Treasure Trove of Scaffolding Tools for Building Writing Skills for ALL Students (especially ELLs)

After a very demanding summer and start of the school year, I am back pursuing my passion in blogging:) 

With common core and English language learners in every mainstream classroom, teachers shall have an increasingly diverse student body to deal with.  Adjusting instructional delivery will be required throughout the lesson if all students are to do well.

One of the most difficult language skills to develop for many students is writing.  Though there are many techniques to boost student skill in this area, one of the most effective ones is scaffolding using tools such as those in this post. 

With writing scaffolding tools,  teachers will find everything from sentence starters through 5 paragraph essays.  Each graphic organizer is student friendly and therefore easy to use.  I have used some of the tools with my own ELLs and found them very effective in building writing skills of high beginners.

Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS  

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Free Online Access to 365 Short Stories for ELLs!

With summer fast approaching for many students, teachers might wish to start compiling some activities to help students maintain (or grow) in their English skills over the summer. Since leaving students on their own to locate such language supports online might not work for many of them because knowing where to look even takes teachers some time to accomplish:) Why not start putting together some good sites that are easy to navigate and will improve their English skills before the end of school?

You have your own sites to be sure so I am going to just provide you with a few over the next few weeks that you may like to add to your own collection:) 365 SHORT STORIES is geared to those who are intermediate in their language skills. Students may listen to the story as they read along. The stories cover a wide range of everyday subjects where students will also be provided with practice with idioms, slang, and more. To build even more on their English, students have the option to do a CLOZE (example) with or without any HINTS. If you would like them to practice their question answering skills, have them try YES/NO QUESTIONS . Care for them to try out some crossword puzzles for vocabulary development, look no further. Have them click on CROSSWORD. Because students can access help at any stage in trying to do the assignments, anxiety will be low AND they will be having fun!

I hope your students like the site.

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

The History of Maths! Absolutely Fascinating to Watch:)

Have your students ever wondered how math came into existence?  Of course those few who find the subject exciting need little encouragement here, but for those who do, these sites will provide incredible insight behind numbers and how they came into being:)  As a non-math person, I found this BBC series quite engaging in that its delivery is totally accessible to non-math individuals.  Further, in these videos, every segment of humanity is recognized from every continent.  If you have ELLs in your classes, you see some wide smiles when their culture is showcased.

HISTORY OF MATHS

In HISTORY OF MATHS, you will discover the many paths of discovery humans took along the way trying to find patterns and solve puzzles.  Egyptians were acknowledged at length in their handling of complex mathematics.  Land and taxes were the driving force:)


CONTINUTATION OF EGYPTIAN MATH
This section continues where the introduction left off.   The Babylonians are explored here along with their contributions to math.  Here the links to astronomy and math are a major focus in the clip.  Quadratic equations were also born in Babylonia.  Last, but not least, the concept of ZERO was touched on, but not fully addressed for 1000 years.


HISTORY OF MATH IN ASIA  The 13th century was the golden age of math in China.  Many of the formulas developed were linked also to astronomy.  India is also covered here and the fact that their number system laid the ground for our present day 9 number system.  They also created the number zero (now 0-9 was a reality). 


HISTORY OF MATH IN EUROPE You will travel through Italy and France.  The journey over the history of math in Europe then explores the major contributions of Newton and others to the field of mathematics.

I only wish that such a program as this BBC one had been available when I was in school many years ago.  For me, math class consisted of doing lots of exercises with no history or tie-in to the real world.  I loved this series. 

Denise


ELL TEACHER PROS

FREE Online Reading Comprehension Activities for ELLs:)

If you teach ELLs, you are probably always looking for ways to improve their reading skills beyond mastery of the textbook passages. In this day of lean school budgets, teachers are continually looking for free or almost free resources to support their ELLs in this area. Though the internet offers much, not everything there is geared to ELLs. More times than not, teachers have to adapt materials for their students. This site is geared to ELLs at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of English.

Click on READING COMPREHENSION and you will find a wide variety of reading passages geared to 3 levels of English proficiency-beginners, intermediates, and advanced. Please note that these passages offer students the opportunity to also prepare for high stakes tests. Teachers have the option to print out the passages which helps if access to computer labs is limited. Printing them out also has the advantage of discussing test taking skills and then using them as a way to answer the questions.

Further some of the reading passages offer students the opportunity to write paragraphs. If teachers avail themselves of this option with their students, they will also be provided with a clearer idea of areas where students are weak in writing. Also, since 3 reading levels are listed, differentiation of instruction comes with ease. Assign students to reading passages that the teacher thinks they can handle. As skills improve, more challenging passages can be assigned. Another option for teachers is to make the reading assignment a partner or small group one. With clear rules and time limits, partners or teams can not only find the correct answer, but also be able to explain or show where they found the answers. The more practice ELLs have in this area, the higher their test scores will be.


