BME631

The mission of the College of Education at Northern Arizona University is to prepare education professionals to create the schools of tomorrow

Northern Arizona University
College of Education

BME 631
Structured English Immersion and Sheltered English Content Instruction

Fall 2004 - Course Packet and Syllabus
3 Credit Hours

Syllabus

Introduction to Course

Sample Papers

Web Links

General Information:

Semester: Fall ‘04
Credit hours: 3
Location: AC-280
Instructor: Dr. Natalie Hess
Office: NAU in Yuma—AC 231
Phone: (Office) 317-6407
           (Home) 783-4520
              (Cell)     246-9871
Office hours: M 12:00-7:00 p.m. or by appointment
FAX: 317-6419
E-mail: natalie.hess@nau.edu

Introduction to the Course

Please read the material below carefully

Welcome to this Content Based Methodology Class hosted on the Internet. This format has allowed us to expand our community of thoughtful and reflective educators. You will interact in an-on-line dialogue with peers in a cyber community. This is NOT a correspondence course, but an interactive graduate course in which you will be expected to communicate with your peers and with the instructor through 4-5 separate modules. These modules will require reading, research, planning and reflection on your part. Please use the course e-mail and not the instructors e-mail for the standard communication required of the course. However, the instructor would like to know how you are keeping up and whether the assignments in any way prove problematic to you. Should you need to communicate more regularly with the instructor outside of the assignments, please use the ordinary e-mail ( natalie.hess@nau.edu ) or the telephone number 928-317-6407. Any of you who are in Yuma can, of course, also drop in during my regular office hours (M,W, TH 12-4 p.m.) The written medium can sometimes be alienating. I don’t want this to happen in our course. THERE IS A HUMAN BEING HERE BEHIND ALL THE TECHNOLOGY! AT ALL TIMES, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMUNICATE. I want to hear from you. I want you to be successful in this course!!

Your work in this course consists of an introductory module, three graded modules for a B grade, and an additional graded module for those aspiring to an A grade. Please read through the requirements for all the modules BEFORE you get started on the first module. I strongly recommend that you plan your work-load carefully. You might very well decide to work on modules 4 and 5 at the same time as you do your reading for modules 2 and 3.

Below is the list of dates when your modules are due. Please put these dates on your personal calendar. You will also find them on the WEB-course calendar.

September 13th-Introductory Module posted on the discussion board.
September 20th-Introductory Module posted to the instructor.
September 27th -Module Two posted on the discussion board.
October 4th -Module Two posted to the instructor.
October 25th-Module Three posted on the discussion board.
November 1st-Module Three posted to the instructor.
November 15th-Module Four posted on the discussion board
November 22nd-Module Four posted to the instructor
December 6th-Module Five posted on the discussion board
December 13th Module Five posted to the instructor

In this course we will consider how language development is best structured to suit language learning through content-based instruction. We will concern ourselves with language development, content area instruction, and explicit instruction in learning strategies.

As you no doubt know, the number of children in our schools who do not know English is steadily growing. There are about 4.6 million ELL’s (English Language Learners) in the U.S. school system today. In Arizona, there are, according to the Arizona Department of Education’s latest figures, about 150,000 such students. These ELL students come from different home and cultural environments, and most of them are frightened and confused, but they all want to do well in their new settings. We certainly want them to do well both because we care for them as individuals, and also because we know that the future of our country depends on their success. Supporting new ELL student in settings where we teach classes of both ELLs and Native English Speakers seems particularly daunting. The ELL students need to learn English as quickly as possible so that they can function well in school both academically and socially. A language is never taught in a vacuum. There must always be “content.” We always talk, read, and write about something. In our case, through this course, the “something” will be school subject content. School subjects are, after all, the “something” that these student will need to cope with.

Since I don’t know the background you have brought to this course, I will begin by reviewing some basic ELL terminology and issues that you will later encounter in the reading of the course material. For some of you, this is just review. Nevertheless, I would appreciate your taking time to read through the material below. I believe that the some of your reading will make more sense if the basic concepts below are clearly understood.

Some Basic ELL Terminology

Ways of Providing Instruction of English to Speakers of Other Languages

ESL (English as a Second Language) is English taught in a country where it is the native language. The classes consist of all ELL learners and the goal is to improve English language proficiency both on social and on academic levels. (These classes are sometimes referred to as ELD-English Language Development). One example, would be English taught to immigrant adults in an Adult Center environment.

EFL (English as a Foreign Language) is English taught in a country where another language is the native language. One example would be English taught to high school students in Germany.

ESL Pull Out - In such a program, students spend most of their day in ordinary classes with native speakers of English. They are however “pulled out” for extra help with the English language.

Bilingual Education comes in several forms:

Transitional Bilingual Education offers students content instruction in their own language with a gradual transition into English. The goal is fluency in English with the use of the native language as a scaffold to the learning of the target language.

Two-Way Dual Language Instruction offers instruction in both target language and native language throughout the school years. All subject are taught in two languages. Certain days or certain hours are dedicated to each language. The student population consists of students who are native speakers of either one of the two target languages. The goal is fluency and literacy in two languages.

Maintenance Bilingual Education offers both languages throughout the grades to native speakers of a language other than English with the goal of preserving the native language and at the same time making students natively proficient in English.

Newcomer Programs serve students of all ages who have just arrived in an English-speaking country with no knowledge of English. Such programs exist both in school settings and in adult education centers. Newcomer courses generally last about one year.

Sheltered English or Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) and/or Structured English Immersion intends to make the normal school curriculum more accessible for ELLs with the help of specially designed second-language learning techniques. These are the techniques that are most helpful in classrooms that serve both Native English Speakers (NES) and ELLs.

Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) is an observation protocol that allows for more accurate planning and assessment of SDAIE lessons. It can serve as a research tool, an observation tool for student teachers, and a teacher lesson-plan check list.

Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA)-A model developed to meet the academic needs of ELLs in US-American Schools. It attempts to integrate language with school-subject content. It aligns content with the standard curriculum, relying heavily on scaffolding strategies. It emphasizes academic skills and aims for explicit instruction in appropriate strategies for both content and language learning.

Levels on the Ladder to Language Learning

1. Pre-Production Phase (Also referred to as The Silent Period)
Although students in this stage still cannot speak or understand the new language, they are nevertheless beginning to process the new sounds and words.

2. Early production Phase-There is already quite a bit of understanding, and students begin to produce two-four word expressions.

3. Speech Emergence-Students speak in longer (though not always correct) phrases and understand a great deal more.

4. Intermediate Fluency-ELLs in this stage can start conversations. They understand most of what is going on in the classroom and can participate in most classroom discussions. Lengthy academic readings and writing projects are, however, still very challenging.

Proficiency

We have been told by Cummins (Cummins, J. Model for Empowerment of Minority Students: Implications for Teacher Education. Washington, D.C.: National Clearing House for Bilingual Education, 1992) that there are two overlapping types of language proficiencies.

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP).

BICS is the ability to interact with native speakers of a language in social settings. Children quickly acquire such proficiency. It allows them to play games, talk on the telephone, and interact on the playground. Children under the age of ten will usually reach this stage after only six months in a new country. Adults might take two years.

CALP is the ability to deal with academic content, reading of text-books, following lectures, writing reports, following complex instructions, and participating in academic discussions and debates.

