Enriching Classes for
ESOL Students
Meeting 2: Culture, Part A
Welcome!
Agenda
Mix and Match Warm-Up Activity
Speaking without Words
Surface and Deep Culture
Card Game
Cultural Vignettes Activity
Walking Review of Key Concepts
Quiz
Activity One
Mix-and-Match Warm-Up
Instructions
Take one card that has either the name
of a state or a capital city on it.
Roam around the room simply
exchanging cards with one another while
reintroducing yourself.
When “match” is called, find the state or
capital that goes with your card.
Mix-and-Match Discussion
How can this activity be used in your
classroom to reinforce basic concepts of
the subject(s) you teach?
How does it promote positive
interdependence and individual
accountability?
Activity Two
Speaking without Words
Instructions
Divide into two groups—Group A and B.
Cards will be distributed to each group.
Do not reveal your directions!
Find a partner from the other group and
interact based on the directions on your
card.
Speaking without Words Discussion
How did this activity make you feel?
What does it reveal about culture?
What were the rules of Group A?
What is “normal”?
Activity Three
Surface and Deep
Culture
Culture is Like an Iceberg
Language Holidays
Arts History Food Folklore
Communication Beliefs
Attitudes Values
Perceptions
Image by: Ralph Clevenger
Activity Four
Card Game
Image by: George Derville Rowlandson
Instructions
Choose a card and without looking at its face,
stick it on your forehead.
Walk around the room and interact with
others following the following rules:
Group 1: Cards 2, 3, 4, and 5 (if needed) –
You do not want to talk to these people, they
have nothing to offer you; you are
uncomfortable with them, and you try to get
away from them with as little interaction as
possible.
Group 2: Cards 7, 8, 9 – You moderately
enjoy talking to these people, but you
don’t go overboard. You talk to them
briefly and then move on.
Group 3: Cards Jack, Queen, King – You
really enjoy these people and seek
them out; you try to do things that will
encourage them to like you.
Ace: You would give anything if these
people would be your friends; you make
every effort to have them like you.
Card Game Discussion
Do NOT look at your card!
What group do you think you were in?
Why? (#1--Cards 2-5, #2--Cards 7-9,
#3--Face Cards, Aces)
How did Group 1 members feel? Group
2? Group 3? Aces?
What are the implications for teaching
and learning?
Language Acquisition for School
Source: Virginia Collier
Language
Development
Social and
Cultural
Processes
Cognitive
Development
Academic
Development
Activity Five
Cultural Vignettes
Culture and School Questions
What are some potential problems for ESOL
students who completely assimilate to the
dominant U.S. culture in terms of language,
dress, diet, etc.?
Why do some ESOL students act ashamed of
their original culture and claim they cannot
speak their native language?
What kinds of school experiences may
encourage ESOL students to reject their
original culture?
Instructions
Number off 1-5.
Read the corresponding vignette on S.G. p. 88.
Write a journal entry from the student’s point
of view.
Exchange your entry with someone with a
different vignette.
Respond as a caring teacher and return.
Share key points of vignettes and entries.
Interactive Journal Use Discussion
What are some limitations on using
journals?
What are some ways to cope with these
limitations on journal use?
What are interactive journals a good
format for language development?
Activity Six
Walking Review
Your quiz follows!
Instructions
Join fellow group members at the chart paper
with your assigned topic.
Discuss the topic and identify key points.
Write the key points on the chart.
Rotate clockwise and repeat the process with
the other topics.
Upon returning to your original topic, review
the comments and share key points with the
whole group.
Topics
1. Three Principles for Designing Effective Lessons
for Second Language Learners
2. Social Language (BICS) vs. Academic Language
Language (CALP)
3. Language Dimensions: High/Low Cognitive
Demand and High/Low Contextual Support
4. Krashen’s Five Hypotheses
5. Stages of Language Development
6. Cultural Assimilation, Acculturation, and
Pluralism
Activity Seven
Quiz and Review of Quiz
Answers
True-False
1. Teach the Text Backwards is a strategy that
culminates with a hands-on activity.
False
2. The Consent Decree established several new
educational rights for ESOL students.
False
3. There are similarities between first language
acquisition and second language acquisition, but
the differences outweigh the similarities
False
4. Lowering the affective filter means screening out
complex sentence structures used in
explanations.
False
5. Academic language is difficult because it tends to
have little contextual support and high levels of
cognitive demand.
True
6. The basic goal of the content teacher is to teach
important content concepts in comprehensible
English to ESOL students.
True
7. Social language is learned in about 2 years;
academic language takes longer, about 3-4 years.
False
8. Modeling correct English is a good way to respond
to grammatical errors.
True
9. ESOL students in the early production stage of
second language development should be given
language tasks that require one or two word
answers.
True
10. Many ESOL students benefit from support in their
home languages even when all of their classes
are in English.
True
11.Content teachers should simplify the working of
questions, while maintaining higher order thinking
skills.
True
12.Silent reading is a good way to start a content
lesson because it gives ESOL students a chance
to read more slowly.
False
13. People from different cultures often
misunderstand each other because they
unconsciously assume that behaviors mean the
same everywhere.
True
14.The social and cultural environment of the school
has a strong effect on ESOL students’ self-esteem
and motivation.
True
15.Bilingual aids should be instructed to speak only
English to ESOL students while working on
academic activities to speed the acquisition of
English.
False
Short Answers
1. List the Three Principles for designing effective
lessons for ESOL students in content classes.
Increase Comprehensibility, Increase
Interaction, and Increase Higher Order
Thinking Skills
2. Name three ways teachers can make their lessons
more comprehensible for ESOL students.
Hands-on activities; illustrations, pictures,
realia; gestures, body language, slower rate of
speech
3. Explain how Numbered Heads Together foster
positive interdependence and individual
accountability.
Numbered Heads Together fosters positive
interdependence because participants are asked
to put their “heads together” in order come up
with the correct answer. In other words,
participants are expected to rely on one another
to ensure that they have the right answer.
Individual accountability is fostered because
participants do not know whether or not they will
be called on. As such, participants make sure
they know the answer should they be called on.
4. Describe the difference between cultural
assimilation and cultural pluralism.
Cultural assimilation is a one-way process
whereby cultural pluralism is a two-way process.
Cultural assimilation implies that members of an
ethnic group give up their original culture and
become absorbed into the core culture. Cultural
pluralism, on the other hand, implies that when
two or more cultural groups come into contact,
both groups adopt certain cultural traits while
maintaining unique cultural characteristics.
5. Place the tasks in the appropriate quadrant.
Low Cognitive Demand
High Cognitive Demand
High
Context
I.
Art class
Music class
Face-to-face conversation
II.
AV-assisted content lessons
SS lesson with maps/photos
Science demonstration
Low
Context
III.
Grocery List on fridge
Social telephone
conversation
Spelling lists
IV.
Written directions for new task
Math word problems
SAT tests
Academic lessons without props