Teaching English Language and Content in Mainstream Classes

Description

K-12 classroom teachers get practical, ready-to-use strategies for integrating English language development into the content curriculum and achieving content text comprehension for all students.

This is the ideal resource for teachers to address today’s increased emphasis on integrating content and English language learning in classroom lessons. The authors present practical, ready-to-use strategies to help teachers promote English language development and content achievement for each student in their class. Written specifically for content teachers, Teaching English Language and Content In Mainstream Classes emphasises practical application of research-based second language learning principles in a clear, friendly writing style that clarifies concepts, defines key terms, and offers classroom teachers strategies and tools that help accelerate their students’ academic achievement. Techniques for developing reading, writing, and speaking skills in content areas are emphasised.

Linda New Levine is a consultant for ESL and EFL programs for school-age children. She has assisted in the development of English language programs for successful academic content learning in countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and for school districts and professional organizations within the U.S. In addition, she works with mainstream classroom teachers for differentiation of teaching and learning in the content areas and for the development of literacy for ELLs in English language classrooms K through 12.

Dr. Levine has worked as an ESL teacher and a staff development facilitator in the Bedford, New York school district, and as an assistant professor at Teachers College, Columbia University.

She has taught EFL in the Philippines with the Peace Corps and in the People’s Republic of China as a Fulbright professor. In addition, she has worked with faculties and ministries of education in Egypt to implement English as a Foreign Language programs in elementary schools throughout the country and to improve the supervisory skills of school supervisors. As part of a design team for USAID, Dr. Levine evaluated language programs in Egypt and designed a format for future funding in that region. She currently consults for the Center for Applied Linguistics.

Dr. Levine was the Homeroom columnist for TESOL’s Essential Teacher and the author of the Teacher’s Edition to the Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas (2nd Ed.). Her publications include Helping English Language Learners Succeed in Pre-K-Elementary schools (2006) with Jan Lacina and Patience Sowa (TESOL International). Dr. Levine holds a Masters in TESOL and a PhD in Applied Linguistics from New York University.

Mary Lou McCloskey, former President of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, is Director of Teacher Education and Curriculum Development for Educo in Atlanta. As a consultant and author in the field of English language education, she has worked with teachers, teacher educators, and departments and ministries of education on 5 continents and in 35 of the 50 United States.

Dr. McCloskey has taught in undergraduate and graduate programs at Emory University, Georgia State University, and the University of Memphis. Author and co-author of many journal articles, chapters, and professional texts for educators (including American Themes (2012). Integrating English (1988), Teaching English as a Foreign Language in the Primary School (2006), and Leadership Skills for English Language Educators (2007), she has also developed six programs for English learners, including On Our Way to English (2010); Visions: Language, Literature, Content; Voices in Literature (2008); Teaching Language, Literature and Culture (1995); and was consulting author and ESOL specialist for the 2008 McDougal Littell Language Arts, Grades 5-12 (2008). During the summer, Dr. McCloskey works as a teacher educator in the Teaching Tolerance Through English program conducted for middle school teachers and learners from countries throughout Central Europe by the US Embassies in the region.

Dr. McCloskey, who holds an MS degree from Syracuse University and a PhD from Georgia State University, considers her most important qualification her years of experience with English learners from many cultures, at levels from preschool through graduate education.

This Second Edition includes new teaching resources and an emphasis on a culturally and linguistically appropriate Response to Intervention model. Each chapter describes the way RTI is related to the topic of the chapter.

Teachers get many strategies to use with the diverse learners in their classrooms through the RTI Samplers for Tier 1 and Tier 2 programs of Response to Intervention.

It is clear how the Common Core State Standards can be used with ELLs in content classrooms through the references to the use of those Standards for English Language Arts and/or Mathematical Practice located in Chapters 6, 7,  8, 9, 10, and 12.

A greater understanding of how to use the RTI model with ELLs is accomplished through the descriptions in Chapter 1 and 2 of a culturally and linguistically appropriate Response to Intervention model.

Teachers see how to construct classroom environments conducive to achievement gains for Tier 1 ELLs in the descriptions in Chapters 2 and 3.

Understanding of vocabulary development is expanded in a new Chapter 7 that is dedicated to academic vocabulary teaching and learning. It includes many practical strategies teachers can use to develop vocabulary development in content classrooms.

