Adaptations List

Suggested  Adaptations for EAL students
Teaching Techniques
Extra assistance from teacher or others (one-on-one or small group)
Frequent and repeated review of material
Pre-teach vocabulary
Provide oral AND written instructions
Provide extra completed examples
Model instructions
Photocopy notes ahead of time (if possible) or after a lesson
Increase length of time to complete daily tasks
Use visual materials to supplement the lesson
Offer choices
Use hands-on experiences
Use concrete materials (realia)
Change seating arrangement/preferential seating
Predictable structure and classroom routine
Provide frequent feedback
Check for comprehension by asking the student to repeat the instructions or explain a concept
Sit with a student who will be a buddy/helper
Sit with a student who speaks the same first language (if possible)
Speak slowly and pause between sentences
Paraphrase instructions using simpler words
Peer tutoring
Print (instead of handwrite)
Written Assignments
Provide sentence starters
Provide a completed example to look at
Provide a word bank
Allow extra time
Model how to complete the written assignment (step-by-step)
Provide research materials for the student that are at an appropriate reading level
Allow visual representation of comprehension
Allow oral explanation of comprehension
Do not penalize for spelling/grammar
Break the assignment into smaller pieces and check for completion more often
Provide an outline/organizer for writing a paragraph, essay, story, etc
Shortened assignment
Allow student to brainstorm/write a draft in his/her first language
Reading
Provide a shorter text
Provide a text at a lower reading level
Add visuals to a text
Highlight the key parts of a text for the student
Teach relevant background knowledge/cultural context
Pre-teach vocabulary
Provide an oral summary of a text before reading
Provide a written summary of a text before reading
Break a text into smaller pieces and check for comprehension more often
Use a taped book
Groupwork/Discussions/Speaking
Provide sentence starters
Put student in a ‘safe’ group
Provide questions in advance
Allow time to answer questions in writing before speaking
Allow student to practice in a non-threatening environment (eg with one other student)
Allow more wait time before student responds
Tests
Provide a practice test in advance
Oral tests
Allow use of a bilingual dictionary
Allow more time to complete tests
Reduce reading level on test materials
Permit open book tests
Provide a word bank for fill in the blank or short/long answer questions
Reduce number of questions
Reduce number of options for multiple choice or eliminate those questions
Reduce language demands by providing sentence starters, allowing point-form notes, etc
Provide an example of how to complete a question
Allow visual representation
Do not penalize for spelling/grammar errors
Allow extra time
Make the test look ‘friendlier’ – larger font, more white space, bullets of information instead of paragraphs
Allow alternate forms of assessment – demonstrating a skill, portfolio, project, etc

 

Indentifying EAL students

 

Ask!

I include the questions "How long have you lived in Canada?" and "What languages do you speak?" on the getting-to-know-you questionnaire I give to students in the first week of classes.

This has helped me to identify students who may potentially need EAL support, especially after also looking at a writing sample. Not all students who were born in another country or who speak another language will need language support, but some of them do. In particular this has helped me identify students I might not have otherwise recognized because their conversational English was so good. Remember- students might have excellent conversational English skills, but academic reading/writing skills take a lot longer to develop.

We know who many of the EAL students at GCC are. We will be messaging teachers through teacher connect about students who are currently registered in one of our EAL classes as well as other students who we think may need some supports this year. But there are EAL students in this school who have not been identified to us yet who could need some support. Sometimes students transfer in from out of division and come unidentified as an EAL student. 

 

If there are students in your classes who you think may need our support, please come talk to us.

Simple zero-prep strategies

Simple strategies that make a BIG difference for your EAL students.

Here are just a few quick straightforward strategies that don't require any prep time at all. Although some of these things may seem ‘common sense’, they make a BIG difference for our EAL students.

 

1. Speak slower.

 

2. Pause between sentences.

 

3. If something is important for the student to know, write it down. Language 'disappears' after it is spoken and heard. Seeing written reminders will not only reinforce vocabulary acquisition, but it will give the student more time to take in the information.

 

4. A smile and nod often does not mean "I understand". Many EAL students will smile and nod to be polite. They may not ask questions if they do not understand something.

 

5. Do not just ask "Do you understand?". Many students will reply with a nod and smile (see above). Instead ask the student to show or tell you what they need to do. Ask them to tell you what they understand of the content you just taught.

 

6. Try to have the student sit by another student who is kind, friendly and patient- someone who might be a potential friend. Many of these students are coming from other schools outside of the division or directly from another country and they do not know anybody at GCC.

 

7. Book time with the EAL support staff. If you would like to chat with either Heidi or Andrea re: the students in your class and how to meet their needs, please send us an email and we will be happy to set aside some time in our week to discuss resources, strategies and interventions (if needed).

