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What Do Newcomers Need from Teachers?
Contents
Language Proficiency Levels P.2
Comprehensible Input P.4
Photo Stories P.5
Picture Talking P.6
Documentation Panels P.7
ESL Prof. Development P.8
ELL Students in Indiana
Indiana has approximately 50,000
students who speak a language
other than English as their native
language and are still in the proc-
ess of acquiring academic English.
In Indiana, we typically call these
students English language learners
(ELL). In other parts of the country,
they may be referred to as English
learners, limited English proficient
students, or culturally and linguisti-
cally diverse students.
Facts about Indiana ELLs
• More than 225 languages are
spoken by K-12 students in
Indiana. 144 languages are
spoken by students in Marion
County.
• The most frequently spoken
languages in Indiana are Span-
ish, Amish German, Mandarin,
Arabic, and Vietnamese.
Supporting the Language Development
of Beginning ELL Students
Newcomer English learners are simultaneously navigating com-plex cultural and social adjustments while also learning a new language. Teachers who work with newcomer English learners must consider the diverse experiences of this group of students. Some newcomers, for example, may have been enrolled continu-ously in school in their home countries and had the opportunity for well developed literacy in their first language, while other newcomers may have little experience with formal school set-tings and school-based literacy. Teachers can help newcomers adjust to school by fostering a relaxed classroom environment, assisting students in learning the unspoken rules of U.S. schools, supporting newcomers’ language development in both the first language and English, and making lesson content comprehensi-ble and relevant to students’ lives.
Language Proficiency Levels
Krashen and Terrell (1983) provided what has become the
most universal definition of the different stages of lan-
guage acquisition. These stages include preproduction,
early production, speech emergent and intermediate flu-
ency. In the initial stage of second language acquisition,
the preproduction stage, ELL students do not understand
or speak English. They communicate primarily through
body language and environmental clues. During this
time, they are listening and acquiring high frequency
words and phrases. Once ELL students begin to speak
using high frequency words and phrases, they have
reached the early production stage of language acquisi-
tion. ELL students in the early production stage can
communicate using common words to convey basic
ideas. The next stage of language acquisition is the
speech emergent stage. In this stage, ELL students use a
more extensive vocabulary, longer phrases, and sen-
tences. In general, students at this stage are more willing
to take risks to communicate their ideas, so they often
make more errors. At this stage, ELL students can com-
municate most of their ideas and understand much of
what other people communicate, but they struggle in
expressing and understanding complex ideas. In the
next stage of second language acquisition, the inter-
mediate fluency stage, ELL students often appear to
be fluent. They can communicate in social situa-
tions and they function adequately in many class-
room situations. However, they still need contextual
cues (prior knowledge, experiential, visual and visual
support) to construct a deep understanding of com-
plex content area concepts.
As teachers plan lessons for linguistically diverse
groups of students, they should keep these stages of
language acquisition in mind. While ELL students, re-
gardless of language proficiency, should participate in grade
level instruction, the linguistic demand of the instruction
can be accommodated depending on the stages of language
acquisition present among the students. For example, stu-
dent cooperative group configurations may vary depending
on language proficiency. ELL students who are in the begin-
ning stages of second language acquisition would benefit
from extensive native language collaborative groups discus-
sion of key content area concept and a small amount of
practice using key content words and phrases in classroom
discussion in English. ELL students at the more advanced
levels would benefit from a different balance between their
native languages and English. They need opportunities to
clarify key content area concepts in their native languages,
but they also need extensive opportunities to use academic
English with native English speaking peers. Additionally,
beginning ELL students need much more visual and experi-
ential support in learning content area concepts than more
proficient ELL students. Instructional planning for ELL stu-
dents depends heavily on their levels of language proficiency
in English.
What does it mean to be a level 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 ELL student?
Language Proficiency Levels Student Characteristics Instructional Support
Preproduction
Level 1
Do not understand or speak English
Communicate through pictures and body lan-
guage
May know a few high frequency words and
phrases (bathroom, teacher, etc.)
