ELL Methods & Strategies Journal (done for ESL class)
1. Meta-Cognitive Puzzles
What: Puzzles that allow problem-solving thinking to happen.
How & When to Use: To use this method define the problem, gather information, develop a solution strategy, allocate resources, monitor progress, and evaluate the solution.
These should be used maybe bi-monthly or monthly depending on your students. It does stretch students to think which can be overwhelming when done too frequently.
Benefit: This method produces "problem-solving thinking". Helps students self-monitor and evaluate their own work getting the students to think about their learning.
Possible Applications: Can be used as an ACT prep type activity or even a sub plan activity for early finishers. It is also great to use in small collaborative group settings as a teamwork activity to "work the problem".
An example of a meta-cognitive puzzle would be sudoku
*Other activities & strategies related to meta-cognition techniques click here
Five ways to boost mega-cognition in the classroom
2. KIMS vocabulary model
What: A cognitive strategy used to help organize information especially learning vocabulary.
How and When to Use: When vocabulary is being learned or reinforced the KIM model helps a student organize the information to help them remember it better. It is K (Key Term or vocabulary), I (Information such as the definition), & M (Memory Clue such as a picture).
Benefit: Helps to organize complex ideas and terms into easy to understand student friendly structures.
Possible applications: This can be used to help condense notes to study for a test, do word-picture association activities, etc. I have even used this when teaching Spanish to do Spanish-English picture dictionaries.
3. Buddy Choral Reading
What: A social strategy used to read text together with a buddy at the same time.
How and When to Use: It is used during times when there are students who might have difficulty reading out loud and one student is not as literate as the other. It works best when one reader is more literate than the other. It involves having 2 buddies read the same book at the same time chorally and slowly so that the sound can be corrected by the weaker student as the text is being read.
Benefit: Helps students to work with others and it gives students who have a hard time reading out loud because of not knowing sounds more confidence.
Possible applications: reading groups, literacy circles, game play, asking questions and making requests
4. Compensation Strategies such as Think, Pair, Share:
What: Strategy to help manage a classroom after a lesson.
How and When to Use: These are used a lot when we manage the classroom. First, we may ask students to think about 2 things they learned from the lesson today, then we ask them to turn to a neighbor and talk about what they learned, and then maybe have the partner share what was shared with them either verbally or on an exit ticket which you as the teacher collect on your way out the door. We can use this strategy anytime we might need extra time to complete a task
Benefit: Helps to stall for time when we- as the teacher- really need extra time. It also allows the students to reflect back on the lesson they learned and gives them an opportunity to share what they learned with others.
Possible applications: circumlocution, think time, exit tickets
5. Games for English Oral Language Development
What: Activities that are easier for students to talk about because it is formatted like a game.
How and When to Use: The best way to use this is introducing a skill or after teaching a skill to your students. It can be used anytime you might have down-time or the students might need a break from the normal classroom rigor activities.
Benefit: Games stimulate the mind to think in a way that makes it not hard to learn. Games are fun and engaging for students and games break up the monotony of a lecture.
Possible applications: Games can be used as ways to create discussions, work together in groups, or review previous skills. Here is a link to some game examples: Game Examples
6. Puppet Shows
What: Strategy that using different puppets or stuffed animals to tell stories.
How and When to Use: This strategy is used as a way for students to create stories and share them to an audience in a fun and engaging way with actions. It works best when students understand clearly how a language goes together to form stories. It can be unsuccessful if students do not have some type of guide or outline to follow to keep them on task.
Benefit: It is fun for students and it allows students to take on different roles. It also helps students to work together with other students to create a "production" that they can share with an audience. It causes students to think about what they say and what it will look like.
Possible applications: It can be used as a group activity as part of a cumulative activity of a lesson or as a separate team building activity. It can also be used as an assessment task.
7. Songs
What: Songs are able to be listened to by students in order to learn new languages faster than normal.
How and When to Use: Songs are language based and so cues to meaning are important such as pictures, pantomimes, gestures, and subtitles. Songs can be used any time you introduce new things, want to reinforce skills (like recognizing grammar concepts from a lesson), or even if there is down time at the end of class.
Benefit: Songs are entertaining and easy to listen to. Students stay on task longer when listening to music. Also songs help create unity and all students can participate despite their language ability. Lastly, songs are catchy and stay with the students throughout the rest of the day.
Possible applications: I have used songs to help teach about the importance of repetition in learning language by using the song "Baby Shark" in Spanish. Students came back the next day saying that they thought about that song the rest of the evening. They can also be used as listening activities or even used as listening tests.
