9 Cross-Curricular Writing Activities for ELLs
As summer wraps up, we find ourselves contemplating our instructional intentions for the coming school year. My big focus this year: writing.
Of the four language-learning domains (listening, speaking, reading, writing), writing is typically the last to fully develop. We can help our ELLs to develop confidence in this area by providing plenty of opportunities to practice writing skills and build writing stamina. Here are nine fantastic ways to incorporate writing into any lesson, at any grade level, and across all levels of English mastery.
CLASS MURAL
Class murals are interactive anchor charts that encourage text analysis and cooperative talk. In advance, prepare the mural "wall". A long piece of butcher paper turned lengthwise (or several strips of butcher paper taped together) works well. Depending on the class size, the mural may be 5-20 feet long. Also, a variety of print materials related to a topic should also be available- books, magazines, picture cards, student dictionaries or websites. To create the mural, first draw out background knowledge from the entire group. Then, allow students sufficient time to explore resources independently, in pairs or in teams. When ready, students will synthesize information to create a landscape on the mural that includes pictures, words, quotes, etc. To encourage language development, all illustrations should be labeled. Post mural in a visible place. Learners may add to the mural throughout a unit of study as new information is revealed. When spelling or speaking a word related to the topic, students should be asked to refer to the mural as the primary anchor chart.
FEEDBACK JOURNALS
Journaling allows students a healthy expressive outlet while practicing critical writing skills. The feedback component is what makes this strategy an effective one. Each student has a dedicated notebook to be used for the purpose of journaling for the duration of the course or unit. Students may be asked to record free thoughts, respond to direct prompts or create short summaries of daily learning or wonderings. The facilitator has the responsibility to read and respond to students' entries, offering comments, insight, clarification, grammatical notes or additional prompts. A student, in return, may also reply to or comment on the teacher's feedback. Feedback journals act as a conversation piece between the student and instructional guide, foster trust and engagement, and serve as a record of students' writing progress.
GRAFFITI
Graffiti is a cooperative exercise in which all members of a group are invited share awareness about a topic. To begin, arrange students into small cooperative work groups (3 or 5 students work best). Provide each student with a piece of butcher paper or poster-sized Post-It. Assign each group a topic or prompt that is relevant to a current unit of study. Within work groups, students will discuss and record thoughts/illustrations related to the prompt. All students are encouraged to converse and write (different colored makers- one color for each student in the group- work well for this). Use a timer to mark discussions and recording sessions. After a set period of time, rotate the posters from one group to another in a circular fashion. Each group will receive a poster that already contains student insight. Within groups, students will share thoughts on what the previous group recorded before writing new thoughts. This process continues until each poster returns to its "home" group. Posters may be reserved as anchor charts or used to further class discussion.
PARTNER DICTATION
Partner dictation is a fast-paced, simple activity that engages students in all four language-learning domains. To prepare, select a brief passage on a focus topic. Print half the number of copies as students in the class. (Or, choose unique dictation passages and print separately). For the activity, begin by pairing students. Each pair of students stands on one side of the room. Dictation passages are posted in another part of the room (or outside of the room in a hallway or corridor). One student will act as the "runner" and the other as the "recorder". (Students will have a chance to change roles). The "runner" will quickly make trips to and from the printed dictation passage to read it and return to partner to relay the message. The recorder writes what he or she hears. Students work together to edit scripts as they are being written. The runner makes as many trips to the dictation sample as needed for the recorder to capture the whole passage. Roles reverse, with a new dictation passage. Length and complexity of passages should reflect grade and language abilities present in the classroom and should be modified for pair groups as necessary.
QUICK WRITE
One key challenge for ELLs around writing is stamina. It is important to remember that students need to build up to writing longer passages. This is especially true in the upper grades, where lengthy responses are expected. Quick writes are one strategy to aid students in building stamina and structure for writing. Quick writes are set apart from other types of writing in that they purposefully omit planning, organizing, editing and revising (at least in the initial stage). The purpose of a quick write is to have students record as much relevant information related to a topic as they can in a set period of time. The writing period is intentionally limited, often beginning with only 5 or 10 minutes and working up to 15, 20 or 25-minute intervals. In the beginning stages of practices, modifications may be necessary. Early emergent students may need to copy a specific passage or use sentence stems or cloze sentences for support. More advanced students may employ a text on the topic of writing, but will be responsible for paraphrasing important information. Eventually, students will learn to write freely without significant support. To introduce a quick write, first establish a topic and time limit and then model the practice for students. It is also helpful to practice writing one document as a whole class. Finally, students write on their worn. A word bank may be useful. Quick writes should be carried out on a consistent basis and should receive some type of feedback (either from a teacher or peer). If desired, a quick write may be expanded upon to create a fully fleshed out and edited writing piece.
