Principled Training for LESLLA Instructors

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Principled Training for LESLLA Instructors

• Patsy Vinogradov,
• Hamline University, Minnesota, USA
• Astrid Liden,
• Minnesota Department of Education, USA

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Agenda

• Our context
• Teacher training experiences
• Key knowledge skills for LESLLA instructors
• Teacher training workshop demo
• Teacher training in your context
• Resources next steps

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Our context Minnesota, U.S.
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Minnesota
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Our students

• Minnesota has
• the highest proportion of refugees of any state
  in the US
• the largest population of Somali immigrants in
  the country
• the second largest population of Hmong and the
  largest urban Hmong population in the country

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Adult Basic Education (ABE) System in MN

• The mission of Adult Basic Education (ABE) in
  Minnesota is to provide adults with educational
  opportunities to acquire and improve their
  literacy skills necessary to become
  self-sufficient and to participate effectively as
  productive workers, family members, and citizens.

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ABE in Minnesota

• Free ESL instruction for eligible students
• Must be 16 and over, not enrolled in secondary
  school, and functioning below the 12th grade
  level in any of the basic academic areas
  including reading, math, writing and speaking
  English.
• Typically, ABE programs are located in every
  school district in Minnesota as a part of the
  community education program.
• There are 53 ABE consortia statewide and over 500
  delivery sites
• Sites vary classes may be held in school
  buildings, community centers, libraries,
  churches, etc

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What does a Minnesota adult ESL class look like?

• Huge varietythere is no typical class
• Class size may range from a few people to over 30
• Schedules vary average from 4 20 hours/wk
• Most classes offered in the morning or evening
  some in afternoon very few on the weekends
• Most classes are open enrollment (students may
  enter or exit at any time during the year there
  isnt a beginning or end of the course)
• Class levels may vary in smaller programs,
  levels are often combined into one class in
  larger programs, there are leveled classes

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Our adult ESL teachers

• Majority are part-time
• Those working in school districts have a teaching
  license but may not have experience training in
  working with adults and or ESL
• Many volunteer instructors in community-based
  organizations
• Most have not had formal training on working with
  LESLLA students

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Your contexts

• What is your role in LESLLA teacher training?
• How are LESLLA instructors in your context
  trained (if at all) to work with LESLLA students?

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What do literacy-level language teachers need to
know and be able to do?
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Knowledge

• Refugee experience
• Types of literacy-level learners
• Child acquisition of literacy in L1 vs. adult
  acquisition of literacy in L2
• Empathy for experience of emergent reader
• Principles of second language acquisition
  (affective filter, comprehensible input, factors
  affecting langauge learning, etc.)

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Knowledge, cont.

• Key LESLLA L2 literacy research
• Components of reading (phonemic awareness,
  phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension)
• Balanced approach to literacy
• Approaches to literacy instruction (project-based
  learning, language experience approach, etc.)
• L1 literacy as a vehicle for L2 literacy

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Skills

• Assessment
• Assess literacy and language skills in L1 and L2
• Conduct student needs assessments

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Skills, cont.

• Course design classroom practice
• Lower the affective filter create a welcoming
  productive learning environment
• Build oral language and vocabulary
• Teach pre-literacy skills (holding a pencil,
  identifying similar shapes/patterns, using
  appropriate directionality, etc.)
• Contextualize literacy instruction within
  real-life relevant themes

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Skills, cont.

• Course design classroom practice
• Design and teach multi-level lessons to address
  various levels of literacy in a classroom setting
• Design and teach lessons that address components
  of reading
• Design and teach lessons that develop top-down
  and bottom-up strategies
• Teach learning strategies and study skills
  appropriate for LESLLA students

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Skills, cont.

• Selection and development of appropriate
  materials
• Adapt published materials for LESLLA students
• Use authentic materials for instruction
• Value and use student-generated texts

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Think Pair Share

• What changes or additions would you make to the
  above checklist?
• Which seem most important to you in your setting?

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LESLLA Teacher Training Workshop

• Developed based on our teaching and teacher
  training experiences
• First offered at TESOL 2008 in NYC
• Repeated at various professional development
  events since
• Positive response from participants

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Primary components of workshop

• Who are LESLLA learners?
• Foreign language demonstration debrief
• Discussion of components of reading
• Annotated bibliography of LESLLA research
• Principles of LESLLA literacy instruction
• Scenarios of effective practice
• Demonstration of literacy-level unit
• Workshop development of literacy-level unit

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Annotated bibliography

• Objectives
• Provide annotated list of research that can be
  used as a reading list for further study
• Point to gaps in the research
• Promote research-based practice
• Task
• Skim bibliography and identify 2 articles on
  topics they would like to learn more about
• Share with a partner

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Principled LESLLA instruction

• Keep it in context.
• Go up and down the ladder.
• Provide a buffet of learning opportunities.
• Tap into strengths.
• Nurture learners confidence.

