Collaborating to Meet the Needs of English Language Learners Robert Kohl WIDA Consortium © 2007 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium www.wida.us

Today’s Topics Welcome and Introductions Conceptions and misconceptions in language acquisition Levels of Language Proficiency Language proficiency vs Academic Proficiency Student Profiles Building Background Self-assessment on best practices for ELLs Introduction to the WIDA ELP Standards By the end of this training module, you should have a basic idea of how the WIDA English language proficiency standards work. You should also know that the 2006 edition of the Standards is an enhancement of the previous edition. You should understand the Summative (Large-Scale) and Formative (Classroom) Standards frameworks, as well as what Model Performance Indicators (MPIs) are and how they apply to your instruction and to the ACCESS for ELLs® test. WIDA Consortium

Pop Quiz You must do this quiz with at least one other person, but no more that two other people Read carefully each statement and decide as a team if the statement is true or not For each statement, you must justify your answer; i.e. “why do you think it is true/false?” This activity can be done as a quiz, but you can also have slips of paper in an envelop for smaller audiences and pair people up. Quiz is provided as additional handout. WIDA Consortium

Conceptions & Misconceptions Younger children learn 2nd language quickly and easily Children have acquired a second language once they can speak it The more time students spend in the mainstream, the quicker they learn the language Older generations of immigrants learned without all the special language programs that immigrant children receive today and they did just fine ELLs will acquire academic English faster if their parents speak English at home THIS LIST SHOULD BE ADAPTED TO YOUR AUDIENCE, TAKE AWAY, CHANGE, ADAPT AS YOU SEE THE NEED Younger children outperform adults in the area of pronunciation. However, as easily as they learn, they also forget easily. Adults have language schemata already in place to acquire language. The normal sequence of learning a language is listening, speaking, reading and finally writing. So, the fact that a child can speak the language, does not mean they can use it for “school purposes” such as reflection, writing assignments, etc. They may be fluent in the “social” language (BICS), but still developing their “academic” (CALP) language. ZPD, Vygotsky. Students need to be exposed to language that is comprehensible and at their instructional or independent level. Challenging language can help them move along the continuum of language acquisition if support is provided. Otherwise, it goes over their heads, “over their ZPD” The type of work and language interactions that older generations needed to survive in the new environment required a certain language level. The academic content and challenge of today’s schools and jobs may require a different level of language proficiency. In addition, many first generations did not actually acquire English, but lived in pockets of migrant communities where they continued to use their primary language at church, schools, stores, etc. Parents should talk to their children in their strongest language. Deeper conversations and use of language. WIDA Consortium

More Myths & Misconceptions Grammar is acquired naturally; it need not be taught The culture of students does not affect how long it takes them to acquire English. All students learn language the same way According to research, students in ESL-only programs with no schooling in their native language take 7-10 years to reach grade level norms The parents of ELLs are generally not as involved in their children’s education Good teaching is good teaching Language control needs to be explicitly taught for ELLs Different students learn differently (math, reading, language). In addition, there may be cultural and linguistic issues to consider. Yes, (Cummins, Thomas & Collier, etc) Parents Access to schools, the role they see themselves may be different from the role American schools expect them to play Yes and no- talk modeling and scaffolding WIDA Consortium

Something I want to think Circle of Learning #1 Something I want to think more about… Opportunity for participants to process and reflect individually on the information presented. Circles of Learning are provided as an additional handout. WIDA Consortium

New Vocabulary for Today ESL ELL LEP ELP BICS CALP This slide is optional, depending on the background of and relevance to your audience. English as a Second Language- EFL English as a Foreign Language: The curricular area, the licensing ELL (English Language Learner) the student, sometimes called EL (English Learner) LEP Federal and state label: Limited English Proficient ELP English Language Proficiency BICS Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (“social” language) CALP Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (“academic” language) WIDA Consortium

You learn by experience You learn by experience. However, it is not the experience itself you learn from; it is processing and reflecting on the experience that promotes growth. Introduction to process partners. This is an opportunity for processing and reflecting with someone else. Ask participants to make eye contact and/or introduce themselves to someone near them who will be willing to be their process partner for the day. WIDA Consortium

