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Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ™
Melissa & Lori Love Literacy™ is a podcast for teachers. The hosts are your classroom-next-door teacher friends turned podcasters learning with you. Episodes feature top literacy experts and teachers who are putting the science of reading into practice. Melissa & Lori bridge the gap between the latest research and your day-to-day teaching.
Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ™
Classroom-Tested Literacy Routines for Every Student (Especially Multilingual Learners!)
Episode 222
In this episode, teacher coach Margarita shares effective strategies for leveraging students' native languages to enhance their learning in the classroom. She discusses the importance of making cross-linguistic connections, structured routines like QSSSA for speaking, and vocabulary strategies that include cognates. She also explains writing techniques such as the APE method and reading comprehension strategies like STAR, all aimed at supporting emergent bilinguals in their academic journey.
Margarita shares her insights on effective reading routines, the importance of language functions, and strategies for grouping students in intervention blocks. She emphasizes the role of teacher training and support in enhancing student learning, particularly for multilingual learners. The discussion also covers the structure of intervention blocks and the significance of familiar topics in language acquisition. Margarita concludes with practical tips for educators working with diverse language backgrounds.
We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.
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If you're an educator working with multilingual learners, you know they bring incredible strengths. But balancing language support while building academic skills takes thoughtful planning. So where do you start?
Lori:In this episode you'll hear from Margarita Cruz, a high school instructional coach from Aldine, texas. She's sharing teacher-tested actionable routines that set students up for success in any content area, while also helping them build language confidence. Hi teacher friends. I'm Lori and I'm Melissa. We are two educators who want the best for all kids, and we know you do too.
Melissa:We worked together in Baltimore when the district adopted a new literacy curriculum.
Lori:We realized there was so much more to learn about how to teach reading and writing.
Melissa:Lori, and I can't wait to keep learning with you today. Hi Margarita, welcome to the podcast. We are so excited to have you here today.
Margarita:Hello, hello, thank you for having me.
Lori:Yeah, margarita, we're going to jump right in because we know you are our teacher expert here today and we want to hear from you and your experience about some of the most effective ways to leverage students' native language to make sure that they're learning well in the classroom.
Margarita:Yeah, I think using students' native language is a great way to accelerate their learning in their second language. So some of those things that we can use are like translanguaging strategies. Specifically, cross linguistic connections is something I feel is very effective. When we allow students to take the time to see the connections between their native language or their first language and the new language they're acquiring, it makes it so much easier for them to be able to learn it and really internalize it.
Lori:Okay. So, margarita, I totally get that to have those connections, and I'm just thinking, if I'm a teacher listening, I would be wondering how exactly do we do that? How do we help students engage with their native language and the target language, whatever that might be, in meaningful, authentic ways?
Margarita:So I think, across content areas, one of the things we can do is allow students time to maybe preview information in their native language.
Margarita:If it's something specific, maybe in the English classroom, if we're going to talk about symbolism, so allowing them to look at examples of that in what is their native language. Especially as our students get older, they already know how to read and write, so we need to allow them time to make those connections, because they're not starting from zero. They already have a starting point so and they already have a lot of content knowledge. And the same goes for, maybe, grammar structures allowing them the time to look at how a sentence is formed in their native language and then compare that to what it looks like in their new target language, which, for our kids, is mostly English, right? So when they can see how a sentence is structured maybe a simple sentence in their native language and then in English, they're able to see how to write in a way that's going to be more effective and more accurate, a lot quicker than if they're just learning things in bits and pieces without being able to make those connections and leverage that knowledge they already have.
Melissa:Yeah, that makes so much sense and I love that. Thinking right Instead of thinking, oh, because they don't necessarily know this in English, yet you know, instead of assuming that they don't know it, period right, like finding out what it is they do know in their native language, which, like you said, is probably a lot, and what can they use from what they already know in their native language to make sense of whatever the topic is in English. Like that is just such a smarter way to go about it than just assuming, oh, they don't know this. I'm going to start from scratch.
