Instructional strategies in Bilingual Education

1. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
IN BILINGUAL EDUCATION
Lesson 12

2. Before anything else, determine your
Language and Content Objectives
• They are essential in the bilingual education context
but also in any foreign language education context
• We are teaching content and not only language.

3. Content objectives Language objectives
Use the following formula: Use the following formula:
Cognitive function
(referencing a DOK verb)
Cognitive function
(referencing a DOK verb)
Content
(what are you going to
evaluate)
Language
linguistic proficiency target
(what are you going to evaluate)
Methods
(strategy and condition)
Methods
(strategy and condition)

4. Depth of Knowledge

5. Examples of language and
content objectives
• I can name the phases of the moon. (x)
• I can solve addition problems by recognizing and recording the parts with a small
group. (X)
• I can identify and describe the differences and similarities between rocks and minerals
by observing and drawing the minerals in rocks with my group and on my own exit
ticket.
• I can create a timeline of plot events in the story I read today. (X)
• I can use sentence frames to orally explain the way that air temperature and wind
affect changes in precipitation, air pressure, and air temperature.

6. Core instructional strategies in
bilingual education
1. Comprehensible input
2. Scaffolding
3. Modeling
4. Strategies that increase the quality of output
5. Student engagement
6. Checking for understanding

7. 1. Comprehensible input (Krashen
1987, 1988)
•How can we make content and language
understandable and accessible to all
students?

8. How do we make input
comprehensible?
Visual support Context Adapted language
Meaning is matched to new
language through the use of
visuals, objects, body
language, gestures, videos,
realia, TPR
Meaningful repeated
exposures are given in a
variety of contexts: preview
material, activate
background knowledge,
graphic organizers,
storytelling, songs and chants
Speech tempo and
complexity, explicit and
clear articulation, new
language stands out and is
repeated, ideas are
rephrased, language is
clarified through
explanations, definitions and
examples

9. Visual support
• visuals & TPR
• In this excerpt, teacher combines movement, visuals and gestures in order to make
input comprehensible to all students.

10. How do we make input
comprehensible?
Visual support Context Adapted language
Meaning is matched to new
language through the use of
visuals, objects, body
language, gestures, videos,
realia, TPR
Meaningful repeated
exposures are given in a
variety of contexts: preview
material, activate
background knowledge,
graphic organizers,
storytelling, songs and chants
Speech tempo and
complexity, explicit and
clear articulation, new
language stands out and is
repeated, ideas are
rephrased, language is
clarified through
explanations, definitions and
examples

11. Context (Songs and chants)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuI_p7a9VGs&ab_channel=TheSingingWalrus-Eng
lishSongsForKids
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mMFKzS_a0A
• Teacher encourages students to sing by using positive reinforcement.
• Singing allows students to use vocabulary within a context and this promotes
comprehension
• Singing the same songs repetitively helps them practice pronunciation and facilitates
recycling
• Use of songs and rhymes for the understanding of Math concepts and for practicing
the appropriate language
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzOtWjh6UME&ab_channel=Mariacomplainer
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTeqUejf3D0&ab_channel=KidsTV123

12. Context (storytelling)
• E.g. storytelling
• The Doorbell rang by Pat Hutchins

13. Context: Graphic organizers
How many students are there in our class
today?
• Learn to read a graph (KN)
• How many boys are there today present
in our class?
• How many girls are there today present in
our class?
• Let us create a graph
• Let us read it:
• “Today there are 9 boys and 13 girls in
our class”.
Students in our class
Boys Girls
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
9
13

14. How do we make input
comprehensible?
Visual support Context Adapted language
Meaning is matched to new
language through the use of
visuals, objects, body
language, gestures, videos,
realia, TPR
Meaningful repeated
exposures are given in a
variety of contexts: preview
material, activate
background knowledge,
graphic organizers,
storytelling, songs and chants
Speech tempo and
complexity, explicit and
clear articulation, new
language stands out and is
repeated, ideas are
rephrased, language is
clarified through
explanations, definitions and
examples

15. Adapted language
• Speech tempo and complexity, explicit and clear articulation, new language stands out and is
repeated, ideas are rephrased, language is clarified through explanations, definitions and
examples
• Learning the shapes
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hSEwBoIeZ8&list=PLl-
vKyLFY5_AfCwpOTeSLLxenbrfNT8JK&index=3&ab_channel=Mariacomplainer)
• Teacher uses various strategies to teach students the names of shapes in Greek (math class in
Greek as L2 in KN)
Using the L2 for routine interactions and class management
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6FtPCT7aco&list=PLl-
vKyLFY5_AfCwpOTeSLLxenbrfNT8JK&index=4&ab_channel=Mariacomplainer
• Teacher uses Greek in her interactions with her students for all class management issues; this
facilitates the acquisition of everyday language (non academic vocabulary).

16. Core instructional strategies in
bilingual education
1. Comprehensible input
2. Scaffolding
3. Modeling
4. Strategies that increase the quality of output
5. Student engagement
6. Checking for understanding

17. Scaffolding and language
supports

18. 2. Scaffolding and language
supports
•What a child is able to do
through scaffolds is the stage
where actual language
acquisition occurs.

