Chapter 3 - part 2 el330

Chapter 3: Contextualizing Instruction: Teaching Young Learners English

Page 1: Overview

Title: Contextualizing Instruction: Teaching Young Learners EnglishAuthors: Dr. Joan Kang Shin; Dr. JoAnn (Jodi) CrandallDeveloper: Dr. Marine Milad

Page 2: Introduction

Objectives of the Chapter:

• Contextualization of Instruction: Tailoring teaching methods to connect educational experiences with students’ everyday lives.

• Meaningful Activities: Designing activities that bridge the learning environment with students' experiences at home and school to promote engagement.

Key Components:

• Comprehensive Planning: Emphasis on both long-term and short-term lesson planning to create a cohesive learning journey.

• Flexible Instruction: Strategies for organizing instruction effectively with or without a textbook, adapting to available resources.

• Thematic Units: Selecting compelling themes that resonate with students to form thematic units, which provides context and relevance.

• Adaptive Daily Lessons: Planning daily lessons that incorporate necessary adaptations for varied learner needs and include assessment strategies for evaluation.

Page 3: Text-First Unit Planning

Example Unit Plan: The Very Hungry CaterpillarStory Overview:The story chronicles a caterpillar's journey through a week of diverse food consumption before metamorphosing into a butterfly, symbolizing growth and transformation.

Learning Objectives:

• Food Awareness: Introduce and familiarize students with their favorite foods to enhance vocabulary and personal connections.

• Numerical Review: Reinforce basic mathematical skills by reviewing numbers and days of the week to apply them in real-world contexts.

• Science Integration: Explain the life cycle of a butterfly, integrating science curriculum with language learning.

• Mathematics Connection: Include basic mathematics activities that provide tangible applications of numbers related to food and days.

Page 4: Suggested Activities

• Food Naming Activity: Use vibrant pictures of common food items to teach students names and create interactive discussions about their own food preferences.

• Class Graph: Collect data on students’ favorite foods using the graph method to teach data analysis skills while making it fun and relatable.

• Life Cycle Artistic Discussions: Facilitate drawing and acting activities to explore the butterfly's life cycle, allowing students to express their understanding through creative acts.

• Inquiry-Based Yes/No Questions: Encourage students to ask and answer yes/no questions while discussing the caterpillar’s diet, sharpening questioning and comprehension skills.

• Internet Research Project: Instruct students to research butterfly life cycles using safe, educational websites, developing digital literacy in science education contexts.

Page 5: Unit Plan Details

Language Objectives:

• Grammar Focus: Practicing the use of prepositions (on + days of the week), the past tense, and expressions of preference (like/don’t like).

• Vocabulary Acquisition: Building a vocabulary bank that includes fruits, food items, descriptive adjectives, days of the week, and numbers from 1 to 7.

Content Objectives:

• Estimating Food Value: Teach students about the value and nutrients of various foods while also developing an understanding of the days of the week and life cycles, incorporating interdisciplinary themes.

• Thematic Concepts: Engage with themes that revolve around food, nutrition, and biological cycles to provide a rich context for language learning.

Student Profile:

• Target Group: Typically 6-7 years old, at a beginner level of English, with a variety of cultural backgrounds and varying levels of exposure to the English language.

Page 6: Language Skills Activities

Listening Activities:

• Story Engagement: Students listen to the story or watch a video of the author narrating, reinforcing auditory processing and comprehension skills.

• Choral Reading: Engage students in discussing favorite foods followed by collective reading, fostering pronunciation and fluency skills in a supportive group environment.

Speaking Activities:

• Dialogue Creation: Allow students to develop dialogues while acting out scenes from the story, blending creativity with language practice.

• Caterpillar-Themed Games: Use songs and games that relate to the story's theme to reinforce vocabulary and concepts through fun activities.

Reading Activities:

• Dictation Tasks: Dictating language experience stories into a group to encourage writing skills alongside reading comprehension.

• Visual Sequencing: Pairing pictures with the text helps students comprehend the story sequence and enhances their ability to narrate.

Writing Activities:

• Caterpillar Charting: Have students track and chart the foods they’ve eaten, culminating in the creation of an illustrated book about their food experiences.

