Raise the Bar Reading

A Reading Teacher's Blog

ESL

DIGITAL ELL NEWCOMERS VOCABULARY FOR TEACHING ESL

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Whether you’re trying to eliminate tons of prep time, save paper, or support ELL students in distance learning, using digital vocabulary units can be extremely helpful activities for ELL newcomers.  These digital units target reading, writing, and listening (audio) domains.  

Included are 20 Thematic Vocabulary Units that cover important beginning vocabulary that are the building blocks for teaching English:

Tons of activities in each unit increase in difficulty from interactive flashcards with audio to actually writing sentences with the targeted vocabulary words.  

1. POSTER:

Each poster introduces 9-22 words with visuals and audio for each unit.  Introducing thematic vocabulary helps ELLs make connections between words, rather than teaching random vocabulary words at one time.  

2. INTERACTIVE FLASHCARDS:

Students lift a picture to see AND hear the word for it underneath.  They cover and uncover the word to practice beginning ESL vocabulary words as needed.

3. BEGINNING ESL DIGITAL PRACTICE PAGES: 

These 5 pages (per unit) provide students supports to build up from simple matching to writing with the vocabulary words.  They are great for independent practice. 

DIGITAL PRACTICE PAGE #1 – MATCH UP:
Students drag and drop numbers to match vocabulary words to their pictures.

DIGITAL PRACTICE PAGE #2 – DRAG AND DROP:
Students drag and drop the picture that belongs under each word.

DIGITAL PRACTICE PAGE #3 – COLOR CODING:
Students follow the color and shapes chart at the top to drag a shape around a matching vocabulary word.

DIGITAL PRACTICE PAGE #4 – TYPE IT OUT:
Students practice typing each vocabulary word.

DIGITAL PRACTICE PAGE #5 – LET’S WRITE:
Students write basic sentences for each word.  They follow an example that includes the sentence structure needed for their writing.

4. INTERACTIVE MINI READER:

These are simple books with repetitive sentence starters.  Students drag and drop pictures or phrases into their mini reader.  Students can re-read their books to build English fluency.  

5. LISTENING COMPREHENSION CHECK:

Students play the audio for a word and then drag drop the matching picture next to its audio.  

6. PHOTOGRAPH FREE-WRITES:

(3 or 4 per unit) Students have space to write vocabulary as they brainstorm for their free- writing. Then, they write about the photograph.  

To the left of each photograph free-write is a chart with questions to think about, and sentence starters for each question.  These are great for boosting writing confidence for this activity.  However, you can feel free to delete them from some or all of the free- writes for more of a challenge.

7. WORD SEARCH:

Students find the words for pictures based on the picture only.  Having the picture only requires them to try to remember how it is spelled.  

Students use the provided ovals to stretch out as needed in order to circle the word for each picture.

ELL NEWCOMER DIGITAL PICTURE DICTIONARY: 

A digital picture dictionary is also included for students to have access to all of the thematic vocabulary in one clear, organized space.  

These Digital Beginning ESL Vocabulary Units for ELL Newcomers can be found in my TpT shop individually or in a 50% off bundle!  

They can also be purchased with a printable version that includes even more beginning ESL vocabulary activities in each thematic unit.  

TEACHING ESL DISTANCE LEARNING: WAYS TO DIFFERENTIATE FOR YOUR ELLS VIRTUALLY

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Whether you are virtually teaching, or teaching ESL in distance learning, it is important to differentiate for ELLs just as you would in the classroom setting.  

Without the face to face interaction of an ELL student, teacher, and their classmates, learning English in authentic ways can be much more challenging.  It is important that we keep this in mind in our expectations for where ELLs should be at in their English acquisition throughout the school year.

