Great Interactive on Development of English From 449 A.D to Present

Both English teachers and English language enthusiasts will truly enjoy this site.  This BBC site looks at the development of English from 449 A.D. from many angles.  The audio clips contain language puns, insults, and riddles from old English.  Students will be able to hear the language the way it was spoken over 1500 years ago.

How does this tool enrich English class?  Click on Beowulf from the 8th century to hear it read in English's earliest forms.  Supports such as these not only broaden the students' knowledge of English, but also transfer over to world history in the study of Vikings, Anglos, and Saxons:)  Remember in the new common core, teachers of all content areas will be demonstrating to students that content knowledge in one course can and does transfer to other subject areas.

For vocabulary development, this site provides samples of words that each time period added to the language.  Again, such information easily bridges over into world history, English, science, and mathematics.  Everything now known about English took hundreds of years to evolve.  This site provides just enough to grab student interest without overwhelming them.  Think of it as a "hook" to build interest AND it is fun.

What about studying puns, jokes, and insults in the various forms of Old English?  What could be more fun for students studying Shakespeare than insulting each other in the language of Queen Elizabeth's reign?   What better motivator to fully engage all students in studying English literature:)

Explore the other great options this site offers and see how it can tap and hold student interest:)

A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE FROM BBC

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

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Be Open to New Teaching Strategies:)

Trying new approaches in delivering instruction is exciting for both the teachers and the students.  Changes in everything from seating to activities to assignments and more energize students.  Their curiosity is peaked when they are actively engaged in the learning process.  If teachers tap students' strengths to highlight key components of lessons, they will see students exhibit enthusiasm in completing just about any assigned task because they are being encouraged to solve problems as a team.  This approach is what they will face in college and in the real world.

So how do teachers empower students to become independent learners?  Well since it necessitates incorporating new learning styles, teachers may want to honestly reflect on how they learned when they were in school.  Further, there are other factors which may have influenced academic success--having parents with degrees,  being in a learning environment which assumed every student would go to and graduate from college, having strong academic skills already in place, coming from a home with native speakers of English, etc.  What worked for many teachers will not work for many of today's students.  Teachers must expand their teacher tool kits to accommodate the many needs of today's classrooms.  NEW METHODS OF INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY  

Here are two examples of classrooms using new approaches to engage all learners through team work, clear directions, student accountability, clear directions and learning objectives.  The teachers assume nothing in delivering their lessons.  Teachers use table talk, visuals, models, team work, modeling, checks for understanding, active student engagement, and much more to fully engage each class.  Gone are the days where the teacher would lecture, students would read the text and answer questions, and give straight multiple choice tests.  Though the teacher is the expert obviously, s/he does not wear the "sage on the stage' role any longer.  HOW TO DELIVER HIGH QUALITY INSTRUCTION  (video within article).

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

Themes-WHAT are they and WHY are they important?

Identifying themes in literature is a major part of any English class regardless of grade level.  This many times is an issue with English language learners since they have to tackle not just unfamiliar culturally based literature, but also wade their way through overwhelming amounts of never before seen vocabulary words.  It is not easy.

Here is a quick video on how to identify themes and what to do them when writing-- THEMES AND HOW TO IDENTIFY THEM .  The explanations are basic and, at the same time, highly detailed with clear examples all along the way.  Further, this can be added to a class website for ELLs to refer to after school either from a computer (at home, at an after school program, or in a library) or a smartphone (many students carry them -- they are basically mini-computers).  When students have access to instructional materials to review at their own leisure, they develop both a deeper grasp of the content and a boost in self-confidence since they have had additional time to process the meat of the lesson.