8. T.P.R.S. (Teaching Proficiency through Reading & Storytelling)
What: It is a form of becoming more proficient through the use of storytelling.
How and When to Use: It is used as a way to scaffold language learning through the use of reading and storytelling. It consists of 2 or 3 versions of the same story. The 1st version is the most basic version which would be about 90% comprehensible to most students, the 2nd version would be similar but with more supporting details, the 3rd version would be the most difficult, but would consist of more in depth details about the story. For example: (1) The cat is on the bed. (2) The fluffy cat is lying on the bed. (3) The fluffy and soft feline is lying comfortably on the bed in the master bedroom. It is best used when introducing new topics or concepts within a story.
Benefit: Students just learning how to read find the shorter stories easier to understand. Students who already understand the shorter stories can get more details and more information from the progressively more difficult stories.
Possible applications: Used in leveled reading groups, differentiation activities for lower achieving students, or even in silent reading time.
9. Word Wizard
What: It is a strategy that helps students find specific words from class in realia from the world around them.
How and When to Use: It is used by introducing words to students in the classroom that the students then have to find in different sources outside of the classroom such as newspaper articles, street signs, internet searches, magazines, video game playing communications, etc. After students have an opportunity to find these words, the next day students should be given the opportunity to talk about what they discovered. It can be used anytime the teacher wants a student to make a connection to the outside world using words he or she is learning in the classroom.
Benefit: It helps a student create real life connections to the words they are learning and helps them apply those words to their own surroundings.
Possible applications: This can be used as homework, assessments, a class activity when using magazines or newspapers to highlight the terms, as well as just a reflection type activity.
10. Jigsaw
What: One part of a learning task is assigned to a specific person in a group that then becomes the "expert" on that specific area.
How and When to Use: This is used by assigning one part of a learning task to a specific person that then is responsible to share the information that he or she learns to a group as the "expert". It is used primarily in group settings when collaboration between students in a group or between groups in wanted.
Benefit: Students are able to focus on and master one task in a specific activity that they can then share with other students. Students develop confidence to explain a topic to their classmates and the teacher does not have to be the go to expert for that topic anymore. It creates autonomous groups that work together better without the teacher directing the groups.
Possible applications: This can be used with group work research projects as well as assigning students topics that they will then use in groups. It would be difficult to use in a setting other than groups.
What: Puzzles that allow problem-solving thinking to happen.
How & When to Use: To use this method define the problem, gather information, develop a solution strategy, allocate resources, monitor progress, and evaluate the solution.
These should be used maybe bi-monthly or monthly depending on your students. It does stretch students to think which can be overwhelming when done too frequently.
Benefit: This method produces "problem-solving thinking". Helps students self-monitor and evaluate their own work getting the students to think about their learning.
Possible Applications: Can be used as an ACT prep type activity or even a sub plan activity for early finishers. It is also great to use in small collaborative group settings as a teamwork activity to "work the problem".
An example of a meta-cognitive puzzle would be sudoku
*Other activities & strategies related to meta-cognition techniques click here
Five ways to boost mega-cognition in the classroom
2. KIMS vocabulary model
What: A cognitive strategy used to help organize information especially learning vocabulary.
How and When to Use: When vocabulary is being learned or reinforced the KIM model helps a student organize the information to help them remember it better. It is K (Key Term or vocabulary), I (Information such as the definition), & M (Memory Clue such as a picture).
Benefit: Helps to organize complex ideas and terms into easy to understand student friendly structures.
Possible applications: This can be used to help condense notes to study for a test, do word-picture association activities, etc. I have even used this when teaching Spanish to do Spanish-English picture dictionaries.
3. Buddy Choral Reading
What: A social strategy used to read text together with a buddy at the same time.
How and When to Use: It is used during times when there are students who might have difficulty reading out loud and one student is not as literate as the other. It works best when one reader is more literate than the other. It involves having 2 buddies read the same book at the same time chorally and slowly so that the sound can be corrected by the weaker student as the text is being read.
Benefit: Helps students to work with others and it gives students who have a hard time reading out loud because of not knowing sounds more confidence.
Possible applications: reading groups, literacy circles, game play, asking questions and making requests
4. Compensation Strategies such as Think, Pair, Share:
What: Strategy to help manage a classroom after a lesson.
How and When to Use: These are used a lot when we manage the classroom. First, we may ask students to think about 2 things they learned from the lesson today, then we ask them to turn to a neighbor and talk about what they learned, and then maybe have the partner share what was shared with them either verbally or on an exit ticket which you as the teacher collect on your way out the door. We can use this strategy anytime we might need extra time to complete a task
Benefit: Helps to stall for time when we- as the teacher- really need extra time. It also allows the students to reflect back on the lesson they learned and gives them an opportunity to share what they learned with others.