Page 7: Daily Lesson Planning

Importance:

• Structure for EYL Curriculum: Essential for organizing and guiding teaching practices that align with developmental needs of young learners.

• Transparency with Parents: Required documentation for administrators to increase transparency regarding instructional methodologies with parents.

• Support for Substitutes: Provides clear guidelines for substitute teachers to maintain educational continuity during absences.

Page 8: Benefits of a Lesson Plan

• Boost Confidence: Establishes a structured environment that instills confidence in both teachers and students regarding learning goals.

• Guidance for Preparation: Provides a strategic roadmap for implementing classroom activities that meet common educational objectives.

• Inclusivity: Ensures that learning objectives are met while accommodating diverse learning styles and preferences, promoting access for all students.

• Facilitates Reflection: Serves as a tool for educators to reflect on instructional effectiveness, identifying areas for improvement and professional development.

Page 9: Tips on Choosing Activities

Activity Criteria:

• Active Learning: Choose activities that promote interaction and engagement among students to enhance motivation and participation.

• Comprehensible Input/Output: Include exercises that provide language input that students can understand and opportunities to produce language meaningfully.

• Enjoyable and Relevant: Ensure activities are not only educational but also enjoyable, connecting learning to students’ interests and experiences in daily life.

• Address Learning Styles: Incorporate a variety of activities that cater to different learning styles and intelligences, maximizing engagement and effectiveness.

• Curriculum Alignment: Ensure that all activities align with school curriculum standards, serving to reinforce learning objectives.

Page 10: Sample Lesson Plan: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Overview:Title: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"Student Profile: Grades 1-2, beginner English proficiency, typically with diverse backgrounds in language exposure.Skills Emphasized: Listening and speaking, particularly through food-focused discussions and collaborative activities.Materials Needed: The Very Hungry Caterpillar book, various food items for tactile learning, art supplies for engaging activities.

Page 11: Writing Objectives

Objective Examples:

• Food Discussion: Students will articulate the foods consumed by the caterpillar, promoting vocabulary usage in practical scenarios.

• Visual Presentation: Students will create charts and draw representations of the caterpillar’s eating habits and life cycle transformation, enhancing creative expression alongside factual understanding.

Page 12: Warm-up Activities

Engagement Techniques:

• Physical Connection: Use gestures like rubbing stomachs while discussing hunger to create a relatable entry point to the lesson.

• Visual Stimulation: Display food pictures to prompt student reactions; use thumbs up/down for engagement while introducing new vocabulary.

• Interactive Vocabulary Presentation: Introduce new vocabulary with visual aids and context to make the content more accessible and memorable.

Page 13: Caterpillar Toss Activity

• Interactive Vocabulary Game: Promote vocabulary through a physical game where students toss a soft object while stating food items, enhancing engagement and enjoying movement.

• Anticipatory Set: Build excitement by previewing the story’s cover and discussing what students expect based on initial visuals of the book.

Page 14: During-Storytelling Activities

Storytelling Techniques:

• Interactive Story Engagement: Use pauses during storytelling to engage students, verify comprehension, and allow them to predict outcomes.

• Movement Integration: Implement body movements to represent the butterfly’s life stages, making the narrative multisensory and memorable.

• Post-Story Reflection: Review students’ predictions and factual understandings, checking comprehension through questioning at the end of the storytelling session.

Page 15: Practice Activities

Review and Retell:

• Calendar Construction: Facilitate the creation of a calendar reflecting the caterpillar's dietary journey, reinforcing understanding of time and sequences.

• Collaborative Learning Discussion: Foster class discussions about the days of the week linked with the story to reinforce understanding of sequencing and related vocabulary.

Page 16: Application Activities

Paired and Whole Class Activities:

• Collaborative Charting: Assign pairs to complete 'Food for Two' charts that enhance speaking and collaborative skills through dialogue about their preferences.

• Class Surveys: Organize surveys regarding students' favorite foods to practice data collection and analysis skills in a fun, engaging way.

Page 17: Assessment Strategies

Monitoring and Feedback:

• Active Teacher Engagement: Circulate during activities to monitor student understanding and provide immediate feedback, fostering a growth mindset.