If the goal is to have students eventually compose essays on key themes from literature, using clear definitions of what is a theme along with solid examples of what they are will set students up to produce the assignments required to both the satisfaction of the teacher and student alike:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

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Proven Successful Strategies to BUILD Academic Vocabulary Base for the Long-Term ELL

Long term ELLs (those students who are still identified as English language learners after more than 7 years in the country) are struggling at best in mainstream classes.  They come to class with conversational skills in place, but are 2-4 years behind in reading and writing skills.  Coming to school with such major gaps in academic language leads to failing grades.  Such low grades lead to high dropout rates from high school.  Dropping out of school drastically limits life choices.  No teacher wants a child to fail, but how can this special group not just survive in a mainstream class, but also thrive?  One approach is to start building their knowledge of more academic language so that they can not only recognize it when they see it, but also use it in their speech (class discussions) and their writing (making solid arguments on paper). 

So, how can the explicit teaching of vocabulary be addressed in class of 32? 

First, teachers need to preview readings to identify those academic vocabulary words that will surface in other content areas (ex.  compare, analyze, expect, decide, etc.).  Ideally, if teachers share the same students, they could select common academic words that surface in all of their classes and draw student attention to them whenever they present themselves in a lesson.  Also, such key academic vocabulary could be charted on butcher paper and placed in a very prominent place in class for ready reference.  Each word listed there would be accompanied by a visual, a sentence (specific to the individual teacher's content), and possibly word parts (affixes:  compare, comparatively, comparison---draw student attention to common word parts/affixes). Have students write those words, use them in academic discussions, understand them when used in lectures, etc. 

Second, with content classes, teachers must also identify key vocabulary specific to the course.  For example, if teaching biology, what are 10 key vocabulary words a student must know in a week long lesson?  Presenting that student with a list of 40+ words per week to master in order to pass the class (slight exaggeration here) is an overwhelming situation for the long-term ELL.  Teachers don't need to compromise on the concepts delivered in the lesson, but instead they must decide on what words are absolutes (i.e. "must be taught and memorized") vs. what words can just be explained quickly in the reading.  Concept maps on large sheets of butcher paper build mental links for ELLs.  Having students develop these maps (under teacher supervision to make sure that they are accurate) will stimulate academic conversation, involve the kinesthetic learner, the visual learner also artist, and the auditory learner as s/he listens and responds to the discussion on layout of the map.  Teachers can then draw student attention to the concept maps throughout the week to build academic key vocabulary background.  When the week is over, teachers should keep the sheets as a sort of "student-generated dictionary).

Third, teachers might wish to create tiered vocabulary lists.  Tier one are the common words that most ELLs bring to class.  It basically consists of the everyday language they use outside of school.  On the other hand, tier two words are those words that teachers need to weave into the class to move students away from tier one words.  Those are the words students need to use in academic settings.  The same words they will on college applications or in the business world.  If students don't learn these words in school, they will be at a distinct disadvantage in the real world.  As tier two words are addressed, teachers address key content vocabulary aka tier three words.  Tier three vocabulary consists of content specific vocabulary such as for biology:  mitosis, photosynthesis, DNA, rh factor, etc.

Below are two sites that address the teaching of academic vocabulary.  You may want to bookmark them for easy reference.

TEACHING VOCABULARY

ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

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POPULAR SCIENCE--137 Years of Back Issues for FREE Thanks to Google!

This is an amazing resource which can be used with the new COMMON CORE STANDARDS in English, social studies, history, science, and possibly math classes.  These clips from the past will offer a wealth of resources for research papers, essays, presentations, projects, etc.  An interesting aside here is that even the ads within each issue are authentic.  They provide another window into the past--fashion, transportation, communication, etc.. 

As students "thumb through the pages," they will see that some of the predictions of what the future would hold for us have turned out to be true while others were far off target.  POPULAR SCIENCE has made a mission to predict how technology has the potential to improve the quality of life for everyone.

You may browse at your pace by exploring articles year by year, or simply type in a word and have the searching tool look for every issue that had that word in it.  I chose BATTLESHIP and found an article written in 1901.  You pick the topic and the searching tool will list results.  Some results might go as far back as 1870!


POPULAR SCIENCE ARCHIVES 

Try to share this with your students before summer vacation arrives.  It should be fun reading for them:)