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Tuesday TESOL Tip #1: Show Me The Picture! - Use These Tips to Build Neural Pathways for English Language Learners with Images and Videos

11/3/2020

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Back in 2012, when I taught English Language Learner exclusively in Morocco, I began a series called "Tuesday TESOL Teaching Tips". The series was long after a variety of website changes, so I have decided to revise it. I will be sharing one tip each Tuesday, starting with the original tips and expanding on them with the additional knowledge I've added in the last 8 years. Today's TESOL Teaching Tip is to use pictures and videos.
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Teach ELL Students Tip #1: Use Pictures, Videos and Displays

One of the thing teachers are often surprised of with English Language Learners is how they can understand some difficult academic vocabulary words, but then not know basic every day words. For example, students will often know about interrogative sentences and the commutative property, but might not know what an olive is.  Remember that when English Language Learners are learning, they are not always understanding every word. Additionally non school vocabulary is often not taught at all, or is mentioned in passing.

The concept of "a picture is worth a thousand words" is not new. However for English Language Learners, a picture can build vocabulary faster than hearing the word a hundred time. But of course, we shouldn't just show the kiddo a picture and move on. When we hit a word they don't know, use an image to get them over the hump. Then ask them if they know the word in their native language. This will help them build a connection. Finally, have students use the word in a sentence or in context, asking them to make that picture in their head. By helping students build these neuropathways, they are more likely to bring that picture into their head the next time they encounter that word. ​

Of course with verbs and more complex concepts, videos are even more effective. Stopping a lesson to watch a 30 minute video isn't ideal, but ten to twenty seconds of ballroom dancing is enough for students to understand the meaning of the word waltz.
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Real Life Teaching Example:

​I remember teaching 
using my Muslim Holiday Center Packet in Morocco. One of the activities was for them to draw a picture of words that were important to Ramadan.  All of my kids could draw a picture of sunrise and sunset and pray and fast.  The word that stumped them was – date (as in the fruit you eat when you break your fast.)  Now, if these students lived somewhere else, I would say maybe they don’t know what a date is, but this was Morocco, and dates were a very common snack. 

​So, I projected an image of a date to show my students and all of a sudden they understood. We then talked about who did and didn't like to eat dates and drew a picture in our packet. All of these things allowed my students to make those connections and allow them to use that word in their writing later that week.
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Public Service and Teaching Come Together on today's episode of Teaching Hive Mind: A Worldwide Window into Education Today

11/2/2020

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Teachers are busy. That should be news to no teacher reading this. However, because we are so busy, we often only see teaching as what WE are doing in our own school in our own area. We forget that there are so many teachers teaching in other parts of the world, in other circumstances, in other ways. For a long time I have wanted to help us as teachers connect with each other, to learn from what is happening in different schools around the world. Then COVID happened and the differences between areas became more and more apparent. So I have reached out to some teacher friends and put together a series called Teaching Hive Mind: A Worldwide Window into Education.
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For each episode in this series, I will be interviewing an educator from a different area on what teaching looks like in their area, and how their area is responding to the COVID pandemic. Today I am releasing Episode 2: An Interview with Billie in New Mexico on Public Service and Public Safety during a Pandemic.

For this episode, I spoke with my friend Billie, who I teach with here in New Mexico. In addition to being a first grade teacher, Billie is our union president and is running for the New Mexico State House of Representatives. She is the epitome of a teacher who focuses on the needs of her student and a teacher's role in public service.

Billie and I discussed the unique challenges many of our students in New Mexico face, including a lack of broad band internet. We also discussed the safety procedures put into place in New Mexico, and the possible positive outcomes to come out of this pandemic. Small class sizes, especially seem to be a highlight of positivity from this situation.

Watch the entire interview on my YouTube channel.
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Socially distanced classrooms are challenging the mental and physical health of our students. Intentionally add movement and conversation with these tips.