• Exit Tickets: Encourage students to recall and jot down one new concept they learned, reinforcing retention of information and self-assessment.

Page 18: Next Class Preparation

• Family Connection: Review favorite foods from home to create continuity between classroom lessons and family experiences, fostering community involvement.

• Familiar Review: Emphasize warm-up activities that are already familiar to students to create a comfortable learning atmosphere.

Page 19: Controlled Practice Activity Example

Dialog Practice:

• Structured Vocabulary Practice: Use structured dialog exercises to reinforce vocabulary and sentence patterns, encouraging fluent speech and comprehension reinforcement.

Page 20: Freer Practice Activity Example

Small Group Discussions:

• Group Presentations: Encourage small group discussions about their favorite fruits, enhancing speaking skills while fostering peer learning and collaboration.

Page 21: Sample Lesson: The Value of Trees

Overview:Title: "The Great Kapok Tree" by Lynne Cherry

• Ecological Education: Focus on the value of rainforests, enhancing environmental literacy through storytelling and interactive activities to inform students about biodiversity.

Page 22: Previous Classes Review

Foundation Activities:

• K-W-L Activities: Conduct K-W-L (What they Know, What they want to Know, What they Learned) activities about trees, resulting in engaging discussions around significant ecological themes.

Page 23: Lesson Profile for The Great Kapok Tree

Skills and Grammar Focus:

• Language Skills Enhancement: Emphasize skills in listening, speaking, and vocabulary mastery centered around tree-related themes, cultivating an awareness of ecological vocabulary.

Page 24: Knowledge Connection

Class Activity:

• Think-Pair-Share: Engage students in Think-Pair-Share discussions on the value of trees while completing a visual tree graphic organizer, promoting collaboration and enhancing understanding of ecological concerns.

Page 25: Storybook Presentation

Engagement Techniques:

• Storytime Anticipation: Prompt discussions about the story cover and the author’s intent, fostering critical thinking and predicting skills ahead of reading.

Page 26: Storytelling with Graphic Organizers

Group Work:

• Organized Storytelling: Use graphic organizers for collaborative storytelling exercises, enhancing comprehension by relating different perspectives of animals featured in the narrative.

Page 27: Practicing Retelling

Collaborative Drawing:

• Group Presentations: Encourage students to engage in collaborative drawing activities where they illustrate diverse animals in the story, promoting creativity and storytelling skills.

Page 28: Personalized Activities

Tree Inquiry and Reflection:

• Local Flora Connections: Encourage students to connect with local trees and plants, reinforcing lessons through hands-on exploration of their environment and fostering a sense of stewardship.

Page 29: Subsequent Classes Activities

Continuity in Learning:

• Storytelling Performance: Build on previous lessons by integrating acting exercises and creative writing projects such as letter writing related to environmental themes, encouraging expressive skills.

Page 30: Evaluating Thematic Units and Lesson

Reflective Notes:

• Success Analysis: Educators should analyze what worked well and what could be improved in their instruction after lessons to inform future teaching strategies and curriculum adjustments.

Page 31: Chapter Summary: Importance of Instruction Contextualization

Key Insights:

• Motivation Significance: Emphasizing that motivation is fundamental in language acquisition for young learners and that thematic instruction significantly enhances relevance and engagement in learning experiences.

Page 32: Lesson Planning Insights

Planning Essentials:

• Structured Learning Path: Long-term and daily lesson planning ensures that educators have a structured progression for their lessons, supporting student success and learning outcomes.

Page 33: Discussion Questions for Reflection

Inquiry Prompts:

• Effectiveness Analysis: Provide critical prompts that encourage teachers to reflect on thematic units and lesson effectiveness, fostering a culture of continuous improvement in their teaching practice.

Page 34: Classroom Observation Guidelines

Observation Process:

• Reflective Observation: Suggested procedures for observing instructional practices that help educators gain insights into effective strategies and areas for personal development.

Page 35: Reflection on Observation

Report Topics:

• Professional Growth: Identify key takeaways regarding teaching effectiveness and professional growth opportunities based on observations and reflection techniques.