Professional Development:Gifted English Language Learners

Monique SimsYoung-eun Son

Jill Yarborough-Smith

In this session, you will learn about gifted ELLs, their characteristics,

and the special accommodations you will need to foster

their academic growth

"Teachers ideally need to become more aware of their

students’ cultural backgrounds…This is particularly

important because our research shows that different groups have different conceptions about

what intelligence means.

What one group considers intelligent may not be considered intelligent by another. The teacher has

to understand what values have been placed on

intelligence in different cultures or cultural groups in order to

understand what they are trying to excel in-and this may

or may not match the teacher’s values."  

Sternberg, R. J. (1998, August). Talent and Diversity: The Emerging World of Limited English Proficient Students in Gifted Education. Office of Educational Research and Improvement. U.S. Department of Education.

Stand And Deliver A true story about several minority language students

in an inner-city school in Los Angeles, California.

Summary • Many teachers did not consider these students as

gifted learners. • Only their mathematics teacher, Jaime Escalante,

had high expectation for them. He rejected to think that they couldn’t think critically simply because they were from low-income family and different language background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aD-hfcFt2w&NR=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlN0We25DF4&NR=1

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS)

BICS are language skills used in social situations, such as

the playground, the lunchroom, or at parties.

It is the day-to-day language needed to interact socially with other people.

Social interactions are usually context embedded. They occur in a meaningful social context.

They are not very demanding cognitively. The language required is not specialized.

Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)

CALP refers to formal academic learning. This includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing about subject area content material.

This level of language learning is essential for students to succeed in school. Students need time and support to become proficient in academic areas.

Academic language acquisition isn't just the understanding of content area vocabulary. It includes skills such as comparing, classifying, synthesizing, evaluating, and inferring.

Academic language tasks are context reduced. Information is read from a textbook or presented by the teacher. As a student gets older the context of academic tasks becomes more and more reduced.

http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/bics_calp.php

http://www.asij.ac.jp/elementary/parent/mosaic/Research.htmhttp://www.asij.ac.jp/elementary/parent/mosaic/Research.htmhttp://www.asij.ac.jp/elementary/parent/mosaic/Research.htmhttp://www.asij.ac.jp/elementary/parent/mosaic/Research.htmhttp://www.asij.ac.jp/elementary/parent/mosaic/Research.htmhttp://www.asij.ac.jp/elementary/parent/mosaic/Research.htmhttp://www.asij.ac.jp/elementary/parent/mosaic/Research.htm

www.asij.ac.jp.elementary/parent/mosaic/Research. htm

“Second language acquisition depends on access to

second language input that is modified in various ways by

the teacher to make it comprehensible”

-Krashen, 1982

Gifted ELL Students: Characteristics1. High-level thinking skills, eagerness,

enthusiasm and independent workers2. They struggle with English reading

comprehension, idioms, and discipline-specific vocabulary.

3. They tend to show high achievement in Math and Science than Reading and Language Arts.

4. Gifted ESL students are hesitant among fluent English speakers; teachers need to draw ideas out of them.

5. Greater independence, preference a faster pace and challenge to remedial instruction

Gifted ELL students’ Needs•Gifted English Language Learners have

special needs.•Gifted ESL students need one-on-one

support to communicate ideas. •Safe and welcoming environment.

Because gifted ESL students have self-esteem issues, this environment is necessary to express themselves.

•Background knowledge and vocabulary including technical vocabulary

Challenges of Gifted ESL students

• Linguistic: The difficulty in determining a child’s intellectual potential; an assessment of their English knowledge rather than their intelligence.

• Cultural: cultural differences in learning styles, learning behaviors and response patterns

• Low Socio-Economic Status (SES): low-SES parents sometimes equates to lower expectations for their children (Eggen & Kauchak, 2010). Children from low SES experience a lack of security and support from families (Evans & English, 2002).

Challenges of Gifted ESL students• Cross-cultural conflict: delaying the development

of a child’s sense of self-identity and ethnic identity.

• School system: immigrant children have often been tracked into ESL programs & have been remediated to vocational courses (National Coalition of Advocates for Students, 1988).

• Harmful stereotyping : society’s negative stereotypes about particular ethnic groups; the members of the groups are hindered in their learning performance

(Steele, 2003).

So… How do we meet the special needs and challenges of our gifted ELLs?

Instructional Strategies for the Classroom• Create a natural context for practicing language skills: allow for

conversational grouping, peer grouping, and discussions in content base areas. Implement activities that involve two-way conversation.

• Use concrete objects to help learn vocabulary: Pictures, Models, & Graphic Organizers

• Rephrase idioms or teach their meanings• During Teacher-led instruction: Use facial gestures and pantomimes,

Employ repetition and summarization to increase understanding, Minimize the time the teacher spends talking

• Link content to the real world (CLD)• Scaffold, Scaffold, Scaffold!

Matthews, M. S. (2006). Working with gifted language learners. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press.

