Principled Training for LESLLA Instructors

Patsy Vinogradov, Hamline University, Minnesota, USA

Astrid Liden, Minnesota Department of Education, USA

Agenda

• Our context

• Teacher training experiences

• Key knowledge & skills for LESLLA instructors

• Teacher training workshop demo

• Teacher training in your context

• Resources & next steps

Our context: Minnesota, U.S.

Minnesota

Our students

Minnesota has:

• the highest proportion of refugees of any state in the US

• the largest population of Somali immigrants in the country

• the second largest population of Hmong and the largest urban Hmong population in the country

Adult Basic Education (ABE) System in MN

• The mission of Adult Basic Education (ABE) in Minnesota is to provide adults with educational opportunities to acquire and improve their literacy skills necessary to become self-sufficient and to participate effectively as productive workers, family members, and citizens.

ABE in Minnesota

• Free ESL instruction for eligible students– Must be 16 and over, not enrolled in secondary school, and

functioning below the 12th grade level in any of the basic academic areas including reading, math, writing and speaking English.

• Typically, ABE programs are located in every school district in Minnesota as a part of the community education program.

• There are 53 ABE consortia statewide and over 500 delivery sites

• Sites vary – classes may be held in school buildings, community centers, libraries, churches, etc

What does a Minnesota adult ESL class look like?

• Huge variety…there is no “typical” class• Class size may range from a few people to over 30• Schedules vary: average from 4 – 20 hours/wk• Most classes offered in the morning or evening; some in

afternoon; very few on the weekends• Most classes are “open enrollment” (students may enter

or exit at any time during the year & there isn’t a “beginning” or “end” of the course)

• Class levels may vary: in smaller programs, levels are often combined into one class; in larger programs, there are leveled classes

Our adult ESL teachers

• Majority are part-time• Those working in school districts have a

teaching license but may not have experience & training in working with adults and or ESL

• Many volunteer instructors in community-based organizations

• Most have not had formal training on working with LESLLA students

Your contexts

• What is your role in LESLLA teacher training?

• How are LESLLA instructors in your context trained (if at all) to work with LESLLA students?

What do literacy-level language teachers need to know and be

able to do?

Knowledge

• Refugee experience• Types of “literacy-level” learners• Child acquisition of literacy in L1 vs. adult

acquisition of literacy in L2• Empathy for experience of emergent

reader • Principles of second language acquisition

(affective filter, comprehensible input, factors affecting langauge learning, etc.)

Knowledge, cont.

• Key LESLLA & L2 literacy research• Components of reading (phonemic

awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension)

• Balanced approach to literacy• Approaches to literacy instruction (project-

based learning, language experience approach, etc.)

• L1 literacy as a vehicle for L2 literacy

Skills

Assessment:

• Assess literacy and language skills in L1 and L2

• Conduct student needs assessments

Skills, cont.

Course design & classroom practice:

• Lower the affective filter; create a welcoming & productive learning environment

• Build oral language and vocabulary• Teach pre-literacy skills (holding a pencil,

identifying similar shapes/patterns, using appropriate directionality, etc.)

• Contextualize literacy instruction within real-life relevant themes

Skills, cont.

Course design & classroom practice:

• Design and teach multi-level lessons to address various levels of literacy in a classroom setting

• Design and teach lessons that address components of reading

• Design and teach lessons that develop top-down and bottom-up strategies

• Teach learning strategies and study skills appropriate for LESLLA students

Skills, cont.

Selection and development of appropriate materials:

• Adapt published materials for LESLLA students

• Use authentic materials for instruction

• Value and use student-generated texts

Think – Pair – Share

• What changes or additions would you make to the above checklist?

• Which seem most important to you in your setting?

LESLLA Teacher Training Workshop

• Developed based on our teaching and teacher training experiences

• First offered at TESOL 2008 in NYC

• Repeated at various professional development events since

• Positive response from participants

Primary components of workshop:

• Who are LESLLA learners?• Foreign language demonstration & debrief• Discussion of components of reading• Annotated bibliography of LESLLA research • Principles of LESLLA literacy instruction• Scenarios of effective practice• Demonstration of literacy-level unit • Workshop: development of literacy-level unit

Annotated bibliography

Objectives:• Provide annotated list of research that can be

used as a reading list for further study• Point to gaps in the research• Promote research-based practice

Task:• Skim bibliography and identify 2 articles on

topics they would like to learn more about• Share with a partner

Principled LESLLA instruction:

1. Keep it in context.

2. Go up and down the ladder.

3. Provide a buffet of learning opportunities.

4. Tap into strengths.

5. Nurture learners’ confidence.

Scenarios of effective practice

Objectives:• Move from abstract/theory to concrete/practice• Highlight practices that reflect balanced, meaning-based

instruction

Task:• Groups of participants read and analyze a scenario:

– How are the 5 principles put into action? – How are the 5 reading skills (phonics, phonemic awareness,

vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency) addressed?– How would you/do you respond to this situation?

