1

What about our ELLs?Why Teach Vocabulary?What Does Research Say? Article “Six Vocabulary Activities for the English Classroom”Vocabulary Activities

2

3

  

4

WhateverIt’s mine Ya-right

Oops

Dawg

Straight up What it is

            

My stuff Yes/No

Can you name others?

5

What do you want to know about English Language Learners?

What do you know about English Language Learners?

Your own experiences, or

What you’ve learned

6

What language do they speak at home? How much English do they know? How much prior schooling do they have?

When did they come to U.S.? Do their parents speak English? What is the education level of their parents?

7

Learning, as a language based activity, is fundamentally and profoundly dependent on vocabulary knowledge.

Baker, Simmons, Kameenui 1998

8

“Increasing vocabulary knowledge is a basic part of the process of education, both as a means and as an end. At the same time, advances in knowledge will create an even larger pool of concepts and words that a person must master to be literate and employable.”

Naggy

9

For English language learners (ELLs), vocabulary development is especially important. The average native English speaker enters kindergarten knowing at least 5,000 words. The average ELL may know 5,000 words in his or her native language, but very few words in English. While native speakers continue to learn new words, ELLs face the double challenge of building that foundation and then closing the gap.

(Honig, 1996)

10

Text factors, Word importance, Student Factors, Tier 1, 2 or 3

Manageable Number (approximately 10)

Provide a Model, Definition or Synonym

Practice (using complex texts)

Nurture an Appreciation of Words

11

Tier One Words (every day)

Tier Two Words (general academic)

Tier Three Words (Domain-specific)

12

Tier 1 words: ◦blue, elbow, table, run, girl

Tier 2 words: ◦difference, temperate, omnivore, exaggerate, measure

Tier 3 words: ◦asphalt, couplet, revolutionary

13

Some farmers grow blueberries in big fields. The people who live nearby can earn money by helping to pick the blueberries. Each one takes a pail out to the field and fills it with blueberries. They work fast so that they can fill many pails. They want to earn as much money as they can. When they are done picking, their fingers are blue from the juice of the berries!

14

Some farmers grow blueberries in big fields. The people who live nearby can earn money by helping to pick the blueberries. Each one takes a pail out to the field and fills it with blueberries. They work fast so that they can fill many pails. They want to earn as much money as they can. When they are done picking, their fingers are blue from the juice of the berries!

15

Which words deserve the most attention from you and from your students? (All words are not created equal as far as instruction time and effort are concerned)

How will you allocate your time so you are spending the time and effort on the words that will provide the most powerful change in student learning?

Take a look at the words you are teaching this week. For each word on the list, ask yourself the following questions:

16

Is this word important and useful, i.e., is this a word that is going to show up throughout someone's life?

Does this word have all kinds of possibilities for instruction, i.e., can I see numerous ways to teach this word--and to bring in other language learning, too?

Do my students have the background knowledge to understand this new word that I'm teaching--or do I need to provide some context for them, first?

17

Before doing an activity, teaching content, or reading a story in class, pre-teaching vocabulary is always helpful for ELLs

Students will get the chance to identify words and then be able to place them in context and remember them

18

Role playing Pantomiming Using gestures Showing real objects Pointing to pictures Doing quick drawings on the board

19

Pre-select words from an upcoming text Explain the meaning with student-friendly

definitions. Provide examples of how it is used. Ask students to repeat the word two or

three times. Engage students in activities to develop

mastery. Ask students to say the word again.

20

Write the word Write its definition Draw a picture about the word Write a sentence with the word and draw a

picture about the sentence

21

Meadow: Grassy land

The horses are grazing in the meadow.

22

Write the correct vocabulary word next to the definition

Write two sentences using two different vocabulary words

Draw a picture that describes one of the vocabulary words

23

Fine

Spoiled

Cheer

Alone

Reason

Very good

Ruined

Make glad

Not with anyone

Cause

24

Compound Words

Two teams: one team calls the first half of the word and the other team calls the second half

If answer is correct write the new word on the post card and draw a picture about the word. Words will be posted on chart paper

25

rainbow

26

27

Write vocabulary word next to the correct definition

Write the word and draw a picture describing it Complete sentences with vocabulary words Complete a CLOZE activity Write a story with the words Use words in a crossword puzzle Part of speech Prefix and suffix Singular and plural Compound words game

28

Learning new vocabulary words can be a challenging task for many students. One way to overcome this challenge is to play games (e.g. jeopardy, pyramid, mimes, bingo) that will make learning new words fun by creating a competitive environment.

29

Entering/Beginner Level:

Questions that elicit one-word answers: What’s …? Yes/no questions: Is it tall? Either/or questions: Is it smaller or larger?

Developing/Expanding Level:

Questions that elicit higher order thinking: Why? How? What do you think about …?What would you do differently?

30

Use of visuals, gestures, realia, hands-on tasks Frontloading/explicit instruction for concepts and

vocabulary (including academic language) Scaffolding information – modified text, graphic

organizers, sentence frames and stems, modified and alternate text, note taking, listening guides, info gap activities

Adjusting teacher speech - shorter sentences, use of idioms, pace and clarity of speech, saying many different ways

Frequent opportunities for language practice (small group cooperative learning, think-pair-share, numbered heads)

Safe environment for speaking (think-pair-share, whisper to me, etc.)

Effective ELL Strategies

31

Student-friendly definition Compare and contrast Elaboration Gestures Real, concrete objects/hands-on

experiences Teacher examples Student examples Repetition Connections to students’ experiences Fun with words (Word Walls, Word Jars)

32

Vocabulary knowledge is the single greatest contributor to reading comprehension and thus a strong predictor of overall academic achievement.

--Kate Kinsella, Isabel Beck, Robert Marzano,Doug Fisher, et. al.

33