Teaching ELL and ESL Students in Science

I read the article, "Science Sampler: From speaking to writing in the structured English immersion science classroom" by Conrado Laborin Gómez and Margarita Jimenez-Silva. This article was a... See More

I read the article, "Science Sampler: From speaking to writing in the structured English immersion science classroom" by Conrado Laborin Gómez and Margarita Jimenez-Silva. This article was about ELL and ESL students being taught English words in a science classroom in an approach called SEI or Structured English Immersion. SEI is defined as, "an approach for teaching content to English learners in ways that make the concepts comprehensible while promoting English language development" (Gómez & Jimenez-Silva). Furthermore, these students are taught through a technique called mode continuum which is a process that leads students from speaking about science to writing about science. I loved learning about this technique as it provides details of how to critically implement it within the classroom. This technique is taught through phases. This article provides the various phases in detail that include the introduction of new key vocabulary, experiments, teacher-guided reporting and journal writing. This technique can absolutely help to teach ELL students. The phases are detailed and not only promote science instruction, but language instruction. This article also provides an example of a student's work displaying how this technique was effectively used in the classroom. The ELL student was able to write a few sentences and a draw a picture to explain an experiment they participated in. He was able to express understanding to the main concept of the lesson.  To assess, there is a framework to evaluate writing that the students will produce after using this technique. A figure is provided that explains this "assessment-of-text framework in detail. This article discusses how it can be challenging to assess for content knowledge and evaluate whether or not an ELL student has met the national and state science standards (Gómez & Jimenez-Silva). With that, teachers must be very clear on providing what is expected of students and that ELL students are receiving all they need to successfully gain an understanding on the content.  Ultimately, I really enjoyed reading this article. I found it very interesting and informative on how to successfully educate ELL and ESL students in the science classroom. The framework provided is critical to ensure that not only the students, but the teachers have everything they need to successfully to listen, speak, read and write in English in a science setting. 

An Interesting Twist

This author discusses a four phase approach to addressing English Language Learners needs to connecting scientific language with developing content through language emersion. The authors su... See More

This author discusses a four phase approach to addressing English Language Learners needs to connecting scientific language with developing content through language emersion. The authors suggest doing the experiment, then introducing the key vocabulary, providing teacher guided reporting, and ending with journal writing. Many teachers start with the vocabulary but this approach addresses experimental experience before introducing vocabulary. It mimics an inquiry approach.