SAGE N’ SCRIBE
(Kagan Activity)
Sage n 'Scribe is a Kagan activity that effectively engages learners in all four language domains. Students work in pairs for this exercise. Generally, pairs use the time to work together in completing comprehension questions related to a topic. To begin, the first student (Sage) will read the first question aloud. The sage will then verbally answer his or her own question. Meanwhile, the second partner (Scribe) records the first partner’s response. The scribe also coaches the sage and/or offers feedback, if necessary. Then, the sage also records his or her response. Finally, the partners switch roles and move on to another question.
THINK-WRITE-PAIR-SHARE
(adapted Kagan strategy)
Think-Write-Pair-Share is a variation on the popular Think-Pair-Share Strategy. For Think-Pair-Share, students are asked to consider a question, given time to think about their response, and then are paired with a partner to share and discuss their reply. Adding the "write" portion deepens students thinking into the question and allows for students to explore an additional language domain. To complete the activity, facilitator poses a question to students related to a text or topic of study. Then, students are given time to process the question and think about their response. The next step calls for students to record their reply on a piece of paper or white board. When students do pair with a partner, they exchange papers. Each student reads his or her partner's contribution aloud. Within partner groups, students work together to discuss, amend, and edit responses. (Applicable texts, dictionaries, word walls or other supports may be used). Responses may be turned in, shared with other classmates, or incorporated into a graphic organizer or class anchor chart.
WRITING IN REVERSE
(based on a lesson by Jackie McAvoy)
This activity asks students to consider "comprehension" questions in order to compose a piece of writing. To complete, present students with a series of questions that are worded in the style of reading comprehension questions. Students are amused when you explain that you brought the questions to class but "lost" the reading passage. Using these questions as thinking points, they will work backward to create a composition. Working with a partner, they will first read all of the questions and write short answers to them. Then, they will use these responses to craft a full writing piece. When finished, students can exchange stories with a peer. Each learner should be able to answer the comprehension questions based on his or her partner’s writing.
WRITING WITH A MENTOR TEXT
Many English language learners can benefit from extra supports when writing. Mentor texts provide students with an exemplary piece of work to follow. They are especially helpful for intermediate and advanced students who are ready to move beyond sentence stems/cloze writing and are working toward independent writing. An appropriate mentor text should be on the same topic, length and writing style (or similar topic, length and writing style) as the piece that students will be expected to produce. Students should be guided, as a whole group or in smaller work groups, to deconstruct the mentor text. To do this, students will identify and explore key features of the text. First, have students identify the purpose of the text (narrative, expository, how-to, etc.). Next, students will explore the passage's organization (sentence structure, paragraph structure, etc.). Finally, students evaluate the "star features" of the text- meaning words, phrases, writing style, voice, figurative language or other items that make the mentor text interesting to read. Once students have had a sufficient time to digest and understand the components of the mentor text, they can use this passage to guide their independent writing.
Ready to dig deeper? These activities (and many others) were created by Refugee Classroom as part of the comprehensive EduSkills platform. Learn more at eduskills.us.
EduSkills is an educational services and school data analysis company serving schools and districts Pre-K through 12th grade. EduSkills collaborates with schools and districts in order to help teachers and administrators become high-performing outcome based educators with a clear focus on high level student achievement.
Using Sentence Starters with ELLs
The initial stages of language acquisition can be overwhelming for Newcomer learners. We can support these students (and all ELLs!) by incorporating “sheltering” techniques into our teaching practice. Sheltering strategies help to make content more accessible to language learners. Sentence starters are one type of sheltered instruction.
Sentence starters are helpful for language learners in that they can be used to scaffold both oral and written expression. Also, when learners are provided with sentence starters, they are relieved of some of the pressure to structure an entire reply. This allows students to focus on the body, or "meat", of their response.
“Sentence starters provide opportunities for ELLs to successfully participate in classroom activities in structured, purposeful ways.”
–Louise El Yaafouri, The Newcomer Student, 2016
When introducing sentence starters to learners who are within the early stages of language acquisition, it is best to limit the number of prompts to choose from. In fact, one or two options are plenty. As students grow in their language development, the number of options can be increased. With time and consistent opportunities to practice, learners will eventually develop efficacy in using a broad range of starters.
To make the most out of using sentence starters, the specific prompts should be visible to students as they are speaking and/or writing. Appropriate usage should be modeled- by the instructor, by video, or by other students, or in some combination of all of these. Eventually, students will become more independent in their production sentence starters.
As learners move closer to mastery with a particular set of sentence starters, these supports can be gradually lessened and eventually removed. Meanwhile, more complex strategies can be introduced- with new supports, if needed. Through this process of continuous scaffolding, we can guide our students closer to language proficiency and deeper content understanding.