Getting creative with ELL supports and modifications is key in supporting their English acquisition in virtual teaching.  Below are some ways we can differentiate and make information accessible to ELLs:

1. PROVIDE LOWER LEVEL READING MATERIAL:

If you are reading text-heavy passages with your students on a topic, give your ELLs access to reading material on the same content information at a lower reading level.  These are some of my favorite websites to look for nonfiction passages with great visuals for ELLs (I am not affiliated with any of these websites):

  • ReadWorks: This is a HUGE collection of nonfiction and fiction reading passages, including a collection specifically for ELLs.  There is a search option to find articles on tons of topics that you could be studying in class, and you can search by Lexile or standard.  Students can play audio that reads the article aloud to them.  Highlighted words can be clicked on for a student friendly definition in English, as well as a Spanish or Chinese translation for the word.  Students will need to sign up with an e-mail address in order to access the free reading passages.
  • National Geographic Kids: Tons of great free videos and nonfiction reading passages for kids that are very high interest with beautiful visuals.  They are especially great for researching specific animals.
  • Highlights Kids: Fiction stories and short nonfiction texts with visuals.  The website is geared to younger kids and could be appropriate for ELLs up to around 6th grade. 
  • Scholastic News: If you scroll past the paid magazine subscription, there are free articles that change periodically.  These are great because they have helpful visuals and nonfiction text features, as well as a text-to-speech option.   You can even select reading level “on level” or “lower level” as an added level of differentiation.  There is also an option to “open magazine view” in Spanish or English.
  • Scholastic Student Activities: Search by grade level and resource type (games, listen and read, etc.) to see different topics currently available for kids.  The “Listen and Read” passages are great, because they are read aloud and presented as a book displaying a small amount of text with a visual on each page.  
  • CommonLit: Reading passages for 3rd-12th grade.  You can search by grade level, Lexile, genre and standards.  They also have reading passages available in Spanish.  Many of the passages can be read without a login, but to access the read aloud or translation features you do need to create a login with an e-mail address.
  • Smithsonian Kids: Nonfiction texts and games on tons of topics in history, social studies, and current events.
  • DOGO News: These are high interest, current events articles that would be helpful for middle level to advanced ELLs.  Students can click on vocabulary words to see their meanings.  In the paid version they can have the articles translated to Spanish or read aloud to them.
  • Newsela: These articles cover a wide range of topics including sports, arts, science, economics, etc.  The passages can be read aloud, and there’s a feature where you can change the Lexile on a specific article to make the same content more accessible to lower level readers.  Although they do offer some articles without a login, you need to create a free login to access all of the articles with your e-mail address.

2. PREVIEW INFORMATION AND VOCABULARY:

Previewing upcoming information with students and families does require planning ahead, but it is a great way to make lessons accessible for ELLs.  This is especially true in a virtual teaching setting.  

If you know you are going to be working on a specific thematic unit or topic in the upcoming days, you can give your students vocabulary to preview or lower level texts to read ahead of time.  This way, when it comes time to do the work with the rest of the class, they are that much more prepared. 

3. GIVE ACCESS TO ONLINE SUPPORTS:
These are some great tools for students to use in order to access the same material as their classmates.

  • Wiktionary: This is a “basic English” searchable dictionary.  Many words include a visual or audio, so when students search for a word they can click “play” to hear it aloud.  
  • Simple English Wikipedia: This is a “basic English” version of Wikipedia.  Even in this version, the pages can be text heavy so it is more appropriate for middle level to advanced ELLs. 
  • Google Translate: Translate literally any word into pretty much any language.  It is really important to teach students not to rely on this tool too much for their writing assignments though – especially in a virtual learning setting where that could more easily happen.
  • Read & Write: This is a helpful software toolbar with tons of literacy supports for students to use with any online text on any device.  The toolbar includes features like translation, text-to-speech, picture dictionary, highlighting, and a dictionary.

4. UTILIZE ELL SUPPORT STAFF:

Figuring out ways to support ELLs virtually can be very overwhelming. Involving other teachers that specialize in specific supports for ELLs is key.  Lynn from LMB Literacy, an ELA teacher with ELL students, adds her ESL teacher to her Google Classroom to help modify assignments.  The ELL teacher further instructs students that need extra help, just like in the classroom.