Scenarios:

• Multi-level, 0/1• L1 literacy instruction• Meaningful assessment• Learning beyond the classroom• Using authentic texts• Choosing and creating materials, adapting

for use• Extensive reading

Demo of literacy-level unit

Objectives: Move from theory to practice Demonstrate classroom practices that

reflect balanced, meaning-based literacy instruction.

Neighborhood unit

Functional Literacy Objectives:• LWBAT write address.• LWBAT read relevant street signs.

Literacy Development Objectives:• LWBAT read and write about current neighbors and

neighborhoods. • LWBAT read and write about past neighbors and

neighborhoods.

Oral Skills Objectives:• LWBAT talk about their neighborhoods, past and

present, and express likes and dislikes.• LWBAT work together to complete cooperative tasks.

Grammar Objectives:• LWBAT recognize affirmative and negative sentences in

the present tense.• LWBAT recognize the third person ‘s’ in present tense.• LWBAT write at least one grammatical sentence in the

present tense.

Vocabulary Objectives:• LWABT name and recognize in print a variety of words

related to neighbors and neighborhoods, such as:

Key vocabulary

streetstoreschool

Cub FoodsCaribou Coffee

addressacross from

houseHoliday gas station

neighbornext to

parkpost office

bankbus

There is …There are …

Language experience story

We take a walk near our school. We see many things. Many cars, bus. We see Cub Foods, a store for food. Across the street, there is a big park. Very beautiful. On the corner, we see Holiday gas station. Humboldt avenue. On other side there is Caribou Coffee. We walk back to school. Next to school there are many houses.

LEA follow-up

1. Circle “we”. How many times do you see “we”?2. Underline all the words that begin with “c.”3. Circle There is and There are.4. Look at school, store, street

How are these words the same? How are they different?5. Teacher cuts the story into 5 sections on slips of paper.

Pairs must re-order the story and read it to each other.6. Teacher hands out one sentence each to students.

Students mingle until they have the order ready, and then stand in order and read their sentences aloud.

7. Teacher provides a cloze exercise with the LEA story they’ve created.

LEA follow-up: Cloze story

We take a walk near our___________. We see many things. Many cars, bus. We see _______ Foods, a _______ for food. Across the street, there _____ a big park. Very beautiful. On the corner, ____ see Holiday gas station. Humboldt avenue. On other side there is Caribou ____________. We walk back ______ school. Next to school there are many __________.

LEA follow-up: YES or NO?

1. Near my school, there is a park. YES NO

2. Near my school, there is a Holiday station. YES NO3. Near my school, there are no cars. YES

NO4. Near my school, there is Cub Foods. YES NO5. Near my school, there are no houses. YES NO6. Near my school, there is no coffee shop. YES

NO

LEA follow-up: Sort by letters

SSchool, street, store

CCub, Caribou Coffee, corner

AAvenue, across, are

Hhouses, Humboldt, Holiday

Next day or after break: LEA re-tell

Writing sentences using pictures

Show 6 photos we took on our walk. Give one to each table.

Informal chat: • What do you see in each picture? • What do people do at this place?

Then, with the teacher, volunteer, or slightly more advanced student, create a sentence or two to describe what happens at this place.

Examples:1. There is a Holiday gas station. We buy gas for the car.2. There is a school. We study English.3. There is a park. We walk.4. There is Cub Foods. It is a store for food.5. There are houses near our school.6. There is Caribou Coffee. We like to drink coffee here.

Extensive reading

• Gives teacher time to create a follow-up practice worksheet with student-generated sentences.

• Provides valuable “silent reading” time when students can read their choices of texts at their own pace. After a few minutes, students are asked to talk to a partner about what they read. After a couple of minutes, students switch partners and re-tell once more.

Individual reading practiceThere is a Holiday gas station. We buy gas for the car.There is a school. We study English.There is a park. We walk.There is Cub Foods. It is a store for food.There are houses near our school.There is Caribou Coffee. We like to drink coffee here.

