As educators, we are always striving for creative ways to meet the needs of all of our students, including our culturally and linguistically diverse students. The purpose of this site is to provide resources for lesson planning and assessment, as well as the latest research for teachers of ESL students.
Using Language Objectives, in conjunction with Content Objectives is a great strategy that is part of the SIOP model. This article discusses the why and how of language objectives, and the accompanying document is a teacher cheat sheet/reference for teachers when writing language objectives. I find the cheat sheet very helpful when writing language objectives.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Af6CCOoGhS27OvigmSHO63nCc0JZwNnj/view?usp=sharing
Although there are numerous studies that show the benefit of using a child’s native language to help them learn a second language, educational policy often overlooks what the research says. This article offers great advice on how to incorporate a student’s L1, even if you are a monolingual teacher.
Although this video was made in 2012 and some of the statistics have changed since then, it is still relevant today. It is a great example of how important a positive school culture is and a reminder of the many assets that our CLD students bring to the classroom.
In this video, we see the many challenges that Moises faces socially and academically in a school setting with very limited native language supports.
Academic Language development is key to the success of our CLD students.
Flocabulary is a website that I use in my classroom every day. My kids LOVE it and beg for me to play their favorite songs all the time. When you put content to a catchy tune, along with visuals in the form of a video, you not only have your audience engaged, you are tapping into multiple parts of their brain, increasing the likelihood that the content will be remembered and stored for later use. Flocabulary covers multiple subject ares in grades K-12, and it is full of resources such as CLOZE activities with lyrics, vocabulary activities, comprehension checks, and more. It is something that you have to pay for, but they offer free trials, so you can test it out in your classroom.
One of the features that I love the most is “The Week in Rap”. Every Friday, a video that summarizes the top, current world news events for the week is created, all to a catchy rap beat and accompanying literacy activities. I found that this was such a great way to build cultural awareness in my classroom, and to inform my students of what is going on in the world around them. Some of the best discussions that ever took place in my classroom between my culturally linguistic students and their peers took place after viewing the week in rap. There is also a “Week in Rap Junior”, which is targeted to grades 3-5. I normally showed my 4th graders the regular week in rap though (after previewing it).
This short video is a great example of how to use gestures, images, articulation, repetition, and facial expressions to make content more comprehensible.
This is a great article that highlights 22 different multicultural book choices for grades K-12.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/22-diverse-book-choices-all-grade-levels
Buchanan's Blog-Tips for Teachers of ESL Students 