Hammill Institute on Disabilities

Talk, Talk, TalkAuthor(s): Esther SeminarioSource: Learning Disability Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 4, Cultural Pluralism (Autumn, 1983), p. 539Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1510551 .

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- LDQ- APPLICATION . . .

1-2-3 SUCCEED! Students who have limited English skills often

experience difficulty working with abstract ideas in content areas such as social studies, math, and science. The strategy outlined here helps such students develop concepts and ideas as well as language skills. The approach utilizes three separate lessons consisting of three essen- tial steps in the process of learning to use a sec- ond language (English) for thinking. Due to its structure, the strategy circumvents the need for translation.

Lesson 1 is a prelesson conducted in the students' first language. Presented by the teacher, an aide or a tutor, this lesson allows students to use their first language to extend and develop ideas about a given topic. In a unit on air transportation, for example, the lesson could center around ways we have found to fly and what benefits people derive from being able to fly.

Lesson 2 involves the students in a total group with extensive use of visuals and demonstration to aid understanding. During this lesson students will try to transfer to the English setting what they have learned about the topic. Lesson 2 may focus on how people have been able to make advances in air travel and what types of machines are used for flying.

Lesson 3 focuses on the language of Lesson 2. It is a language lesson with an English-as-a- second-language emphasis designed for the limited-English speaker. Concept vocabulary is used. The lesson allows students to hear the English words distinctly and to use them at their own level. Vocabulary selected from Lesson 2 (e.g., airplane, fly, helicopter) is used to develop a conversation or dialogue among the students.

This series of lessons can be cycled to provide students opportunities to (a) think through the new ideas in the language they use most comfor- tably, (b) practice thinking through English, and (c) develop English for fluency in content areas.

- Ofelia Miramontes San Diego City Schools

TALK, TALK, TALK Give your students an opportunity to (a)

develop oral language skills, (b) learn to organize their ideas, and (c) express themselves through oral stories. The following approach has proven effective for getting students to talk, talk, talk.

Collect a group of pictures depicting an action situation that is interesting to your students. In small groups, discuss each picture with students, extending vocabulary, and asking who, what, where, why, and what-if questions.

Place the pictures in a listening-taping center where students can record their own story about a picture they have selected. Encourage students to tell as much as they can about the story they see in the picture. Students can share their stories with classmates by labeling each tape with story and author name and placing it in a special section of the center where it is available for others to enjoy.

-Esther Seminario San Diego City Schools

A CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

Realizing how special and diverse their school population is, teachers at Boulder Valley Schools decided to start a multicultural study in order to (a) promote interest in and respect for a way of life that is different, (b) stimulate friend- ship and understanding of children from differ- ent cultures and countries, (c) enhance respon- sibility toward other people worldwide, and (d) foster accountability for the environment.

Volume 6, Fall 1983 539

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