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Scenarios of effective practice

• Objectives
• Move from abstract/theory to concrete/practice
• Highlight practices that reflect balanced,
  meaning-based instruction
• Task
• Groups of participants read and analyze a
  scenario
• How are the 5 principles put into action?
• How are the 5 reading skills (phonics, phonemic
  awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, and
  fluency) addressed?
• How would you/do you respond to this situation?

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Scenarios

• Multi-level, 0/1
• L1 literacy instruction
• Meaningful assessment
• Learning beyond the classroom
• Using authentic texts
• Choosing and creating materials, adapting for use
• Extensive reading

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Demo of literacy-level unit

• Objectives
• Move from theory to practice
• Demonstrate classroom practices that reflect
  balanced, meaning-based literacy instruction.

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Neighborhood unit

• Functional Literacy Objectives
• LWBAT write address.
• LWBAT read relevant street signs.
• Literacy Development Objectives
• LWBAT read and write about current neighbors and
  neighborhoods.
• LWBAT read and write about past neighbors and
  neighborhoods.

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• Oral Skills Objectives
• LWBAT talk about their neighborhoods, past and
  present, and express likes and dislikes.
• LWBAT work together to complete cooperative
  tasks.
• Grammar Objectives
• LWBAT recognize affirmative and negative
  sentences in the present tense.
• LWBAT recognize the third person s in present
  tense.
• LWBAT write at least one grammatical sentence in
  the present tense.
• Vocabulary Objectives
• LWABT name and recognize in print a variety of
  words related to neighbors and neighborhoods,
  such as

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Key vocabulary

• street
• store
• school
• Cub Foods
• Caribou Coffee
• address
• across from
• house
• Holiday gas station

• neighbor
• next to
• park
• post office
• bank
• bus
• There is
• There are

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Language experience story

• We take a walk near our school. We see many
  things. Many cars, bus. We see Cub Foods, a
  store for food. Across the street, there is a
  big park. Very beautiful. On the corner, we see
  Holiday gas station. Humboldt avenue. On other
  side there is Caribou Coffee. We walk back to
  school. Next to school there are many houses.

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LEA follow-up

• 1. Circle we. How many times do you see we?
• 2. Underline all the words that begin with c.
• 3. Circle There is and There are.
• 4. Look at school, store, street
• How are these words the same? How are they
  different?
• 5. Teacher cuts the story into 5 sections on
  slips of paper. Pairs must re-order the story
  and read it to each other.
• 6. Teacher hands out one sentence each to
  students. Students mingle until they have the
  order ready, and then stand in order and read
  their sentences aloud.
• 7. Teacher provides a cloze exercise with the LEA
  story theyve created.

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LEA follow-up Cloze story

• We take a walk near our___________. We see
  many things. Many cars, bus. We see _______
  Foods, a _______ for food. Across the street,
  there _____ a big park. Very beautiful. On the
  corner, ____ see Holiday gas station. Humboldt
  avenue. On other side there is Caribou
  ____________. We walk back ______ school. Next
  to school there are many __________.

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LEA follow-up YES or NO?

• 1. Near my school, there is a park. YES NO
• 2. Near my school, there is a Holiday station.
  YES NO
• 3. Near my school, there are no cars. YES NO
• 4. Near my school, there is Cub Foods. YES NO
• 5. Near my school, there are no houses. YES
  NO
• 6. Near my school, there is no coffee shop. YES
  NO

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LEA follow-up Sort by letters
S School, street, store C Cub, Caribou Coffee, corner
A Avenue, across, are H houses, Humboldt, Holiday
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Next day or after break LEA re-tell
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Writing sentences using pictures

• Show 6 photos we took on our walk. Give one to
  each table.
• Informal chat
• What do you see in each picture?
• What do people do at this place?

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• Then, with the teacher, volunteer, or slightly
  more advanced student, create a sentence or two
  to describe what happens at this place.
• Examples
• There is a Holiday gas station. We buy gas for
  the car.
• There is a school. We study English.
• There is a park. We walk.
• There is Cub Foods. It is a store for food.
• There are houses near our school.
• There is Caribou Coffee. We like to drink coffee
  here.

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Extensive reading

• Gives teacher time to create a follow-up practice
  worksheet with student-generated sentences.
• Provides valuable silent reading time when
  students can read their choices of texts at their
  own pace. After a few minutes, students are
  asked to talk to a partner about what they read.
  After a couple of minutes, students switch
  partners and re-tell once more.