How Languages Are Learned-Some background on Theory and Methodology

There are basically two philosophies that under gird the methodologies of language learning. These two philosophies are the Innatist Perspective and the Behaviorist Perspective. The Innatist Perspective, whose primary proponent is Noam Chomsky, argues that human beings innately possess language learning abilities, and come pre-wired for language learning, while the behaviorist philosophy, promoted by B. F. Skinner, understands language learning as a series of imitations and habit formations. Language learners and teachers have, over the years, decided that both of these theories have merit in the language learning process. The Charts below will give you a brief outline of how these theories operate, and which language learning methodologies they have generated. For a thorough understanding of these theories and methodologies, you will have to take a general methodology course. In this class, we will consider only content based language instruction, which certainly takes cues from both of the above mentioned theories. Structured English Immersion (SEI) aims to facilitate both language and content study. It attempts to break subject matter into understandable chunks, make use of students prior knowledge using concrete materials, direct experience, explicit strategies, and collaborative work.

BEHAVIORIST THINKING

Known For:	Criticisms	Attributes	Examples of Behaviorist Models
Rote Learning	Does not consider cognitive factors	Brought order & science into language acquisition	Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Reinforcement/reward/punishment a. signal learning b. stimulus response c. chaining
Habit formation	Cannot explain creativity or original speech	Certain aspects of language must be learned by rote	Grammar Translation
Reward Oriented	Lab-oriented, cannot be replicated in a natural setting		Reading Approach
Observable data
Grammar-based
Goal: learn structure
Language is decontextualized
Dialog/drill patterns
Perfect pronunciation
Communication, much later
Strict teacher control
Not real world situations
Heuristic
Banking approach-The teacher deposits knowledge in the students in the same way that money is deposited in the bank.
The mind is a blank slate which must be filled & disciplined.

INNATIST THINKING

Known For:	Criticisms	Attributes	Examples of Nativist Models
Task related	Doesn’t advocate teaching language structure	L2 learned in the same way as L1	Chomsky (Generative Transformative Approach)
Problem oriented (problem dictates discipline to be used)	Students don’t learn grammar rules	Pays attention to affective filter and cognitive & sociopolitical issues	Krashen (Monitor Model)
Based on participatory research			Ausubel (Meaningful Learning)
Heavily influenced by linguistics, though influenced by psychology, sociology, etc.			Asher (TPR)-TPR, however, also relies heavily on habit formation through repetition.
Has a responsibility to society			Terrell (Natural Approach)
Language is an innate quality; we’re predisposed to language learning			Lozanov (Suggestopedia)
Distinguishing between competence & performance			Gattegno (Silent Way)
Curran (Community Language Learning). Strongly influenced by Rogers’ Humanistic Psychology Model			Freire (Generative Themes)

Course Syllabus

General Course Information

Semester: Fall ‘04

Location: WEB

Instructor: Dr. Natalie Hess

Office: NAU in Yuma

Phone: (Office) 928-317-6407 (Home) 928-783-4520

E-mail: natalie.hess@nau.edu
E-mail: WEBCT E-mail-Please use this e-mail, rather than the instructor’s usual e-mail for posting modules. You will notice that a provision has been made for e-mail that is private (just between you and the instructor) and the public e-mail that can be read by anyone in the class. I am always interested in your feedback, and I would appreciate getting your personal input on how the course is going for you and how you feel about its various aspects. Such personal reactions from you will help me to improve the class both for you and for future students, so do remember that I very much value your input. Since I check my regular e-mail daily, but will only check the course e-mail on the dates when modules are due, please use my regular e-mail for comments and questions outside the modules.
Course Prerequisites: there are no prerequisites for this course

Course Description:
The teaching of content in English to limited-English proficient students in grades K-12 using appropriate approaches, methods and techniques.

Student Learning Expectations:

Students will….

1. Study the philosophy and theory of Structured English Immersion.
2. Become familiar with and practice the techniques, approaches, and strategies of Structured English Immersion with
Content Based Instruction.
3. Experiment with strategies for the negotiation of meaning in the classroom.
4. Refine interaction and communication skills that are culturally appropriate with local ethnic groups.
5. Understand classroom strategies for collaboration between language and content instructors.
6. Understand alternative models and the relationship between content-based instruction, and other instructional approaches.
7. Design a SIOP/CALLA lesson for ELLs in a content area at an appropriate grade level.

Required Texts:

(These books will all be placed on reserve in the AWC/NAU Yuma library). They are available for sale at the Yuma NAU/AWC book store as well as the Flagstaff book store.

Uhl Chamot, & O’Malley, J.M. (1994). The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach. Menlo Park, California: Addison-Wesley Publishing.

Echevarria, J. Vogt, M. Short D. (2000). Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners: The SIOP Model. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Recommended Books:

Claire, E. & Haynes, J. (1994). Classroom Teacher’s ESL Survival Kit #1 Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Alemany Press, Prentice Regents Press.

Freeman, D.E., Freeman, Y.S. (2004). Essential Linguistics: What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, and Grammar. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.

Ioga, C., (1995). The Inner World of The Immigrant Child. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Harvey. D. & Zemelman S. (2004). Subjects Matter: Every Teacher’s Guide to Content Area Reading

Herrell, A. & Jordan, M (2004). Fifty Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, Merrill, Prentice Hall

Hess, N.(2001). Teaching Large Multilevel Classes. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press

Pollard, L. & Hess, N. (!997). Zero Prep: Ready-to-Go Activities for the Language Classroom. Burlingame, CA: Alta Book Center Publishers.

Pollard, L., Hess, N., (2001). Herron, J. Zero Prep forBeginners : Ready-to-Go Activities for the Language Classroom. Burlingame, CA: Alta Book Center Publishers.

Richard-Amato, P. (1988). Making It Happen: Interactions in the Second Language Classroom. New York: NY: Longman.

Course Requirements

Please note that you are given two due-dates for each module. The first one is for posting your findings on the discussion board. You will then have a week during which you are expected to interact with at least two other students. The second date is the one on which you are to send your entire module, including your report on your interaction with other students, in one attachment to the e-mail of the instructor. No late modules will be accepted except under very extenuating circumstances. Please put everything into ONE DOCUMENT before you post it to the instructor. The deadline is always midnight of the stated day. Again-Please put all your work for that particular module into ONE ATTACHMENT before you mail it to the instructor.

B-Contract: (Four Modules)-At least a B grade in each module

Module One--The Introductory Module
Introduce yourself. Tell us a bit about both your personal life and your professional life. Also, let us know a bit about your experience with school life and language learning. Give us a bit of your personal reaction to the introductory material for this course. Which theories and methodologies are you familiar with or have noticed in your own life with languages? If none of this is familiar to you feel free to say so! (About 2-3 double- spaced pages for this module.)

Due dates: September 13th-posted on the discussion board. You have a week to read the introductions of other students and to respond (correspond with) two other students in the class. A week later, on September the 20th, you can mail this module to me (on the Instructor e-mail as an attachment). Include your own introduction and a report on whom you interacted with.

Module Two-CALLA
Read the CALLA book
Write a 2-3 double-spaced pages reaction to each of the three parts. After a brief summary of the part, choose one particular aspect that appealed to you, and that you could imagine using in your own work, explain why you have chosen this aspect and exactly how you could use. Be as specific as possible.

In section three, do the above, but also add something extra. Choose the specific field (History, Science, Math or Literature). Compare and/or contrast the CALLA way to other strategies you may have experienced as a student or as a teacher. Choose a particular technique that you could put into immediate action in the classroom that you are now teaching or observing. Tell which technique you have chosen. Describe it. Give the page number where it can be found and explain how it would fit into your classroom work. If you are not teaching right now, use an imagined classroom setting in which you can see yourself functioning. (1-2 double-spaced pages)
Due dates: posted on the discussion board on September the 27th. Again interact with at least two other students, and mail me your reactions with a report on your interactions with other students (on the Instructor e-mail as an attachment) a week later on October the 4th.