 

Litte things-big difference-zero prep.

Litte things make a BIG difference

Here are few suggestions for working with EAL students that do not require any advance prep on your part at all but can make a significant difference for EAL students.

1. Enable captions on videos- Some students are better at listening to English and some are better are reading English. Watching a video with the captions turned on will make things easier for many students.

2. Have a short, personal conversation with an EAL student- Some of our EAL students are quite shy and nervous. Try having a short conversation with a student before, during, or after class. Ask them about their family, their hobbies, or where they have come from. They will appreciate it and may be more likely to come and ask for help when they need it.

3. Paraphrase as you speak (say important things twice using different words)-In all of the classes I teach (the EAL classes and the other ones) I make a point of paraphrasing what I say using different vocabulary. It makes me sound a little bit repetitive, but it also ensures much greater understanding on the part of my students. Maybe a student won’t understand the first sentence I say, but they might understand the second one. Example: “Describe the most significant event that impacted your life” could be paraphrased as “I want you to write about something important that happened to you and changed your life”

4. Give students discussion questions ahead of time and have them write before they speak - Students will be much more successful in a small group or large class discussion if they can write their thoughts down first. Many EAL students need time to choose their words and form sentences. They will also appreciate being able to discuss ideas with one partner first before talking in front of a group. You could call this tip Write/Pair/Share.

5. Review often- Do a review at the end of a lesson, at the beginning of the next class, or after the weekend. Try to vary your strategies: answering comprehension questions, completing a graphic organizer or diagram, defining key vocabulary, discussing vocabulary with a partner, looking for information in notes or the text, completing an exit slip, etc.

Visuals and Personal Dictionaries

Vocabulary Tip – Visuals and Personal Dictionaries

 

One reason EAL students may struggle in class is related to their understanding of the vocabulary being used. Often, the words used in subject areas (protagonist, mole, velocity, quadrilateral, equator, etc.) are much more difficult than the more common, ‘conversational’ words that students use each day.

Here are two ways to help students understand key vocabulary in your classroom:

1. Visuals – A picture really is worth 1000 words and you don’t have to be an artist to use more visuals! Google Images is a quick and easy way to find visuals to help clarify what a word means. Now that nearly every classroom in our school has a projector, it is easier than before to incorporate visuals into lessons. You could try to find visuals each day for 3-5 key words or concepts and show them at the beginning of the lesson as an activating strategy.

2. Personal Dictionaries – Encourage or require students to create a personal dictionary. Below is a template that you could use (similar to 3 point approach in SFAL), or you can create one that works for you. Students can: draw a picture, write a simple definition (you might need to help with this part, or use an EAL dictionary), use the word in a sentence, translate the word into another language, give an example, etc.

Keep in mind – a reasonable expectation for most students is learning 5-7 new words per day (not necessarily per subject) and new words need to be reviewed often to be retained.

We have some dictionaries for EAL learners in our EAL office, and there are copies in some classrooms in the school. The definitions in the EAL dictionary are much simpler than those found in a regular dictionary. 

An online version of an EAL dictionary may be found at www.learnersdictionary.com.

**If you don’t currently have an EAL dictionary in your classroom and you would like one, please let me know. I will be placing an order shortly for more of them. **

 

 

The Importance of Context

The Importance of Understanding Context

 

This week’s tip is brought to you from a great book by Teresa Walter called Teaching English Language Learners: The How-to Handbook (Longman Publishers, 2004).

Try to read this text:

“Favourable conditions are necessary to do this activity. That is, you have to have enough rouche. If there is too much rouche, the object might break. But if conditions are too calm, you will have problems because the rouche makes the object go up. If there are obstacles, a serious problem can result because you cannot control the rouche. Usually rouche is most favourable during spring.”

A researcher named Shirley Adams gave the above text to a group of students without providing any extra comments or context. Only 13 % of her students could define rouche.

Then, after offering contextual information to her students (ie: this passage is about flying a kite), 78% of her students were then able to define that rouche means wind. By offering a context, the students were then able to narrow down the possibilities for defining the unknown (but KEY) word. The context also helped them to use prior knowledge to construct meaning.

Notice that in the text, rouche is probably the most difficult word (and perhaps the only unfamiliar word).

 In nonfiction texts, often comprehension can hinge on one unfamiliar key content word.

 Simple ways to create context for ALL students (not just EAL students)

1. use visuals (add clip art/images on powerpoints, in the margins of your notes and handouts, show videos, draw simple illustrations on the board as you speak, bring in realia, etc.

