As a student, what would you do? What can the teacher do? This has been my dilemma for the last two years. How do I relay the textbook information to my students who have limited English proficiency? I chose this subject for my research because I want to be more effective in helping my ESL students who have no ESL classroom to attend. There are many ways to shelter instruction so that all students will increase their reading comprehension. I will list and describe specific strategies to help with reading in the content areas.

Research on second language acquisition asserts that English as a Second Language (ESL) students need numerous rich opportunities to practice their language acquisition. One method of enriching language exposure is Content Based Instruction (CBI). Limited English Proficient (LEP) students are taught in content area classes with modifications to help them learn English in meaningful contexts. Patricia Richard-Amato and Marguerite Snow suggest that "Content based English language development is not only important for developing academic language skills, but it is also inherently more interesting to many students than ESL classes that focus on language only." ( Richard-Amato & Snow 1992) CBI allows students to use their prior knowledge to build on their comprehension of the content area and language. Motivation to learn increases with CBI as all students recognize that they are actively learning.

It is my intention to use sheltered English instruction practices in the upcoming school year. This means I will employ the methods I have researched to help ESL students expand their working knowledge of English while learning new content. Snow and Brinton specify what I will need as a sheltered English teacher:

Research indicates that teaching students specific learning strategies increases understanding of content while they promote critical thinking skills. One model that was developed for ESL students is the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA). CALLA utilizes instruction in learning strategies, grade-appropriate content, and the development of academic language as tools for students to comprehend and expand their content knowledge as well as their use of English. Richard-Amato and Snow list three main types of learning strategies that are activated through CALLA:

CALLA lessons have five stages: 1) Preparation – What do the students know already? What type of learning strategies are they now using? 2) Presentation – The new information is presented along with visual aides and /or demonstrations. 3) Practice – The students employ strategies to acquire the new material. Some examples are, summarizing, making diagrams, inferring, asking questions, or working in groups. 4) Evaluation – The teachers and students assess students’ level of understanding using self-check strategies, cooperation with peers, or clarifying questions. 5) Expansion – Students integrate new knowledge they have acquired into other applications. I will refer back to these five stages as I present specific reading strategies.

How should I prepare my students to read the science passage mentioned at the beginning of this article? There are several pre-reading strategies that may be used. Neil Anderson recommends activating a student’s prior knowledge. He suggests pre-reading discussions on the topic because " . . . sometimes students may not realize that they have prior knowledge on a particular subject, but as they listen to other students share information, they come to realize that they indeed know something about the reading topic." (Anderson 1999) I lead a discussion at the beginning of science with a journal writing activity called the Daily Thought. I read the question aloud, (which is written on the chalkboard), and ask students to write their response in their journals. Next, we discuss their responses and elaborate with pictures I draw on the chalkboard. The Daily Thought pertains to the subject matter to be introduced or a topic that was taught previously. As a class, we come up with some common information about the question and I write that on the chalkboard. Students who were not able to write an entry in their journal may copy the class feedback.

Semantic mapping is a good way to help students discern what they know, what they need to know, and what they learned. Maps can be used at any point of a unit, beginning, middle, or end. Creating a web or brainstorming a topic on the chalkboard helps students to connect ideas they know with the new concept in the reading. For the example science passage I introduced, I might put the word mixture on the chalkboard to begin the mapping. Students would call out words they know about mixtures or give examples of mixtures. If properties was a new term for the class, I might begin with the word properties. For examples of mapping strategies, check out this site on the internet. http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/actbank/torganiz.htm

Another method for pre-reading is to present new vocabulary. From the science passage above I might choose substance, property, chemically, separate, dissolved, and identical as vocabulary words to present. The words chosen would depend on the knowledge base of the students. Students can create a personal dictionary that could be set up as follows:

Word Page Sentence from reading Definition (your words) Your sentence (Anderson 1999)

Each vocabulary word could be listed first, then the student could fill in the rest of the chart as he or she reads the passage. Snow and Brinton suggest having students make vocabulary study cards using index cards. The front side of the card contains the new word with its part of speech, pronunciation, and related word forms. A first language translation can be written here also. The back of the card is where the student writes where they first saw or heard the word, such as the example sentence. Next the student writes the dictionary definition, the dictionary example, and a sentence created by the student using the word. (Snow & Brinton 1997) Any portions of the index card method could be used. This example seems quite tedious.