5. AUDIO SUPPORTS IN GOOGLE SLIDES:

You can create an audio file of yourself introducing a topic, giving verbal directions, etc.  Then, insert into any Google Slides activities you assign to ELLs.   It does need to be inserted as a .wav or .mp3 file type.  

6. SCREEN RECORDINGS:

Similar to a screen shot, a screen recording is a helpful visual support for all students, including ELLs.  Recording your own screen showing how to do a task is a great way to show exactly what students need to do to complete a task.  You can insert this screen recording as a video to any Google Slides task.

7. CREATE A UNIQUE ELL GOOGLE CLASSROOM:

Creating an extra Google Classroom just for your ELLs is an effective way to organize all ELL supports and modified assignments into one place (idea from LMB Literacy).  

8. PROVIDE SUPPORTS FOR WRITING:

Use graphic organizers to support students in any writing task or response to reading.  Graphic organizers break down skills into more manageable parts.  This can make a response to reading, or a writing task, much more accessible to your ELLs.
Need more resources for virtual teaching with ELLs? Check out my TpT shop for ESL Resources, Differentiated Reading Passages, and Digital/Printable Graphic Organizers!
      

10 Steps to Build Reading Comprehension in ELLs: Part 2

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The first part of this blog post focused on how to set your English Language Learners (ELLs) up for success BEFORE reading.   In Steps 1-5, we discussed previewing vocabulary, building background knowledge and providing helpful visuals. Now, we are ready to dig into how to support students during reading and after, in their response to reading.  

6. SUPPORT ELLS IN READING:
After previewing vocabulary, providing visuals, and building background knowledge, ELLs need support during the act of reading, especially with a text above their reading level.  

Choral reading, which is having students read aloud at the same time, is a great way to support ELLs and build their reading fluency.  It can be done as a whole class or in a small group.  This is a very unintimidating way for beginning ELLs to practice reading aloud.  It also offers each student the most opportunities for reading aloud as opposed to taking turns or even partner reading.    

Give your ELLs as many exposures to the text as possible.  This could be first listening to the teacher model fluent reading, then choral reading, partner reading, silent reading, etc.  With each read, your students will build their fluency, gain confidence in their ability, and improve their understanding of the vocabulary and topic presented.  You can also set a different purpose for each read, like in close reading.  There are many variations of how to implement close reading, but below is an example of what a fiction close read could look like for your ELLs:
Taking any opportunity to have ELLs practice their oral language skills is important.  So, after giving them time to organize their thoughts in writing, students share their thoughts with a partner or small group.  

Students can record information in a notebook, graphic organizer, or other reading response such as this close reading cap craft below.

7. TEACH READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES: 
Modeling and practicing reading comprehension strategies is beneficial to all students in building strong, independent readers.  Having visuals displayed with student-friendly definitions and clear pictures is key for introducing and reinforcing reading strategies.  I always display a reading strategy word wall of all the strategies we use, in order to refer to them regularly.  I also use a larger, more detailed poster as we dive into a specific strategy.


I like to start with modeling one strategy at a time through think-alouds, then whole group practice, and ultimately independent practice.  I will stick with that strategy until I feel students really understand it before moving on to the next.  The goal is for students to eventually use multiple strategies at the same time in their own independent reading.  Using graphic organizers, reading crafts, and other visuals that break down each strategy can really make them “stick” for ELLs and all students.

8. FOSTER DISCUSSION:
As the teacher, it is important to pose thoughtful questions, both literal and inferential, to your ELLs.  This class discussion is critical in the comprehension of your ELLs.  It helps to clarify any misconceptions they may have had from the text. 

As this discussion can sometimes be information overload for your ELLs struggling with listening comprehension, it can also be helpful to keep track of information from the class discussion in a visual way.  This could be done by the teacher on a white board/anchor chart or by the students in their own individual record or graphic organizers.

