Tag Archives: best practices

Celebrating Culture with Picture Books

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The Henry Grube Education Centre Learning Commons has a diverse range of picture books celebrating many of the cultures within SD73. ELL students are generally eager to share their culture with their peers and bringing picture books into the classroom is a great way to do so. Here are some ideas on how to engage both your ELL student and their peers:

  1. Speak to your ELL student ahead of time and see what their comfort level is in regard to sharing out to the whole class. Maybe you could work with them in advance to prepare some ideas of what they could talk about.
  2. Read the story with the ELL student ahead of time (or send it home). The more familiar with the text and contents the student is, the more comforatable they will feel in potentially sharing with the class.
  3. Think of ways to engage all students in the text: Venn diagrams, classroom map of cultures, potluck (post-COVID), think/pair/share, etc…

Below is a list of children’s books that are available at the HGEC, their appropriate grade use, and notes on what they could be used for. If you would like additional information or ideas on how to use these books in your classroom, please connect with your ELL Resource Teacher.

Happy Reading!

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TED Talks for ELL Students

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This is a great article by ELL expert  Tan Huynh on how to allow ELL students to access TED talks, along with the rest of their peers in the classroom.

ELL TED Talks

To summarize, here are a few strategies that will help support ELL students in their understanding of TED talks used in your classroom.

  1. Download the transcript ahead of time and scan for new and key vocabulary. Pre-teach vocabulary to student before they listen to the TED talk.
  2. Allow students to utilize the subtitles (either in English or in their first language).
  3. Model various note-taking options: mind maps (with visuals), point form, fill-in-the blanks and then ask student to continue on their own.
  4. As a follow-up to watching the video, ask students to create mini-quizzes for other students (based on their notes).
  5. Small or large group discussion regarding the topics presented in the video (provide oral sentence frames to assist ELL students express their understanding).

The above strategies are just a brief summary of the article’s contents, so if it is of interest to you, please take the short amount of time to read the article in it’s entirety.

SIOP Lesson Samples

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The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model is a research-based method of instruction that addresses the academic needs of English language learners (ELLs).  The SIOP model combines multiple instructional components with teaching strategies to ensure the content and language needs of ELL students are met as they learn alongside their native English-speaking peers.

Here is a  link to a page that provides examples of lesson plans and activities for all grade levels that reflect the SIOP model. Although, many of these lessons reflect American curriculum, many of them can be used as is, or adapted for your own classroom content. If you need further ideas on how to implement these strategies, please contact your ELL Resource Teacher.

SIOP Lesson Plan Examples

Visual Prompts

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Visual Writing Prompts

This is a great site which provides wonderful creative writing prompts through the use of visuals for grades 3-12. Using visual prompts is a great way to engage ELL students in their thinking and writing skills.

Just like with any writing activity, it is important to remember to engage the students before they begin writing. Think about pre-writing activities that will allow them to access vocabulary and personal connections they might be able to make to the photo. Encourage them to use word webs or other graphic organizers to get their ideas down on paper. Discussion in small groups or one-on-one is also a great way to get them to come up with ideas before they start writing.

When they are writing their ideas, think of ways to adapt the assignment so all students can be successful with their written output. These adaptations could include (but are not limited to): the use of a translation device, a graphic organizer to structure paragraph format, or the use of a scribe to record their ideas as they are being said. Another great strategy is to model the writing process by doing the assignment together as a class first. Select an image, brainstorm with them, and then write the paragraph together.

After the students have submitted their written work, think about doing the following activities:

  1. Focus on on one grammar point to work on with the student to improve, Provide supplementary activities or provide the student with the opportunity to revise their work once they understand their error.
  2. Allow students to share in small groups or in pairs their written work (if students are comfortable). Encourage students to verbally respond to their partner’s work. Provide oral scaffolds for the students to refer to:
    1. ” I really like your sentence that says….. because…”
    2. “I have not heard the word… before. Can you tell me what it means?”
    3. “Your writing makes me think of… because…”
    4. “This reminds me of…”

There are many more ways you can support students in their writing, so please don’t hesitate to contact your ELL Resource Teacher if you are looking for additional strategies.

Scaffolding Writing

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The ELL Department talks a lot about implementing scaffolds into your daily instruction so that ELL students are given the opportunity to show their knowledge of content. Above are 8 different ways you can scaffold writing assignments for ELL students (and others who may benefit). If you have any questions about the different methods, please connect with your ELL Resource Teacher.

Scaffolding Writing Article