Gina Cantoni-Harvey presents another pre-reading strategy that involves vocabulary. The teacher makes a handout with lists of words that pertain to the passage to be read along with words that do not pertain to the passage. The teacher briefly introduces the topic that the reading will present, then asks students to place a checkmark before each word that they expect to find in the reading. Students are told not to worry about incorrect answers; that this is not a test. They leave words they either do not recognize or that do not belong in the passage blank. The class discusses why each word should or should not have been checked and students explain why they checked the words. ( Cantoni-Harvey 1987)

The next step would be the presentation of the reading passage. Richard-Amato and Snow recommend silent reading instead of reading aloud. " . . . children who worry about their ability to perform adequately often try to locate the lines they will have to read aloud and rehearse them surreptitiously. While they concentrate on them, they miss the cues provided by the preceding passages as well as the teacher’s discussion of the words and concepts they contain." (Richard-Amato & Snow 1992) When reading silently, encourage students to focus on the context of unknown words instead of stopping to look up every word. Students should first finish reading the sentence to see if they can guess the meaning. Next they should try to recognize any parts of the word. Finally, the students should consult a dictionary.

SQ4R is another technique students can use to comprehend content reading. First, students survey the chapter by skimming it and looking at all visuals. Second, students question, writing down any questions they have about the first subheading. The third step is to read the body of the passage. The fourth step is reciting, where students answer their questions from what they learned in the reading. The fifth step is recording, when students write down their answers. Finally, the students review what they wrote. (Richard-Amato & Snow 1992)

Teachers may want to record passages from the textbook on tape for students to be able to access after their attempt to read the passages. This technique is designed as an addition to silent reading but should not be used for extended time periods because students may rely too heavily on it. This aide can be gradually removed as students’ reading comprehension expands. (Richard-Amato & Snow 1992) The use of cloze exercises may help beginning level ESL students with basic reading comprehension. Cloze exercises consist of giving the student a handout with a paragraph printed on it that has blanks in place of some of the words. There may be a list of words to go in the blanks or students have to read for context and try to guess words that would work. Richard-Amato & Snow suggest having one or two questions that pertain to the cloze exercise and have students ignore the blanks, but try to answer the more general questions. The rationale is that by filling in the blanks, students are being taught to read one word at a time and will slow reading rates. (Richard-Amato & Snow1992)

After students have read the textbook passage, they need to practice the new material knowledge. By following the steps of SQ4R, students are already practicing what they have learned. Also when students use vocabulary words in their own sentences either in their personal dictionaries or on index cards they are practicing. It would be helpful for students to create flow charts of events from the reading or draw Venn diagrams to compare and contrast aspects of the material. Students can work in groups to make a three dimensional cube with a picture on each side that pertains to the reading. A student rolls the cube and must explain the picture that comes up.

Teachers can also use sentence strips to help with basic reading comprehension. Each line of a paragraph is written on a strip of paper separately. Students work in small groups to decipher the meaning of each sentence strip. The group tapes the strips onto paper in a sequential order so that a logical paragraph is formed. Groups compare their paragraphs to other groups’ and discuss the correct order for the strips. (Cantoni-Harvey 1987) This method is similar to Jigsaw Learning in that each member of the groups insures that all members understand each sentence. The pieces of the "puzzle" are assembled by each group and then discussed as a whole class. An extension for the sentence strips would be to have groups assemble paragraphs in sequential order in accordance with the textbook.