The WIDA ELP Scale 6 5 4 3 2 1 REACHING BRIDGING EXPANDING DEVELOPING ENTERING BEGINNING DEVELOPING EXPANDING 1 2 3 4 5 BRIDGING REACHING The five proficiency levels originally derived from Wisconsin’s scale and definitions. The labels used here were created by the WIDA development team. They describe proficiency levels of students, of performance indicators, and of test items. For the 2006 Edition of the WIDA ELP standards, a 6th level, Reaching, was defined to describe the English abilities of ELLs at the highest level of proficiency. At level 6, English language learners process, understand, produce or use: specialized or technical language reflective of the content area at grade level a variety of sentence lengths of varying linguistic complexity in extended oral or written discourse as required at the specified grade level oral and written communication of English comparable to that of English proficient peers There is more detail about each of the levels on the next 2 slides. WIDA Consortium

Criteria for Performance Definitions 1 2 3 4 5 6 REACHING ENTERING BEGINNING DEVELOPING EXPANDING BRIDGING Linguistic Complexity: Extent of functional language (text or discourse) Vocabulary Usage: Comprehension and use of the technical vocabulary of the content areas Language Control: Comprehension and use of phonological, syntactic, and semantic structure & rules Process partners: Define each of the three terms, read the definition and “translate” it into plain English. What does it mean? The criteria used to determine the performance definitions for each proficiency level are couched in terms of the language used in schools to impart content area information. Issues of linguistic complexity and semantic & pragmatic knowledge are brought to bear in formulating the definitions. At the two lower proficiency levels, it is assumed that ELLs would need extralinguistic support via graphic and visual aids in order to carry out language functions. This requirement also motivates the use of graphics for test items at these levels. Linguistic complexity: how simple or complex their language is: words, memorized sentences, short phrases and sentences, paragraph, fluent speech? Vocabulary usage: general vocabulary (house, table), general content area vocabulary (colors, numbers), specific content vocabulary (cell, table, etc.) technical content vocabulary (photosynthesis, hypothesis, hypothenuse) WIDA Consortium

Performance Definitions Note: At each level of the WIDA proficiency scale, we have defined the language that English language learners process, understand, produce, or use. Note that these general descriptors apply to all four language domains. The “CAN DO” Descriptors available in The ACCESS For ELLs™ Interpretive Guide for Score Reports 2006 (available at www.wida.us) contain domain-specific descriptors for Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing at each proficiency level. Making a full size handout of this slide for teachers will be helpful so that they can read it and work off it when implementing standards to actual lessons. WIDA Consortium

in my class is level _____ Circle of Learning #2 I think, _____, a student in my class is level _____ because… Individual processing and reflection. Think of a student who challenges you. Try to figure out their level of ELP and justify why? Question: How easy was this? Did anyone come up with dissonance between oral language and written language? Good, that’s food for thought! We’ll come back to that later! WIDA Consortium

What do you see? Are both women part of the same picture or are there two different pictures in one? Process partner: what do you see? WIDA Consortium

Language across the curriculum What constitutes Academic Language? What constitutes Academic Achievement? What is the relationship between Academic Language and Academic Achievement? The same dichotomy is present when teaching ELLs: we need to teach both academic language and academic achievement WIDA Consortium

Activities for Multiple proficiency Levels Techniques and Strategies for Integrating Language and Content Instruction Activities for Multiple proficiency Levels Activities for Presenting New Information “Pre ” Activities Thinking and Study Skill Activities Activities for Checking content comprehension Activities for Language Practice Activities to accommodate mixed levels in class and encourage students to learn from each other. Activities the teacher employs to teach new concepts and skills to students. Activities to determine what students already know about a topic or to prepare them for the lesson or upcoming tasks (e.g., pre-reading activities). Activities to teach or encourage students to use cognitive language learning strategies. Activities to determine if students have learned expected content concepts. Activities that promote language practice in one or more of the language skills. Divide participants into six groups and instruct them to walk from poster to poster listing one or two techniques they use in their classroom under the appropriate heading. Next, pass out yellow and blue stickers to participants. Direct them to put a yellow dot next to the techniques they know and use often in the classroom and a red dot sticker next to techniques that are unfamiliar to them. Discuss in detail the three techniques that receive the most yellow dots. Ask the people who originally wrote them to describe and give an example of how the technique is used. WIDA Consortium

