Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2014!

Great things are going to happen this year!

Informal - Formal Vocabulary - Phrasal Verbs & Academic Vocabulary

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share with you my latest product for teaching vocabulary:

Informal and Formal Vocabulary - Phrasal Verbs & the corresponding Academic Vocabulary

You say put off,
We say postpone,
You say call up,
We say phone.
Meet Common Core standards and raise the vocabulary level of your students with this 102-page unit on Informal and Formal Vocabulary - Phrasal Verbs & the corresponding Academic Vocabulary.
This unit covers 32 different Phrasal Verbs and the Academic vocabulary that corresponds with each one. Phrasal verbs are verbs that contain more than one word and there are hundreds of English Phrasal Verbs such as: think over (consider), set up (establish), and put up with (tolerate).

This comprehensive unit contains color and black & white word wall cards, game cards, activities, a song and games based on phrasal verbs and their academic language equivalents.
Reproducible black lines included in this package:
• 32 Phrasal Verb word wall cards
• 32 Academic Vocabulary word wall cards
• Game cards and board
• Song lyrics
• Assessments
• Lesson plans and activities
Word cards are reproducible in color or print in black and white.
Since Phrasal Verbs are very common in oral English, their understanding is essential for communication and reading comprehension. However, when writing formally there are two reasons we strive to use the academic or formal equivalents of Phrasal Verbs. First, Phrasal Verbs are highly idiomatic. Formal writing uses Standard English and avoids figurative language and slang. Secondly, when writing formally in English precise vocabulary is expected. Since Phrasal Verbs often have multiple meanings they can be difficult to understand and impede the meaning. Teaching your students the Academic vocabulary for Phrasal Verbs will enlarge their vocabulary and improve their formal English writing!


Click on over to my store at Teachers Pay Teachers to see this great new package!
Happy Teaching,
Fun To Teach

Fun websites and apps for ELD teachers!

Hello everyone,

Can you believe it is mid-December already?  Suddenly the year seems like it is going by quickly!

With that in mind I thought I should be using a few more fun apps and website activities in my class to jazz up the wintertime.  If you are feeling the same way, check out the short list of fun ELD websites and apps below.  You might want to try some of these with your kiddos.  I would love to hear about some of your favorite websites or apps for teaching ELD.  Let me know what they are.

Happy Teaching,

 

ELL tab - www.soesd.k12.or.us

 

Interactive Smart Board - 

 http://exchange.smarttech.com/#tab=0

 

Math Lingo -

 http://www.eduplace.com/kids/mw

/swfs/mathlingo_grade2.html 

Grammar Gallery  - 

 ttp://www.mygrammargallery.org/

 

Starfall.com -http://www.starfall.com/

 

Google Translator - 

http://translate.google.com/ 

www.usalearns.org 

(free language practice)

Dragon Dictation -

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app

/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8

ManyThings.org 

 – http://www.manythings.org/

Esltechies - http://esltechies.com/2011/05/20/digital-storytelling-for-ells/

Hoops and Yoyo  http://www.hallmark.com/online/hoopsandyoyo/animations/hyy-manners.aspx

StoryBuilder -    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storybuilder-for-ipad/id377631532?mt=8

Preposition Builder - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/prepositionbuilder/id413939528?mt=8

Question Builder - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/question-builder-for-ipad/id364823150?mt=8

 

The Third Wheel Idiom

Here is a cute video on being the third wheel. Aren't idioms fun!
The Third Wheel from Melissa Kumaresan on Vimeo.
Happy Teaching!

Teaching Math to Second Language Learners

Hi everyone,

As we all look forward to planning for the classroom after the holiday vacations, many of us will be thinking about effective ways to teach second language learners.

Teachers want to include the instructional strategies that will increase comprehension in second language learners. Here is a list compiled by Virginia Department of Education Division of Instruction back in 2004.  These are tried and true methods that still hold true today.

•  Integrate the four language modes (listening, speaking, reading, writing) into mathematics class.

• Model the process. Talk aloud while solving problems on the overhead or chalkboard to show the thinking process and common errors.

• Have students explain their thinking process aloud to a classmate while solving a problem.

• Integrate reading and writing through the use of journals, learning logs, poems, literature, etc.

