Transcript document

The Importance and
Development of
Language Objectives
Being a teacher is difficult. Some days we
feel like we’re expected to do this…
In slide show view, click here to view.
So if we’re already so
busy, why think about
adding language and
learning objectives?
• Reason #1: It’s required by federal law.
States must “. . . . establish standards
and objectives for raising the level of
English proficiency that are derived
from the four recognized domains of
speaking, listening, reading and
writing, and that are aligned with
achievement of the challenging State
academic content and student academic
achievement standards described in
section 1111(b)(1).” [Title III, NCLB,
Section 3113]
• Reason #2: It’s a matter of civil rights.
“Where inability to speak and
understand the English language
excludes natural origin minority group
children from effective participation in
the educational program offered by a
school district, the district must take
affirmative steps to rectify the language
deficiency in order to open its
instructional program to these
students.” [Supreme Court Decision;
Lau v. Nichols; January 1974]
• Reason #3: Research is clear that
sharing content objectives with students
increases comprehension; therefore,
aligning our Common Core State
Standards to our ELLs’ language goals
simply makes sense. In addition…
…ESL strategies (including
the use of content and
language objectives) help
facilitate Common Core State
Standards and help all
students in the classroom to
succeed.
Aligning English language standards
with Common Core State Standards
helps all students through…
•Well-developed, content-rich curriculum
•coursework that is streamlined with K-12 vision
and which prepares all students for post-secondary
education and workplace
•Instructional resources
•requires more PD, additional time, appropriate
instruction support, aligned assessments
Aligning English language standards with
CCSS helps all students through…
•Student-driven activities & practices that engage…
•Funds of knowledge
•Cultural
•Home
•Community
•Prior knowledge
•Experience in community
•Street smarts
•Friends
•Teachers
•Academic Knowledge
•Curriculum
•Common Core State Standards
•Library
•Opportunities through school/extra-curricular
Aligning English language standards
with Common Core State Standards
helps all students through…
•Formative and summative assessments
•Requires constant and ongoing assessment and
feedback to guide learning.
•Supportive teaching and learning
environment
•Success comes when both teachers and students
feel empowered and supported in reaching their
goals.
Supporting ELLs in the Common Core
• ELLs, like all your students, are a
heterogeneous group, and effectively
educating these students requires
diagnosing each student instructionally,
adjusting instruction to meet their needs
and strengths, and monitoring their
progress.
Supporting ELLs in the Common
Core: Teaching Content to ELLs
by Sharing our Best Ideas
• Content should be taught as experiences rather
than merely as facts.
• Standards should NOT just be “teacher language.”
• All new information needs to be linked to student
background knowledge and experiences.
• Pre-teach the academic vocabulary in the most
amazing ways!
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR CRAZY WAYS?
Content vs. Language Objectives
– Think of an example of a content
objective you are currently teaching
– Do you use language objectives?
– If so, how do you use them in your class?
– Why are they important?
Content teachers may view Language
objectives as problematic because…
•it may be difficult to identify language objectives
•they may feel they do not have time to teach
language
•teaching language may be perceived as the ESL
teacher’s job
•they may not know enough about their ELL
students’ language proficiency to determine
appropriate language objectives
So…where to begin when
developing language objectives:
• Consider LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY of
your ELLs (if unsure, ask the ESL teacher).
• Determine COMMON CORE STANDARD
you are teaching.
• Determine KEY VOCABULARY,
CONCEPT WORDS, and language
EMBEDDED in tasks.
Next, consider the language
you use during instruction
(and your class in general)
in a metalinguistic manner
(a way that helps students to
reflect on and consciously
ponder oral and written
language and how it is used)…
The Domains of LanguageReading, Writing, Speaking, & Listening
• Reading: Text, vocabulary lists, notes from overhead
or white board, other students’ writing, etc.
• Writing: Vocabulary lists, notes, answers to
comprehension questions, logs, predictions, sharing
writing, journaling, summarizing, etc.
• Speaking: Answering questions, recapping, discussion
with a partner or group, predicting, Think-Pair-Share
– This will happen in a safe, low risk environment.
• Listening: To the teacher, to students, to videos
– When playing a video, turn on the subtitles.
– Adapt your teacher speech,
Forms of Language –
the grammatical structure of
words, sentences, and whole texts
• The English language is vast and
complicated…what FORMS of language
should content teachers focus on with ELL
students?
Basic Forms of Language
• Subject-verb agreement
– The frog are amphibian.
– Igneous rocks comes from volcanoes.
• Use of the “s”
– possessive (apostrophes)
– Plural
• Parts of speech
– Nouns/Verbs
– Adjectives/Adverbs
Basic Forms of Language (cont’d)
• Tense
– Present, past, future
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Basic verbs- to be, to have, to like, to see
I/you/we/they have, he/she/it has
I/you/he/she/we/they had
I/you/he/she/we/they will have
• Punctuation
• Structure
– Topic sentences
– Main points
– Purpose (persuasive, descriptive…)
Basic Forms of Language (cont’d)
• Letter sounds, pronunciation
• Complete sentences
– Hold students accountable for basic sentence
structure.
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Word order
Transition Words
Modals (should, would, could)
Idioms
Functions of Language –
the language purpose
or thinking process
• The English language is vast and
complicated…what FUNCTIONS of
language should content teachers focus on
with ELL students?
Language Functions
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Define
Describe
Identify
Label
Name
Spell
Compare
Contrast
Explain
• Summarize
• Rephrase
• Discuss
• Elaborate
• Predict
• Compose
• Choose
• Develop
• (see Bloom’s
Taxonomy)
Review where to begin when
developing language objectives
• Determine the DOMAIN (listening, speaking, reading,
writing)
• Determine the LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS or
PURPOSE/LEARNING STRATEGIES (define, predict,
describe, compare, explain, summarize, develop, choose…)
• Determine the CONTENT standard
• Determine LANGUAGE FORMS - the GRAMMAR or
STRUCTURE OF TEXT (verb tenses, sentence structure,
punctuation, question formation, subject-verb agreement…)
Also keep in mind the
following when writing
language objectives:
• Audience (level 1 vs. level 3 vs. main stream)
• What should students BE ABLE to DO?
• HOW should students demonstrate proficiency?
• Objectives should be MEASURABLE.
• Post objectives in writing & orally review
Language Objective Template:
Through LANGUAGE DOMAIN: (reading, writing,
listening, speaking)
SWBAT
LANGUAGE FUNCTION: (describe, analyze, list,
deduce, persuade…)
CONTENT: (consider the Common Core concepts you
are teaching)
by way of LANGUAGE FORM: (complete sentences;
modals of should, could, would; opposites; proper
punctuation…)