Why did the chicken cross the road? Are you telling me the chicken crossed that road? Is that what you're telling me? I envision a world where all chickens, be they black or white or brown or red or speckled, will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question. In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed and that was good enough for us. To boldly go where no chicken has gone before. Depending on your audience, this activity may be used in addition to or substituted by the math activity in the next page. ROBERT DE NIRO: MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: GRANDPA: CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK: What do we need to know in order to know who said each of these quotes? There is a lot to know regarding language (background knowledge) in order to understand context and content WIDA Consortium

More on language proficiency vs academic proficiency How many different ways can you read the following mathematical expression? 3+2= With your process partner (or at your table) see how many ways you can read/say this mathematical expression. In this case, what would a student need to answer to display academic proficiency? What language would a student need to understand to display language proficiency? WIDA Consortium

Let’s “discuss” this a little more… Get into groups of four Assign one number to each member of your group (1-4) Follow directions carefully This activity shows how our language proficiency, vocabulary usage, control and complexity of language vary in social and different academic contexts. SI Discuss your best friend (1) LA Write a five paragraph essay discussing your favorite ethnic or religious holiday (EVERYONE) MA Discuss the Pythagorean Theorem (3) SC Discuss photosynthesis (4) SS Discuss the effect of the Civil War on the economy and social life of the South (5) How much did you have to think of your linguistic complexity, vocabulary use, and language control? How much academic proficiency did you need? How about language proficiency? WIDA Consortium

Language versus Content Language proficiency involves the language associated with the content areas. Academic achievement reflects the knowledge and skills associated with the content. WIDA ELP standards focus on academic language; academic standards focus on academic content. The WIDA Standards measure English language proficiency (ELP) in the academic content areas – not the academic content knowledge itself; the language of math, for example, what “greater than[>]” and “less than[<]” mean, not the math/computation itself (e.g., 6 [>/<] 5). WIDA Consortium

Strategies Discussion What strategies did we use during our first part of the morning? For each activity, discuss Why we used that specific strategy Who would benefit from that specific strategy How would you use /adapt /change it for use in your classroom Strips of paper (myths and misconceptions) or Quiz: To mingle, to talk to new people, just a different ice breaker than ask name, job, etc. it will benefit those students with strong verbal skills; those who are social and outgoing. It will be challenging with those shy, low oral skills Circles of Learning: Reflection. Good for those with low writing skills (not too much to write, could draw) for those with strong intrapersonal skills. Breaks big chunks of new knowledge into smaller more manageable pieces. Process Partners: Reflection. (See strips of paper) But, the more you use the same process partner, the easier and more routine-like the activity becomes Graphics (old lady, young lady): Reflection, spark conversation, fun. A way to decontextualize knowledge. Good for reflective learners, visual learners Humor: Ease the tension, show a point (chicken crossing the road) Small groups: Better for shy people. More of a chance to talk. Better for social, interpersonal learners, for aural learners. WIDA Consortium

Student profiles Think back about the student you chose for the first circle of learning Add information to the student profile to describe the student as a learner Write the name of the student at the center Use the bubbles surrounding the center to describe the student Discuss the student with your process partner When deciding on a student, choose someone who is challenging to you, preferably someone the whole team is familiar with. As a team, you may decide to do 2 if not everyone works with everyone WIDA Consortium

Student Profile A handout is available for you, make sure you use one side of the handout. If you do more than one student, use a different handout for each student WIDA Consortium

Multiple Intelligences Talk briefly about the MIT How many people use this on a daily basis. Why do you think I picked a diagram like this versus a list or a table? WIDA Consortium

My learning profile Think about your own learning Fill out your own learner profile Discuss your profile with your process partner What does my profile say about you as a teacher? What are your strengths? What are some of your weaknesses? WIDA Consortium