9. PROVIDE MULTIPLE WAYS FOR STUDENTS TO SHOW UNDERSTANDING:
When considering comprehension activities for your ELLs, remember that there are 4 areas of language acquisition ELLs always need to be working on – Speaking, listening, writing and reading.   

Since we have already covered listening and reading, that leaves 2 areas of output ELLs can use for showing comprehension – writing or speaking.  It’s important to provide plenty of ways for students to practice these areas.  This allows them to show their language strengths through some activities, but also improve on the areas they struggle with in other activities.  Some ways students can show their comprehension is through:

  • class discussions, 
  • oral presentations (given one on one or to a small group for beginners), 
  • meeting with the teacher,
  • creating a poster, 
  • a PowerPoint presentation, 
  • a graphic organizer, 
  • short answers, 
  • a reading response craft, 
  • a piece of writing, and so on.  

10. CONTINUE TO BUILD ON NEW KNOWLEGDE:
As with all students, research has shown that ELLs need multiple exposure to vocabulary and information for it to really sink into their long-term memory.  To make information on a topic stick, reading texts that can build on information they have just read in one lesson provides a great way to reiterate what was already learned.  

For example, if I read a text on sea turtles, I could then choose a fiction or nonfiction texts around oceans or ocean animals to expose ELLs to similar vocabulary and ideas.  This allows them to build on their background knowledge of a topic and begin to make deeper connections.  This can be much more effective than consistently choosing topics that are all over the place from one day to the next, especially with ELLs.  

If you are interested in any of the reading resource pictured above, click on the resource covers below for a closer look!

10 Steps to Build Reading Comprehension in ELLs: Part 1

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It can be overwhelming to prepare a reading lesson in a way that supports English Language Learners’ (ELLs) reading comprehension alongside their non-ELL peers, but it doesn’t need to be. 

Research shows that best practices for building reading comprehension in non-ELLs also works well for ELLs.  Some instructional practices just need to have a greater emphasis in order to provide ELLs the specific supports they need in order to be successful. 

Part 1 of this blog post focuses on supporting ELLs before reading, and Part 2 focuses on how to help them succeed during and after reading.


Below is a list of 10 steps to tackling reading comprehension of any text with your ELLs.

1. THOUGHTFULLY CHOOSE TEXTS:
It is important to be mindful of the difficulty level of the reading materials ELLs are expected to read and understand.  They need to be able to access the same content area information as the rest of their non-ELL peers. 

It is very helpful for ELLs to provide them with lower leveled books (at their instructional reading level) and online texts on topics they will be studying in their regular content area classroom(s).  The ELL teacher and classroom teacher can communicate about what is coming up next across the content areas to keep that in mind when both teachers are selecting texts for students. 

After students have the academic vocabulary and content-specific information on a topic, they will be ready to tackle more difficult texts that are a bit above their reading level.  

2. BE SELECTIVE WITH VOCABULARY:
It can be overwhelming to try to select vocabulary words from a text for ELLs, as there will most likely be many words that could be unfamiliar to them.   Be selective in picking out no more than 7 words (I find that 5 is ideal) that are necessary for comprehending the text. 

When picking a word think, “Will they be able to comprehend the text without knowing this word?”  If the answer is “Yes,” then cross that word off your list of words to preteach.  If the answer is, “No,” then you have selected a great word to preview! 

3. PREVIEW VOCABULARY: 
There are many ways you can preview vocabulary with ELLs, from a quick discussion on important words from the text to spending an entire class having students develop their own definitions, pictures, sentences, etc. for each of the words. 

One of my go-to ways to preview vocabulary is to use a simple vocabulary chart.  I usually go through this with students, working together to create a common definition, discuss images they can draw to help them understand the word, and then putting the word in a sentence.  Working through the chart together makes the information more accessible to your beginners. 

