Leaping Beyond LEP Elizabeth Skelton and Dana Burwell Colorado TESOL Conference 2008

Who are your LEP students? Think about 1 ELL student who is currently classified as “LEP” Write 3-5 descriptive words or phrases about the language skills of this LEP student on space on handout.

Stages of Second Language Acquisition LEP students may be further advanced or struggle more in one or more of the language domains--listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Participatory activity to illustrate and introduce strategies for working with LEP students

Line Up! When I give the signal, please line up around the room according to your Spanish reading ability.

Round Table Consensus Person #1 chooses a card. Person #1 decides where it goes on the chart thinking aloud. Team gives consensus or feedback on the placement. Person #2 chooses a card. (Continue process)

Challenges for LEPs Listening Challenges Speaking Challenges Reading Challenges Writing Challenges

Activities to help LEPs leap! Each activity provides research-based practices for improving LEP linguistic competencies. Each activity is designed to help LEP students become self-sufficient learners. Each of the following activities can be modified for any content area. Each activity focuses on one or more of the 4 language domains. Each activity provides an opportunity for making connections.

Paired Reading Sit facing your partner. Partner A reads paragraph 1 aloud. Partner B asks one question about the reading. Partner A finds the answer in the text and underlines it OR writes a prediction about the answer in the margin. Continue with Partner B reading.

Rationale for Paired Reading Scaffolds the reading process. Encourages higher order thinking skills. Teaches reading skills--finding information, asking questions, making predictions, making inferences. Promotes reading fluency. Freeman and Freeman: Closing the Achievement Gap Calderón: Teaching Reading to English Language Learner

Cued Retell Sit facing your partner. Partner A listens as Partner B retells information from the reading. Partner A checks off key words or phrases from list 1 that are mentioned in the “Free Retell” column. Partner A shares key words or phrases that were not mentioned and checks the “Cued Retell” column as their partner responds. Switch roles and repeat for list 2.

Written Cued Retell Partner A and B both write down key words and phrases they remember from the reading. Partners either exchange papers or take turns reading them to each other. One partner checks off each item on the cued retell list that is included in his or her partner’s writing, using the “Free Retell” column.

Rationale for Cued Retell Allows students to monitor comprehension. Supports oral and written communication of content. Develops listening skills specific to content. Provides social interaction. Bouchard, Comprehension Strategies for English Language Learners Research by P.J. Doyle, (2000)

Meeting the Challenges Think of successful activities you have used with your LEP students to support their growth in one or more language domains. Write these ideas on the chart paper for that challenge. Circulate to the next chart and write in new ideas. Questions/Comments?

Evaluations and Goodbye! Please take a moment to complete the evaluation forms for CoTESOL Thanks for supporting all your ELLs as they make giant leaps!