Module Three-SIOP
Read the SIOP book. Write a brief reaction to each of the 10 chapters. (About two paragraphs for each chapter.) Here I definitely don’t want to see a summary, but rather a personal reaction to any of the strategies and the scenarios presented. Then, look over Appendix A. Choose any one of Observational components (i.e. Preparation, Instruction, Review and Assessment), and think back over a lesson you have recently given or that you have recently observed. Briefly describe that lesson and rate the teacher-you, or the person you observed, according to SIOP. Write a concluding paragraph explaining why and how you decided on the rating. You should post your entire module on the discussion board on October the 25th. You then have one week to interact with other students. You should post your work and a report on your interaction with other student to me (on the Instructor e-mail as an attachment) on November the 1st.

Module Four-Working in the Real World
This module involves a great deal of practical ELL work. There is not much to read, but a great deal to do. This is why I hope that you start this module while you are still reading the other two. There are four parts to this module. All of them deal with life in the classroom. They are:
1. An interview with an experienced ELL professional
2. A 15-20 minute video of your own teaching.
3. A packet consisting of 10 effective teaching strategies
4. A detailed lesson plan that describes one content based language lesson which could later become a part of a thematic unit.

Your entire module, with the exception of the video and the video analysis should be posted on the discussion board no later than November the 15th. You will have one week to read what your fellow participants have contributed. You are expected to interact with at least two other participants. You may react, comment and/or question any aspect of your classmates’ modules. You need NOT react to every aspect of the modules. Please post your entire module, including the video analysis and your report on your interaction with other students to me no later than Monday November the 22nd at midnight. I must receive the video no later than this date. Keep this in mind when you post it. Please mail your video to:

Dr. Natalie Hess
NAU in Yuma
2020 S. Ave 8E 85365
Yuma, Arizona, 85366

Below, you will find what is expected in each section of module four:

1. Interview an experiences ELL practitioner.

Be prepared to tell whom you interviewed, when, where, and what the background and experience of this person is. You may ask your interviewee anything that you consider important and relevant, but I would like prefer your finding answers to the questions listed below. (You may want to speak to more than one person). You can report on your interview in one of two ways. You can simply use the question and answer strategy or you can write an essay summarizing your findings. Here are my questions: (Please feel free to add your own)

How do experienced ELL professionals assess the language level of their students?
How do they learn about students’ cultural background, and how do they make use of this knowledge?
How do they make their instruction understandable to students who speak very little English?
How do they make the content of their lessons more comprehensible for ELL students?
How do they manage the written work for ELL students-especially in large classes?
How to they handle or minimize conflict in the classroom?
How do they manage to create inclusiveness if they don’t know the students’ home language?
How do they communicate with parents?
What techniques have they found most useful?

2. The Video
Make a 15 minute video of yourself teaching an ELL class, a single ELL student, or a small group of ELL students, or a class of both NES, and ELL students. Then, view your own lesson and write an analysis of what you see. This part need not be posted on the discussion board. Send your video to:

Natalie Hess
2020 S. Ave 8E
Northern Arizona University in Yuma,
Yuma Arizona 85366.

You can send your video analysis to me as an e-mail attachment in the usual way. I should have the video and your analysis no later than November the 22nd. Here is what I want to see in your analysis.

The Video and its Analysis

Make sure that not only you but also your students are seen in the video.
In your lesson analysis describe the class we view (age, level, school) on your video and give some background to the lesson you are teaching. Then, consider the following:

What worked best in your video lesson?
Why did you choose to demonstrate the particular techniques that you used?
What were the goals of your activity? Did you achieve these goals?
Was your technique as affective as you had anticipated?
Describe the behavior of your students. Had you predicted their behavior accurately?
Did anything in this video surprise you?
If you were to do this video lesson again, would you do anything differently?
Did you learn anything about yourself or the way you teach by observing this video?

3. The Technique packet

(Due to be posted on the Discussion board on November the 15th. Please take a week to react to the packets of two other students. Tell them what you liked in their packets and which of their activities you decide to use. ) Send your packet, your reactions to the packets of other students, your video analysis, your interview, and your CALLA/SIOP lesson plan all in ONE ATTACHED MODULE to the Instructor no later than November the 22nd.

The project will consist of ten (10) ELL strategies (activities) written in such a way that a substitute teacher could easily follow the activities. These should be activities that could if adapted to be used on any level of ELL. Please look over the example packet below

The ELL Technique project will begin with an introduction of you as a writer-Your name, the school where you teach, something about your ELL experience as either a language teacher or learner, anything personal that you wish to share and the story of your search-where you searched and why, (whom you talked to-why you chose these people-where they directed you), and the reasons for choosing your particular activities. You can search for good activities in your readings, in the recommended books, and on the WEB (Please note the WEB sites you have been given in this course.)

Each of your activities should include the following:

1.    Title
2.    Explanation of what skill is practiced in the activity, what the students will actually be doing, and
            how you plan to use this activity in your own work

3.    Aim of the activity
4.    Materials (if needed)
5.    Preparation (if needed)
6.    Procedure in numbered steps.
7.    Credit to source and/or explanation of how the original was accepted for your use.

To help you with your work, I have included an example of an of the introduction and two strategies from a the work of a previous student in this course.

Activities Project

    I am writing this for the Literacy Strategies Project, in the Northern Arizona University BME-420 course. My name is Kevin C. Weatherbee, and I am currently a senior attending NAU-Yuma. I will be graduating in May of 2003 with a degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis on Multicultural Education. I am currently a substitute teacher for Yuma Elementary School District 1 in Yuma, Arizona. I personally do not have any formal background with ESL as either a language teacher or as a student. That is why I am taking the courses that I am in currently.
    As for my WEB search, I used < http://www.google.com > as my search engine, and input “ESL lesson plans” as my search parameters. I was mildly surprised by they plethora of results that came back. Most unfortunately, were either “dead” links, or of no use to me. I did find one site that I found very useful and user friendly. The website I found was < http://www.lingolex.com/userpages/Ernie.html > . This actually is just a small portion of a much larger site that is very much oriented towards ESL in general. The reasons I chose all the activities/strategies form this site is that they all appealed to me both as an educator, and as a person who enjoys these types of activities. When looking for activities like this, I put myself into the mind of the child I am trying to reach and ask “is this enjoyable and will I learn anything?” I felt that I did on all the activities I choose and modified.
    I hope to actually use some of these ideas when I student teach next spring and when I teach full-time next year. I enjoyed this activity as it has opened my eyes further to what is out there for us as educators of ESL and Non-ESL students.

TIC TAC TOE (For Beginning to Intermediate Level Students)

    This activity uses the four skills of writing, listening, thinking, and speaking. This activity not only builds on teamwork but also builds strongly on vocabulary skills by having students’ use the words grammatically correct in a sentence.

AIM: vocabulary review, parts of speech review, and verb form review

MATERIALS:
Vocabulary word list
                White Board
                White board dry erase markers

PROCEDURE:
1.    Draw a nine square grid on the board and fill each box with one word.
2.    Divide the class in half, and designate one half as -x- and the other half as -o-.
3.    The students on each team collaborate in coming up with grammatical sentences using the vocabulary.
4.    When they use a word in a correct sentence, mark either x or o over the word. Three in a row wins!

Source credit:
I found this strategy on the website < http://www.lingolex.com/userpages/Ernie.html > along with many other great strategy ideas for an ESL or regular classroom. This website also references the following items; Hewitt, I. E. EDUTAINMENT- HOW TO TEACH LANGUAGE WITH FUN AND GAMES Language Direct, Australia, 1996 / Wright, A and others - GAMES FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING Cambridge University Press, London, 1979 / Bohart , Janet - GIVE ‘EM A BREAK - handout.   I did not change this strategy much at all, as I found it to be fine the way it is written. I would however, modify it for other curriculum subjects as needed.

