Issues and practices for integrating language and content for English learners Manka M. Varghese, Ph.D. Associate Professor University of Washington, Seattle College of Education English Language Teaching/Bilingual Education/Immigrant Education

Goals SWBAT (Students will be able to) – Develop an increased awareness of content based instruction in English language teaching Describe and develop the different steps involved in putting together a content based language lesson Knowing your students and their environments Articulating language objectives for content-based lessons Modifying lesson plans by including language objectives, building background, comprehensible input, student to student talk Leave today with some tools to incorporate more content based instruction in your lessons

My background and research/teaching focii Personal background Professional background Research Teaching

Publication highlights Tellez, K. & Varghese, M. (2013). Teachers as intellectuals and advocates: Professional development for bilingual education teachers. Theory Into Practice, Special Issue: Effective Practices of Professional Development for Teachers of CLD Students, 52(2), 1-8. Varghese, M. & Stritikus, T. (2012). Language diversity and schooling. In J. A. Banks & C. A. M. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives (8 th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Kanno, Y. & Varghese, M. (2010). Immigrant and refugee ESL students’challenges to accessing four-year college education: From language policy to educational policy. Journal of Language, Identity and Education 9 (5), Varghese, M. (2010). Language teacher education and teacher identity. In K. King & F. Hult, Applying the Local Globally and the Global Locally in Educational Linguistics: Essays in Honor of Nancy H. Hornberger’s Sixtieth Birthday. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters. Varghese, M. & Johnston, B. (2007). Evangelical Christians and English language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 41(1), *Varghese, M. (2006). Bilingual teachers-in-the-making in Urbantown. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 27(3), Varghese, M., Morgan, B., Johnston, B., & Johnson, K. (2005). Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 4(1),

Why language & content? Language in authentic settings for authentic purposes Content can be better understood Makes language more relevant for students Focus on range of academic language (versus conversational range) Issues of social justice/equity Move from CLT to CBI?

U.S. Context 10% of children; By 2025, 1 in 4 English learners No Child Left Behind (NCLB) & Title III (English language acquisition act) Mainstreaming Endorsement – primary or secondary

International context(s) Spread of English A number of countries adopting English in schools and teaching & learning of academic subjects e.g. Hong Kong, Malaysia Teachers need to be/become content and language teachers

Models of teaching language and content CBI Content Based Instruction Curriculuar and individual lessons CALLA (Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach) Sheltered Instruction & SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) G.L.A.D. (Guided Language Acquisition Design) EAP (English for Academic Purposes) ESP (English for Specific Purposes)

Language & content in preparing elementary teachers to teach English learners UW Seattle’s Elementary Teacher Preparation Program 1 class focusing on English learners: Focus on principles of second language acquisition and development with an emphasis on academic language and scaffolding. Learn instructional strategies for supporting ELL (English language learner) students in mainstream classrooms Explore the following questions: What does it mean to differentiate instruction for ELL students? How can we differentiate instruction to provide ELL students with rigorous learning opportunities while meeting content and language learning needs? a) Who are my students? b) Lesson plan c) Lesson rehearsals

Framework & Principles for our class Social/ Social justice & equity Understanding of students and their environments (home & school) Language Language is best learned via content Issues of social justice & equity can be woven in Focus needs to be on developing students’ academic language Teaching & learning All teachers need to be language teachers/ all language teachers need to be content teachers Teaching needs to be differentiated Teaching needs to be rehearsed and rooted in daily practice

5 components Learning about our students Language & Content Objectives Building background Comprehensible Input Student Talk

Social/Social justice: learning about our students & their settings Activity #1 A) Groups of 3-4: think about a particular class of students (use one of the classes you have had in the past) The goal is to identify and describe the students in your class – try grouping them B) What do you know about them already? C) How would you find out the following information about them? level(s) of English language proficiency, (native language), other languages spoken, schooling history), other information about the students such as particular talents, skills, likes, dislikes, goals etc. and other background or familial information (e.g. socioeconomic background) What other information might be helpful to find out? D) Talk in your group about how this information would be helpful for you as a teacher

Language (& content) objectives Background for creating language objectives for your content-based lesson for students you thought of in activity # 1 Language Skills – reading, writing, listening, speaking Language Functions – what is the language being used for/used to do? Language Structures – what grammatical structures and vocabulary are needed for students to articulate the functions?

Language functions* (some examples) Seeking information – acquire & describe information, inquiring Informing — recounting information provided by a teacher/text; retelling a story or personal experience Sequencing — ordering objects, ideas, events Classifying — grouping objects or ideas according to their characteristics Justifying & persuading — giving reasons for an action, decision, point of view; convincing others Solving problems — defining/presenting a problem and determining possible solutions * Gibbons, P. (1993).

Examples “Magnetic attraction occurs only between ferrous metals” “The area of the room is approximately 40 square feet” “My prediction is that Max is going to be hungry when he wakes up” “In my opinion, Jorge is a nicer character than Omar because...

Language structures Vocabulary, phrases, sentence structures, and grammar related to the language of schooling and academic content. Language structures may include compound or complex sentence constructions, phrases, content specific vocabulary, multiple-meaning words, or appropriate tenses (e.g. past tense).

Examples of language objectives Students will learn how to [skill] [function]. Language would include: [structures]. Example #1: Students will learn how to orally describe attributes of different landforms. Language would include: A [landform: mountain, river, plateau, etc.] is known by its [attributes: altitude, the width of its running water, flat top].

Creating language objectives for your lesson & students Activity # 2:  What content will you focus on for students in activity #1?  Sketch out a content-based lesson for students in activity 1 in your groups C) Write down language objectives for the lesson (1-3 objectives) Use the handout I have given Remember the language objectives must have skills, functions and structures

Other components Building background/Activating prior knowledge – questions, books, realia, visuals Comprehensible input – visuals, realia Student to student talk – create opportunities for more talk in the classroom

Lesson plans with modifications Activity # 3: In your groups and with your lesson plan sketch, and language objectives, and using the lesson plans I provided, add the following – building background comprehensible input student to student talk If there is time, provide a short rationale for these modifications/additions to your lesson

Self-assessment What did you learn today? What aspects might you incorporate in your future teaching/lessons? What questions do you have? How will you find out answers to these questions?

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