Possible applications: circumlocution, think time, exit tickets
5. Games for English Oral Language Development
What: Activities that are easier for students to talk about because it is formatted like a game.
How and When to Use: The best way to use this is introducing a skill or after teaching a skill to your students. It can be used anytime you might have down-time or the students might need a break from the normal classroom rigor activities.
Benefit: Games stimulate the mind to think in a way that makes it not hard to learn. Games are fun and engaging for students and games break up the monotony of a lecture.
Possible applications: Games can be used as ways to create discussions, work together in groups, or review previous skills. Here is a link to some game examples: Game Examples
6. Puppet Shows
What: Strategy that using different puppets or stuffed animals to tell stories.
How and When to Use: This strategy is used as a way for students to create stories and share them to an audience in a fun and engaging way with actions. It works best when students understand clearly how a language goes together to form stories. It can be unsuccessful if students do not have some type of guide or outline to follow to keep them on task.
Benefit: It is fun for students and it allows students to take on different roles. It also helps students to work together with other students to create a "production" that they can share with an audience. It causes students to think about what they say and what it will look like.
Possible applications: It can be used as a group activity as part of a cumulative activity of a lesson or as a separate team building activity. It can also be used as an assessment task.
7. Songs
What: Songs are able to be listened to by students in order to learn new languages faster than normal.
How and When to Use: Songs are language based and so cues to meaning are important such as pictures, pantomimes, gestures, and subtitles. Songs can be used any time you introduce new things, want to reinforce skills (like recognizing grammar concepts from a lesson), or even if there is down time at the end of class.
Benefit: Songs are entertaining and easy to listen to. Students stay on task longer when listening to music. Also songs help create unity and all students can participate despite their language ability. Lastly, songs are catchy and stay with the students throughout the rest of the day.
Possible applications: I have used songs to help teach about the importance of repetition in learning language by using the song "Baby Shark" in Spanish. Students came back the next day saying that they thought about that song the rest of the evening. They can also be used as listening activities or even used as listening tests.
8. T.P.R.S. (Teaching Proficiency through Reading & Storytelling)
What: It is a form of becoming more proficient through the use of storytelling.
How and When to Use: It is used as a way to scaffold language learning through the use of reading and storytelling. It consists of 2 or 3 versions of the same story. The 1st version is the most basic version which would be about 90% comprehensible to most students, the 2nd version would be similar but with more supporting details, the 3rd version would be the most difficult, but would consist of more in depth details about the story. For example: (1) The cat is on the bed. (2) The fluffy cat is lying on the bed. (3) The fluffy and soft feline is lying comfortably on the bed in the master bedroom. It is best used when introducing new topics or concepts within a story.
Benefit: Students just learning how to read find the shorter stories easier to understand. Students who already understand the shorter stories can get more details and more information from the progressively more difficult stories.
Possible applications: Used in leveled reading groups, differentiation activities for lower achieving students, or even in silent reading time.
9. Word Wizard
What: It is a strategy that helps students find specific words from class in realia from the world around them.
How and When to Use: It is used by introducing words to students in the classroom that the students then have to find in different sources outside of the classroom such as newspaper articles, street signs, internet searches, magazines, video game playing communications, etc. After students have an opportunity to find these words, the next day students should be given the opportunity to talk about what they discovered. It can be used anytime the teacher wants a student to make a connection to the outside world using words he or she is learning in the classroom.
Benefit: It helps a student create real life connections to the words they are learning and helps them apply those words to their own surroundings.
Possible applications: This can be used as homework, assessments, a class activity when using magazines or newspapers to highlight the terms, as well as just a reflection type activity.
10. Jigsaw
What: One part of a learning task is assigned to a specific person in a group that then becomes the "expert" on that specific area.
How and When to Use: This is used by assigning one part of a learning task to a specific person that then is responsible to share the information that he or she learns to a group as the "expert". It is used primarily in group settings when collaboration between students in a group or between groups in wanted.
Benefit: Students are able to focus on and master one task in a specific activity that they can then share with other students. Students develop confidence to explain a topic to their classmates and the teacher does not have to be the go to expert for that topic anymore. It creates autonomous groups that work together better without the teacher directing the groups.
Possible applications: This can be used with group work research projects as well as assigning students topics that they will then use in groups. It would be difficult to use in a setting other than groups.