Questions to ask yourself about your Gifted ELL Curriculum• Do my materials, lessons and instructional strategies promote

educational equity? Do all students participate and contribute?• Do I promote cultural pluralism in my classroom? Are

cooperative strategies in place for my gifted ELLs? Do these strategies promote positive and affirming student relationships?

• Do my curriculum materials help to increase all students’ knowledge regarding various cultural groups? Are different perspectives allowed for in the curriculum?

• Does my curriculum dispel stereotypes? Does it correct distortions about minority groups?Ford, D. Y., & Milner, H. R. (2005). Teaching culturally diverse gifted students. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press.

Use Strengths Use creative and problem-solving strengthsAim instruction and language development at students' ability level, both linguistically and conceptually

Curriculum Use content-rich curriculum that increases challenge and interestUse instructional examples relevant to students' culture and experienceBuild on students' prior knowledgeDevelop oral and written languageInclude leadership training as an important part of the curriculum

Community Use community members and parents as mentors and resourcesAffective Component

Promote students' self-esteem through valuing them, their strengths, languages, cultures, and experiencesEmphasize counseling services as a central part of the program

Instructional Sequencing

Sequence information, presenting information and skills in developmental orderCluster information. It enables students to determine connections among ideas and skillsEncourage student use of prior concepts and skills in the acquisition of new concepts and skills by paralleling informationTeach backwards: students learn from unknown and abstract—inductive learning

Udall (1989); Kaplan (1999); Granada (2002); Kogan (2002)

Suggested Best Practices in Curriculum for High Ability English Language Learners

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/newsletter/winter05/winter053.html

Lev is a gifted 9 year old who is in 4th grad at Shady Acres Elementary School. When he was 7 years old his family moved from Russia to the United States. Though Lev’s family is of a low socio-economic status, he always has what he needs, especially the support of his family. At home Lev and his family speak only Russian, although they do know a limited amount of English.

Though Lev seemed to his teachers to be bright, the expectations were lowered for him because he has very limited English proficiency. This problem persisted throughout his schooling. Lev was not given opportunities for challenge in the classroom and he was rarely called on to give an answer. Often times the curriculum was dumbed down for him in order for him to understand better. This frustrated Lev so he rarely participated in class or completed his work. He did attend ESL resource classes, which did improve his English a little, but he found the instruction repetitive and boring so he often tuned out. By 3rd grade, Lev began to fall significantly behind. His teachers grew concerned and he was referred for special education services. When tested, his scores were low however, they were not low enough to place him in special education classes. Instead, Lev was placed in the lowest level class in the school. Lev continues to be unchallenged in his classroom.

Lev

Salina is an attractive blond and blue eyed 13-year-old seventh grader who hardly ever says a word in school. When she does, people have difficulty understanding her heavily accented English. The other Spanish speaking students do not accept her readily because of her fair skin and blue eyes, and they laugh at her Spanish accent, too. She comes from Chile. There, Salina was a popular student with many friends and highly regarded by her teachers. She had been in the top 10% of her class—bright and curious, a talented artist. In this country things are very different for her. Because the Chilean school year ranges from January to December, Salina had to leave her friends and her school in the middle of the year to start the US school year in August. The family had seen the move as an adventure, an opportunity to improve their circumstances and provide a better future for the children. Salina soon found her new middle school a confusing place where teachers were annoyed when she asked questions and students did not like her showing her intellectual ability. Salina was put in a low level academic class because of her limited proficiency in English. She found the work boring—basic facts she already knew, reams of worksheets and endless rote vocabulary practice. She feels she can not tell her family at home how lonely she is and how much she dislikes school. (de Witt, 2005)

Salina

References

De Wet, C. F. (2005). The challenge of bilingual and limited english proficient students. The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. Retrieved from http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/newsletter/winter05/winter053.html

Eggen, P. & Kauchak, D. (2010). Educational psychology - Windows on classrooms. New York: Prentice-Hall.

Ford, D. Y., & Milner, H. R. (2005). Teaching culturally diverse gifted students. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press.

Kitano, M. K., & Pedersen, K. S. (2002). Action research and practical inquiry teaching gifted English learners. Journal for the Education of the Gifted. 26(2). 132-147.

Musca, T. (Producer), & Menendez, R. (Director). (1988). Stand and Deliver [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Bros.

Evans, G.W., & English, K. (2002). The environment of poverty: Multiple stressor exposure, psychophysiological stress, and socioemotional adjustment. Child Development, 73, 1238-1248.

National Coalition of Advocates for Students. (1988). New voices, immigrant voices in U.S. public schools. (Research Rep. No 1988-1). Boston, MA: Author.

Steele, C. M. (2003). Streotype threat and African –American student achievement. In T. Perry, C. Steele, & A.G. Hilliard, Ⅲ (Eds.), Young, gifted, and Black: Promoting high achievement among African-American students (pp. 109-130). Boston: Beacon.

De Wet, C. F. (2005). The challenge of bilingual and limited english proficient students. The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. Retrieved from http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/newsletter/winter05/winter053.html