ENGLISH MAVEN even offers practice in spelling, grammar, sentence completion, punctuation, synonyms/antonyms, etc. for ELLs. Students can never have enough practice here as we all know. With each tab, you will find anywhere from 10 to 40 activities/quizzes. Computers are non-judgmental so students are free to practice as many times as they like without fear of receiving a grade:) These activities must be done online though since there is no print option.

I hope the site works for your students:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

Math OUTSIDE the Classroom? Help Kids Make that Vital Connection:)

All too often, students rarely see how the math they use in school has many applications in the real world outside of school. In fact, math can have a fun side to it from time to time:) Prove it with this site: FUN MATH FOR KIDS.

Some of the activities I explored were math and music, electoral votes, kite making, tetris math, and create a graph. Directions were easy to follow and actually fun. This is a site that teachers could encourage parents to use with their children. In fact, parents would be able to support classroom lessons with some of these sites. Further, when parents are actively involved in their children's classwork/homework, children are more motivated to learn. Parents are an integral part of a child's education. Any site that encourages that should be widely circulated at Back-to-School Night, parent conferences, etc.

For almost any teacher from any discipline, why not try linking some of the sites to the actual lessons with math applications which you are working on in class? If you are a social studies teacher, why not try CREATE A GRAPH? Graph voting trends in stellar colors and styles. If you are a math teacher, take surveys and graph results. If you are science, create graphs showing lab results. PE? Graph heart rates for the class.

Try it. You will like it:)

Denise
ELL TEACHER PROS

Is Writing a Challenge for Your ELLs? If Yes, Try Paragraph/Essay Frames:)

If your ELLs or ESL students struggle with writing, this site might be helpful. It is a collection of 78 pages of every writing graphic organizer imaginable AND for all content areas. It can also be used at anywhere from elementary through high school (especially helpful for new arrivals).

Why are such supports needed for ELLs? Some students are totally new to the English linear writing style. They must go from the familiar to the new. Such changes can be difficult at best hence the need to make the change as painless as possible. Others have very limited literacy skills in their own language so there is nothing for a teacher to relate to in trying to teach writing. Writing frames provide a model which they can steadily rely on until they have enough language and are confident in their abilities to write on their own. These tools supplement instruction. They are those necessary scaffolds which allow students to survive in content classes.

PARAGRAPH/ESSAY FRAMES This document is 78 pages long. I would suggest that teachers print it out, hole punch it, and place it in a binder for easy reference. Share it with colleagues.

Denise:)

ELL TEACHER PROS

HAVE FUN WITH HISTORY! See How Future Was Viewed in the Past:)

If you teach English literature, world history, science, or US history, you will truly the benefits of weaving in some of the material from this history site. Every major period from the 1700's to date is covered with free videos. Almost every topic you can envision is represented here.

Now, due to its size, I have pulled out only one area for this post and that is the world of science fiction. You will find unique views of what people in the past envisioned the world of the future to be. There is even a full length play from 1954 on George Orwell's 1984. RETRO FUTURE

The material here can easily supplement any content class material (including ELD/ESL). Every possible writing style can be used here: description, narration, comparsion/contrast, persuasive essay, and expository. Have students make their projections on life in 100 years. Through cooperative learning, model writings, video support with lots of think-pair-share and small group interaction, mind maps, and word walls (GOOGLE SEARCH WITHIN THIS BLOG WILL OFFER DETAILS ON EACH), ELLs will have the linguistic tools to write! Of course, it won't be perfect with the first draft, but through the drafting process along with peer editing and teacher one-on-one conferencing, the ELL will be able to generate a solid essay. Solid writing skills transfer to better grades, admittance to university/college, and good career choice opportunities in life.

Explore the future from the past:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

Writing Games That Are Fun And With a Purpose!

Here you will find some fun writing games for kids. These fun writing tasks cover letter writing, stories, news articles, debates, advertising, etc. Often times, ELLs need time to play with language if they are to ever become proficient in its use. Though these activities would never take the place of classroom instruction, they would be a wonderful supplemental activity for those who needed more time to practice writing. Ideally, a computer lab center in the classroom would provide an option for the teacher to offer more time for ELLs or others who struggle with writing.

If students have access to the internet at home, encourage them to find writing topics that either interest them OR provide more practice in developing the writing skills needed to complete a class writing assignment. All activities are untimed so students can take them over and over again without penalty.

Every activity is FREE!

WRITING GAMES

Enjoy:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS