I was emailed the link to the website above today. While it isn't specifically EAL/D related, it is a very useful site for planning for English. If you click the picture above it will take you to the weebly. Once at the weebly click on 'Eng Units' and you will find a whole heap of ready made English units that have been made by other teachers and very kindly shared. They encorporate the new English curriculum and the planning covers all Primary stages.
I hope you find it useful! Thought I would talk about this again as it is so important and many classroom teachers fall into the trap of thinking "My EAL/D student understands me, talks fine to me and their peers. They are fluent in English and don't need any extra help." I know many teachers think this because it gets expressed to me numerous times during the school year by many different teachers. What some teachers fail to understand is there is a difference between 'social' language and 'academic' language (the language of text books and tests!) This is of particular importance to Stage 2 and Stage 3 teachers. I found this Youtube clip that might help to explain it more clearly. If you would like more information please check out one of my original blog posts where I linked to a clip where Dr Jim Cummings, inventor of the terms BICS and CALP, talks about these terms and their implications for EAL/D students. Taken from "help! What do I do with a primary new arrival?" published by the Sydney Catholic Education Office. Not this way... But this way... * Set realistic and achievable goals so the student can experience success and develop self-esteem.
* Show examples of finished work as models to show students what is expected. * Allow adequate time for successful completion of tasks. * Try to get information from the learner rather than always presenting it, and take into account the children's personal experiences and interests. * Encourage students who are not competent in their first language at reading and writing to convey their stories through drawing. * Invite students to keep a journal using their first language (L1). * Encourage students to take responsibility for vocabulary learning by focusing on frequently used words and building their own bi-lingual cards or dictionary. * Accept already developed writing styles. However keep in mind that some students need orientation to the Roman script. * The newly arrived student should be envouraged to conform to class rules and expectations with some sensitivity shown to newly arrived traumatised students. * Integrate one way/two way listening activities that have a meaningful purpose into your regular program e.g. following directions. * Become an active listener and conversational partner. * Model and practise phrases that seek clarification and that ensure students understand the appropriate language used in polite interruption or request. Some examples include: "Excuse me, I'd like to ask something" "I'm sorry, I don't understand. Can you repeat that?" "I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. Can you say that again?" "Did you say ...?" "Sorry for interrupting, but would you mind repeating that?" * Write appropriate phrases for students to practice on posters and display in the classroom. * Encourage a classroom environment where the students feels comfortable, and is willing to take risks and make mistakes. This is taken from the book: 'help! What do I do with a primary new arrival?', published by the Sydney Catholic Education Office.
* Don't over correct it may interupt the flow of language and discourages students from engaging in conversation. Instead model the correct structure and use open-ended questions to maintain the discourse. * Create opportunities for the student to engage in activities that require little or no English but encourage meaningful communication e.g. role play. * Learn by doing - concrete/hands on experiences help make language more comprehensible for second language learners. * Keep activities short and varied, but above all meaningful! * Begin with concepts and language that the student already knows. Help them to make links and to extend their oral repertoire by providing scaffolds through questioning, clarifying, modelling and leading the learner towards new skills, concepts and level of understanding. * Provide activities where the language is predicatble or repetitive and ensures success. * Include students in general class activities, e.g. sport, craft, music. * Where appropriate, give the New Arrival student opportunities to continue learning in familiar ways. Some students will have been used to large amounds of rote learning and will be very successful at this. When the student first arrives, flexibility in teaching is important. Some students may not be used to group word, or to discovery-type learning, and at times will prefer working quietly or alone. Gradually encourage the student into ways of learning that normally occur in the classroom including self-motivate, independent learning as well as group work. This is taken from the book: 'help! What do I do with a primary new arrival' published by the Sydney Catholic Education Office.
* Silent phase - Remember! Your 'new arrival' student might not speak for some time. Don't panic! Don't put undue pressure on the learner to speak. Allow time for the student to listen, to comprehend and to internalise the language before having to produce it in written or spoken form. 'Ensuring understanding, ensures success' * Use non-verbal cues as much as possible. Use gestures, facial expressions, visual supports (e.g. pictures, photos, drawings, maps, disagrams, videos, TV, computers, real life objects) or demonstrate and mime to accompany talk. * Use natural language patterns of rhythm and intonation when talking to the students. Speak clearly and not too quickly so they can distinguish where one word ends and another word starts. * Give consisten, clear and concise cues and instructions limiting these to no more than two at a time. * Avoid giving non-essential information. * Speak in meaningful chunks pausing between phrases to give time for the student to hear the new sounds, translate them, understand, form and answer, and translate back into English before answering. * Be prepared to wait for the student to respond. * Remember your student will understand more language than he/she can produce. * Respond sensitively to what a learner is trying to say as this is more important at this stage than how he/she is saying it. * Clarify what the student is saying by repeating what you think the student said, ask them to repeat or show what they want. The ESL Steps documents are very useful for both ESL teachers and classroom teachers. These documents break down the ESL scales into text types (yes, I know it is no longer about text types....its now types of texts) and these text types fit into the categories of Imaginative, Persuasive and Informative. There is one book per stage and each book has the following categories: Describing, Recounting, Responding, Instructing, Explaining, Persuading and Negotiating. Each section is