The challenges present in teaching beginning reading to older pre-literate learners and under-educated learners are made easier through an expanded section addressing reading and writing development of older students with interrupted formal education (SIFE).

Teachers are introduced to a number of program models used across the U.S. for instructing ELLs through the new descriptions presented in Chapter 4.

Teachers get easy reference to the new Common Core State Anchor Standards for both English Language Arts and Mathematics Practice in the Appendix.

Pre-service and in-service instruction is facilitated with the Questions for Reflection, Activities for Further Learning, and Suggested Readings in every chapter.

Chapter changes to this edition include:

• Chapter 1: The characteristics of a culturally and linguistically appropriate Response to Intervention model
• Chapters 2-12: RTI Samplers list specific and appropriate interventions for Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction in grades PreK-12 Chapter 2: A description of an effective classroom environment (Tier 1) for ELLs
• Chapter 3: An expanded description of culturally responsive instruction and practices
• Chapter 4: Descriptions of English instructional program models and descriptions of differentiated Instruction and RTI program models
• Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12: References to the use of the Common Core Anchor Standards for English Language Arts and/or the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice with ELLs 
• A new Chapter 7: Dedicated to vocabulary teaching and learning containing many practical strategies
• Chapter 8: An expanded section related to reading and writing development of older pre-literate learners as well as under-educated learners

And updated from the First Edition:

• A teaching vignette begins every chapter—teachers see how the principles and practices for ABC teaching are integrated into daily classroom instruction.
• An emphasis on oral language development appears in two chapters—one of them pertaining to oral language development in science, math, social studies, and English language arts
• Questions for Reflection, Activities for Further Learning and Suggested Readings accompany each chapter

Teachers see how principles and strategies are integrated into daily multilingual classroom instruction through classroom teaching vignettes in chapters 2-12.

The challenges of teaching beginning reading to older learners are addressed in expanded sections on reading and writing development of students with interrupted formal education (SIFE).

How to teach listening, speaking, reading, and writing skill development is made clear in the description of a content-learning context that shows teachers how to integrate language instruction throughout the classroom curriculum.

Teachers get multiple ideas for further learning on every topic in the book, while students get additional help for reinforcing the concepts through Questions for Reflection, Suggested Readings, and Learning Activities that appear in every chapter.

The integration of content instruction, language instruction, and learning strategies is demonstrated in two integrated content-based thematic units available on line–one written at the elementary level and the other geared to secondary grades.

K-12 classroom teachers get practical, ready-to-use strategies for integrating English language development into the content curriculum–and achieving content text comprehension for all students.

The ideal resource for helping K-8 classroom teachers integrate content learning and English language learning into their classroom lessons, Teaching English Language and Content in Mainstream Classes presents practical, ready-to-use, research-based principles and strategies in a clear, friendly writing style. In it the authors clarify the concepts, define key terms, and offer classroom teachers what they need to accelerate their students’ academic achievement.

Key features include:

• An emphasis on techniques for developing reading, writing, and speaking skills in the content areas
• Illustrative teaching vignettes that that further clarify the ideas and concepts
• Some answers to the challenges present in teaching beginning reading to older pre-literate learners and under-educated learners
• Questions for Reflection, Suggested Readings, and Learning Activities in every chapter

And this new Second Edition includes:

• RTI Samplers for Tier 1 and Tier 2 programs of Response to Intervention
• References to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematical Practice
• Descriptions of how to use the RTI model with ELLs
• Ideas for constructing classroom environments conducive to achievement gains for Tier 1 ELLs
• A new Chapter 7 dedicated to academic vocabulary teaching and learning

The ideal resource for helping K-12 classroom teachers integrate content learning and English language learning into their classroom lessons, Teaching English Language and Content in Mainstream Classes presents practical, ready-to-use, research-based principles and strategies in a friendly writing style that clarifies concepts, defines key terms, and offers classroom teachers what they need to accelerate their students’ academic achievement. With it’s emphasis on techniques for developing reading, writing, and speaking skills in the content areas and it’s presentation of illustrative teaching vignettes to make the ideas clear, the new edition of this widely popular guide stands out from others on the market as a “must have” resource for teachers in today’s diverse classrooms.

Chapter 1 Principles of Integrated Language Teaching and Learning

Activity-Based Language Teaching and Learning Communicative Teaching and Learning

Chapter 2 Language Acquisition and Language Learning in the Classroom

What Do We Know about First Language Acquisition?

