Paige Woodall

INST 363
Language Development Plan

Description of ESL student

The ESL student that was observed is a 6-year-old female from Korea who has

excelled in her Kindergarten classroom. She speaks fluent English and is able to read

at/above grade level. The student also seems to be proficient in writing, and is able to use

words that are above the kindergarten level when writing sentences. The ELL is a great

speller, and seems to have her phonemes and sound blends down. In the classroom, the

student only speaks English. She speaks, writes, reads, and spells in English. However,

the teacher shared with me that her family typically speaks Korean at home. As a whole,

the ethnic makeup of the student population in this classroom is mixed. The school as a

whole is probably made up of half white students, and the other half being a mix of races

including African American, Korean, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, etc. The language

model that is used in the classroom is a typical, kindergarten instruction classroom. There

was not specified instruction used such as sheltered, because of the high English

proficiency level of the ELL in the classroom.

One type of instruction that is used often in this classroom that benefits the ELL is

partner and individual reading activities. The teacher includes several different activities

where student practice their reading fluency and comprehension skills in the classroom.

They are given the opportunity to read aloud with a partner, as well as read on their own.

Another activity that helps all students, especially the ELL is the writing time. During

this time, the teacher models for the students how to construct a sentence/story that

relates to their personal experience, and explains how to illustrate their writing. The ELL
has shown great proficiency through practicing her writing skills through activities like

this.

When arranging the classroom, the teacher included several

open spaces around the room to allow for students to work together in
groups for various activities. Located by the door is a desk where

partners sit at to work together on writing skills. This allows students to

talk with, and learn from one another. The teacher placed an ABC

carpet directly in front of the smart board where students sit in rows

while watching the teacher teach. This allows students to be in close

distance to the teacher so that they can clearly hear and see all that is

discussed. The students are assigned desks where they can sit close to

their partners and work together during different group activities as

well as writing time, so that ELLs can be engaged in discussion, and

learning from their peers. There is a teacher table in the back of the

room where the teacher pulls different groups of students each day to

work in a small setting, allowing students a small group instruction

setting. There is also a reading table in the back of the room, along

with beanbags where students get to go and sit while reading during

both partner reading time and individual reading. This provides a quiet,

comfortable, and fun space for students to focus on reading

comprehension and fluency. Each of the sitting areas in the classroom

are designed where the students can sit near their peers and learn

from one another. It was also designed to where the teacher can easily

move around and monitor/ assist all students during each lesson. With

this classroom arrangement, the teacher can designate assigned seats

for each of the students, and make sure to intermix different

proficiency levels within each pod of desks so that students are

the English language through interactions.

Integrated Content and language activities

One example of an activity that integrates language and content

in math is using a book like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. This is a book

that integrates using counting strategies, while also furthering

students language through reading and listening. Sentence stems that

could be used in teaching a lesson with this book include:

When I look at the cover, I

see_____________________________________
Once all of the letters are in the tree, I think that

_________________________ will happen.

_________________________________.

An example of a science activity that integrates language into

learning is through using a song like the weather song. This is a great

way to get students to learn the scientific concepts of weather through

the use of language through lyric. Students will have the opportunity to

learn about the concepts that are described in the lyrics, while reading

and singing the lyrics.

The weather is __________________________________________.

____________________________________.
When it storms, I feel

________________________________________.

An example of an activity integrating language and content in

social studies is through writing and timelines. During social studies, as

students learn about different events, they can practice as a class by

creating a timeline of when these events occur. For example students

could create a timeline of the different holidays that occur in a year.

My favorite holiday is

_____________________________________________.
________________________________________________ is during

the month of.

_________________________________________________.

Culture and Funds of Knowledge

In order to tap into the funds of knowledge of students, it is first

important to understand who your students are and what their family

backgrounds are like. Knowing the families of your students helps to

get to know the students educational background and helps the

teacher to gather an idea of how they can relate their culture to

learning.

One way to tap into students funds of knowledge is to bring

objects from their culture into the classroom. For example, if you have
an ESL of Mexican heritage, you could bring Mexican candy into the

class while teaching a math lesson on counting. This provides the

students with manipulatives to use when working math problems,

while also exposing students to different cultures, while allowing the

ESL student to feel a sense of pride and belonging by sharing a piece

of their culture with the class, and relating this to their educational

experiences.

Another ways to integrate students funds of knowledge in

learning include the students community and culture into the

classroom. If students live in a community that encourages outdoor

activity, teachers can integrate outdoor activities into their lessons. For

example, if teachers are teaching a lesson on the different seasons in a

year, they can take students outside during science class to have

students investigate things that they find in nature that reflect the

season that they are in. If the present season is fall when this lesson

takes place, a teacher could ask students to identify 5 things that they

notice about the weather that reflect the fall season (leaf color, leaves

on ground, weather, temperature, etc.). Another way to use nature for

students funds of knowledge is in a science lesson about soil. If your

students are learning about soil and plants, you as the teacher could

bring students outside, giving them each a plastic cup, and directing

students to fill their cups with soil from the ground. Then, teachers

could provide students with a seed and direct them in planting their
seed into their cup of soil, and watering it. This would connect their

funds of knowledge because just like they spend time after school

outside in nature with their families, they are learning how to build

connections between those times and their learning about the nature

that they have seen and how it works.