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Individual reading practice

• There is a Holiday gas station. We buy gas for
  the car.
• There is a school. We study English.
• There is a park. We walk.
• There is Cub Foods. It is a store for food.
• There are houses near our school.
• There is Caribou Coffee. We like to drink coffee
  here.
• 1. Where can I buy coffee? _______________________
  ___
• 2. Where can I study English? ____________________
  ____
• 3. Where can I take a walk? ______________________
  ___
• 4. Where do people live? _________________________
  ___
• 5. Where can I buy food? _________________________
  __
• 6. Where can I buy gas for my car?
  __________________

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Sound chain

• house gt school gt like gt cold gt December gt rabbit
  gt time gt my gt ice

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Write first letters/sounds

• C H S
• ___aribou ___offee
• ___ub Foods
• ___oliday
• ___ouse
• ___tudy
• ___chool

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Same or different
house house
cub cut
school scoot
food foot
guy buy
like like
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Building schema for reading/Personalizing the
lesson

• What do you like about YOUR neighborhood?
• What DONT you like about your neighborhood?
• Who are your neighbors?

things I like things I dont like
my house big dogs
my school dark street
coffee shop many cars
nice stores no people
? ?
? ?
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Journal writing

• Students who need/want one are given the
  following prompt
• In my neighborhood, I like ______________
  _________________________________.
• I dont like __________________________
  _________________________________.

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Grammar focus Present tense and negation

• Elicit examples such as the following, with
  complete sentences
• I like I have I study
• I dont like I dont have I dont study
• Faduma likes Jose likes Shoua
  studies
• She doesnt like Jose doesnt like
  Shoua doesnt study
• How do we say no? Students express the rule.

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• Teacher elicits responses to the above prompts,
  and asks students to focus on the third person
  s. For example
• Faduma I like coffee.
• Teacher You like coffee? You dont like juice?
• Faduma No, I dont like juice. I like coffee.
• Teacher (to others) What does she like?
• Sts She likes coffee.
• Teacher Yes, she likes coffee.
• Teacher Do you buy coffee at Caribou?
• Faduma Yes.
• Teacher (to others) So Faduma ?
• Sts She buys coffee at Caribou.

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Grammar focusCreate-a-sentence activity
Names Actions Things
Faduma likes Cub Foods.
Patsy drinks coffee.
Andrea buys food.
Astrid drives cars.
? ? ?
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Building schema for a textbook story

• Elicit and review students neighborhood likes
  and dislikes
• Find Virginia, U.S., Latin America, and Ethiopia
  on world map
• Where are your neighbors from?

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Textbook story

• friendly
• What does this mean?
• Are your neighbors friendly?
• What do friendly neighbors do?
• Unfriendly neighbors?

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Progressive reading

• Teacher reads aloud as learners listen and follow
  along
• Learners read silently
• Choral reading
• Paired reading
• Individual silent reading

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Sequencing

• Students put sentence strips of story in order
• Advanced students can do this on their own or
  work with phrases/individual words
• Lower literacy students can work with a partner
  and refer to the story

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Follow-up activities

• Circle neighbor and neighbors.
• How many times do you see these words?
• Recognize same letters Orally, students point
  out words that begin with the same letter or
  sound.
• F, L, B, N, H, S
• friendly, from, front
• live, left, Latin
• bump, busy
• neighbors, not, know, nobody
• hi, has
• street, say

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Nine patch
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
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Nine patch
1 hi 2 has 3 house
4 street 5 say 6 store
7 friendly 8 from 9 food
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Build a person

• B - U M P
• B busy, breakfast, bye
• U up, under, umbrella
• M my, mother, minute
• P Patsy, party, pan

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Wheres the sound?
beginning sound middle sound end sound
N O T
H A S
I N
L I V
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Journals

• Students journal about their own neighborhoods.
• What is in your neighborhood? Expand on your
  previous journal entry about what you like and
  dont like.
• Who are your neighbors? Are they friendly?
• Teacher, volunteer, and more literate students
  help as needed. Students who would like to can
  read their journal entries aloud to the class.

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Neighborhoods Now and before

• In my country

In Minnesota
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Expansion follow-up

• Expand journal entries to include info about past
  neighborhood
• Ask 2 people outside of class about their current
  and past neighborhoods report back to class

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Workshop

• Objectives
• To apply knowledge gained from the workshop.
• To create and share with each other practices
  that reflect balanced, meaning-based literacy
  instruction.
• To receive feedback guidance from trainers
• Task
• Create a thematic unit (15-20 hours of
  instruction)
• Share 2 key ideas or activities with another
  group
• Share highlights and questions with whole group

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Discussion

• What can you take from this LESLLA Teacher
  Training Workshop and apply to your context or
  setting? What here do you think is particularly
  useful for teachers that you train?
• What are YOU doing with LESLLA instructor
  training that seems to really be working?

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Wrap up and next steps

• What resources need to be developed to help us
  with LESLLA teacher training?
• What resources can we share?