Need a tremendous amount of visual and experi-
ential support
Need to use the native language to understand
even basic communication
Early
Production
Level 2
Use high frequency words and phrases
Can convey basic ideas
Very limited vocabulary
Basic sentence structure
Difficulty with verb tense use and other gram-
matical structures
Need a tremendous amount of visual and experi-
ential support
Need to use the native language to understand
academic communication and less familiar so-
cial situations
Speech
Emergent
Level 3
Somewhat limited vocabulary
Can communicate fairly well in social situations
Simple sentence structure
Use longer phrases and sentences
Still struggle with academic language and liter-
acy
Make systematic errors in grammar and syntax
that a native English speaker would not make
Less dependent on the native language for social
communication
Still need native language support for cognitively
and/or academically complex situations
Still need visual and experiential support
Intermediate
Fluency
Level 4
Appear to be fluent
Function well in social situations
Perform adequately in academic contexts
Simple sentence structure
Limited academic vocabulary
Typically only make grammatical errors that na-
tive English speakers would make
Below grade level in reading and/or writing
Less need for native language support, although it
can still support cognitive and academic devel-
opment
Visual and experiential support helpful, but not
essential
Advanced
Fluency
Level 5
Near, at, or beyond grade level literacy develop-
ment
Uses complex grammar, syntax, and vocabulary
Less need for native language support, although it
can still support cognitive and academic devel-
opment
Visual and experiential support helpful, but not
essential
Providing Comprehensible Input Comprehensible
Materials
Visual Encyclopedias
Use highly visual encyclopedia
entries (publishers: DK, Usborne,
Scholastic,Kingfisher, etc.) rep-
resenting key content area con-
cepts as a prior knowledge build-
ing text. Students can select key
words and categorize them in
ways that fit the topic. For ex-
ample, in studying animals, they
could find and classify words
related to desert animals, farm
animals, etc.
Picture Dictionaries
Picture dictionaries are available
for ELL students that address
both social and academic lan-
guage.
Videos
ELL students benefit when they
see videos clips before they start
a lesson or unit. Videos help
them to get the picture in their
minds of what they will study.
Krashen’s (1981) Input Hypothesis, also
called comprehensible input, explains
how learners acquire a second language.
A learner’s second language develops
when he or she is exposed to language
that is a little more complex than his or
her current level of language proficiency.
Teachers can provide comprehensible
input to ELL students by supporting what
they say and do in the classroom with
non-verbal clues for meaning. For exam-
ple, in discussing a food web, a science
teacher might supplement the discussion
with a poster that has labeled pictures of
the plants and animals in the foodweb.
Pointing to the plants and animals while
discussing the concept of the food web
will help ELL students to connect new
words with images and language with
concepts. Over time, this comprehensi-
ble input will support the ELL students in
acquiring the vocabulary and language
structures that are being used in class-
room discussions and activities. A visu-
ally, experientially, and linguistically rich
classroom environment will help ELL
students to develop the cognitive aca-
demic language proficiency, the lan-
guage necessary for success in school.
Here are some ways to help your ELL
students to understand your lessons:
Write information/directions in addition
to saying them
Model expected outcomes
Provide students with checklist for steps
in an assignment
Provide students outlines of key content
information
Use gestures and facial expressions
Provide native language support through
peers, paraprofessionals, and/or native
language text
Visual support: show pictures, draw dia-
grams, act out meaning
Roleplaying/ demonstration/modeling
Use hands-on activities
Show video clips
Demonstrate what you want students to
do
Use graphic organizers
Don’t lecture for extended periods of time.
Give students opportunities to talk with a
native language partner about what they
understand.
What you can do to help your beginning ELL students to under-
stand key concepts in your lessons
Language Experience Photo Stories
Ideas for Photo Stories
Reading Photo Stories
The language experience approach to
reading is a powerful way to help ELL stu-
dent acquire language and reading skills.
In this teaching strategy, teachers work
with students to write about the students’
experiences. Teachers listen to the stu-
dents talk about their experiences and
write what they say. When working with
beginning ELL students, teachers often
take a more supportive role by taking the
students’ words and phrases and working
with them to construct a story in standard
English. Language experience stories can
be developed in conjunction with individ-
ual students, small groups of students, or
whole classes of students.