4. BUILD BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE:
Before reading both fiction and nonfiction texts, consider what will come up that your ELLs may be unfamiliar with.  In fiction, this could be a traditional birthday party, holiday, or fantasy figure (i.e. the tooth fairy).  With nonfiction, building prior knowledge with your ELLs can look very similar to building prior knowledge with your non-ELLs.  This could be discussing a topic to create a group KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) where you brainstorm what the class collectively knows on a topic and what they want to know on a topic.  It can also be helpful to provide visuals to discuss, such as photos, videos, or picture walk of a text.  

For more ways to build background knowledge in students, read this blog post on how to build background knowledge in your students.  

5. USE VISUALS AND REALIA:
Visuals are an important support for ELLs of all levels, but especially in tackling texts that are above their reading level.  The visuals you choose to use will look very different depending on what you are reading.  Some examples could be:

  • Simple picture book:  Do a picture walk prior to reading a fiction or nonfiction text.  Discuss the pictures or images with students using terms or content-specific vocabulary they will come across in their reading.
  • Novels without pictures:  Before reading, select parts of the text that could be helpful to stop and have students create visualizations, or drawings (as a whole class or small groups).  This can give life to the text for your ELLs.  If applicable, use film as a support.  For example, I would have my 8th grade ELLs reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” in their ELA class watch each chapter of the film version prior to analyzing each chapter in their whole class setting.  This supported them in understanding both the text and the whole class discussion. 
  • Nonfiction Articles without images: Search for images online that depict portions of the text.  Discuss the images using language they will come across in their reading.

Continue Reading: Part 2

3 Ways to Create a Welcoming Environment for Your New ELLs

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Entering a brand-new classroom is nerve-wracking for most of our English speaking students.  For our newcomer ELLs, it can be a very intense and scary experience.  Providing them with a welcoming, thoughtful environment from the moment they enter your classroom is the key to breaking down their walls and making them feel comfortable exploring their new language.

1. PROVIDE SUPPORTS & A TASK

It is important that when your ELL arrives, you have supports and a task prepared for them that they can begin working on right away. At this point, you may not know how much English your student has, so it is good to play it safe and keep it as simple as possible. I like to provide my ELLs with a desk name plate filled with supports, lower leveled books (with pictures) I have pre-selected, a picture dictionary of thematic vocabulary (body parts, school supplies, weather, etc.), and any materials that were given to students at the very beginning of the year that could be helpful (school map, routines poster, etc.). I will either explain the task to them or have a buddy explain it to them. It could be as simple as cutting out vocabulary cards, like the school supplies cards (free) on the ring in the picture below, or simple thematic vocabulary activities.

2. BUDDY THEM UP!
Choose students that you think would be patient and helpful to your new ELLs. I like to choose 2-3 students so that my new ELL will get a chance to meet a few new faces, but many teachers like to just use one. I always have a short meeting with these students, letting them know what their job will be. I explain to them that this new student may not be able to talk to them or understand, so they will need to use a lot of gestures and visuals in order to communicate. I always have one or two students give the new ELL a tour of the classroom, showing them where to put their things, where they can find supplies, how to sign out for the bathroom, etc. You could also have them give the ELL a tour of the area outside of the classroom (bathroom, lockers, etc), depending on their age. With younger students, I like to give the tour to ensure the new student knows exactly where the bathroom is, office, and any other essential school rooms. Other jobs for buddies can be to:

  • check in with the new student when starting a new task that requires classroom materials, make sure they have what they need
  • walk with the new student from one class to the next
  • help get the new student get lunch and sit with him or her in the cafeteria
  • show the new student around the playground and stay with him or her at recess
  • read with/to him or her
  • help with classroom routines throughout the day
  • help with morning and dismissal routines
  • walk the student to his or her bus

You can switch these buddies out after the first week if it seems like the non-ELLs have lost their original steam or are getting frustrated. I keep them buddied up with less and less tasks as the weeks go on. Usually by about 3 weeks in they have developed at least one friendship that seems to be their go-to helper for anything they could be confused with.