Included is a collection of key sentence starters for academic participation. The prompts are organized into two categories: listening capacity and speaking capacity. They are suitable across grade and age levels.
Do you currently use sentence starters in your classroom? Share your experiences and contribute new prompts on Twitter @NewcomerESL #sentencestarters.
Voices from the Classroom: Birtukan
Deep into the process of writing my second book, The Newcomer Fieldbook, a singular thought came to mind: gratitude. Gratitude for the teachers, who guided, mentored, supported me and kept me sane; and gratitude for my students, who had taught me so much.
There it was. The light bulb. My top-notch, unbeatable professional developers? My peer practitioners and my students.
Another “aha” followed. These very student voices- the same ones that had guided my professional growth and acted as magic carpet to new worlds and cultures- appeared no where in my writing. In fact, I couldn't find them in my state's PD platform or in my college curriculum. How had I (and indeed, we) overlooked our most powerful resources?
That's when the last chapter became the penultimate chapter. The closing space would be reserved for the best insights of all- those that don't come from me. This final segment has been divided into two parts: educator contributions and student contributions.
As part of the student insight piece, English language learners from all over the world, ages 7 to 70 took part in a twelve-question survey about their experiences. The responses are telling of our own work as educators. The narratives at once heart breaking and uplifting. These are the voices of our ELLs, as humans, as learners, as individuals who are ready to make a positive mark on the world around them.
Let's look at one of those responses. I happen to know Birtukan personally. In fact, she was in my Newcomer classroom two years in a row, as I rolled up with her class. Her first teacher, Ms. Carmen Kuri, is among my mentor teachers. Carmen's passion for her students' success shines in this interview. Birtukan is now a socially and academically competent, full-of-life middle school student on the brink of high school.
Birtukan G., age 14, female. Heritage: Sudanese. Arrived in U.S. at age 7 from Eritrea. First languages: Tigrinya, Amharic, Arabic.
Survey: What do you remember most about your first day of school in the U.S.?
Birtukan: I was a little shy. I didn’t know where to go. The school was really big and I didn’t know the language and I didn’t have any friends yet. It was a lot of new things.
S: How did you find U.S. school to be different from schooling in other countries where you went to school?
B: I wasn’t experienced in going to school with a teacher who spoke English. It’s a lot different in my country. There, if you don’t listen you are punished. Also, in my country we didn’t have any homework. You do all of your learning at school. I had to learn what to do with homework.
S: What is something you wish your first teacher in America knew about you (but maybe you didn’t have enough English to tell them)?
B: I didn’t know any English and it was hard for me to communicate. I wanted my teacher to know that when I started learning more English I was like a translator for everything. I don’t have brothers or sisters. It’s just me and my mom. My mom got sick a LOT in our country and in America. We lived in a refugee camp and sometimes in the desert. Sometimes we had to walk a long way. I took care of her. In America, I had to be the translator for the doctors and everyone. Now she’s doing better. She has a job here now, so that’s really good.
S: What is something you wish other students in America knew about you (but maybe you didn’t have enough English to tell them)?
B: That I don’t have any brothers or sisters. It made it harder because I was alone a lot.
S: What were your biggest thoughts or worries about going to school in America?
B: That people would bully me. I was bullied a lot when I went to school in Eritrea, so I thought people would bully me here, too.
S: What is something that your first teacher or teachers did that made you feel safe and welcomed?
B: My teacher saw that I didn’t have a lot of clothes and that me and my mom didn’t have any coats. She came to our house with coats and clothes and a lot of food. That was really helpful. My mom was so grateful.
S: Tell about something in your first years of school in America that was hard for you or made you feel uncomfortable.
B: Everything in America was new. For example, it was hard for us to go buy food. We didn’t know what the money meant. We thought $50 was like a dollar. We didn’t know these things yet and I didn’t learn it in school until after.
S: If you could change something about the way your first teacher in the U.S. taught or the way he or she taught you, what would it be?
B: I would want her to help me not be so shy.
S: Was there something in particular that made learning English easier for you? Something at school or at home?
B: I had a friend, Rufta. She spoke my language. It was really easier having her by my side. She came about six months after me, so I knew a little bit more English. I helped her with math. I started speaking more after I had Rufta.
S: What school activities do you think helped you the most in learning English?
B: Playing with the kids outside helped. I didn’t feel as nervous speaking English on the playground. Reading with my teacher in groups was really good.
S: If you could give Newcomer teachers one piece of advice in working with students from your country it would be:
B: Don’t pressure students too much. Try to help them learn the basics of English.
S: If you could give first year Newcomers one piece of advice it would be:
B: Please don’t be scared. There are teachers and students who want to help and be your friend.
Read more student interviews in The Newcomer Fieldbook, available HERE.