unlocking english learners’ potential: academic language ... · staehr fenner & snyder, 2017,...

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@DStaehrFenner www.GetSupportEd.net @GetSupportEd.net

Unlocking English Learners’ Potential: Academic Language Workshop

Diane Staehr Fenner, Ph.D. TexTESOL IV

February 29, 2020

www.GetSupportEd.net 2

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Objectives

Describe 3 levels

of AL

Select academic

vocab

Discussstrategies

Applystrategies

3


Housekeeping Requests

4


1. Why you need this book to support ELs

2. Using a culturally responsive framework

3. Scaffolding instruction for ELs

4. Fostering ELs’ oral language development

5. Teaching academic language to ELs

6. Vocabulary instruction and ELs

7. Teaching ELs background knowledge

8. Scaffolded text-dependent questions

9. Formative assessment for ELs

Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017

Unlocking ELs’ Potential

5


bit.ly/UnlockingTXAL

(Case Sensitive)

Please use our Padlet to share your thoughts and any resources throughout the session.

Importance of Academic

Language for ELs

www.GetSupportEd.net 8Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017, p. 127. Adapted from NY State Testing Program, 2016.

Academic Language Discussion

Discuss what language in this math problem might

be difficult for your ELs.

Problem:

Addison wants to ride her scooter more than 100 miles this month.

She has already ridden her scooter 12 miles. Which inequality

could be used to determine the mean number of miles, m, she

would need to ride her scooter each day for 20 more days to

achieve her goal?

a) 20m + 12 < 100

b) 20m – 12 < 100

c) 20m + 12 > 100

d) 20m + 12 = 100


• In contrast to everyday informal speech

• More abstract, more complex, less contextualized

• Language of power

9Bailey, 2007, 2010, 2012; Scarcella, 2008

Academic Language: Definition

www.GetSupportEd.netStaehr Fenner, 2014; Adapted from: WIDA, 2012

Representation of Academic

Language

Selecting Academic Vocabulary

For Instruction


Select a small group of words

for in-depth focus. Words...

Baker, et. al, 2014

Selecting Academic Vocabulary for

Instruction

• Key to understanding the

text likely unfamiliar to

students

• Frequently used in the text

• Students will see across

disciplines (general

academic vocabulary)

• With multiple meanings

• With affixes


“The scientists put caterpillars on

leaves and used another machine

to make the leaves vibrate. When

the leaves shook the way a predator

would shake them, caterpillars behave as if a real predator were on

the leaf. They spun threads and

hung. When the leaves shook as if

the wind were blowing or rain were

falling, caterpillars did nothing.”

Haynes, E. 2017; Text: Hanging By a Thread, by Pochron, S.[Engage NY Grade 4 ELA Module 2B]

Vocabulary Identification

Circle an example

of a key word

Underline an

example of a

frequently used

word

Put a star next to a

general academic

word


The party leaders distributed a draft

of the bill and asked their colleagues

to review it carefully.

Haynes, E. 2017; Text: Hanging By a Thread, by Pochron, S.[Engage NY Grade 4 ELA Module 2B]

Vocabulary Identification (cont.)

Put a square

around a word with

multiple meanings

Draw an arrow to a

word with an affix

www.GetSupportEd.net 15Reading Rockets, http://www.readingrockets.org/article/classroom-vocabulary-assessment-content-areas

Self- Assessment Example

Teaching Academic Language

at the Word Level


• Look at the for strategies vocabulary instruction

in the Vocab Sort envelope.

• Sort them into 3 categories.

17

Supporting ELs’ Acquisition of

Academic Language at Word Level


Multifaceted Approach to

Vocabulary Instruction

Introduce

new vocabulary

Practice

new vocabulary

Teach

independent word

learning strategies

Adapted from Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017


• Visuals

• Gestures

• Student-friendly definitions

(wordsmyth.net)

• Student-created definitions

• Examples and non-

examples

• Seven-Step vocabulary

• Synonyms and antonyms

• Home language

Visual source: August, Golden, Pook, 2015

Introduce New Vocabulary


Speaking/Listening Reading/Writing Games

• Academic

discussions

• Information gap

• Interactive word wall

• Word sort

• Word experts

• Sentences or

paragraphs related

to content using

bank of vocabulary

• Glossaries

• Responding to text-

dependent

questions

• Memory

• Vocab Jeopardy!

• Vocab jigsaw

• Vocab bingo

• Heads Up

Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017

Practice New Vocabulary


1. Take your set of cards with vocabulary related to a particular content area. Don’t peek!

2. Select one person to be the “Guesser” and the others to be the “Clue Givers”

3. The Guesser places a card on his/her forehead (without looking), and the Clue Givers give clues about the academic meaning of the word.

Example: Heads Up Game


Topics:

• Math

• Ancient Egypt

• Water cycle

• Classroom objects*

• Possible scaffolds: partner to help, word bank, sentence stems

22*Good topic for newcomers

Heads Up Topics


• This word means…

• An example of this word is…

• A synonym for this word is ...

• An antonym of this word is...

• We use this word to talk about...

Heads Up Sentence Stems


• Context clues

• Word parts

• Cognates and false cognates

• Words with multiple meanings

24Baker, et al., 2014

Teach Independent Word

Learning Strategies

www.GetSupportEd.netAdapted from August, Staehr Fenner, & Snyder, 2014

Example: Context Clues

Unfamiliar Word Location Clues

litter Line 2 Lines 1, 7

Clues: picking up, junk, trash

Definition: pieces of waste paper and other objects scattered around

a place

1. Not many people would spend their free time picking up other

2. people’s litter. But Chad Pregracke has spent most of the past five

3. years doing just that along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Illinois Rivers.