3. MAKE YOUR CLASS VISUAL
Your new ELLs, as well as the other students in your classroom, will benefit from having useful visuals available to them at all times on throughout the classroom. It will help them become more independent in your classroom faster, in both following routines and in doing class work.

Some examples:

  • Post a visual daily schedule.
  • Label important parts of the classroom, in both English and their language if possible. 
  • Have visuals next to each rule/expectation in your classroom.
  • Include simple visuals next to each step in your morning routine or dismissal routine poster.
  • Use anchor charts or graphic organizers when introducing and studying content areas. Leave these up for students to reference when needed. You can also have them keep mini-versions of the anchor charts in their notebooks when possible. 
  • Post a word wall, with visuals if possible. My ELLs especially benefit from content area word walls that include visuals and simple definitions of content area vocabulary. 

All resources included on the desk photo above, plus a bunch more resources for your newcomers can be found in my ELL Newcomers Bundle:

 

5 Tips to Help Your ELLs Succeed in Your Content Area Class

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Are you struggling to make content area instruction accessible to your ELLs?  Here are five tips to help your ELLs be successful in your content area classroom.

Any teacher that has had a beginning ELL student in front of them during a science, math, or social studies lesson, knows that it can be disheartening to see them stare at you during a lesson with wide eyes filled with confusion. 

You need to cover grade level content area material for all students, so what can you do for your ELLs to make these lessons accessible to them as well? Here are some ways I have found helpful as an ESL teacher working with content area teachers:

1.) PREVIEW AND REINFORCE CLASSROOM MATERIALS WITH YOUR ELLs.  You can do this by gathering lower leveled materials and visuals related to an upcoming unit to preview in a small group.  If you have an ESL teacher, provide him or her with topics you will be covering so they can work with your students on this as well.  Another option is to send home materials you will be working on in class so the student has the opportunity to look them over by themselves, with a parent, or with a tutor.  

2.)  VISUALS!  Providing any visuals – photos, graphs, timelines, etc. can be an extremely helpful tool for your ELLs.  I am a huge fan of content area word walls.  Hanging permanent (at least during the length of the unit) vocabulary cards with images is a great reference tool and a constant reinforcement of terminology for not only your ELLs, but all of your students.  

If you don’t have a ton of wall space, you can also give students vocabulary cards printed for them to use independently on a key ring.  I often use pre-made content area vocabulary cards, but I have also had students create their own on index cards if time allows.

3.) LET ELLs USE THEIR FIRST LANGUAGE.  If possible, let beginning ELL students use their first language to read about and comprehend content area material.  Many teachers I have worked with can be reluctant to do this, thinking they are “cheating” in a way by not using every second as a chance for them to learn English.  Although this is the big, overarching goal for your ELLs, think about what the goal of your content area lesson is.  If the goal of the lesson for all of your students is to understand content area material, and not an English language goal, then providing them this support is a great way to help them be successful at meeting this goal.  

4.) BUILD ACADEMIC VOCABULARY.  Teach and review academic vocabulary with your ELLs through speaking, listening, reading, and writing.  Research has shown that multiple exposures to a word, along with explicit instruction and practice with the word is the best way to get students to retain vocabulary.  All of my ELLs have a simple Academic Vocabulary Notebook.  It is separated by subject area for them to write content-area specific words with a visual and definition. 

Bob Marzano’s 6 steps to provide multiple exposures are to (introduce) explain, restate, show, (practice) discuss, refine and reflect, and apply in learning games.  Using fun, quality games to reinforce content area vocabulary can be a huge motivator to students to really engage and understand vocabulary.   My students’ favorite way to review content area vocabulary is a simple game of Jeopardy.  I use either a PowerPoint template or a poster board with pockets for points numbered 100-500 for 5 categories.  

5. PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTNER AND SMALL GROUP WORK:

Your ELLs, along with the rest of your class, will always benefit from collaborating with peers rather than being lectured most of the time.  This allows ELLs to witness back and forth conversations about the topic, ask questions, get feedback, and participate in a way that isn’t as much pressure as singling them out in front of the class.   Not only does this help for specific content area lesson instruction, but it allows them to build relationships with classmates in a setting that isn’t as intimidating as walking up to a bunch of unknown students in the lunchroom.  