The language experience approach works
well for students for several reasons:
1. the stories come from the students’
experiences so prior knowledge con-
nections are strong,
2. the teacher takes the developing lan-
guage of the students and constructs
language that it a bit beyond the stu-
dents’ language developmental levels
so the text is at the instructional read-
ing and grammatical levels for the stu-
dents,
3. the teacher models how to approach
writing a narrative text and provides
students with interactive opportuni-
ties to engage in expressing their ideas
through writing,
4. students read, speak, and listen
throughout the writing experience.
When working with beginning and inter-
mediate level ELL students, using photo-
graphs in the language experience process
can provide ELL students with the neces-
sary comprehensible input to understand
the text. In adapting the language ap-
proach experience for beginners, teachers
can start by taking photos during class ac-
tivities or fieldtrips and then using the pho-
tos as a basis for writing a story. If stu-
dents do not yet speak much English, then
the teacher can have the students work in
small groups to label each photo with the
words that they know. Then the teacher
can solicit the words from the groups to
label a common photo and add additional
labels to the photo. In the next step, the
teacher can work with the groups to create
sentences for each photo using some of
the relevant words. The text written by
the students and teachers can be used as a
reading text.
Once the students get used to writing
group photo stories, they can begin to
write their own stories. Teachers can lend
students digital cameras to take home and
take photos related to a topic (e.g. people
in my family, how to make my favorite
food, etc. Students can either work in
small groups or by themselves to create
their own photo stories.
Prereading Activities
• Label key words in the pho-
tos.
• Act out and/or draw key
words in the photos and/or
story.
• Talk about the photos.
Point to key words in the
photos as you and/or the
students mention them.
During Reading Activities
• Read the story aloud to the
students.
• Echo and/or choral read
the story with the students.
Postreading Activities
• Cut the sentences apart
from the photos. Have stu-
dents match each sentence
to the photo that it de-
scribes to assess their com-
prehension.
• Use the ‘model’ story as a
template for students to
write their own photo sto-
ries (imitation writing).
• Autobiographies (teacher and
student)
• My school
• My community
• My family
• How to play my favorite game
• What we did on the fieldtrip
• Steps in a science experiment
• How to cook my favorite food
Picture Talking
There are many strategies that you can use
to help your English language learning (ELL)
students make background connections.
Most of these strategies will also support
native English speaking students, so you do
not have to make a separate lesson for
your ELL students. However, you should
have students work together in their native
languages on these activities sometimes so
that they can understand the materials
better before you work with them in Eng-
lish. Discussing concepts and readings in
the native language prior to discussing
them in English increases ELL student com-
prehension in English (Jimenez, Garcia, &
Pearson, 1996). Teachers should model
how to do each of these strategies for stu-
dents several times before expecting them
to complete them independently.
One of our favorite strategies is picture
talking. To engage in this activity, the
teacher passes out a copied picture related
to the day's topic. Students can use lami-
nated pictures and overhead projector
pens if the teacher will use the pictures
with multiple classes or over multiple
years. On the picture, the students label
the words they know. The students should
work in pairs or small groups to label the
pictures so that they can talk about what
they see. Discussions with native language
partners allow students to clarify their
understanding using language that they
understand the best. Beginning ELL stu-
dents are most likely to make prior knowl-
edge connections when speaking in their
native languages.
After the students have discussed and la-
beled the pictures, they tell the teacher
what they have written on their pictures as
the teacher writes their responses on the
same picture on an overhead projector
transparency. The teacher then starts ask-
ing them about specific aspects of the pic-
ture that represent key vocabulary words
in order to ensure that the students have
an idea of the meanings of key vocabulary
words before they start a lesson or in order
to review key concepts and words. The
students then write a sentence or two
about what they think the lesson will be
about, emphasizing what they already
know about the topic.
Some questions that the teacher might ask
the students to discuss include:
What do you see?
What does this picture remind you of?
What do you think the lesson will be
about?
What questions do you have?