10/19/2020

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Movement breaks and brain breaks are definitely not a new concept in education. However, never have I taught a school year that required brain breaks more than 2020. Due to COVID restrictions, this year I have 14 first graders who are not allowed to leave their seats all day. Six year olds, at desks six feet apart, all day long. No centers, no "find a partner who..." activities, no real group work, not even the option to get up to sharpen a pencil or grab a piece of paper. We have truly no movement naturally built into our day.  So, I started the school year by intentionally planning movement breaks and partner activities that would be a part of every school day, to protect the mental and physical health of my students. 
Adding movement breaks and talking opportunities to a socially distanced classroom. - Advice from Raki's Rad Resources
I have always actually leaned away from formal brain breaks, like the ones posted on Go Noodle, because they often get students wound up and then require me to lose teaching time to get us refocused. Instead, I have always just built natural movement into our day, with center rotations, group projects, allowing students to get their own materials and work in every corner of our classroom. However, with all of those things being big no-nos, I went into this school year with an intentional plan to give students movement without taking away from instructional time. Here are a few of the things I have done:

"Action Break" Transitions 
Even though my students can't rotate through centers, I am continuing to teach through small group rotations. Only this year the students complete the activities at their desks and I move from one small group to the next with my rolling whiteboard. In between each rotation, when students would normally be moving from one area of the classroom to another I have created "action breaks".
For these action breaks, I typed up a list of different actions, everything from basic exercises (like jumping jacks and pushups) to yoga poses (like chair pose and boat pose) to imagination activities (like pretending to drive a car or pretending to hula hoop). I cut up my list and during each transition, I pull an action and the kiddos have thirty seconds to a minute to complete it. This is about the same amount of time that I would normally give students to transition between center rotations, so no lost teaching time and the kids get out of their seats.
Adding movement breaks and talking opportunities to a socially distanced classroom. - Advice from Raki's Rad Resources

Planned Talking Partner Activities 
When students are working in centers, they talk to their groupmates, a lot. When these conversations are on topic, they can create additional learning possibilities. This is especially important for English Language Learners and students with disabilities. But, honestly all students benefit from these peer on peer conversations. Additionally, these conversations give students an outlet from the monotony of their own thoughts. Without these built in times to talk, we as teachers need to intentionally build in talking opportunities. 
Since groupwork is challenging from a six foot distance, I have assigned each of my students a single "talking partner". This is generally the person closest to them in the classroom. All throughout the day, I ask students questions and they are to discuss it with their "talking partner". This can be as simple as "Tell your talking partner about the work you did on that word problem." or "Tell your partner what you would do if you were that character." However, I also build in specific questions during whole group and small group lessons. As in I write the questions directly into lesson plans. I also put them in my daily slides. This keeps me focused and gives my students a brain break from listening to me. It also gives them a chance to talk and make meaning.
Adding movement breaks and talking opportunities to a socially distanced classroom. - Advice from Raki's Rad Resources

Learning Material Boxes 
Since students cannot share materials this year, I gave each child a tote with baggies of basic manipulatives. It has things like red and white chips, connecting blocks, plastic coins, dice, a timer, a clock, etc. I originally created these simply as a time saver so I wouldn't have to sanitize manipulatives each time they were used. However, this has really helped encouraged my students to pull out manipulatives whenever they feel they need them. This increases learning and the metacognition skills to realize when they need manipulatives.
These learning boxes also increase movement. They sit on the floor next to my students' desks, and so each time they bend down to get something, they are more active than if I had delivered those manipulatives to them. Additionally, I use these learning boxes as an opportunity to build in partner talk. For example, I might say "Roll the dice, compare it with your talking partner. Who has more?" Or "Build that word with one chip per sound. Show your talking partner how to spell that word. "
The lack of movement and conversation our kids are experiencing due to COVID is very concerning to me, as a parent and as a teacher. It is not good for anyone's mental or physical health to sit still all day, or to be isolated from their peers. While I understand that this disease is dangerous, the measures we are taking to prevent disease spread are also dangerous. Please, as a teacher, find ways to add movement and conversation into your classrooms, whether you are teaching virtually or face to face. And if you have a great way to add this into the classroom that you'd like to share, please leave a comment with that information. Let's learn from each other to make the best decisions for our students.
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What will we learn about education from this pandemic? Learn today with Angela in Morocco on Teaching Hive Mind: A Worldwide Window into Education