STOP (For All Levels)

   This activity uses the four skills of writing, listening, thinking, and speaking. This is a simple vocabulary game that can be played with two levels of difficulty depending on the level of the students. Students not only have to use their skill of memorization of what a word is but also how it is spelled correctly, Then they must be able to write it correctly. This is a wonderful and rewarding activity for the students.

AIM: vocabulary review

MATERIALS:   White Board (1 per student)
                White board dry erase markers (1 per student)

PROCEDURE:
(Easy version)
1. Draw five columns on a chalkboard.
2. Have students repeat this procedure on their whiteboards
3. Assign each column a letter from the alphabet
4. Have students do the same on their white boards
5. When class has accomplished this shout, Go!
6. The exercise ends when the first student to fill in all the columns with a word that begins with the letter of each column shouts, STOP!
(You can go through the whole alphabet like this and also use common two letter word beginnings like ex, sh, sp, ch, etc.... )

(More difficult version)
1. Draw five columns on a chalkboard.
2. Have students repeat this procedure on their whiteboards
3. Assign each of the five columns a general category like food, clothing, emotions, office items, things in the house, etc....
4. Have students repeat this procedure on their whiteboards
5. You then call out a letter from the alphabet.
6. Students have to fill each column with a vocabulary word that begins with the letter and pertains to the category
The exercise ends when the first student to fill in all the columns with a word that begins with the letter of each column shouts, STOP!

Source credit:
I found this strategy on the website < http://www.lingolex.com/userpages/Ernie.html > along with many other great strategy ideas for an ESL or regular classroom. This website also references the following items; Hewitt, I. E. EDUTAINMENT- HOW TO TEACH LANGUAGE WITH FUN AND GAMES Language Direct, Australia, 1996 / Wright, A and others - GAMES FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING Cambridge University Press, London, 1979 / Bohart , Janet - GIVE ‘EM A BREAK - handout.   I did change this strategy a bit, to have more individual student involvement. This strategy could be used in a small group setting or a whole classroom at once. I might consider modifying it for other curriculum subjects as needed such as science, or social studies.

4. The Lesson Plan

You will create one detailed lesson plan which may become part of a total unit of lesson plans. The plan can follow either the CALLA or the SIOP program. Below you will fine a check list for the plan, a rubric on how it will be graded, and an example of a successfully completed lesson plan. Your lesson plan is part of the module that needs to be posted on the discussion board on November the 15th and be sent to the instructor as part of your module four on November the 22nd

Lesson Plan Check List

Should begin with an introduction that tells the age/level of the students for which the lesson is intended, and

presents the general methodology, and educational philosophy on which the lesson is grounded.

Must deal with language learning
Should refer to standards required-write out the whole standard, not just the number.
Should present useful techniques
Should be constructed in such a way that it allows for participant participation.
Should use as many skills as possible (reading, writing, speaking listening, thinking)
Should deal with both content and language-please spell out both language and content goals.
Should be age appropriate (You choose the age and the level of ESL)
Should have a thorough handout that a substitute could follow and that our class participants could use for their idea file.
Should be flexible enough to be changed for other age/ability levels.
Should be followed by an analysis of how and why the techniques were used to promote language acquisition.
Should use collaborative learning strategies.

Lesson Plan Rubric

Items being Assessed	Excellent 3	Satisfactory 2	Below standard 1
Introduction		Stated grade level, topic, content area, and a rationale statement.	Left out one or two areas of the intro. or did not include intro.
Behavioral Objectives		Instructional goal and behavioral objectives are clear, included State Standards.	Instructional goal and behavioral objectives are vague. Did not use state standards or instruct. goals and obj. are missing.
Content Objectives		Defines content to be taught
Language Objectives		States Language to be taught and practiced
State Standards		Identifies and aligns state standards with the instructional goals and objectives.	No evidence of state standards in the lesson. State standards are not aligned with the instructional goals and objectives.
Anticipatory Set	Contains multiple examples and detailed a script of what to say; examples of instruct. language included.	Focused student attention on the lesson, a ‘grabber’, connected prior knowledge.	Not really focused, did not connect with students’ prior knowledge or anticipatory set missing.
Teacher Input	Contains a detailed script and several examples of input for students to gain content understanding; incorporated alternative learning styles.	Provides basic information needed for students to gain the knowledge or skill.	Instructional input is vague. Did not define where it is from the rest of the lesson or teacher input is missing.
Modeling the behavior	Several examples of how students are to go about completing the lesson, includes detailed script/description incorporating alternative learning styles.	Once the material has been presented, the teacher uses it to show students examples of what is expected as an end product of their work.	Vaguely showed students what is expected or modeling the outcome is missing.
Teacher Script		States approximately what the teacher wants to say in the direct, teacher-fronted Phase
Check for comprehension	Checking for comp. is detailed with multiple examples of how the teacher will do this throughout the lesson.	Checking for comp. Is stated with at least one example of how this will be done.	Checking for comp. not stated anywhere in the lesson plan.
Guided practice	Several examples of activities are included that incorporate alt. learning styles, cooperative groups or individ. work.	An opportunity for each student to demonstrate grasp of new learning by working through an activity or exercise under the teacher's direct supervision.	Guided pract. is vague or no guided practice is present.
Closure	Clear, concrete, comprehensive; sets stage for new learning	Actions or statements are provided that are designed to bring a lesson presentation to an appropriate conclusion.	Closure is vague, or there is no closure mentioned.
Independent practice	Several examples of activities are included that incorporate alt. learning styles, cooperative groups, or individualized work.	Lesson provides for reinforcement practice without teacher help; indep. practice is clearly linked to the lesson.	Did not provide independence from teacher guidance or no indep. practice mentioned.
Assessment	Assessment incorporates the stated objectives and reflects lesson goal with multiple and alternative assessment strategies described in detail.	An assessment is described with relevance to stated objectives; assess. data is collected or planned for collecting.	There is an assessment, it but it has little relevance to stated objectives or no assess. was mentioned in the lesson.
Materials	Examples of worksheets or info. attached with materials clearly stated and relevant to the lesson; books used are referenced.	Materials are listed and directly related to the lesson format and content.	Materials are incomplete, partly described, or materials are missing altogether.
Mechanics		Neat, organized, no spelling and grammatical errors are present	A few spelling and grammatical errors are present or too many spelling and grammatical errors are present.
Overall lesson plan evaluation	Exceeds criteria. Lesson plan is well thought out, content is sensitive to the students’ needs, and follows criteria in rubric.	Lesson plan exhibits satisfactory characteristics as described in rubric. Meets passing criteria!	Lesson plan needs to incorporate the missing criteria for a passing grade.

Amanda Norton
BME 631

June 23, 2003
Ocean Thematic Unit
Language Arts component -
Round Robin Creative Writing

Introduction:
The overall unit is a study of the ocean. It is set up for a 5th grade classroom as a study in one of the biomes of the world. During the course of study students will learn about the water cycle, ecology and the ocean, as well as marine rescue issues. Students will be exposed to a number of non-fiction articles, stories, and at least one fictional story. For the language arts portion students will have a prior understanding of ocean flora, fauna, and inhabitants. In this piece they will utilize prior knowledge to help formulate a creative story using the ocean as a component of the story.

