A “what if” lesson plan: Creating a plan for multiple stages of ELL students.

There are Six Stages of Second-Language Acquisition, for this activity I will be focusing creating a lesson plan that incorporate the first four.

1.) Pre-production

The “silent period” where students are learning but rarely speak

2.) Early Production

Students at this level can speak in slight, short sentences and have a basic understanding of context. The student focuses on listening and absorbing the language, there are many errors in this stage

3.) Speech Emergent

Speech becomes more frequent, words and sentences are longer but the student still relies on context clues and familiar topics. Vocabulary increases while errors decrease in common or repeated interactions.

4.) Beginning Fluency.

Fluent communication in social context with few errors. Student is beginning to focus on academic language and challenging contexts. The student struggles here due to gaps in vocabulary and context.

Next semester, I will be teaching a 2^nd grade unit on camping and outdoor activities.  The objective is to teach subject specific word recognition and spelling.  The material I will need consists of student and teacher flashcards, scrap paper, scissors, glue, and crayons

During the warm up stage, students and teacher use flashcards to elicit word recognition.    This simple strategy will include learners in all stages of second language acquisition.  The students at the beginning fluency stage will lead the lower level students through the method of mimicry and language repetition.  Through the use of visual cues the teacher reinforces vocabulary retention.  Introducing a game at this stage can initiate students at all levels in the learning process. By repeating and displaying the vocabulary flashcards the student who is first in matching the teacher’s flashcard will win a point.  After a few rounds of this game, students will have retained a great deal of the vocabulary introduced in the lesson.  At this stage, the teacher can shift his or her focus to the next phase of language acquisition.

Through the use of scrap paper, students can practice spelling by writing and listing each vocabulary word. At this point all students have a basic understanding of the lesson subject and can pronounce and spell the new vocabulary that was introduced. At this stage, the focus shifts and the class transition to a group activity.  In introducing the next activity, the teacher organizes the students into groups, incorporating mix levels of students in each group. The next activity engages student’s creativity by having them draw and color a campsite. While the student’s attention is now focused on creating illustrations, the teacher can divide his time between the different levels and cater to their understanding.

For level 1’s, as they’re drawing their campsite and outdoor activities, the teacher can ask basic questions prompting a corresponding response. While these students may be at the lowest level, they should be able to respond to the flashcards using the pre taught vocabulary.   To engage disinterested students find a topic that may excite them. For example, campsites may not be very exciting for them, but if there was a dinosaur eating a camper or smashing a tent, the student may regain interest and become more focused on the task.

For level 2’s, start with simple vocabulary question about their campsite then transition to more basic questions like what is it? or what color is it? One word answers are fine, prompt with flashcards where necessary. If students are disinterested then utilize the same tactic used for the level 1students.

For level 3’s, while they’re focused on their drawing task ask more complex questions requiring detailed answers. Students should be able to answer with multiple words, but not necessarily in complete sentences.  Learners at this stage should also be able to talk about actions at a very basic level. If the students are bored or having a hard time getting interested in the lesson then introduce some outlandish situations like tanks, robots, or explosions.  Proceed this by asking some concept check question like what’s happening or do you like your creation.

For level 4’s, focus on the conversational aspect of the subject, ask them questions about their experiences camping and what activities they enjoy doing outdoors. Engage them on past stories and prod them for details to really get their interest peaked. The other students can get pulled into these small conversations and start adding their own experiences with their limited vocabulary.

 

 

Reference

Language Acquisition: An Overview | Colorín Colorado. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/language-acquisition-overview