Next semester I will be teaching a fifth grade science unit on Earthquakes (Earth & Space section).
In my class I have four students that I'd like to be specifically prepared for as they are each at a different level in their English language acquisition. We will call them Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and Minnesota. Using the Six Stages of Second-Language Acquisition from Colorin' Colorado Louisiana would be Speech Emergent, Alabama would be Beginning Fluency, Tennessee would be considered Intermediate Fluency, and Minnesota would be labeled Advanced Fluency. The six stages can be found on the link, and below.
Teaching liquification to the four students I will include several different tools. Starting with the textbook, and the textbooks video clip. Reading and listening and group summarizing. These are all very helpful to Minnesota, he enjoys learning by teaching his fellow students. He is really good at picking up the main ideas and rewording them to explain the concept to other students.
Tennessee really benefits from Minnesota's ability to reword the lesson, that combined with answering questions comprehension and topic trivia questions helps her vocabulary improve. She really enjoys listening and then reading back to get her pronunciation down so that she sounds native rather than a second language learner. She also engages from short animations. I have a few to use help explain liquification.
Alabama understands but his speaking ability isn't as high as many of his classmates. He struggles a bit with pronunciation and grammar, but really learns from seeing things and with help from his classmates. He also isn't at all afraid to make mistakes, and will often make mistakes on purpose for laughs. To help him understand even more we will work in small groups using the vocabulary in sentences and to answer questions. We will also incorporate a touching experiment using water and cornstarch creating non Newtonian substances.
The lowest language level is Louisiana, she has grown so much in the last year and a half that it's hard to believe she is the same student. She likes to quietly practice to make sure that she isn't making mistakes. Her confidence has grown drastically but she still isn't nearly as confident as her classmate Alabama. To help ensure that she has the chance to practice we will do a few lip reading, and reading up and down activities where the students repeat read with other students. Reading up and reading down I incorporate into tired classes where they stand and read and must remain standing until everyone has had the chance to read. Calling the students randomly.
In my class I have four students that I'd like to be specifically prepared for as they are each at a different level in their English language acquisition. We will call them Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and Minnesota. Using the Six Stages of Second-Language Acquisition from Colorin' Colorado Louisiana would be Speech Emergent, Alabama would be Beginning Fluency, Tennessee would be considered Intermediate Fluency, and Minnesota would be labeled Advanced Fluency. The six stages can be found on the link, and below.
| Pre-production | This is also called "the silent period," when the student takes in the new language but does not speak it. This period often lasts six weeks or longer, depending on the individual. |
|---|---|
| Early production | The individual begins to speak using short words and sentences, but the emphasis is still on listening and absorbing the new language. There will be many errors in the early production stage. |
| Speech Emergent | Speech becomes more frequent, words and sentences are longer, but the individual still relies heavily on context clues and familiar topics. Vocabulary continues to increase and errors begin to decrease, especially in common or repeated interactions. |
| Beginning Fluency | Speech is fairly fluent in social situations with minimal errors. New contexts and academic language are challenging and the individual will struggle to express themselves due to gaps in vocabulary and appropriate phrases. |
| Intermediate Fluency | Communicating in the second language is fluent, especially in social language situations. The individual is able to speak almost fluently in new situations or in academic areas, but there will be gaps in vocabulary knowledge and some unknown expressions. There are very few errors, and the individual is able to demonstrate higher order thinking skills in the second language such as offering an opinion or analyzing a problem. |
| Advanced Fluency | The individual communicates fluently in all contexts and can maneuver successfully in new contexts and when exposed to new academic information. At this stage, the individual may still have an accent and use idiomatic expressions incorrectly at times, but the individual is essentially fluent and comfortable communicating in the second language. |
Tennessee really benefits from Minnesota's ability to reword the lesson, that combined with answering questions comprehension and topic trivia questions helps her vocabulary improve. She really enjoys listening and then reading back to get her pronunciation down so that she sounds native rather than a second language learner. She also engages from short animations. I have a few to use help explain liquification.
Alabama understands but his speaking ability isn't as high as many of his classmates. He struggles a bit with pronunciation and grammar, but really learns from seeing things and with help from his classmates. He also isn't at all afraid to make mistakes, and will often make mistakes on purpose for laughs. To help him understand even more we will work in small groups using the vocabulary in sentences and to answer questions. We will also incorporate a touching experiment using water and cornstarch creating non Newtonian substances.
The lowest language level is Louisiana, she has grown so much in the last year and a half that it's hard to believe she is the same student. She likes to quietly practice to make sure that she isn't making mistakes. Her confidence has grown drastically but she still isn't nearly as confident as her classmate Alabama. To help ensure that she has the chance to practice we will do a few lip reading, and reading up and down activities where the students repeat read with other students. Reading up and reading down I incorporate into tired classes where they stand and read and must remain standing until everyone has had the chance to read. Calling the students randomly.