Behavioral Objectives:
Students will work cooperatively to complete a creative story in which a minimum of three students participate in its completion. In cooperative groups students will work on editing individual work using the group as a source of guidance. This includes, but is not limited to, proofreading, sharing opinions / suggestions for adjustments, and editing skills. These skills are incorporated in the Workplace Skills Standards:
1WP - E4. Respond to written presentations by formulating relevant feedback, expressing opinions.
Standard 4 - Students work individually and collaboratively within team setting to accomplish objectives.

Content Objectives:
By the end of the lesson students will successfully participate in a creative writing process in which they start a writing piece, other classmates contributed to the piece to create a rough draft of a story. In a future lesson the student completes the writing process for a published piece. The final product will be produced using “The Writing Machine” program with illustrations included.

Language Objectives:
Students will participate in writing parts to three creative writing stories. They will work on an introduction, development of story line, and story conclusion based on an ocean theme. Each student will write an introduction to one story. Then receive another student’s introduction to develop the story line. Finally, each student will receive a third story to write the conclusion. With writing only a piece of three different stories students will have an opportunity to springboard from one person’s thought pattern to another keeping interest and creativity high.

State Standards:
W-E1. Use correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage, along with varied sentence structure and paragraph organization, to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks.
PO 1 - 5. Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, standard grammar and usage, and varied sentence structure.

W-E2. Write a personal experience narrative or creative story that includes a plot and shows the reader what happens through well-developed characters, setting, dialog, and themes and uses figurative language, descriptive words and phrases.
PO 2. Write a story - develop a story line, characters, setting, dialog if appropriate, and descriptive words and phrases.

3T-E1. Use formatting capabilities of technology tool for communicating and illustrating.
PO 1 - 2. Use word processing editing tools to revise a document, and design a document with graphical elements.

Anticipatory Set:
Over the course of the thematic unit on Oceans students will be exposed to fiction and non-fiction stories. Specific examples are The Sign of the Seahorse: A tale of Greed and High Adventure in Two Acts, by Graeme Base, and Down Under Down Under: Diving adventures on the Great Barrier Reef by Ann McGovern. Both books deal with coral reefs.

TEACHER:    Students we have read two books over this past week. Who can tell me the names of the books?
STUDENTS:    Down Under Down Under, and The Sign of the Seahorse.
TEACHER:    Excellent. Tell your team what is each story about. (Teacher allows 45 - 60 sec. of discussion time.)
TEACHER:    Which team would like to share one of their summaries? (Teacher will use a random pick technique to determine which student / group to call upon to answer.)
STUDENT /
GROUP 1:    Down Under was about a 12 year old who had the opportunity to go deep sea diving with her mom on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
TEACHER:    Please give some examples of some of the wonders she encountered on her trip. (Does not have to be original group to give the examples)
STUDENT:    She saw many kinds of coral, and fish of all different colors and patterns.
TEACHER:    Excellent. Which group is going to share about The Sign of the Seahorse?

STUDENT /
GROUP 2:    It is a story of a “café” in a coral reef run by fish and the problems they encounter with the big bad groper fish, and his pollution.

Discussion is to continue, eliciting comparisons and contrasts between the two books.
By completing the compare / contrast chart on paper, the teacher can review that good fictional writing has an element of reality to make it more believable. The fish in the fictional story are based on real fish, and pollution in the ocean is real, to name a few.    The compare / contrast information remains on the poster paper for student reference throughout the lesson.
    The teacher will ask for other setting ideas to add to the chart. Additions can include under an iceberg, in valleys on the ocean floor, near a fishing village, north of the Equator or south of the Equator. If students need an additional reference point they can use their atlas as a guide. Other ocean ideas can be added at this point for use during the writing.

Teacher Input:
As the teacher completes the anticipatory set she will introduce the writing exercise and objectives.
TEACHER:    Now it is our turn to write our own story. We will be writing a creative story with the ocean as at least a piece of it. What is another name for a “creative story?”
STUDENT:    A fictional story.
TEACHER:    Good memory. To get us started please talk with your team about what elements are needed for a fictional story. (30 - 45 sec. to discuss) (new team to answer)
STUDENT /
GROUP:    A story needs setting, characters, plot, conflict, and resolution. There should also be some thread of reality to make it more enjoyable to the reader.
TEACHER:    Nice. Are there any other elements that help create a great story? Vocabulary? Conversations?
STUDENT:    Rich words that help describe the setting and characters and such will make the story more interesting.
STUDENT:    Sometimes dialog is nice to make the characters seem more real.
TEACHER:    Wonderful remembering. There is one other thing that goes into any written work, and who can tell me what it is?
STUDENT:    I know! I know! Every story has to have a begging, middle and end.
TEACHER:    Beautiful. You have it! So here is the fun part of today’s exercise. Each of us will write a beginning, middle, and end to a story. However, two of the parts will be on someone else’s paper. You will help at least two other classmates with their story.
The teacher will go on to explain that by the end of the lesson each student will have a rough draft story that they started which was finished by two other students. On the pages the students would put a code instead of their name. This will reduce boys not wanting to work on a girl’s paper etc. Each student will start a story developing the setting and characters involved. When that is complete (10 + min. depending on energy level.) the papers are moved, by the teacher, to other students at least two groups away. The distance is to continue a level of anonymity between the original author and the new author. Students review the paper they received, brainstorm for a couple of minutes then ask their team if they need assistance. Next, each student completes the middle of the story (plot and conflict.) This should also take 10+ minutes.   Another switch is made to a completely different person.   Students will again have the opportunity to read where the story is now, learn the conflict, and think of what direction to go for the conclusion. The third person completes the resolution / conclusion to the story. All papers are collected so editing can be completed the next day.

Modeling the behavior:

    Once the activity has been introduced to the students the teacher will begin modeling what the final product will look like and some strategies for completing each part of the story. Keeping all of the notes up about the two stories the teacher has the students brainstorm in their groups a couple of examples of characters, setting, and some plot ideas. Each group can share an idea or two to be written on the board under the appropriate element (setting, character etc.) Depending on time constraints, the students can complete the writing on the board, or the teacher can do the writing.

    On the overhead projector (or board) the teacher starts to create an introduction to a story. She can model using the “think aloud” method (“I really like using a starfish as my main character; I think I will develop him in my intro.”) She elicits help from the class on ideas, sentence structure, and story development.   For “tough” parts of the intro, such as who will be the other characters or what will be like the teacher will have the students brainstorm in their group for a minute. Students are encouraged to listen and participate, not necessarily take notes while the modeling is occurring. For students who need the note taking part they are not discouraged.

    With the introduction completed whole class the teacher will instruct the students to spend a moment quietly thinking about where they would go next with the story (plot and conflict.) After a moment each student will share with a partner in the group. This is followed by each pair then sharing with the other pair of the group. When all of the students have shared the group decides on one idea to present to the class to continue the class story.
As each group’s ideas are presented this is a good time for the teacher to check for understanding.   When the groups give their ideas for the body of the story the teacher can gauge if they are staying close to what has been presented, or if they just took off in a completely different direction without any transition.   Positive reinforcement or gentle correction would be used here to encourage the students’ ideas. One example presented will be used for the model. The teacher will decide based on class reaction to the ideas presented.
By this point in the lesson students will need to move around. So to accommodate the movement and continue the lesson the conclusion will be completed slightly differently. Using the same concept as the body of the story, students will think quietly for a moment about how they would conclude the story. From there they find a different partner from somewhere else in the room to share their ideas with. They then find another pair to share with and the “new” group presents an idea for the conclusion. Again, the teacher has an opportunity to informally asses if the students are on task.