• Give explicit instruction and practice in reading and writing word problems. Teach students to identify key words in word problems that indicate a certain mathematical operation.

• Begin class with warm-up activities using mathematical language to give students practice in sentence construction.

• Write a cloze exercise (a short paragraph with key words missing) or sentence starters (i.e., Perimeter is the…) on the board for students to copy and complete when they enter class.

• Give students a computation problem to solve, and then have them write the steps they used to solve it in complete sentences.

• Post labels and vocabulary cards around the classroom on completed word problems, number lines, rulers, fraction diagrams, and/or objects in the class.

•  Have students paraphrase and write complex concepts in their own words (individually, pairs, or whole class).

• Review mathematical vocabulary and concepts using games such as TIC TAC TOE, BINGO, Concentration, Charades, etc.

Use a variety of modes of instruction

• Design multi-sensory lessons (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic).

• Use visuals whenever possible to reinforce auditory instruction (i.e., charts, graphs, manipulatives, diagrams, models, real objects).

• Use graphic organizers to visually represent mathematical concepts.

• Design hands-on activities.

• Vary groupings throughout the lesson (i.e., independent work, pair work, small groups, whole class).

• Use real-life problem-solving situations to teach new concepts.

• Make interdisciplinary connections whenever possible.

  Click here to view their article!

  Happy Teaching!

  
  
  

  
  

Idioms

Hello everyone,
I recently was searching through Vimeo and found some great idiom videos to show my high school kids.  I wanted to share this one...I think they did a great job.

A great lesson would include the students having to write down the idioms as they appear in the video and then having them do a survey throughout the school to try and find out their meanings.

I would love to hear your ideas of lessons you would use with this video!

Idioms from Oh My! on Vimeo.


Happy Teaching!







Idioms from Oh My! on Vimeo.
Happy Teaching! Lori

Teachers Pay Teachers Cyber Sale!

Hello everyone!
The big Teachers pay Teachers cyber sale is another thing to celebrate this time of year!  

Click on over to the Fun To Teach Store and save big on December 2nd and 3rd.  

All of our products are 20% off and TPT is offering another 10% off that discount!  

 

Time to shop! 

Happy Teaching,



Click here to go to our Teachers Pay Teachers' Store!

I Just Barely Made It!

Hi everyone,

During the previous year I noticed that a group of my intermediate speakers of English were struggling with the phrases ‘just barely’.  They were substituting ‘just hardly’ for it.  I put together a one day  ELD lesson and then created this chant to practice continued practice, until they became fluent with the phrase.  I want to share the call back with any of you who might be able to use it.  So here is the little call back chant I wrote to practice the phrase “just barely”.

I Just Barely Made It!

I just got out of bed,

and barely touched my breakfast.

I just grabbed my books

And headed out the door!

WHEW!

I just barely made it.

I just barely made it.

I just barely made it, to school on time!

 Hear it here!

Happy Teaching,

ESL RESOURCES FOR YOU!

Helllo everyone!
I am excited about being listed in an article by Masters in ESL.
They compiled a list of resources and included the Fun To Teach Blog!  Yahoo!
The best part is all the great resources they list for teaching ESL.  Take a minute and check it out!

Happy Teaching! Lori

200 ways to say went

Hi everyone,

I found a great pin that has 200 words to replace the word 'went'.
I want to make an anchor chart for my class using some of these!



Click Here to see the pin!


Happy Teaching!

Lori

Milestones of Language Acquisition

Hi everyone!

I was doing a little research on language acquisition and came across this Table.  (Note. From Language Disorders From Infants Through Adolescence: Assessment and Intervention, by R. Paul, 2001, Philadelphia)

As I read through it I started comparing it to the language levels of the ELD matrix.  It was very interesting to compare native language acquisition according to the below table against second language acquistion by language level.

If you are interested in doing the same here is a link to the ELD matrix.

Click here!

Table 1 Milestones of Language Content

 Typical Age Content Milestones

8–12 mos. Understand 3–50 words.

First words are used for names of familiar people and objects; communicative games and routines; to talk about appearance,

disappearance, recurrence.

12–18 mos. Average expressive vocabulary size: 50–100 words at 18 mos.