Questions to Ponder What kind of knowledge about this student can you use in my planning? What information in my profile guides instruction? What information in my profile can be rewritten to tell more What information is not necessary? Highlight as a group or underline the information that is useful, cross out any information that is not relevant. Circle that information you may want to rephrase. Put your profiles aside for a little bit, we will come to them later WIDA Consortium

Circle of Learning #3 What implications does my MI profile as a teacher have on my learners? WIDA Consortium

Turning lead into Gold Now go back to your student profile and revise it if needed: What are the student’s strengths and successful methods of expressing knowledge? (Consider Gardner’s MI Theory) What are the expectations of this student in general education activities? What issues or concerns need to be addressed to achieve successful participation? What about linguistic needs and expectations? Let’s go back to our student profile. What adjustments does it need? MIT Discuss these questions with your team as you change your profile Another handout that may be useful to you is the Turning Pb into AU WIDA Consortium

Now with your partner… Describe your focus student in terms of his/her multiple intelligences Identify one or more learning targets appropriate for the focus student Brainstorm some ideas for instruction and assessment Identify the types of adaptations that might be needed to engage the student in learning Identify language issues you may want to help your student with Now, how do we use this information. Let’s take it to the next step: On the back of your Turning PB into Au handout, you have a “learning experience” worksheet. Work on it as a team. WIDA Consortium

Ignacio “Nacho” Estrada If Children Don’t Learn the Way We Teach, We Have to Change the Way We Teach Ignacio “Nacho” Estrada WIDA Consortium

Circle of Learning #4 Something I want to remember… WIDA Consortium

Case Study Read the Case Study: How do I teach grade-level content to English beginners? With another pair of Process Partners discuss: Strategies the teacher used Other strategies you have used One strategy you would like to use A suggested case study to use is from Working with Second Language Learners: Answers to Teachers’ Top Ten Questions by Stephen Cary Depending on your audience, you may want to use vignettes by Sonia Nieto’s Affirming Diversity or another choice. Also, you do not have to have a working lunch. If you are breaking this into more that one day, you can give this as homework and use as a grounding activity the next time you meet or not use the activity. WIDA Consortium

Grounding Activity At your table, discuss one strategy that you talked about that you “just have to” share WIDA Consortium

Values are the link between emotion and behavior, the connection between what we feel and what we do… With everything changing around us we need something unchanging…to hang on to…Values are our moral navigational devices. -James Champy (1995, p.78) Switching gears to values and beliefs of teaching ELLs WIDA Consortium

Self- Assessment Answer the self-assessment individually Put an X on three (3) items you consider high on your priority list With your table, discuss what priorities from the self-assessment are common to most members of the team (NOTE:) You do not have to discuss the self-assessment, just the priorities) At your table, there are three dots. Post a dot next to each of your table’s three (3) priority areas This is an inventory of “best practices” for ELLs, the purpose of the activity is to self-reflect on how we teach English to students. This activity can be modified and used as a grounding activity during a lunch break or homework for participants to provide them with additional time to think over the inventory. The inventory can also be modified and/or shortened in order to accommodate for time or to adapt to the particular audience (EFL vs ESL) The second part of the activity, the group discussion is meant to serve as a starting point for teams to talk about goals, ideals and priorities in their teachings. As a whole school activity, the visual of the dots can serve as a springboard to conversations about where to go and how to get there. WIDA Consortium

Big picture What patterns do you see? As a district, what are the priorities that come up more often? How are these priorities related? These are some discussion questions for the large group processing of the information. WIDA Consortium

A few words on change… “Letting go” of previously learned ideas and routines or incorporating new information into their practice- choosing what to abandon and what to keep or modify- is a big part of what it means to be a lifelong learner and an adaptive expert. For an adaptive expert, discovering the need to change is perceived not as a failure, but instead, as a success and an inevitable, continuous aspect of effective teaching. -Darling-Hammond, L. & Bransford, J. (2005) p. 363 Please circle the words letting go and incorporating Underline what to abandon and what to keep or modify Draw a rectangle around the words lifelong and adaptive Underline inevitable, continuous effective teaching WIDA Consortium

as an effective teacher Circle of Learning #5 What are some changes I would like to make to continue my path as an effective teacher for ELLs? Individual processing and reflection WIDA Consortium