    Throughout the modeling piece the teacher is encouraging the use of rich words to enhance the story line, and avoiding gory details. This can be done as the writing is going onto the overhead. “Remember in our Seahorse Café story how Finneus was described with spiky hair and earrings in his snout, but that he was just a normal teenage trout. Or another main character Bert who looked the part of a Soldiercrab with his clipped moustache, two eyes, eight boots, and one glove who Pearl falls in love with. We want to see the characters that are being described in our story.” Since this is a short story each word is crucial for success.

Teacher Script:
TEACHER:    Now that we have tried our hand as a whole class it is now your turn. Please get out a clean sheet of paper and a pencil. Please don’t forget your writing tools folder, your dictionary and a thesaurus. I am handing out a graphic organizer. Please put your class number (pre-assigned) on your paper.
    To get the story started students take 3 min. to brainstorm some character and setting options putting notes down on their graphic organizer. Once completed the students have an opportunity to seek guidance from teammates for 2 min. The introduction is started individually and the room will be quiet. Any resource needed is available at each desk, or a student can raise their hand for teacher assistance. After approx. 10 min. when the teacher notices that the majority of students have finished the introduction students will be asked to complete where they are at. Teacher confirms that students have put their number on the paper. All papers are collected and re-distributed for the body of the story.
    The second part is set-up as the first with 3 min. of brainstorming and filling in the second part of the graphic organizer. Brainstorming is followed by 2 min. of group work before writing begins. At the start of the second part the teacher will do a quick check to clear any confusion. Writing will go on for approx. 10 min. quietly. To end this section each student will read what has been completed to this point out loud to their team making adjustments as needed. Once the middle of section of the activity is complete students are reminded to put their number on the section they contributed to.

Check for Comprehension:
Student comprehension is checked multiple times throughout the lesson. During group discussion the teacher walks about the room stopping at various tables to listen to the discussion. Is the team on task? Are they displaying an understanding of the instructions?
One way to check for comprehension is randomly, such as a bowl full of sticks with the student names on them, and whichever stick is pulled that student answers. As the answer is given the stick goes back into the bowl to potentially be drawn again.   If the bowl is inside another bowl the teacher has some leeway as to whether the stick goes into the bowl or along the side so that person’s name is not drawn each time.   Also, the students do not see the name on the stick so if the teacher needs to check on one student specifically, their name is “drawn” next. This method would be most effective in the beginning of this lesson during the anticipatory set.

During the actual story creation the teacher will circulate throughout the room checking the graphic organizers to see what information is being included. She will randomly check on the writings of various students, paying closer attention to students who might have trouble staying on task for whatever reason.

In between each section of the story, students will have an opportunity to self check comprehension by seeing if they understand the story they have received. Group discussion will also aid comprehension. Stronger students can help other students brainstorm ideas thus aiding in completion of the activity. The teacher will target students she feels may need extra encouragement to stay on task.
At the end of three changes, the rough draft papers will be collected and checked to confirm that each student completed a beginning, middle, and end. The check is to confirm that each student participated in the activity.

Guided Practice:
Throughout the entire lesson students will work independently, in groups and in pairs. There is a set of pre-determined procedures established at the beginning of the year so the lesson can be smooth. Students will be guided step by step through the process with limited extra time. With the correct anticipatory set-up and lead in the students will have limited or no problems creating each piece of the story. Comprehension checks are completed at major and minor steps through the lesson to allow for re-direction if necessary.

Closure:
Each student will receive the story back that they started. Students will be allowed time to read the rough draft and share with a partner. Students are to read looking for the elements of the story: setting, characters, plot, conflict and resolution. The teacher will ask for volunteers to share their rough draft. The lesson at this point will draw out what part of the story has reality in it to keep the readers attention. What rich words or phrases stuck out in the student’s mind? Where is the next step for their character? All questions are intended to bring the students back to the original objective of writing a creative piece, and integrating cooperative learning.

Independent practice:
During the editing phase of the story students will be instructed to complete a first edit on their own. The goal is not to change the story line, however, students may enhance the piece by adjusting the wording, adding adjectives, or add more detail to the paragraph. At this point the story belongs to the individual student. They need to add enough to make it individual. For the advanced students they can create the next chapter in the story, or write another story that their characters would be involved in. If there are students who have similar characters or settings, they can work together creating another story that ties the original stories together. Whether or not a second story is written the discussion would be required.

Assessment:
Along with comprehension checks throughout the beginning part of the lesson there are two formal assessments.
□    The revised / edited copy will be assessed based on the Arizona Six Traits of writing, and the Arizona writing standard W-E1 (See State Standards listed above.)
□    Finally, the published / illustrated piece will be assessed based on accuracy of technology skills used, neatness, and overall presentation.

Materials:
□    Provide students with some background story or discussion to help in completing a story. For this lesson the following books were used:

The Sign of the Seahorse: A tale of Greed and High Adventure in Two Acts, by Graeme Base (fiction), and Down Under Down Under: Diving Adventures on the Great Barrier Reef, by Ann McGovern (non-fiction.)

□    Paper
□    Pencil
□    Story element chart. Graphic organizer to get the story started, and keep the story moving.
□    Writing tools folder
□    Support material (dictionary, thesaurus etc.)

Ocean Story

Setting Characters Plot Conflict Resolution

Module Five-The I-Search Paper -For “A” contract
This final module is only for students who are aspiring to an “A” grade in the course. It is a research paper on any aspect of your career in education that you wish to investigate. An I-search paper is a research paper told from the first person point of view. The idea of the paper is that you should not only tell your readers about what you wanted to investigate and what you learned through your investigation, but that you should also tell the story of how you go about your investigation. Below you can read more about the I-search idea, the specific requirements of this course, and you can see an example of a fine I-search paper contributed by a student during the previous semester. I do hope that some of you attempt this project. Your I-search paper should be posted on the discussion board on December the 6th for the benefit of other students, and sent to the instructor as an attachment at the latest on midnight of December the 13th. Absolutely NO late papers will be accepted. You need not react to the work of other students in this module unless you simply want to, but the papers are there for your benefit should you want them.

The I-Search Paper--Background
The term "I-Search paper" was invented by Ken Macrorie in his pursuit of genuine student writing. Macrorie was disturbed by what he perceived to be the hypocrisy that he frequently observed in student research papers. These papers, it seemed to him, were written in a dull and stilted academic style and dealt with topics that neither the writer of the paper (the student) or the reader of the paper (the teacher) were really interested in.
The "I-Search" paper is supposed to be the story of how you searched and how you found some information that was of genuine interest to you. You are supposed to start your search not in books but with real people who know something about your subject and in your paper, you will describe your search, as well as well as what you discovered. The I-search paper is written in the first person.
I would prefer your paper to be no longer than 15-20 (however, if you must have more space, do not feel constrained by this limit) and have about six references-at least three of which should be people. That means that you might write a paper based on four interviews, or on two interviews and two written sources (perhaps recommended by the people you interviewed), or three interviews and three written source, or any other combination.
This I-Search paper ought to deal with your life in the classroom-particularly as it pertains to language teaching and ESL students. I, for example, am interested in finding out how students learn new words best. My colleague Laurel is interested in why some students learn English so fast while others seem to struggle endlessly, yet they do well in music or in mathematics. You decide what interests you.
In order to make things very clear for you, I am including an example from McGrorie’s paper. I will also place the book on reserve in the library, so that you can look it over even before our first meeting.
If you have any questions about this or any other aspects of the seminar, please don’t hesitate to E-mail me with your questions. Best wishes with the search!
Further Instructions for the I-search paper

The I-Search Paper

It is strongly suggested that the author begin this project with one or two interviews with "experts," who can lead him/her to other personal or written sources.