1. Where can I buy coffee? __________________________2. Where can I study English? ________________________3. Where can I take a walk? _________________________4. Where do people live? ____________________________5. Where can I buy food? ___________________________6. Where can I buy gas for my car? __________________

Sound chain

house > school > like > cold > December > rabbit > time > my > ice

Write first letters/sounds

C H S

___aribou ___offee___ub Foods___oliday ___ouse___tudy___chool

Same or different

house house

cub cut

school scoot

food foot

guy buy

like like

Building schema for reading/Personalizing the lesson

– What do you like about YOUR neighborhood?

– What DON’T you like about your neighborhood?

– Who are your neighbors?

things I like things I don’t like

my house big dogs

my school dark street

coffee shop many cars

nice stores no people

? ?

? ?

Journal writing

Students who need/want one are given the following prompt:

In my neighborhood, I like ______________ _________________________________.

I don’t like __________________________ _________________________________.

Grammar focus: Present tense and negation

Elicit examples such as the following, with complete sentences:

I like I have I study I don’t like I don’t have I don’t

studyFaduma likes Jose likes Shoua studiesShe doesn’t like Jose doesn’t like Shoua doesn’t

study

How do we say “no”? Students express the rule.

Teacher elicits responses to the above prompts, and asks students to focus on the third person “s.” For example:

Faduma: I like coffee. Teacher: You like coffee? You don’t like juice?Faduma: No, I don’t like juice. I like coffee.Teacher (to others): What does she like?Sts: She likes coffee.Teacher: Yes, she likes coffee. Teacher: Do you buy coffee at Caribou?Faduma: Yes.Teacher (to others): So Faduma … ?Sts: She buys coffee at Caribou.

Grammar focus:Create-a-sentence activity

Names Actions Things

Faduma likes Cub Foods.

Patsy drinks coffee.

Andrea buys food.

Astrid drives cars.

? ? ?

Building schema for a textbook story

• Elicit and review students’ neighborhood likes and dislikes

• Find Virginia, U.S., Latin America, and Ethiopia on world map

• Where are your neighbors from?

Textbook story

friendly

• What does this mean?

• Are your neighbors friendly?

• What do friendly neighbors do?

• Unfriendly neighbors?

Progressive reading

• Teacher reads aloud as learners listen and follow along

• Learners read silently

• Choral reading

• Paired reading

• Individual silent reading

Sequencing

• Students put sentence strips of story in order

• Advanced students can do this on their own or work with phrases/individual words

• Lower literacy students can work with a partner and refer to the story

Follow-up activities

Circle “neighbor” and “neighbors.” How many times do you see these words?

Recognize same letters: Orally, students point out words that begin with the same letter or sound.

F, L, B, N, H, Sfriendly, from, frontlive, left, Latinbump, busyneighbors, not, know, nobodyhi, hasstreet, say

Nine patch

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

Nine patch

1

hi

2

has

3

house

4

street

5

say

6

store

7

friendly

8

from

9

food

Build a person

B - U – M – PB: busy, breakfast, byeU: up, under, umbrellaM: my, mother, minuteP: Patsy, party, pan

Where’s the sound?

beginning sound middle sound end sound

N O T

H A S

I N

L I V

Journals

Students journal about their own neighborhoods.

• What is in your neighborhood? Expand on your previous journal entry about what you like and don’t like.

• Who are your neighbors? Are they friendly?

Teacher, volunteer, and more literate students help as needed. Students who would like to can read their journal entries aloud to the class.

Neighborhoods: Now and before

In my country In Minnesota

Expansion & follow-up

• Expand journal entries to include info about past neighborhood

• Ask 2 people outside of class about their current and past neighborhoods; report back to class

Workshop

Objectives:• To apply knowledge gained from the workshop.• To create and share with each other practices that reflect

balanced, meaning-based literacy instruction.• To receive feedback & guidance from trainers

Task:• Create a thematic unit (15-20 hours of instruction) • Share 2 key ideas or activities with another group • Share highlights and questions with whole group

Discussion:

• What can you take from this LESLLA Teacher Training Workshop and apply to your context or setting? What here do you think is particularly useful for teachers that you train?

• What are YOU doing with LESLLA instructor training that seems to really be working?

Wrap up and next steps

• What resources need to be developed to help us with LESLLA teacher training?

• What resources can we share?