A final way to connect to students funds of knowledge is to

integrate community involvement into the classroom. The ESL that I

worked with was involved in the community with her family. She attend

church events and visited many places like food banks to volunteer,

grocery store, fire stations, etc. To build connections between what

students experience in their daily lives, a teacher could include

community members and workers into the classroom by reading

stories about firemen, policemen, doctors, etc. They could provide

opportunities for students to create puppets during station time where

they get to color a picture of a community employee (like previously

stated) while also reading stories about what these members do, and

how they give back to the community. As the ESL visits these places in

their daily home lives, they can connect what they have learned about

these workers as they visit them.

Oral Language and Development and Content Area Activities

for ELLs
One way to develop oral language in students is to integrate

activities in the classroom that include authentic talk. Allowing

discussion activities where students can practice communicating their

ideas in discussion form can do this, rather than one-sentence

answers. For example, if you are teaching a student on the weather,

you could ask students what they think will happen if it rains over night

and the temperature drops below freezing. The teacher would prompt

the students to discuss in their groups what they feel will happen. After

discussing, students would each write their own explanation of what

they feel would occur for the teacher to see where each student is

development wise. This promotes language development in ELLs as

they practice explaining their understanding in discussion form, while

also listening to their peers ideas and use of language.

Another activity to promote language development is opinion

formation cards. In this activity, students would be given a card that

has a quotation from the text. This quotation would provide evidence

for one side of an issue. The students would share their quotations as

well as their opinions to why this side is correct. This is effective for

ELLs as they are given a quotation and allowed to form an opinion off

of it as they share it with the class.

Another activity to use is interview grids. In this activity, students

would be given a controversial issue that has two sides to the

argument. Students would be instructed to share their argument with

partner each time to share their opinions, allowing them to make their

facts and argument stronger. Through this activity ELLs would be able

to form clearer and stronger arguments, while developing their

language through discussions with peers.

Another activity that is helpful for ELLs is think-pair-share. For

this to occur, a teacher would provide prompt, direct students to think

about their prompt, and share their response with a partner. This

provides ELLs with the opportunity to check their answer as they

communicate it with their peer, and hear the response of their peer.

Another activity is to build comprehension by tapping into

students background knowledge. This can be done through a KWL

chart where students share what they know, what they want to know,

and what they have learned about a topic. This helps ELLs as they

learn to build connections between previously learned information and

new information while furthering language use.

Increasing writing opportunities can also help students develop

their language. After teaching a lesson, teachers could allow time for

students to write a journal reflection on what they have learned.

Teachers would provide students with a prompt that relates to the

lesson. Students would then share their understanding of the prompt

based on what they learned. This allows students to further their

writing.

A reading, thinking, and discussing activity would also be helpful

for ELLs as they learn to read and analyze a text, then explain what

they comprehended to the class. Students would be given a text on

their reading level and read this text, then explain what they

understood in their own words.

Cause and affect frames also help ELLs to develop their oral

language. When teaching a science language, the teacher could teach

a lesson on weather. For example, if it is below freezing and it rains,

the teacher could use a cause and affect frame stating ___________

happened because _______________ where the students would use their

language to share that ice formed on the streets because the

temperature dropped and froze the rain. This helps students to put

what they have learned into their own words using sentence prompts

from the teacher.

A fun way to teach students different forms of language

(academic and social), is through having them complete activities

where they learn how to translate something form academic language

to social language. This helps ELLs to understand how there are

different forms of language to use when talking to different audiences,

and how the two forms of language relate to each other.

When reading a story to students, teachers should include prompts and

teacher scripts such as I think ________________ is going to happen

because _______________ this teaches students how to use their

knowledge to form predictions on what they think will happen. It allows

students to have a model of what proper sentence structure looks like

as well as how to properly use academic vocabulary, while also

practicing on their own.

Assessments Planned for ELLs

In my classroom, I would use a performance-based assessment

to assess ALLs language proficiency and development. An example of

a performance-based assessment that I would use is an oral report. To

make sure it is an appropriate assessment, I would create clear criteria

that the students will need to meet based on their current level of

proficiency. These criteria would include understanding of grammatical

concepts, accuracy, comprehension, pronunciation, content, and

maturity of language. This would be a one-on-one assessment with the

ELL where he/she is given a reading sample, and will be instructed to

read the sample as fluently and accurately as possible. After the

reading has been completed, the teacher will analyze the results and

determine what language proficiency the student obtains. This type of

assessment is helpful for ELLs as they are given a goal to work

towards, and practice on working towards fluency.

a portfolio assessment. This provides a practical way of assessing

students work throughout a long time period. Using this method allows

teachers a way to collect student examples in an organized way that

reflects their growth and progress over time. The types of products

included in a portfolio assessment include information, sample work,

and evaluations that reflect students performance. The criteria that

the work in the portfolio would be held to include all necessary

components present in work, well-connected and carefully presented

samples, and accurate and consistent use of technical language. This

is an effective way to assess ELLs because it provides a way to check

students progress and proficiency over a long period of time.

I would also use informal, formative assessments in the

classroom. An example of an informal assessment that I would use is

comprehension checks to determine what the students understand

throughout a lesson. A specific type of comprehension check that I

would you is a thumbs up, thumbs down method where during

teaching, I would prompt students to put their thumbs up if they

understand the information, and put their thumbs down if they would

like to practice a little more. This would allow a teacher to monitory

students progress and learning in target areas of instruction to see

where they are at, and when it is necessary to continue practice, or

reteach information. Another way to use this strategy besides asking if

prompting them to put their thumbs up if the answer is yes, and

thumbs up if the answer is no. The teacher can then decide if he or she

needs to reteach the information based on the responses given. This is

an effective form of assessment for ELLs because it allows them the

opportunity to request for more practice if they do not understand a

concept that has been taught.