Should deal with a pedagogical topic of personal interest to the author.
Should be written in the first person.
Should be the "story" of how the author went about doing his/her research as well as the final results of the research.
Should be around 8-12 pages.
Should have (at least) six (6) sources-two of which should be interviews with people.

Example of I-Search Paper
I-Search Paper

    A couple of months ago, I was in a parent meeting for one of my students that was giving me a lot of trouble. It seemed like he didn’t have a father at home so only his mother was there. His mother was a field worker that spoke Spanish and very little English. She came dressed as if she came straight from her job. In the midst of the meeting, she explained to us teachers the frustrations she was experiencing with him at home.

    She began to explain that her son was embarrassed of her for coming to school dressed in her work clothes. He seemed to be embarrassed of the fact that she worked in the fields and that she doesn’t speak English very well. On top of this, he doesn’t like talking to her because he doesn’t like to speak Spanish. His mother said that he has a hard time pronouncing some sounds in Spanish so he gets made fun of when he speaks Spanish. Even so, he doesn’t like to speak to his mother even when it’s just them. He does speak English around her a lot though because he knows she doesn’t understand it. I realized that this student was probably having a hard time finding identity being that he was embarrassed of his home-spoken language and his mother.

    Taking all this into consideration, he doesn’t have anybody to help him deal with these issues since he doesn’t really talk to his mother and he doesn’t have a father at home. At this meeting I asked the mother if he was in a program at our school that helps migrant students deal with some of these issues. She replied that he didn’t want to get involved because he didn’t want to be associated with those students. At this point in the meeting I was burdened. I thought to myself about who was going to help this student. He is disconnected with his support at home and the help he could get from school. I realized that if he was to get any help it would have to come from his teachers, the very people that were frustrated with him already.

    This set the stage for my I-Search paper. It motivated me to figure out how to help a student like him. Throughout my BME studies, I have learned how to help EL learners. This student struggles a little with learning English but to help him it is going to require much more than EL strategies. He is dealing with identity issues, which need to be dealt with first before he is going to be able to learn anything. In this I-Search, I want to learn how to help him deal with those identity issues so that he may be motivated to learn.

    When I first started, I happened to run into Dr. Hess who is a professor in the field of Bilingual Multicultural Education at NAU. I told her what my topic was and she recommended that I speak to a gentleman at one of the schools in Yuma. I was unable to get in contact with him but I did appreciate Dr. Hess’s other suggestion. She said to try and pair the student up with a well respected, Hispanic teacher at my school. Other people I interviewed ended up making similar suggestions. For this particular student, he is not familiar at all with the Hispanic, male teachers at our school so this might not work for him. This is a great suggestion though for dealing with students like him in the future.
    I received the same type of suggestion and many others from Mrs. Arellano. She is the counselor in charge of the migrant program and students at my school. All she works with is students like the one I am trying to help so I figured that she would be a great person to interview.

    She first tried to help me understand where migrant students are coming from. She said that a lot of students see the term “migrant” as derogatory. In their minds it means the same thing as “wetback” or “dumb”. Of course, these students do not want to be associated with those terms. This hinders a lot of students from getting in the program and also causes them to see themselves as less than others.
Mrs. Arellano said that the first thing she does with these students is help them to have a better understanding of migrant workers. She points out to these students that everyone has a role in society and migrant (or farm) workers are the ones that provide food for people. Since we live near a Marine Corps base she uses the analogy that just like it is the job of the Marines to protect us, it is the job of the migrant workers to feed us. She points out how in every meal of the day there is food that wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for migrant workers. She really helps them take pride in being the child of a migrant worker instead of seeing it as a demeaning position.
Another way she does this is by bringing in literature and special speakers. She shows them literature that has been written by former/current migrant workers. This not only gives them more pride but gives them value and help in literature skills. Mrs. Arellano also brings in special speakers who are former/current migrant workers that have respect for what they do. This helps the students see this profession in a different light.

    Mrs. Arellano made other suggestions from what she does like pairing students up with others. Like Dr. Hess, she suggested pairing this student (I’m working with) up with a respectable Hispanic male. She suggested the Big Brother, Big Sister program as an example. She also suggested paring him up with Spanish speaking students in my class who have good self-esteem and that would be good role models. The problem I have with this particular student is that he tends to bully all other students around but this would be a great suggestion for other students of his nature. Mrs. Arellano also talked about stressing to the students that being bilinguals empowers them much more than being monolinguals, especially in our city. This helps them value their Spanish instead of being ashamed of it. Lastly, she does a lot of self-esteem activities that stress the beauty in differences. I found Mrs. Arellano’s suggestions to be very helpful.

    I then interviewed Mrs. Lopez who now acts as one of the secretaries at my school. She was formerly the person who was in charge of our migrant program and students. She was actually at the parent meeting I spoke of earlier for this student I am working with. She helped translate for the mother and us teachers. This gave her specific insight into the very child I am trying to help.

    Mrs. Lopez started to state the problems with this student. She told me that he has a lot of issues. She stated that he doesn’t want to belong to that family or (migrant) group, and he doesn’t like who he is. She asked the question, “Who or what made him feel embarrassed of those things?” She said that figuring that out would help in getting to the root of the problem. My thought was that it has probably been multiple causes and that it would be impossible to pin on any one thing. One thing is for sure though is that he has issues that need to be dealt with.

    The main issue is self-esteem/value. Mrs. Lopez and I realized that as we talked. She started making suggestions in light of that revelation. She suggested for me to start making him proud of his work. “He needs to feel that he is doing right.” She said. Mrs. Lopez really emphasized praising him. She said that she never found a student who didn’t improve after being praised frequently. She cautioned though that my interest in him needed to be authentic and real. She pointed out that even if it’s slightly fake, he will figure it out and it won’t make a difference at all. That really stood out in my mind. I now have that running through my mind every time I go to praise a student. Students like him need a lot of praise to push them in the right direction and give them self-esteem.

    Another suggestion Mrs. Lopez made in the vein of self-esteem was good role models. Just like Dr. Hess and Mrs. Arellano suggested, Mrs. Lopez said to pair him up in groups with Spanish speaking students that would be good role models for him. This would help him to see how speaking Spanish and being Mexican American are not things to be ashamed of. On the other hand, pairing him up with students that are not like him would not have a positive effect. She said that students like him do not like to be singled out, and pairing him up with students that don’t speak Spanish and aren’t Mexican American would make him feel that way. He needs to be paired up with students that are Mexican American, Spanish speaking, and good role models.

    Mrs. Lopez did suggest a book she saw in another teacher’s classroom. It’s called 100 Ways to Enhance Self-Concept in the Classroom: a handbook for teachers and parents by Jack Canfield and Harold C. Wells. This book had a lot of activities to do in a classroom that would help with self-esteem/value issues. The following are a few examples.

Have each student bring in a CD that most symbolizes who he/she is or how he/she feels. Play part of each CD and have the student explain why they chose that CD.
Write and deliver a short speech on “What It’s Like To Be Me.” Have the students do the same.
Have students write an essay on how they best like to give and receive love.
Have students hypothetically answer the question, “What if my _____ could talk?” They can do this verbally or write their responses. Ideas for what to put in the blank could include: bike, toothbrush, bed, shoes, baseball glove, school bus, closet, dresser, dog, television set, radio, school desk, refrigerator, brush, coat, hat, doll, mother (or another family member), teacher, and best friend.
Mrs. Arellano also suggested some books for me to check out. One them was called Esteem Builders: A K-8 Self-Esteem Curriculum for Improving Student Achievement, Behavior and School Climate by Michele Borba. This book also gave activities to do in the classroom that would help with self-esteem/value issues. The following are some examples.
Students can make movies of their lives by making a film reel. Papers can be cut and taped together in order to make a chronological film reel. Each “slide” of the film reel should have words and/or pictures they drew of important things that happened in his/her life. A shoebox can be used as a T.V. or theater. A hole should be cut out in the bottom of the box for where each “slide” should be viewed. Slits should be cut in the sides (near the bottom) of the box so that the film reel can slide easily through the box. The film reel to be seen should be rolled up in the box, flow out of the top of the box, into one of the side slits, across the opening in the bottom of the box, and out the other slit. The box will need to be turned on its side to view the movie through the hole that was cut out in the bottom.

