Karen CaddooDiane Rosen CoTESOL November 6 2015 Objectives To provide an understanding of why explicit language instruction is essential for ELLs To suggest examples of how we can provide opportunities for students to deconstruct and construct complex academic language ID: 541255
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Fortifying Academic Language Skills" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Fortifying Academic Language Skills
Karen Caddoo/Diane Rosen
CoTESOL November 6, 2015Slide2
Objectives
To provide an understanding of why explicit language instruction is essential for ELLs
To suggest examples of how we can provide opportunities for students to deconstruct and construct complex academic languageSlide3
Setting the Context
Given
the language diversity in our schools and in our classrooms, any effort to make the CCSS
attainable
for these and many other students must go beyond vocabulary, and should begin with an
examination
of our beliefs about language, literacy and learning.
Fillmore
, Lily Wong.
What Does Text Complexity Mean for English Learners and Language Minority
Students? Stanford Universtiy. Web. Slide4
Two Ways to Fortify Language
Deconstructing
complex text: Breaking down or
pulling
apart text into comprehensible chunks in order to
examine
language structures and meaning
Constructing
complex language: Building academic discourse by crafting connected sentences using
specific
language forms and structures for academic purposes Slide5
Deconstructing Complex Language
Provide the keys to unlocking complex text
Whole
texts
SentencesSlide6
Attributive or Enumerative
Problem/Solution
Chronological
Purpose
Present information
To identify a problem and provide possible solutions leading to an outcome
To explain a series of events and their relationships to each other
Organizational Structure
Main idea followed by details
Topic, problem, possible solutions, outcome
Sequence of events
Cohesive Devices
in addition, moreover, alsoif . . . then, therefore, as a result, given thatfirst, second, after that, finally
EXPOSITORY TEXT STRUCTURESSlide7
Steps to making sense of whole textSlide8
Deconstructing sentences
In
a lonely lighthouse, far from city and
town
, far from the comfort of friends,
lived
a
kindhearted cat named Pandora
.
Rylant, Cynthia. The Lighthouse Family:The Storm. Illustrated by Preston McDaniels. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.Slide9
In a lonely lighthouse, far from city and town, far from the comfort of friends, lived a kindhearted cat named Pandora.
Subject - cat - Pandora is the cat’s name. She is kindhearted
.
Verb - lived - (in the past
)
Where - in a lighthouse - It was lonely
.
Where - the lighthouse is far from any city or
town
Where - the lighthouse is far from friends -
Friends
give comfort.Slide10
Your
turn. . .
By
the time Harriet Ross was six
years
old, she had unconsciously
absorbed
many kinds of knowledge,
almost with the air she breathed.
Petry, Ann.
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad.
New York: Harper Collins, 1983. (1955) From Chapter 3: “Six Years Old” Slide11
Constructing
complex
output
“
Students must be able to
use
language
that is authoritatively
presented, informationally
dense, and highly structured.”
Vanessa
Girard and Pam Spycher, 2007A variety of sentence lengths of varying linguistic complexity….(organized & cohesive)Slide12
What makes language complex?Slide13
Perfect Tense
Present perfect
unnamed time before present
Past Perfect
before another action or specific time in past
Future Perfect
Will happen before another…
Pres./Past/Future Progressive Perfect
Conditional Perfect Slide14
Example:
perfect tense
(have/had + participle) -
unspecified time before now
experience:
I
have taught
students from other countries for decades.
change over time:
ESL instruction
has evolved
over time.accomplishments: ESL in some districts has become ELD.an uncompleted action you are expecting: By the time I retire, the field will have mastered explicit language instruction.multiple actions at different times: We have had many iterations of ESL instruction over the years
.Slide15
How do the perfect forms affect meaning?
“He
stated with a good deal of formality that had we not been ‘of the same profession,’ he would have kept the matter to himself without regard to consequences
.
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph
C
onradSlide16
What makes language complex?
Examples of sentence level grammatical features that enhance complexity:
prepositional phrases
transitions
subordinating conjunctions
adverbs
dependent clauses
appositives
relative pronouns
gerundsSlide17
Levels of Complexity
People moved
.
People
moved
away
.
People moved
to America
in search of freedom.In order to
find freedom, people moved to America.
Consequently, people migrated to America in search of freedom.Certain people, who were not able to practice their own religion, moved to America in search of freedom.People, the oppressed, migrated to America in search of religious freedom.Searching for religious freedom, many oppressed people migrated to America.Slide18
Your Turn...
Work
with a
partner,
choose a
sentence,
and
make more
complex sentences using additional grammatical features:English is difficult.
It’s Friday!Slide19
Strategies for fortifying
language output
Slide20
Pro-Con Improv
Slide21
Because, so…
3rd
grade
ELLs of varying proficiency levels:
using
familiar
content
to
practice
using academic language snow tornado Because _____, ______________. ___________ , so _____________.
weather
resul
t
w
ear boots and a coat
d
estroy homesSlide22
Complex sentence frames
PROMPT: Using evidence from the text, explain how Tom enticed his friends into painting the fence for him.
FRAME: On page ____, Tom enticed his friends to paint the fence by _____________; therefore, he __________.Slide23
So what?
Explicit
instruction and practice with
constructing
and
deconstructing
the components
of
language including a focus
on grammar points and their
purposes, syntax, and complexity will fortify the students’ ability to access, comprehend, respond to, and produce complex discourse.Slide24
Wrap-up!
Do you have any questions?
Thank you!Slide25
Bibliography
Fillmore, Lily Wong.
What Does Text Complexity Mean for English Learners and Language Minority Students? Stanford Universtiy. Web.
Girard, Vanessa and Spycher, Pam.
Deconstructing Language for English Learners.
Santa Rosa, CA: Sonoma County Office of Education, 2007
.
Petry, Ann.
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad.
New York: Harper Collins, 1983. (1955) From Chapter 3: “Six Years Old
.
Rylant, Cynthia.
The Lighthouse Family:The Storm. Illustrated by Preston McDaniels. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.Spycher, Pamela. Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts for English Language Learners.
Alexandria, VA: TESOL Press, 2014
.
Zwiers, Jeff, O’Hara, Susan, and Pritchard, Robert.
Common Core Standards in Diverse Classrooms: Essential Practices for Developing Academic Language and Disciplinary Literacy.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2014.