Reviewing Language Proficiency and Academic Achievement Language proficiency revolves around the language associated with the content areas Academic achievement reflects the knowledge and skills associated with the content. WIDA ELP standards focus on academic language; Academic standards focus on academic content. From here to the rest of Day 1 is an introduction to the Standards. The first few slides review material covered during the first day and starting on slide 45, an introduction follows on the standards and what they look like. If Day 1 and 2 are being combined, you could skip this part and add slides in from Day 2. Even if you are doing both days, you can skip this part to accommodate for time because Day 2 starts with a review of Day 1. However, if you have time, it would be nice to end up with a review of the day and a preview of the next. WIDA Consortium

WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards 1: English language learners communicate in English for SOCIAL AND INSTRUCTIONAL purposes within the school setting. 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of LANGUAGE ARTS. 3: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of MATHEMATICS. 4: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts for academic success in the content area of SCIENCE. 5: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of SOCIAL STUDIES. These are the standards (5) WIDA Consortium

There are 4 Language Domains Listening- process, understand, interpret, and evaluate spoken language in a variety of situations   Speaking- engage in oral communication in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes and audiences Reading- process, interpret, and evaluate written language, symbols, and text with understanding and fluency Writing- engage in written communication in a variety of forms for a variety of purposes and audiences This is what we call domains: the different ways in which we use language. WIDA Consortium

There are 5 Grade-Level Clusters Kindergarten 1-2 3-5 6-8 9-12 WIDA Consortium

The levels of ELP 6 5 4 BRIDGING 3 EXPANDING REACHING 2 DEVELOPING 1 BEGINNING ENTERING Linguistic Complexity: Extent of functional language (text or discourse) Vocabulary Usage: Comprehension and use of the technical vocabulary of the content areas Language Control: Comprehension and use of phonological, syntactic, and semantic structure & rules This should be review from earlier on the day. You can ask participants to provide examples or you can give examples and have them identify what part of language your example refers to. For example: A student talks in present tense all the time. (Language control) A student is doing a report on felines, but she uses the word cat throughout the whole report. (Vocabulary usage) A student uses memorized chunks of language, but no complete sentences without modeling. (Linguistic Complexity) WIDA Consortium

This is the format that the standards follow This is the format that the standards follow. Each page has the standard at the top and the language domain (speaking, listening, reading or writing). Then, you have a grid showing the proficiency levels across and the grade level cluster going down. Each intersection gives you a model performance indicator, which shows you an example of what a student can do at that particular grade level with that particular language proficiency. We will be talking and examining strands (rows) and see how the language evolves as the level of proficiency of a student evolves. WIDA Consortium

Grade Level Cluster: 1-2 English Language Proficiency Standard 4: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of SCIENCE. Grade Level Cluster: 1-2 Language Domain Level 1 Entering Level 2 Beginning Level 3 Developing Level 4 Expanding Level 5 Bridging Listening identify scientific facts about weather or environment depicted in pictures or photographs (such as temperature, seasons, precipitation) from oral statements find examples of scientific hypotheses about weather or environment from pictures or photographs and oral descriptions respond to oral questions about weather or environment using pictures or photographs predict results related to scientific hypotheses about weather or environment from pictures or photographs and oral scenarios interpret results, along with reasons, based on scientific hypotheses about weather or environment from pictures or photographs and oral reading of grade level materials Speaking use words or phrases related to weather or environment from pictures/photographs (such as temperatures, seasons, or precipitation) restate scientific hypotheses about weather or environment from pictures or photographs ask WH- questions about weather or environment from pictures or photographs predict results and provide reasons based on scientific hypotheses about weather or environment from oral or written information evaluate and weigh options related to scientific hypotheses about weather or environment from oral or written information Reading locate scientific words about weather or environment from pictures or photographs (such as seasons, temperature, precipitation) select scientific hypotheses about weather or environment from pictures or photographs with text respond to scientific questions about weather or environment from visually supported text match predictions and reasons related to scientific hypotheses about weather or environment to written text infer results and reasons based on scientific hypotheses about weather or environment based on grade level text Writing produce scientific words or diagrams about weather or environment from pictures or photographs (such as seasons, temperature, precipitation) (re)state scientific hypotheses about weather or environment from pictures or photographs answer scientific questions about weather or environment from pictures or photographs make predictions and/or give reasons based on scientific hypotheses about weather or environment explain results and provide reasons based on scientific hypotheses about weather or environment This is an example of an actual page from the standards. It is also an example of a different organization of the standards. In this case, you have the standard at the top and the grade level cluster. What changes are the levels and the language domains. Still, you have individual boxes (MPIs) and strands (rows). WIDA Consortium