 2. preview topics (have guided class or partner discussions before you read, use anticipation guides)

 3. offer definitions of challenging words (add a simple little glossary to your handouts, powerpoint slides, notes). Simple definitions can be found on www.learnersdictionary.com.

 

 

 

Reading Strategies

Reading Strategies Promote Comprehension

Students can use reading strategies to help themselves understand a text better. In my EAL class, we used several reading strategies during our first unit as we read poems, stories, and memoirs.

The reading strategies we focused on were:

- Making predictions (based on title, pictures, first sentence/paragraph)

- Choosing key words

- Creating a visual representation

- Writing a summary (using the key words to help)

- Writing a personal response

I created a reading strategies template for students to fill out each time they read a new text. See below for a sample. Keep in mind, you may need to teach your students how to fill out each space when they first use this template.

Benefits of this Reading Strategies Template:

- It is open-ended and can be used with any text (poem, story, movie, article, textbook, etc).

- It is easy to have a stack of these ready and photocopied for an automatic assignment students can complete without any extra prep required by the teacher.

- Student can complete the same assignment even if each student has a different text, or a version at a different reading level.

- It gets students to practice reading strategies that will benefit them whenever they are reading.

- The more students use this template, the better they will get at completing it and using the reading strategies.

- It can be easily customized to suit the specific needs of a certain subject area by changing the strategies for certain boxes.

- ALL students in your class will benefit from learning about reading strategies.

Please Remember-

Reading strategies help students understand what they read, but if a text is way too difficult, even using reading strategies won’t help a student. The student may need a text at an easier reading level. There are many students (EAL and not EAL) who are reading below a high school level.

We have many texts at easier reading levels (novels, short stories, science/SS readings, etc) in our EAL Resource Centre. If you need an easier text on a certain theme, please ask one of us to help you find something appropriate.

Below is a sample of the reading strategies graphic worksheet.

 

 

EAL- friendly Assessment Tools

 Well structured tools = more efficient, more effective assessment

As we approach the craziness of report card season, it seems timely to turn our Tip of the Week attention to assessment. The tools we use to assess student learning are often in the form of worksheets, quizzes and tests. The way in which we prepare these assessment tools will have significant bearing on how the EAL students are able to demonstrate their learning. Even if a student may know a lot about the content, if the assignment descriptions or test questions are difficult to decipher, the student may not be able to show how much he/she has achieved the desired outcomes.

Here are a few simple, low-prep strategies that may help to make worksheets, quizzes and tests more comprehensible to English language learners.
 
* The following tips are collected from personal experience and the suggestions of Shoebottom (2012) and Fregeau and Leier (2008). See bottom of post for links to the original article.
 
PRESENTATION MATTERS

·         If the task or question has several different parts or multiple steps, use a bulleted list instead of sequential instructions all together on the same line of text.

·         Type everything. Many EAL students have a difficult time reading cursive writing.

·         Increase white space.

·         Increase font size.

·         Punctuate. When you have finished part A, do part B. (Note the comma).

CLARIFY and VERIFY

·         Read all instructions aloud to the student(s) word- for- word.

·         Ask students to explain to you their understanding of the instructions...not just "do you understand".

·         Check that the EAL student is actually doing the task properly. They may not feel comfortable questioning you.

·         Teach the student the meaning of typical 'question vocabulary' (for example: explain, name, why?, how?, role of, discuss, think about, compare and contrast, define, describe, briefly, or except).

·         Word questions carefully, using simple vocabulary as much as possible. For example: look at the diagram on page 3 instead of focus your attention on the diagram on the adjacent page.

·         Try to offer a model answer or example.

·         Repeat nouns instead of using pronouns. See the math problem below as an example. It may seem wordy to a native English speaker, but the repetition of the noun clarifies the task.

-à Alex has 4 friends. He wants to buy each of them 6 cookies. How many does he need to buy in all?

-àAlex has 4 friends. He wants to buy each friend 6 cookies. How many cookies does he need to buy in all?

REDUCE CONFUSION BY REDUCING OPTIONS

·         Offer word banks for fill -in -the- blank questions.

·         Reduce the number of options for multiple choice questions.

·         Avoid confusing multiple-choice options such as 'both A&B, but not C'.

·         Reduce the number of options for matching questions.
 

ALLOW for SUPPORT RESOURCES

·         Permit the student to use a bilingual (or picture) dictionary whenever possible.

 

References:

* If you are interested in more information about differentiating assessment strategies for EAL learners, check out these articles that served as resources for this week's tip:

Preparing ESL-friendly worksheets and tests- Shoebottom (2012)

http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/tests.htm

Assessing ELLs in ESL or Mainstream Classrooms: Quick Fixes for Busy Teachers- Fregeau & Leier (2008)

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Fregeau-AssessingELLs.html