broken down into the ESL band (A1 being the more basic through to A2, B and C being the more complex band). Your ESL teacher will be able to tell you which band your students are in. Once you choose the text type you are doing, and you know the band you can turn to the right page. Each band is broken into Oral, Reading and Writing. Oral is then broken into Listening and Talking. The ESL Steps document gives you the relevant ESL scale pointer reference and then gives activities for 'Controlled Support', 'Guided Support' and 'Independent Support'. The activities are relevant to the stage of the student and are designed to encourage maximum language usage. I find these four ESL Steps documents the most useful when it comes to planning for ESL students and I feel that they provide the greatest practical support for classroom teachers - as they list not only the scales but a scaffold of activities moving from controlled, teacher led activities through to independent activities. Most ESL teachers have a copy of these documents. If not, your school can order them from: Henry Parkes Equity Resource Centre Mimika Avenue WHALAN NSW 2770 Telephone: 02 8808 1177 Fax: 02 8808 1171 Email: [email protected] They can also be downloaded from the DEC intranet if you are a DEC school and have a portal log in. (Photo of ESL Steps document taken from http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/primary/english/crosscurriculum/esl/index.htm) (picture taken from http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/english/english-k10/content/881/)
Reference to the ESL Scales are found at the bottom of the old and the new English Syllabus...but what are the ESL Scales??? The average classroom teacher would have seen them listed at the bottom of the page in their English Syllabus, but without an actual copy of the ESL Scale the reference is really useless. What exactly does 'Oral Interaction level 6' mean? If you have an ESL teacher at your school they would know what this means and they would even have a copy of the scales....but what good is that to the classroom teacher? The ESL Scales are a very descriptive set of outcomes and pointers that an ESL student will work through in order to meet the English syllabus outcomes. The scales range from 'Beginning English', where the students learn BICS and basic literacy skills in oral fluency, reading and writing, through to more complex English skills in oral fluency, reading and writing. The NSW English Syllabus tells you where the student would be placed on the ESL scales if they are meeting the outcomes for their stage. However, in many cases, most ESL students are on the 'learning pathway' to meeting that outcome. In the example above it says that a student who meets that particular outcome would be on ESL scale Oral Interaction 6. If the student wasn't meeting that English outcome they would be somewhere on the 'learning pathway' on either ESL Scale 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1 or 6.1. But to know what the ESL scale says for each outcome you really need to look at the ESL scales document. Ask your ESL teacher to have a look at the ESL scales document. Find out from the ESL teacher what scale your ESL student is on. You should be using the information from the ESL scales document to help you plan your English unit each term. Your ESL teacher is a fantastic resource and should be able to walk you through the document. The ESL scales look like this: (picture taken from: http://primaryeslteachersnetwork.wikispaces.com/USING+THE+ESL+SCALES) I came across this very good and comprehensive list of dos and don'ts for teaching ESL students within the mainstream classroom.
I am hoping this list will be useful for classroom teachers, especially those who have newly-arrived ESL students or who have ESL students in their classroom for the first time. I had planned to make my own dos and don'ts list...but this one was very good so I will just share it with you - no sense in reinventing the wheel! Some of my favourites are... Do: Make sure that ESL students are seated where they can see and hear well. Provide them with maximum access to the instructional and linguistic input that you are providing. Involve them in some manner in all classroom activities. Don't: Don’t separate and isolate students away from the rest of the class - physically or instructionally. Do: Fill your classroom environment with print and with interesting things to talk about and read and write about. Creating a language-rich environment will allow your ESL students to learn even when you aren’t directly teaching them. Don't: Don’t directly correct the grammar or pronunciation of what they say. This may lead to decreased participation and learning. Dos and Don'ts for classroom teachers of ESL students I love browsing the Internet.
Today I came across this fantastic resource on another Weebly. Literacy Continuum ESL Scales and EALD October 2013 The above site has a resource with the Literacy Continuum linked with the ESL Scales and the new EAL/D phase progression. This document will be super useful for EAL/D teacher and classroom teachers alike and will help in planning for ESL differentiation in your classroom. I hope you find it useful! I thought for my first post I would cover the basic acronyms around ESL or EAL/D.
I hope you find these descriptions useful. I will try to describe them in simple, practical terms. ESL - English as a Second Language (or as I liked to call it - English as a Subsequent language...as many students have English as a third or fourth language). This is the term that the ESL document - the ESL Scales - uses and it is also the term the old and new NSW English syllabus refers to. EAL/D - English as an Additional Language/Dialect. This is the term used on the new ACARA document that describes the new phases used to gain ESL funding in the Public School System. Personally I think it is a better fit for the term ESL and hope it is eventually used to rename the ESL Scales! NESB - Non English Speaking Background. You may hear students described as NESB. This means they generally have no or little English spoken at home, and it is often applied to newly-arrived Phase 1 students when they first start learning English. LBOTE - Language Background Other Than English - This term applies to students who have a language background other than English. This means the student may speak English at school and a different language at home. It also may mean they speak English at home in combination with another language. Often teachers are surprised to find they have LBOTE students in their class, who may speak a different language with extended family or who are exposed to a different language by their extended family. Some LBOTE students understand their home language but don't speak it fluently, some speak English most of the time but might, for example, communicate with grandparents in a different language. |
Mrs McNamaraI am an EAL/D teacher currently teaching in a primary school within the Newcastle area of NSW, Australia. Categories
All
Archives
September 2020
Categories
All
|