Elina Raso uses the information gap activity for post reading practice. Students are paired up with each having an information chart about the reading. Each student’s chart has information on it that the other student’s chart is missing. Students have to ask their partner questions to complete their own chart. This encourages communication through questioning, reading a chart, and oral language skills. She also encourages teachers to create information grids for students to fill in after reading text passages. This helps the students to organize the information. ( Raso 1996)

After practicing with the material that has been read, it is time for both the student and the teacher to evaluate the students’ level of understanding. If using the information grids, students can compare their information with others in the class. After assembling sentence strips or paragraph strips, groups can check with other groups or scan the reading again to see if the assembled strips follow the same order as the reading. Students can use their personal dictionaries or index cards to test themselves on knowledge of vocabulary words. Teachers can ask students to discuss their answers to the cloze exercises to check for comprehension. Students could present a final product to the class, such as creating an informational poster or comic strip. I have found that students excel when creating something that teaches a concept. Even if art is not their strong point, (as in my case), pictures can be cut out of magazines to help.

Finally, when the teacher and student are satisfied that the student understood the text material, it is time to expand on the knowledge learned. One idea that comes to mind is to have students choose an article from the newspaper and use any combination of the strategies for pre-reading , reading and post reading listed above. The student could then share the information either with another student or the teacher and check for comprehension. Students could work together to write a news-type article using text reading material and print it in a newspaper layout. A passage from a text could be role-played with students writing the script and creating props. One idea I have that I will be trying out next term is to have my science students plan a demonstration or laboratory activity to share with an elementary class. This will encourage them to become experts on their topic and to participate in younger childrens’ learning processes. I would like to plan this to coincide with the culmination of big units.

I want to address a few reading strategies specifically for teaching math to ESL students. Many of the same strategies can be applied in a math lesson also. Pre-reading discussions of the new topic, brainstorming procedures, analyzing vocabulary words, and predicting strategies can all be incorporated with new textbook information. I draw a lot of pictures when I teach math. I also use manipulatives to reinforce concepts. Total Physical Response activities can be used with identification of geometric shapes. T.P.R. is an activity when commands are given with visual cues, such as "Give the blue hexagon to Kris". Raso’s information gap activity works very well with math problems too. Two students each get identical charts with math problems on them. One student has the answers to half of the problems and the other student has the other half of the answers.

ESL students may have trouble with word problems in math. Teaching students strategies for evaluating the language of the problem will help. First students have to translate words into symbols. Drawing pictures might help the process. Students can cut out the pictures and manipulate them to model the word problem. Teachers can point out key words that pertain to mathematical operations. I find that I do not have students actually read the math textbook very often because the text is very complicated for students who read English well. I usually begin the lesson with a Fast Five problem or problems on the chalkboard which they try to solve, then we discuss students’ solutions. The problems are either advance organizers for what we are about to cover or reminders of a skill we covered the previous day.

Many of the strategies I have mentioned require additional planning time from the teacher. Teachers will have to weigh out whether they can afford to use each strategy. From my experiences with non-English speaking students, the extra time involved will be worth the satisfaction of watching a student progress in their second language acquisition. The schools I have worked in do not have ESL classrooms that support non-English speaking students. It has been my experience that the students show up in my classes hoping to learn something, sometimes with no mastery of English at all. The most important thing to remember is to be gentle and not push these students to begin speaking English right away. I am happy if I can at least get them to smile and try. I hope this helps teachers who have struggled as I have with how to help ESL students with their English while they learn in content areas.

References

Anderson, N. (1999). Exploring Second Language Reading Issues and Strategies. Toronto: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Cantoni-Harvey, G. (1987). Content Area Language Instruction Approaches and Strategies. Reading, MA:Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.

Maton, Hopkins, Johnson, LaHart, Warner, Wright. (1999). Exploring Physical Science. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Publishing.

Raso, E.. (1996). A Mainstream Primary Classroom with a Majority of ESL Students: Planning for English Language Learning. In Mainstreaming ESL Case Studies in Integrating ESL Students into the Mainstream Curriculum. Bristol, PA:Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Richard – Amato, P & Snow, M. (1992). The Multicultural Classroom Readings for Content-Area Teachers. White Plains, NY:Longman Publishing.