Semantic roles are expressed in one-word speech, including agent, action, object, location, possession, rejection, disappearance, nonexistence, denial.

Words are understood outside of routine games; still need contextual support for lexical comprehension.

18–24 mos. Average expressive vocabulary size: 200–300 words at 24 mos.

Prevalent relations expressed: agent–action, agent–object, action–object, action–location, entity–location, possessor–possession, demonstrative–entity, attribute–entity.

24–30 mos. Understanding and use of questions about objects (What?), people (Who?), and basic events (What is x doing?   Where is x going?).

30–36 mos. Use and understand Why? questions.

Use and understand basic spatial terms (in, on, under, etc.).

36–42 mos. Use and understand semantic relationship between adjacent and conjoined sentences, including additive, temporal, causal, contrastive.

Understand basic color words.  Use and understand basic kinship terms.

42–48 mos. Use and understand ‘‘when’’ and ‘‘how’’ questions.

Understand words for basic shapes (circle, square, triangle).

Use and understand basic size vocabulary (big, small).

Use conjunctions and and because to conjoin sentences.

48–60 mos. Knowledge of letter names and sounds emerges.

Knowledge of numbers and counting emerges.

Use conjunctions when, so, because, and if.

5–7 years Reorganization of lexical knowledge from episodic to semantic networks occurs.

Average expressive vocabulary size: 5,000 words.

7–9 years School introduces new words not encountered in conversation.

Pronouns used anaphorically to refer to nouns previously named.

Word definitions include synonyms and categories.  Some words understood to have multiple meanings.

Capacity for production of figurative language increases.

9–12 years Vocabulary in school texts is more abstract and specific than that in conversation.

Students are expected to acquire new information from written texts.

Can explain relationships between meanings of multiple-meaning words.

Begin using adverbial conjunctions.  Understand most common idioms.

12–14 years Abstract dictionary definitions given for words.

Can explain meaning of proverbs in context.

15–18 years Average vocabulary size of high school graduate: 10,000 words.

Note. From Language Disorders From Infants Through Adolescence: Assessment and Intervention, by R. Paul, 2001, Philadelphia:

Happy Teaching!

Favorite Structured Language Practice Activities!

Hi everyone,

Recently I was asked for a list of my favorite structured language practice activities.  There are so many that it was hard to choose just a few.  I began to compile a list of these tried and true old favorites and I thought I would share them here with you.  Each Tuesday for a while I will post a couple of fun activities to promote language practices.  Many you will recognize or remember and hopefully you will find one or two to use with your class!  I would love to hear what some of your favorites are!

Happy Teaching!

Stay and Stray

1.   Divide the class into groups.

2.   Pick interesting subjects for the groups to speak about.

3.  Post sentence frames for prompts and replies you want students to practice.

4.  Students practice the language frames in their group.

5.   One or more members of the groups move to other groups and practice and share the language.

Read Aloud/Think Aloud

1.   Divide the class into groups.

2.   Readers read a section of text or passage out loud to their group.

3.  Read then thinks aloud about the contents of that section.

4.  The group members use strong questioning strategies to ask the reader questions about the passage.

Favorite Structured Language Practice Activities!

Hi everyone,

Recently I was asked for a list of my favorite structured language practice activities.  There are so many that it was hard to choose just a few.  I began to compile a list of these tried and true old favorites and I thought I would share them here with you.  Each Tuesday for a while I will post a couple of fun activities to promote language practices.  Many you will recognize or remember and hopefully you will find one or two to use with your class!  I would love to hear what some of your favorites are!

Happy Teaching!

Talking Chips

1.   Pass out the same number of chips to each student. 

2.   Pick an interesting subject for group to speak about.

3.  Post sentence frames for prompts and replies you want students to practice.

4.  Each time a student wants to speak, they put a chip in the middle of the table.

5.   When an individual has used up their chips, they can no longer speak.

6.  Process continues until every student has used up all chips.

Numbered Heads

1.   Divide students into teams.

2.   Give each team member a number.

3.  Pick an interesting subject for group to speak about.

4.  Post sentence frames for prompts and replies you want students to practice.

5.   Each time a student’s number is drawn the student uses the prompts or responses to respond.