10/12/2020

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Teachers are busy. That should be news to no teacher reading this. However, because we are so busy, we often only see teaching as what WE are doing in our own school in our own area. We forget that there are so many teachers teaching in other parts of the world, in other circumstances, in other ways. For a long time I have wanted to help us as teachers connect with each other, to learn from what is happening in different schools around the world. Then COVID happened and the differences between areas became more and more apparent. So I have reached out to some teacher friends and put together a series called Teaching Hive Mind: A Worldwide Window into Education.
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For each episode in this series, I will be interviewing an educator from a different area on what teaching looks like in their area, and how their area is responding to the COVID pandemic. Today I am releasing Episode 1: An Interview with Angela in Morocco on How Education is Changing During this Pandemic.

For this episode, I spoke with my friend Angela, who I had taught with in Morocco 9 years ago. Angela is a teacher and administrator in Morocco. The international school she taught at last year taught live lessons from day one of the pandemic and the French Moroccan school she has now switched to has been teaching virtually this school year. She is now preparing for a hybrid of some students coming back face to face and other students attending from home.

Angela and I discussed the trends towards virtual only learning, and how her own daughter is achieving her goals this way. We also discussed the inequities that this pandemic has uncovered and how extreme they can be in Morocco. Additionally, Angela gave us a clear picture of what education looks like at her school.

Watch the entire interview on my YouTube channel.
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Afraid of starting all over this fall? Don't recreate the wheel for distance learning! Convert worksheets you already have using Google Slides.

7/27/2020

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Hybrid learning is out and virtual learning is back, at least in my district. With one week left before school, there isn't a lot of time to recreate the wheel for distance learning. So now I'm looking at all of those worksheet resources that I use and trying to figure out which ones I can convert to Google Classroom resources.  Although this sounds difficult, I have found a very simple way to prevent myself from reinventing the wheel. So I am spending this week turning assignments into things I can use in Google Classroom.
Convert worksheets you already have using Google Slides.

Choosing the Correct Format for Google Classroom 
​When I am creating assignments for my class using Google Drive, there is always a debate about whether to use Google Docs or Google Slides or Google Forms. Each format has it's own benefits and drawbacks.

Google Docs provide students with the option to type as long as they would like without "running out of space". They are also very easy for teachers to copy and paste pre-created prompts or assignments into. This is great for essays. However, Google Docs allows students to have complete control over formatting, which can be challenging, especially with younger users. Additionally, if students need to create a picture, they have to create that picture using the "insert picture" function that is slightly challenging for kids to use. I use Google Docs predominantly for writing assignments and long response reflection responses. 

Google Slides allows you to put a picture as a "background" and use text boxes to complete a worksheet. Additionally, students can create pictures right on the slides, which is super helpful with math activities. However, due to the limited space of each slide, assignments need to be broken down into appropriate steps before handing them off to students. Also, because assignments are often broken down into one piece on each slide, students need to be trained on how to navigate the slides to find what they are looking for. I use Google Slides predominantly for math problem solving or for worksheets where the formatting helps guide students through the activity, like my math projects.

Google Forms grades quizzes for you, providing students with immediate feedback on their work. Additionally, Forms is an easy way for students to look at a large group of student work very quickly. It even gives you graphs of student responses! However, Forms will not grade written responses for you, unless it is a number answer or a single word, given in a specific format. This means that Forms are most effectively used for multiple choice activities. While you may add a picture to a form when you are creating it, respondents can't add pictures to a form. Additionally, if a student starts a form today, they cannot save their work and come back to it tomorrow. I use Google Forms predominantly for multiple choice quizzes and quick check exit tickets.
Convert worksheets you already have using Google Slides.