Five Tips for Building ELLs’ Academic Vocabulary

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As you have probably noticed with your ELLs, there is quite a difference in an ELLs’ conversational vocabulary compared to their academic vocabulary.  According to Jim Cummins (1984), BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) refers to ELLs’ conversational, or social vocabulary, whereas CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) refers to academic, content specific vocabulary.  BICS generally takes an ELL about 1-3 years to develop, while CALP can take up to 5-7 years.  We can help our ELLs grow in their CALP with quality, thoughtful vocabulary instruction.  Below are 5 tips for building your ELLs’ academic vocabulary.

1.  BE SELECTIVE.
Be selective about which words you choose to take the time to teach.  It is important to choose words that are truly important to content area comprehension.  For example, when reading a passage on sharks with your 3rd graders, would students need to know a technical word like oxygenated to truly understand the content? Probably not.  This is called an incidental word.  Incidental words are words that will not interfere with a student’s comprehension even if a he or she does not know its meaning.  Instead, focus on words like gills, predator, camouflage, senses, species, and migrate.  These are words that will aid in students’ reading comprehension on the sharks reading passage, as well as help them to comprehend a wide variety of future academic content. 

Note: I find that the magic number of words to introduce at once is around 3-7.  Introducing too many words at once can be very overwhelming and therefore not as effective.

2. PREVIEW VOCABULARY. 
Although especially helpful for your ELLs, previewing vocabulary is really helpful to all of your learners.  There are so many ways of doing this from simply writing new words on the board and discussing them, to having students interact with the words as an entire lesson gearing up for the content.  Below is a preview page I use very often with my students prior to reading.  I will either give it to them already pre-filled in or I give them a blank one, depending on how much time we have and how difficult the words are.  

When we work together to fill in a blank chart, I like to keep the students involved as much as possible in coming up with a definition and example, and then we discuss different options they could use for their visual.   If I don’t have a blank page specific to a reading passage, I have generic templates made with a simple chart for the word, a visual, and what it means.  I have students keep these templates in their academic vocabulary notebooks that are sectioned off by content area (pictured below).   

3. USE VISUALS.
Having many visuals available for your ELLs is key to fostering independence on content area tasks.  Some visuals I find to be extremely helpful are flashcards, posters and word walls.  I often have the same vocabulary words available in multiple formats to give students an option of which format they prefer to use as a reference.  

When reading a content heavy piece, I keep in mind that a picture is worth a thousand words! I like to find pictures on the internet or in books, or (last resort) drawings that will align with vocabulary or concepts that might be unfamiliar.  

4. REACH MULTIPLE LEARNING STYLES.
Besides using visuals for your ELLs, getting creative in ways that they can interact with the words is also important to making the words “stick”.  Have students act them out, write with them, read them in context, discuss them, create their own art work to depict them, or play reviews games with them.  One of my ELLs’ favorite ways to review words is when I make a Powerpoint of images depicting each numbered vocabulary word (one per slide) with a word bank on the board.  Students match which numbered image goes with which word independently and then we go over them.   The list goes on and on!  Get creative! 

5. PROVIDE MULTIPLE EXPOSURES.
Students need many opportunities to interact with the same vocabulary words.   Research shows that students need multiple exposures over time to key vocabulary in order for it to “stick”.  Often after reading and exposing students to a lot of new content vocabulary over a few weeks, I take time to review all of the words again.  

Some other ways for ongoing vocabulary review include:

  • Students simply use mini white boards to write the word of a definition or fill in the blank that you read aloud.  
  • Word search or Crossword review.   There are so many generators online, but I personally like to use this Crossword generator. http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/CrissCrossSetupForm.asp
  • Jeopardy! You can either make a Jeopardy board from poster board, or use a PowerPoint template found online from a Google search.