What Is the Nature of the First Language Environment?

How Do Acquisition and Learning Differ?

What Are Factors Affecting Language Acquisition in the Classroom?

What Strategies Do ELLs Use to Acquire Languages?

What Are the Characteristics of a Culturally and Linguistically

Appropriate Response to Intervention (RTI) Model?

What Are the Characteristics of an Effective Classroom Environment for ELLs?

What Are the Characteristics of Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Tier 1 Instruction for ELLs?

What Are the Characteristics of Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Tier 2 Instruction for ELLs?

Chapter 3 Culturally Responsive Instruction: Connecting with Home Culture

Culturally Responsive Instruction

What Are the Features of Culturally Responsive Instruction?

How Do Teachers Connect to The Homes and Families of Their Students?

How Can the School Community Support the Education of English Language Learners?

How Can the Community Outside the School Support the Education of ELLs?

How Does a Culturally Responsive Classroom Connect to Students’ Cultures, Languages, and Family in an RTI Model?

Chapter 4 Organizing the Classroom for Language Learning

First Things First: Feeling Ready to Learn

Organizing the Physical Environment to Promote Language Learning

Organizing the Classroom Social Environment to Promote Language Learning

English Language Instructional Programs

Organizing Instruction to Promote Language Learning

Chapter 5 Strategies for Oral Language Development

Conditions for Oral Language Learning

Academic Language Learning

Oral Language Development

Stages of Oral Language Development

Teacher Tools for Oral Language Development

Assessing Oral Language Development

Response to Intervention

Chapter 6 Oral Language Development in the Content Classroom

Content Learning and Oral Language Development

Oral Language Development Every Which Way

Listening In While Not Tuning Out

Assessing Listening and Speaking Skills in the Content

Chapter 7 Teaching Vocabulary to English Learners

Why Is learning vocabulary important for English learners?

What Do We Mean When We Speak of Vocabulary? How Many Words Do Students Need to Learn?

What Words Should We Teach?

What Are the characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction?

How Should we provide direct vocabulary instruction?

How Can we help learners develop Their own tools to deal with unknown words independently?

What Are Active Interactive Strategies to Support Vocabulary Development?

How Can we assess vocabulary development of English learners?

Chapter 8 Developing Literacy with English Learners: Focus on Reading

What Is Literacy?

What Is Unique About English Language Learners

Who Are Developing Literacy?

The Language/Literacy Matrix

What Tools and Strategies Can We Provide to Help ELLs

Develop Literacy?

Issues in Literacy Development with Older English Learners 194

Assessing ELL Literacy Development 199

Chapter 9 Developing Literacy with English Learners: Focus on Writing

Why Teach Writing with English Learners?

How Does Writing Develop to ELLs?

Connecting Writing to Active, Communicative Language Teaching and Learning

Challenges of Teaching Writing to English Learners

Developing a Writing Environment

Getting Started: Interactive Writing

Scaffolding Learners Through the Writing Process

Issues in Teaching Writing to Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE)

Assessing Writing

Chapter 10 Structuring and Planning Content-Language Integrated Lessons

Lesson Characteristics That Support Learning

A Lesson Format for Integrated Learning

Into the Lesson: Defining Objectives, Activating, and Preparing for Learning

Through the Lesson: Input for Active Understanding, Vocabulary Development, and Practical Purpose

Beyond the Lesson: Providing Reasons for Further Communication

Response to Intervention

Chapter 11 Assessment Tools for the Integrated Classroom

What Is Assessment?

What Are the Fundamental Principles of Classroom-BasedAssessment for ELLs?

What Are the Critical Factors Affecting the Assessment of ELLs

What Are Examples of Authentic, Performance-Based Classroom Assessment?

How Do Standards Affect Classroom Assessment?

Assessment for ELLs in an RTI Organizational Model

Chapter 12 Putting It All Together Thematically: Developing Content-Based Thematic Units

What Is Thematic Instruction?

Why Teach Thematically?

How Are Thematic Units Structured?

What About Standards in a Thematic Unit?

Organizing Content Curriculum in a Thematic Unit

Organizing Language Curriculum in a Thematic Unit

How Can Learning Strategies Be Incorporated into Thematic Instruction?

A Last Word

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