How to Get Pictures
Cheaply and Easily
Lily mitosis photo by Andrew S. Bajer, University of Oregon, Eugene, NIGMS
Word Scavenger Hunt
Give teams of students a list of
content-related words that are
central to your instructional
unit. Make sure that the words
on the list can be represented
visually. Teams compete to see
who can find pictures for the
most vocabulary words in maga-
zines. National Geographic
magazines have many rich pic-
tures for most content area con-
cepts, people, places, etc.
You can use their pictures to cre-
ate pictorial word walls, dia-
grams, student-made visual en-
cyclopedias, and content-based
posters. (Moore, Moore, Cun-
ningham, & Cunningham, 1986).
Photographed Vocabulary
Students use digital cameras to
photograph images that repre-
sent key content area vocabu-
lary. Words related to emotions
and represented in their commu-
nity or homes are especially
powerful in helping students to
learn key vocabulary. Students
present their photographs, key
words, and their meanings. You
can use their pictures to create
pictorial word walls, diagrams,
student-made visual encyclope-
dias, and content-based posters
(Stanley, 1971).
Making Learning Visible Documentation is a means to make learning
visible. As students work through projects,
they keep evidence of each step of their
learning, paying special attention to both
what they are learning and how they are
learning it. This evidence involves multiple
modalities for communication, including
both linguistic and visual representation.
Students assemble their documentation for
individual feedback and culminating sharing
with other what they have learned. An ex-
ample of a culiminating product might be a
science-fair like display.
Documentation gives students and teachers
insight into students’ learning processes as
well as their development of content area
concepts. Students get many opportunities
for feedback and support throughout their
learning process form peers, teachers, and/
or parents. Furthermore, the process of
constructing the documentation encour-
ages students to reflect upon what they are
learning.
This process of documenting learning bene-
fits ELL students in particular because it
provides comprehensible input and aca-
demic language practice. Because docu-
mentation requires students to show what
they have learned through multiple modali-
ties such as artwork, modeling, graphic or-
ganizers, language, etc., ELL students can
show what they know using their own
forms of representation.
ELL students develop academic language
through the documentation process be-
cause they have many authentic opportuni-
ties for talking about what they are learning
with their project partners, explaining what
they are learning to their peers and teach-
ers, and connecting the visual representa-
tions with language as their construct their
displays.
Howard Gardner, the father of Multiple
Intelligences Theory, has been so impressed
by the power of documentation for all stu-
dents that he is now making this process
the center of one of his major research pro-
jects. He has embraced documentation
because it allows students, parents, and
teachers to develop a deep understanding
of students’ conceptual and cognitive devel-
opment than more traditional forms of as-
sessment.
Artifacts to Include in
Documentation Panels
• Drawings
• Painting
• Maps
• Field notes
• Concept maps
• Surveys
• I wonder… statements
• Lists of questions to explore
Products to Develop from a
Documentation Panel
• Service learning project
• Poetry
• Short stories
• Picture stories
• Public service announcement
• Brochure
• Poster
• Skit
• Rap song
Professional Development
Get an ESL Teaching License through the Butler
University College of Education-18 Credit Hours
College of Education
Butler University
Brooke Kandel-Cisco
Katie Brooks
ED408 Problems in the Teaching of Reading
ED465 Second Language Acquisition and Assessment
ED490 Assessment/Evaluation of Children with Differences
ED497 Inclusive Schools for ELLs
ED498 Theory and Practice of Teaching ENL
ED467 Standards-Based Professional Practice for ENL Teachers (3
credit hours
The Butler University College of
Education invites secondary con-
tent area teachers to join us for 6
free graduate hours of professional
development over the course of an
academic year. Participants will
learn how to support the cogni-
tive, academic, and language devel-
opment, as well as the affective
needs of ELL students. The next
cohort will begin in September
2010 and end in April 2011.
Course participants will learn how
to create more inclusive classes
and schools for ELL students and
their families, implement research-
based content area instructional
approaches for ELL students, and
engage in appropriate standards-
based assessment practices for ELL
students.
Contact Susan Adams for
more information