An Example from Grade 3 Life Science English Language Proficiency Standard 4: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of SCIENCE. Domain: Speaking 3-5 make collections, organize, and identify natural phenomena (such as leaves, insects, or rocks) describe natural phenomena from real-life examples (e.g., “This leaf has five points.”) describe the step-by-step process of making and organizing collections of natural phenomena (e.g., “First, I went to the park.”) compare features of natural phenomena (e.g., “This leaf has five points while this one has two.”) report on the physical relationships among natural phenomena Here is another example, similar to the first one we saw, with the standard at the top and the domain. This time, we extracted a strand, the one for grade cluster 3-5 and see what is the same and what changes across this strand. Take a minute to read each MPI, you may start to see a structure to the mpis. WIDA Consortium

The Elements of the MPI The Language Function The Content Stem The Support or Strategy* So, the structure to any given MPI is the same. The all have a language function, a content stem and some of them may have a support or strategy. WIDA Consortium

English Language Proficiency Standard 4: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of SCIENCE. Domain: Speaking 3-5 make collections, organize, and identify natural phenomena (such as leaves, insects, or rocks) describe natural phenomena from real-life examples (e.g., “This leaf has five points.”) describe the step-by-step process of making and organizing collections of natural phenomena (e.g., “First, I went to the park.”) compare features of natural phenomena (e.g., “This leaf has five points while this one has two.”) report on the physical relationships among natural phenomena Let’s take another look at the strand. This time, we will pick a single MPI to look at. WIDA Consortium

The Model Performance Indicator/MPI describe the step-by-step process of making and organizing collections of natural phenomena (e.g., “First, I went to the park.”) Read the MPI WIDA Consortium

The Model Performance Indicator Language Function describe the step-by-step process of making and organizing collections of natural phenomena (e.g., “First, I went to the park.”) What is the language function? WIDA Consortium

The Model Performance Indicator Language Function describe the step-by-step process of making and organizing collections of natural phenomena (e.g., “First, I went to the park.”) In order to describe a process step by step, what vocabulary do we need? What linguistic complexity do we need? What language control could we expect? How do you know? What is the level of the student? Where do I get this info? Remember the arrow handout. WIDA Consortium

The Model Performance Indicator Content Stem describe the step-by-step process of making and organizing collections of natural phenomena (e.g., “First, I went to the park.”) Now, let’s think of the content. What is the content stem? WIDA Consortium

The Model Performance Indicator Content Stem describe the step-by-step process of making and organizing collections of natural phenomena (e.g., “First, I went to the park.”) In this case, there is no support. There is an example, but the mpi does not give an example of a support (visual, graphic or interactive) WIDA Consortium

Homework “Language teaching to students who are acquiring English should take place all day in all content areas. These students have no time to waste.” Mary Lou McCloskey (1990) Reflect on the needs of ELLs listed on the following slide. With colleagues prepare significant instructional interventions that will enable each student to demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills. WIDA Consortium

Needs of ELLs Effective teachers Affective support Cognitive support Linguistic support Focused instruction Modified texts Modified and differentiated instruction Opportunities to demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills WIDA Consortium

Questions or Comments? For more information, please contact the WIDA Hotline: 1-866-276-7735 or help@wida.us World Class Instructional Design and Assessment, www.wida.us Center for Applied Linguistics, www.cal.org Metritech, Inc., www.metritech.com © 2007 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium www.wida.us