Have students make up a paper wheel that is split up into categories like Songs, Movies, Books, Places, Music Singers/Groups, Sports, TV Shows. Have them write down their favorites in each category. You can then have the students go around and share with one another by having the person they go up to pick the category. The student then explains why the listed thing is their favorite. Another way to do this is to make up spinners for the wheels and have the person they go up to spin to see which category the other student will share about.

(This idea was my own after seeing an idea in this book.) Have the students write down different ways they can help or be kind to others in all types of situations e.g. home, school, lunch, store, etc (the more specific, the better). Then have them make up a t-chart with one side being how doing these things will affect these people and the other side being how not doing these things would affect these people. Have them then compare and contrast the two. Hopefully, they will see how valuable they are as a person and the difference they can make in peoples’ lives.

    Another book that Mrs. Arellano recommended to me was Positive discipline: a teacher’s A-Z guide: hundreds of solutions for almost every classroom behavior problem! By Jane Nelsen, Linda Escobar, Kate Ortolano, Roslyn Duffy, and Deborah Owen-Sohocki. There was an interesting point made in that book about self-esteem, which gives balance and perspective to this issue. It said that some methods of building self-esteem actually hurt more than help students. It talked about when we tell students that they are special, it teaches them to rely on getting their value from others and the superficial words they may say to make them feel good. The book pointed out that a good self-concept is built on the following:
1.    Perception of personal capabilities (“I am capable.”)
2.    Perception of significance in primary relationships (“I contribute in meaningful ways, and I am genuinely needed.”)
3.    Perception of personal power or influence over life (“I can influence what happens to me or decide how I will respond to circumstances.”)
4.    Intrapersonal skills: the ability to understand one’s own emotions and to use this understanding to develop self-discipline
           and self-control
5.    Interpersonal skills: the ability to work with others and develop friendships through communicating, cooperating,
            negotiating, sharing, empathizing, and listening
6.    Systemic skills: the ability to respond to the limits and consequences of everyday life with responsibility,
            accountability, flexibility, and integrity
7.    Judgment skills: the ability to use wisdom and to evaluate situations according to appropriate values

I really found this to be interesting and insightful in the area of building self-esteem.
    Another step I took in this I-Search was getting online and seeing if I could find any articles on working with migrant children. One of the articles I found was called “Understanding and Educating Migrant Students” by John S. Platt and Ann Cranston-Gingras. I found a lot of interesting points made in that article. One of them was that it has been said that it takes a migrant child three years in school to advance one (grade level) year in his/her learning. That’s sad. No wonder they have such a high drop out rate. These students need to be helped.

    The article gave some recommendations on how to help them. It said the main objective in teaching these students is to help them become independent learners. This means to teach them test taking skills, how to read a chapter in a textbook, writing a report, and taking notes. I realized how important this is because they are constantly moving from school to school and if they have these skills then they will be able to get along okay. This article also recommended using cooperative learning due to Mexican Americans’ culture and value of family and extended family. The last recommendation the article makes is to teach them through the whole language approach. Fragmented drills on isolated skills should be avoided. The students should be actively engaged in learning that is meaningful to them, and it should focus on reading and writing for meaning. I found these recommendations to be very insightful and helpful.

    Another article I found to be insightful was called “Migrant worker children: conceptions of homelessness and implications for education” by Richard H. Kozoll, Margery D. Osborne, and Georgia Earnest Garcia. This article gave me a lot of understanding for migrant families. It showed me that these families don’t necessarily see “home” as a particular place but that they see “home” as their family. They are a unit, which functions for the whole. This means that a lot of times children will work to help support the family. It also means that the family has to sacrifice to allow those children to go to school. The tensions really start to rise though when the family gets split up like when children have to be sent off to school. This helped me to be a lot more sympathetic to their situation. It also helped to realize why this student that I am dealing with might have so many issues.

    The article did give some suggestions on how to help these students though. The biggest suggestion was that we as educators needed to understand their culture and values more. Their culture and value system tends to clash when it meets the dominant white middle-class culture they find in our school system. The article said that students respond much better when sensitivity is shown towards their culture and concerns. Activities need to be culturally familiar. Students need to be accepted, as they are which means their language too. Instruction in their native language should be given from time to time. Lastly, the article suggested using knowledge that their families use everyday to help in mathematics and literacy instruction.

    I have found this whole I-Search project to very interesting. I have never taken such an in-depth look at migrant students. This is very necessary though because a lot of the students I work with are migrant students. In fact, my district is considering moving back our entire school year by starting it a month later in order to be a better help to these students. This I-Search has been very beneficial.

    I have learned a lot of useful ideas. First of all, I have definitely gained a better understanding of them and where they are coming from. This is important to understanding and being sensitive to their culture. It is also very important to help them have a clearer understanding and appreciation for what migrants do. Hopefully, we can help them to take pride in what their parents or families do.

    As far as it goes with my particular student, I have learned a lot of ideas that might help. Pairing him up with another Spanish speaking Hispanic whether that is a peer or an adult is a great idea. In fact, that might be one of the strongest solutions for him. It needs to be someone he would look up to which might be the hard part. The suggestion about sincerely praising him though is a great one. This is simple but might be powerful enough to have a significant impact on him and it is something that I can do to help him. Lastly, there where some great ideas and activities that I found to help build self-esteem and identity in him. I’ll do my best to help him this year but no matter what happens, I have learned tools and concepts that will help me with the many students I have yet to teach.

Sources:
Borba, M. (1989). Esteem Builders: A K-8 Self-Esteem Curriculum for Improving
Student Achievement, Behavior and School Climate. Torrance, California: Jalmar
Press.
Canfield, J., Wells, H. C. (1976). 100 Ways to Enhance Self-Concept in the Classroom: a
handbook for teachers and parents. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
Inc.
Kozoll, R. H., Osborne, M. D., Garcia, G. E. (2003). Migrant worker children:
conceptions of homelessness and implications for education. International
Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, v16 (n4), p567-585.
Nelson, J., Escobar, L., Ortolano, K., Duffy, R., Owen-Sohocki, D. (2001). Positive
discipline: a teacher’s A-Z guide: hundreds of solutions for almost every
classroom behavior problem!. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing.
Platt, J. S., Cranston-Gingras, A. (1991). Understanding and Educating Migrant Students.
Preventing School Failure, v36 (n1), p41-46.

Useful WEB Sites:

http://www.everythingESL.net

Dave's ESL Cafe < http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/eslcafe.html >... The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!". "It's only words . . . ... Dave's ESL Cafe in the Bangkok Post! ...

Interesting Things for ESL Students < http://www.manythings.org/> Interesting Things for ESL Students A fun study site
for students of English as a Second Language. Word games, puzzles ... Description: Includes quizzes, games, and
puzzles to help students learning english. Category: Kids and Teens > School Time > English > English as a Second Language

Google Directory for ESL
<http://directory.google.com/Top/Kids_and_Teens/School_Time/English/English_as_a_Second_Language/?il=1>
www.manythings.org/ - 8k >

ESL Magazine-- <http://www.eslmag.com/ >

Back to Top