19. Scaffolding vs helping
The idea of scaffolding is based on work by Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976) and
Vygotsky (1978).
Scaffolding is the process of supporting your students during their learning process
and gradually removing that support as your students become more
independent.
• This is very different from helping, which is the process of figuring out an answer
together with a student.

20. Scaffolding strategies

21. Scaffolding strategies – Sensory
supports
• Visual
representations
• Physical
movements
• Music and songs
• Word walls

22. Visual supports – lower
elementary

23. Physical supports

24. Word walls

26. Thematic Word Walls for higher
level students

28. Word Bank

29. Scaffolding strategies

30. Scaffolding strategies:
Graphic supports
•Graphs
•Charts
•Graphic organizers

31. Graphic organizer: Frayer model

33. Scaffolding strategies:
Graphic supports
• Sentence patterning chart
• Pictorial input chart

34. Scaffolding strategies:
Graphic supports – upper elementary

36. Scaffolding strategies

37. Scaffolding strategies: interactive
supports
•Turn and talk
•Think-pair-share
•Story sequencing

38. Scaffolding strategies

39. Scaffolding strategies: verbal and
textual supports
• Sentence starters, sentence frames
• Skinny and fat questions (HOTS vs LOTS)
• Eliciting language with teacher feedback
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoEoIldtoUc (2.53)
• Labeling

40. Sentence frames
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX7ynlmuO8E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LI6V8jxbXc (2.39)

41. Sentence stems/starters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RViaYeGquw4

42. Skinny and fat questions and thinking skills –
from Lots to Hots (cf. Bloom’s taxonomy)
Skinny questions (lower-order thinking skills,
short answers)
Fat questions (higher-order thinking skills,
longer answers)
What happened when I added the acid? Can you explain the shape of the graph?
What is electricity? How could we use our work on electricity to
design a winter lighting system for a
greenhouse?
Give me 10 words starting with ‘in-’ What do you think the prefix ‘in’ means?
How many other prefixes can you think of
which mean the same?
What did D. Livingstone discover? How do you think D. Livingston’es early life
affected his career?

44. Core instructional strategies in
bilingual education
1. Comprehensible input
2. Scaffolding
3. Modeling
4. Strategies that increase the quality of output
5. Student engagement
6. Checking for understanding

45. 3. Modeling cycle
• What is the Modeling cycle?
• The way a teacher shows students what they should
know and be able to do;
• providing them four opportunities to show them what
the expected outcome is.

46. How do we do the modeling cycle?

47. I do it, we do it, you do it
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdSRdd_8NBA&list=PLl-vKyL
FY5_AfCwpOTeSLLxenbrfNT8JK&index=7&ab_channel=Mariacom
plainer
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOMF06TJAO4&ab_channel
=GettyMuseum
• Teacher encourages students to formulate and use sentences
• First, she models the language and then she demonstrates its use
with the help of a student. Last, she asks students to do it in pairs.

48. More examples:
• Step 1: Teacher does:
• Step 2: Teacher and student do:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoEoIldtoUc (1’)
• Step 3: Student and student do
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoEoIldtoUc (4.27)
• Step 4: All students do
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoEoIldtoUc (1.25’)

49. Core instructional strategies in
bilingual education
1. Comprehensible input
2. Scaffolding
3. Modeling
4. Strategies that increase the quality of output
5. Student engagement
6. Checking for understanding

50. 4. Strategies that increase the quality
of language production (output)
Explicit
instruction of
vocabulary in
context
Thematic
function walls
Word banks
Sentence
frames and
sentence stems

51. Core instructional strategies in
bilingual education
1. Comprehensible input
2. Scaffolding
3. Modeling
4. Strategies that increase the quality of output
5. Student engagement
6. Checking for understanding

52. 5. Student engagement
•Ensuring that ALL students are cognitively
engaged ALL the time by providing
Opportunities to Respond (OTR)

53. How do we create student
engagement?
Cognitive Visual Physical Oral
Think time Hand signals TPR choral
whiteboards Move to the answer Turn and talk
Response cards Four corners Think-pair-share
Thumbs up / down Opinion lines Small group
discussion
Blow it away
Paraphrase it to the
partner

55. Visual Thinking Strategies
◦ How many people can you see?
◦ Are they men or women?
◦ How old do you think they are?
◦ What are they wearing?
◦ Can you describe them?
◦ Are they serious, sad, happy?
◦ Where do you think they are?
◦ What do they do?
◦ What do you think happened 5 minutes before that
scene?
◦ What’s happening now?
◦ What do you think they are saying to each other?
◦ Etc.

56. Core instructional strategies in
bilingual education
1. Comprehensible input
2. Scaffolding
3. Modeling
4. Strategies that increase the quality of output
5. Student engagement
6. Checking for understanding

57. 6. Checking for understanding
•What is checking for understanding?
•The strategies that are used to elicit
evidence that the student is understanding
the language and content.

58. Checking for understanding
•For the purpose of:
•Monitoring student progress
•Informing instruction
using OTRs (Opportunities to Respond) as follows…

59. How do we check understanding?
Cognitive Visual Physical Oral
Think time Hand signals TPR choral
whiteboards Move to the answer Turn and talk
Response cards Four corners Think-pair-share
Thumbs up / down Opinion lines Small group
discussion
Blow it away, teach-
teach, mirror
Paraphrase it to the
partner