4. Why?

5. Chad grew up in a house alongside the Mississippi. He loved to fish

6. and camp on the river’s wooded islands. That’s when he first noticed

7. the junk dotting its shoreline.


Verbs(Action)

Nouns(Person, Place,

Thing, or Idea)

Adjectives(Words to

Describe Nouns)

Adverbs(Words to

Describe

Actions)

act action ? actively

collect ? collective collectively

consider consideration considerable ?

Adapted from Baker, et al., 2014

Example: Teaching Word Parts


Cognates: sound and look

similar in both languages

and mean the same thing

27Adapted from August, Staehr Fenner, & Snyder, 2014

False Cognates: sound and

look similar in both

languages but mean

different things

Cognates False Cognates

planet = planeta billion ≠ un billón

Example: Teaching Cognates

1,000,0

00,000

1,000,0

00,000,0

00

www.GetSupportEd.net 28Adapted from Steinhardt, New York University, 2009

Example: Vocabulary With Multiple

Meanings

Vocabulary Meaning in Everyday

Use

Meaning in Math

and/or Science

mean to be unkind (adj.)to intend (v.)

an average

volume ? amount of space inside an object

gross ? total income from sales

mass having to do with a lot of people

?

29

Teaching Academic Language at the

Sentence and Discourse Level


Strategies for Supporting ELs at

the Sentence and Discourse Level

Strategy SentenceLevel

DiscourseLevel

1. Unpacking juicy sentences

2. Embedding grammar and specific aspects of language into

instruction

3. Analyzing sequencing in a text


• Consider this sentence:

“Since most owls feed upon a variety of animals, owl

abundance is not limited by the rise and fall in numbers of

any one prey species.”

• Divide the sentence into chunks.

• Then summarize each chunk in your own words.

31Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017, p. 132; adapted from Wong Fillmore & Fillmore, 2012 and California Department of Education, 2014

Text Source: Government of Alberta, 2009

1. Unpacking Juicy Sentences


“Since most owls feed upon a variety of animals, owl

abundance is not limited by the rise and fall in numbers of

any one prey species.”


Text Source: Government of Alberta, 2009

Unpacking Juicy Sentences

Activity

Chunk of Text Summary in My Own Words

Since most owls feed upon Because most owls eat

a variety of animals,

owl abundance

is not limited by

the rise and fall in numbers

of any one prey species.


• Select one sentence on a poster paper to “unpack”

the meaning with your colleagues.

• Break the sentence into chunks under the sentence.

• Summarize the chunk of text in your own words.

• Discuss how you might use this activity to support

ELs’ comprehension of complex text.


Unpacking Juicy Sentences

Activity (cont.)

Directions:


2. Embedding Grammar and

Specific Aspects of Language


• Read the sentence below.

Beginning in the 17th century, the Mississippi River

Valley was settled by French explorers who established scattered settlements throughout the

region.

• Discuss the challenges that ELs might have with the

grammar in the sentence.

• How might you support their understanding?

Mini-Lessons

Directions:


Thumbs up = active, Thumbs down = passive

• During the Boston Tea Party, the Sons of Liberty threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

(active)

• During the Boston Tea Party, 342 chests of tea were thrown into Boston Harbor.

(passive)

Challenges

• Not always clear who or what completed the action

• Unfamiliar and more complex verb construction

36

Mini-Lesson:

Passive Voice for ELs


Original Sentence

Who did the action?

What was the action?

Sentence Rewrite

The Mississippi River Valley was

settled by French explorers.

French explorers Settled the Mississippi River

Valley

French explorers settled the

Mississippi RiverValley.

In 1762 French Louisiana was

ceded to Spain by the French.

In 1801 a secret treaty was signed

by Spain to return the Louisiana

Territory to

France.

Mini-Lesson: Passive Voice


• Charades

• What would you say when…

• Mad Libs

• Bingo

• Adverb game

Scaffolds to support ELs: work in pairs, word banks, sentence stems/frames

Larson, 2015

Grammar Games and Activities


3. Analyzing Sequencing in a

Text

• Students put

sentence strips in

order to determine

proper order of a text.

• Provide first and last

sentence as scaffold

(if needed).

• Help students identify

clues.


• Determine the correct order of the six sentences.

• Note the clues that helped you figure out the correct order.

Text source: The Great Fire, Murphy, 2010

Analyzing Sequencing


1. Chicago in 1871 was a city ready to burn.

2. The city boasted having 59,500 buildings, many of them—such as the Courthouse and the Tribune Building—large and ornately decorated.

3. The trouble was that about two-thirds of all these structures were made entirely of wood.

4. Many of the remaining buildings (even the ones proclaimed to be “fireproof”) looked solid, but were actually jerrybuilt affairs; the stone or brick exteriors hid wooden frames and floors, all topped with highly flammable tar or shingle roofs.

5. It was also a common practice to disguise wood as another kind of building material.

6. The fancy exterior decorations on just about every building were carved from wood, then painted to look like stone or marble.

41

Possible Answers

Wrap Up


Objectives

Describe 3 levels

of AL

Select academic

vocab

Discussstrategies

Applystrategies

43


Join Our Community

Sign up on our website to continue collaboration with

EL experts and a community of EL advocates. We

regularly share free tools, resources, and webinars

to facilitate our ELs’ success and well-being. 44

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@[email protected]


Diane Staehr Fenner

[email protected]

Thank you!

unlocking english learners’ potential: academic language ... · staehr fenner & snyder, 2017,...

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