagram
Language – comparative and superlative, same and
different
 Concept – same and different
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Sequence Chart
Language – first, second, next, finally, etc.
 Concept - order
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Graphic Organizer Functions
Match Thinking Skill with Graphic Organizer
Cause and Effect = Fish Bone
 Classifying = Web
 Sequencing = Time Line
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WEB
Implications for using graphic organizers
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What is the purpose of the organizer?
Identify the organizer that best matches the purpose
to the content and/or activity OR make your own
Prepare to teach a mini-lesson on the language of the
graphic organizer while demonstrating how to use it
Post in classroom
Graphic Organizers
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Label the graphic organizer
Teach the language required to use the graphic organizer
Demonstrate it’s use
Prepare to provide support for the student to complete
it, use it for further tasks and share it.
Graphic Organizer Practice
Topic
Grade 5 Social Studies. 5.1 Physical Geography of Canada:
 • What are the major geographical regions, landforms and bodies of water in
Canada? (LPP)
 • How do landforms, bodies of water and natural resources affect the quality of life
in Canada? (LPP)
 • What are the differences and similarities among the geographical regions of
Canada? (LPP)
 • How is the geographical region they live in different from other regions of
Canada? (LPP)
 • What are the factors that determine climate in the diverse geographical regions of
Canada (e.g., latitude, water, mountains)? (LPP)
• 5.1.3 analyze how people in Canada interact with the environment by
exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:
 • In what ways do natural resources and the physical geography of a region
determine the establishment of communities? (ER, LPP)
Grade 5 Social Studies, ©Alberta Education, Alberta, Canada (2007)
Explicit Language Instruction
Vocabulary
Grammar
Syntax
Explicit Language Instruction
Select
key
language
Teach in
context
Practice
in context
Select Key Language (Subject Specific)
Location
Regions of
Canada
• Provinces and
Territories
• N, S, E, W
Landforms
Bodies of
Water
•
•
•
•
Mountain
Plain
Lowlands
Shield
• Ocean
• Rivers
• Lakes
Learner Profiles
GRADES 4-6 Summary of Vocabulary Statements
Level 1: Beginning
 Understands and uses basic words in simple sentences.
Level 2: Developing
 Understands and uses more familiar, descriptive and some academic
words in simple sentences.
Level 3: Expanding
 Understands and uses some descriptive and academic
words in longer detailed sentences.
Level 4: Bridging
 Understands and uses more descriptive and academic words in
complex sentences.
Level 5: Expanding
 Understands and uses a range of synonyms, antonyms, adjectives and
adverbs in a variety of sentence structures.
Vocabulary Teaching Strategies
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Identify vocabulary that relates to task
Match target vocabulary for ELP
Provide explicit instruction
Provide practice in context
Provide support, scaffolds to complete task.
Select Key Language
ELP
Outcomes
Level
Canada
Land-forms
Bodies of
Water
1/2
Identification of
Canada and basic
geographic regions
Province names
and Location
Mountains
Plateaus
Hillls
Valley
Plains
Lake
River
Ocean
Bay
3
Identification of all
geographic regions.
(Compare 2)
-review of
provinces
-Names of
regions
-Location words
Western Cordillera
Interior Plains
Great Lakes
Canadian Shield
Arctic Lowlands
Arctic Ocean,
Hudson’s Bay,
Flows, direction,
etc.
4/5
What are similarities
and differences
between geographic
regions? (Compare all)
-Names of
Regions
-descriptive
language
-comparison
language
Bog, Marsh, Fen
Undulating,
Rolling, Terraced,
Ridged, Level, Steep
Description of
water, role of
water in region,
role of water for
habitation etc.
Some Types of Vocabulary?
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Subject specific - the words related to curriculum topics (These might also be in
context defined.)
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Context-defined - multiple meanings - transferable words across subjects i.e., “role”,
noun clusters; i.e., ”global warming”
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Academic Words – the language of thinking processes required to do academic
tasks; i.e., “ compare”, “contrast”
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Connectors – words and phrases used to show the relationship of ideas; i.e.,
”whereas”, “the most important”
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Figurative Language –Words or phrases that go beyond literal meaning and require
contextual, social and/or cultural reference for understanding i.e., ”fork in the road”
K.Salmon, K. Shaw, J. Gilmour adapted from K. Salmon, C.Berndt
Identify the type of Vocabulary
•
Subject specific
•
Context-defined
•
Academic Words
•
•
Connectors
Figurative Language
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The Canadian Shield
stretches from Arctic to
Great Lakes and from the
Atlantic to the McKenzie
Delta. The soils are thin
which make it a poor choice
for agriculture in most
places. Locate it on the map
and describe it’s physical
features.