Turning Worksheets into Google Slides
As you can see, I use all formats: docs, slides and forms, when creating activities for my kiddos. However, recently my focus has been on Google Slides. To turn a worksheet into a Google Slide, I take a screenshot of the worksheet. Then I set that screenshot as the background of a slide in Google slides. Finally, I insert text boxes into all of the places where I want kiddos to write. Personally, I leave my text boxes "invisible" without borders or shading. Then, when students open the Google Slide, they see just the worksheet, but as they click where they would like to type, the text box will be there waiting for them. 

It does take a little bit of training for students to remember to click on those text boxes, but they get the idea quickly. I also train my students on how to add their own text boxes, in case they accidentally erase the ones I have provided. This skill is just one of many Google Slides navigation skills I teach my kiddos, including how to draw, how to add shapes, how to highlight, etc. By the end of the year, the kiddos are often better at Google Slides than I am!

Save More Time, Use My Pre-made Google Slide Worksheets
Don't have time to create Google Slide Worksheets? I am working hard on updating my more popular items into Google Classroom assignable activities. Here are a few that are ready and waiting for you to download from my Teachers Pay Teachers store and assign right away:
Ice Cream Shop Project
Be an Architect Project
Holiday Shopping Project
Party Planner Project
Balanced Checkbook Project
Holiday Recipe Project
Field Trip Planning Project
Student Created Video Project
Graphic Organizer Sheets
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As districts quickly turn back to distance learning, it is important for teachers to teach the technology vocabulary without being face to face.

7/18/2020

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"We'll be going back to school using the hybrid model." was the message from many districts as early as a week or two ago. Now, as the COVID-19 numbers continue to rise, many of them are saying "Actually, we'll teach from a distance for a little while first." As much as I understand and appreciate districts (including mine) following the science and making safe decisions, I have to admit that I am bummed. I was looking forward to having at least a little while to teach those basic skills and procedures in person.

One of the skills that I always start the year with is technology skills, especially vocabulary. Direct teaching words like upload, save, restart and double click from the beginning, makes it easier for my kiddos to get into complex technology tasks quicker. I can explain technology tasks to them easier if they already know the correct words. This is important every year, but with kiddos so reliant on technology for their education this year, it is more important this school year.
Technology vocabulary bundle: technology vocabulary cards for your word wall and technology Google slide presentation for Google Classroom - great for distance learning.
Technology vocabulary bundle: technology vocabulary cards for your word wall and technology Google slide presentation for Google Classroom - great for distance learning.
Most years I teach kiddos technology vocabulary using my technology vocabulary cards. After we talk about a word, I add it to the word wall, so that they can refer back to it regularly. Since kiddos won't have that word wall to refer back to this year, I created a technology terminology presentation in Google Slides. I can add this presentation to their Google Classroom, so that they can refer back to it in the same way they would refer back to a word wall. 

So here is my plan to teach technology vocabulary during distance learning: I plan to pre-teach each vocabulary word to my students using the word wall cards, held up in Google Meet (3 - 5 a day). Then students will come up with example sentences for how we might use these words. They will also draw a picture that might represent these words - using Whiteboard.fi. Finally, we will look through the Google Slide Presentation to see where that word is when they need to refer back to it. After they have been introduced to the words, we will complete a technology activity that will ask them to use those words. For example, after learning the words download and upload, they may have a Google Classroom assignment that asks them to download a PDF and/or to upload a picture they have drawn. By having students USE the words regularly, they will internalize meanings much quicker.

Both of these resources are available for sale separately in my Teachers Pay Teacher store. I also have them bundled at a discount. How will you use them to make distance learning easier this school year?

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