First Steps in ESL

First steps in esl

Elementary and secondary

• Checking for understanding

• Developping

competencies in ESL

How will you verify if your students know, understand and/or can do?

• Collecting information and evaluating

• Taking inventory of the available resources

• Planning which task(s) you want your students to complete by the end of your first period.

• Checking for signs that students do not understand

What do you want your students to know, understand and/or do?

• Clearly stating your expectations

What will you do if your students haven’t learned,understood and/or done?

• Preventing

unwanted behaviors

images: Pixabay

Karine Mallet, Carolyn Murphy and Hugues Plante, Pedagogical Consultants

ESL Competencies Elementary Cycle 1 (1/2)

"The program targets oral aspects of the language and students are spoken to in English only right from the start. (...) To act on understanding of texts is the cornerstone of the program. The action takes place orally around the use of authentic texts." (QEP Cycle 1 p. 2)

For more information, please refer to the Quebc Education Program

To Act on Understanding of Texts:

• Student listens to songs, rhymes and stories, joins in and responds spontaneously
• Student demonstrates understanding (verbally and non verbally) and identifies orally key elements and events . Student performs songs and rhymes with gestures , retells stories and makes use of resources provided to creates personalized versions of texts

To Communicate Orally in English:

• Student listens to messages.
• Student transmits short and simple messages.

QEP Elementary Cycle One Program, .p 4

ESL Competencies Elementary Cycles 2-3 and Secondary (2/2)

All three competencies in the ESL program are developed in synergy. To interact orally in English is at the heart of ESL learning and is present when developing the other two competencies. For more information,please refer to the Quebec Education Program

To interact orally in English:

• interaction between peers, between students and teacher or between teacher and student spontaneous, authentic

Reinvests understanding of texts :

• Demonstration of understanding of oral and written texts using strategies
• Use of knowledge from texts in a reinvestment task: the student delivers a personalized product, such as a text, a commercial, etc.

To write and produce texts :

• Focus on the language conventions (grammar points)that were taught and practised in class .Students take the intended purpose and audience into account.

QEP Elementary Cycles 2-3 Program , p.353

QEP Secondary Core Program , p.589

Available Resources

The Ministry of Education (MEQ) website has resources for all competencies (posters, planning tools, checklists, feedback tools and much more).

Secondary

Elementary

Focus on the tools that your students need for the task.

Planning the Task(s)

Here are a few elements to consider when deciding on a task for your students' to complete.

• What do I want to do? Is it motivating and useful for my students?

• Does it provide information on the development of the competencies?

Adapted from Outil d’analyse de conformité à l’approche par compétences

Stating Your Expectations

Post and define positive behavior expectations.

• With your students, co-create classroom expectations that are observable, measurable, positive, and

understandable.

• Limit expectations to three to five statements.

Use explicit instruction to teach behavior expectations.

• Demonstrate the skill in the same way students will practice it.
• Model.
• Show multiple examples.
• Show all the steps.
• Do a think-aloud as you model .
• Give opportunities for guided practice.
• (some students can model the expected behavior before having the group opportunity to practice)
• Give Feedback
• Allow for independent practice.

Catch students being good! Praise them for good behavior!

Checking For Understanding

Checking for understanding is much more than asking "Do you understand...? It is going the extra mile to make sure sure that all of your students are able to demonstrate what they know, what they understand or what they can do.

• Checking for understanding allows both the teacher and the student to make adjustments to the learning process and allows teachers to make adjustments to their pedagogical practices.
• Check for understanding early and regularly throughout the task.
• Using different methods to check for understanding, will keep your students engaged and interested.

Check out this website for some simple ideas

Collecting Information and Evaluating

During your contract or replacement, one of your tasks will be to collect information and evaluate the students. Keep this in mind as you prepare your lessons.Think to take notes on students' evolution and what is going on in the classroom (behavior and performance), using for example a grid. Doing so is necessary if you need to meet parents, principals and other professionals to communicate your observations regarding the development of competencies.

It will also be greatly appreciated by the next teacher, if you happen to leave at any moment during the year.

here.

If you want to know more on collecting information, click

Collecting Information and Evaluation

Collecting information may be spontaneous and informal or formal and instrument-based.

Here are some simple tools to start with:

Observation grids

Self-evaluation and reflection sheets Peer-evaluation forms

Anecdotal notes

Evaluating (1/2)

Did you know? In Elementary, students have (on average) 45 to 90 minutes of ESL a cycle. In high school, students have 4 periods of 75 minutes for a nine-day cycle.

Competency development is not the result of some mathematical calculation made on the basis of results recorded,but rather, an assessment of the level of competency a student has attained.

The Frameworks for the Evaluation of Learning "provide guidelines for the evaluation of learning specific to each subject in the Québec Education Program in order to determine students' results, which will be communicated in the provincial report card".

(Framework for the Evaluation of Learning English as a Second Language, p.4)

Elementary Framework for the Evaluation of Learning

Secondary Framework for the Evaluation of Learning

Evaluating (2/2)

The Scales of Competency Levels are also documents that can support teachers in asessing students'performance. They are no longer compulsary to use, but the information they provide is still useful and pertinent to help ascertain what should be expected by the end of each cycle. The descriptions provided by the Scales of Competency Levels offer reference points that can be used as a guide in making an assessment with respect to the student’s level of competency development at the end of each cycle.

Elementary Scales of Competency Levels

Secondary Scales of Competency Levels

Signs That Students Do Not Understand

What it looks like…

What it might actually be...

Student refuses to participate...

The instructions are unclear The student is lost in all the information The student doesn’t understand why he has to do the activity

Student is disturbing everyone...

WRITE A TITLE HERE

You can write a subtitle here

The student is bored / has completed the assignment The assignment is too difficult and the student is overwhelmed

Preventing Unwanted Behaviors

Every behavior sends a message about what a student needs. As Jerome Schultz, PhD, puts it, “If you can read the need, you can meet the need.” Here are some strategies that will help reduce or prevent the unwanted behaviors

Explicitly teach behavior expectations

Create a classroom layout that supports students.

Post and define positive behavior expectations.

Partner with families.

Have systems to respond to behavior.

https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/for-educators/universal-design-for-learning/what-are-positive-behavior-strategies