Vocabulary Strategies
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Activate Prior Knowledge
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Explicit Language Instruction
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Webs
Word Walls (with pictures)
Flash Cards
Realia (real object)
5 point model
Frayer Model
Matching, sorting, categorizing
Recycling
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Word searches
Crosswords
Odd Man Out
Pictionary, Hang Man, Concentration
Grammar
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Identify grammar that relates to task
Match target grammar for ELP
Provide explicit instruction
Provide practice in context
Provide support, scaffolds to complete task.
Grammar Practice
ELP Level Grammar 1
Grammar 2
1/2
Subject Verb Agreement
There is…
There are…
Plurals
s, ies, es etc.
3
Auxiliary Verb – Subject Verb
… is located near…
….are found by….
Prepositions of location
Beside, between, above, below, etc.
4/5
Verb choice
Find, found, located, has, have, had,
Comparative/superlative
-er, - est,
Grammar Strategies
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Teach
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Recognition: Find in text – circle, underline and highlight
Pick one: provide on sample correct and one incorrect, identify then
correct
Copy format: find existing practice sheet that targets grammar focus
but is on a different context and subsitute content
Dramatization (TPR, Total Physical Response)
Practice
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Underlining and colour coding writing (red verbs, circle adjectives
etc.)
Cloze (crosswords)
Verb Tense Charts
Student made poems, raps, mneumonics
Syntax – sentence structure
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Identify sentence structure that relates to task
Match target syntax for ELP
Provide explicit instruction
Provide practice in context
Provide support, scaffolds to complete task.
Syntax
ELP
Level
Syntax 1
Syntax 2
1/2
This is the province of __________.
There are __ provinces.
Alberta has mountains, plains, and
foothills.
3
Alberta has mountains, plains, and
foothills
The Cordillera is different than the
plains because they are mountains
and the plains are flat.
4/5
Alberta has rugged mountains, grassy
plains and undulating foothills.
The Cordillera is different than the
plains because they are steep
mountains and the plains are mostly
flat lands.
The interior plains are made of
sedimentary rock, mostly flat and good
for farming.
Made of sedimentary rock and mostly
flat, the interior plans are good for
farming.
The Canadian Shield is the same as
(similar to) the Interior Plains
because they are both mostly flat and
rocky.
Syntax Strategies
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Models
Sentence Frames
Cloze
QAC
Sentence Restructuring
Group Editing (morning message)
Anchor Charts
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Some really great teaching
and learning experiences
are lost with a swipe of an
eraser or the flick of a
switch.
Blackboards, whiteboards
and overheads are
valuable teaching tools but
once erased or not visible
the information and ideas
are just a memory
What are Anchor Chairts?
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Live generated record of the classroom
experiences
Teacher and/or student created
Consists of:
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Words, pictures, simple definitions
Concepts: connections, cycles, sequences, classifying etc.
Posted in classroom for reference or for building
cumulative lessons.
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Helps ESL: maintains “context “for references, recycles,
provides meaning
Anchor Charts – Pre-made
Anchor Charts – Student Made
Anchor Charts – Teacher Made
Anchor Chart Practice
Technology – Assistive Technology
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Reading Devices: Text to Speech (Word, online)
Writing Devices: Speech to text:
Translator Devices
Dictionary: paper, digital, web based
Thesaurus: paper, digital, web based
Technology - Websites
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Preview, Bookmark, Select to maximize student use
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Preview for:
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Readability: level of reading
Visuals: labeled visuals, language in captions
Ease of Use: easy to navigate, find things, voice over?
Website Practice
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We will look at two websites:
Which ESL Level would it be appropriate for?
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http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/cordgeo/index_e.php
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http://projects.cbe.ab.ca/ict/2learn/kdwajda/canada/studen
twork/cordillera.htm
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ATA Webinar and Print series:
Understanding ESL Learners
Distinguishing between
BICS and CALP:
ATA doc.
Meeting needs in
the classroom:
ATA doc.
E.L.L.STUDENT
Assessment:
ATA doc.
E.L.L. STUDENT
Teaching in the
content areas:
ATA doc.
Differentiating
Instruction:
ATA doc.
Graphic by Ray Campbell
http://www.teachers.ab.ca/Professional%20Development/Specialist%20Councils/Special%20Projects/Pages/Index.aspx
Wiki - Entry
http://erlcdpl.wikispaces.com/message/list/Understanding+Language+Acquisition
Type in one “aha” or question
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