Margarita:Yeah, I think that's where some students struggle whenever they're learning the new language, because they get frustrated, because they know what they already are capable of doing but they just don't know how to get it out there. And especially when we look at Spanish speakers Spanish native speakers a lot of the language that is already used is complex academic vocabulary that we would use in the English classroom. Even the structures that are commonly used in Spanish a lot of times are more complex in English. So when students know how to use that, it makes it so much easier for them to be able to show what they already know.
Melissa:Yeah, that's so smart. Thank you for sharing that. You actually told us about some routines that you all use at your school, right, and you said that these are routines that all teachers are using pretty much every day at your school, and we want you to walk us through these routines and also explain how they support that language development that we just talked about, especially for your English learners. I'm going to start with one that you shared with us, which is QSSSA Make sure I get all the letters in there for structured conversations, so can you explain what that is and how it helps your students with their speaking and listening skills?
Margarita:Yes, definitely. So. I think a lot of us that have worked with EB students know that one of the biggest things that they struggle with is just producing language, especially orally, because of all of the effective filters that come in right If they're very anxious or, you know, they're trying to assimilate to a new environment. But using something like QSSSA allows them to have a safe space and on our campus, like you mentioned, these are routines that we use in all classrooms content classrooms, electives. Our PE teacher uses this. So it's a structured conversation and it's nothing that we created. It's something that's been out there for years.
Margarita:But it's just having that routine across campus allowed students to feel comfortable that when they're going to speak, this is the structure they're going to use.
Margarita:So they're given a question, they're given time to think about it, translate it if they need to, they're provided with a STEM so language to be able to produce an answer, maybe some key vocabulary that they could use, but they're giving something and they're also allowed in this moment.
Margarita:If they don't have that language, they have to use the language from the STEM and then they may finish in their native language if they need to.
Margarita:But having that structure helps them because they're given time to think about it, write it, they signal when they feel that they're ready to go and then they share with a partner. So again it's giving them that safety and security of speaking with just with one peer, versus speaking out loud to the whole class and then afterwards we kind of call out and share out ideas as a whole class and kind of see where we're all at. But that that routine, that process is repeated in their math or science or English, pe, art class, art class, so that they're able to feel more comfortable speaking out loud. And we've noticed a difference as students have grown from level to level. We've kind of moved from our brand new beginners using QSSSA, which is very structured, to having more complex conversations, which we call structured conversations that have more parts to them, where students are able to elaborate and just dig a little bit deeper into those academic conversations.
Lori:Okay. So for those listening, I want to make sure we are all clear on the Q, triple S a parts. So it's question signal stems, share, assess, um and margarita you mentioned earlier. You said eb students. Can you just clarify what it? What do you mean when you say? What does that acronym mean to you?
Margarita:uh, emergent bilinguals, and I know that a lot of our students are multilinguals, but, um, that's just something that we use most often in ebs emergent bilinguals.
Lori:Okay, thank you. I didn't want to forget to ask you, in case anybody was still, like me, wondering what an EB was.
Melissa:And can I just jump in? I just with that Q triple essay, which is much easier to say than all the S's. I was just thinking about it as you were talking that you know so often in classrooms it's the Q and the A right and you said assessment, but you know the question and the A right and you said assessment, but you know the question and the answer. You're looking for that. Teachers are often looking for that answer right away and I can just imagine that. You know, if I'm not an English speaker, having that time for all the S's to like know I have a little bit of time to figure this out in a little safe space with my partner and you know time to look at the stems to figure out what my answer is going to be. I would imagine would just be a much safer practice and a better feeling for all the students that they have that time in between instead of trying to be on the spot ready to answer in a language that is not my first language.
Margarita:Yes, definitely, and that just allows students to be able to share what they know and share what they're thinking in a way, like you said, that is safe and not so stressful for them. And whenever we do the question and answer, like you mentioned, sometimes students will answer with one word or they'll answer, you know, with just you know, a phrase, just very short, and a lot of times what happens, it's the same students that are answering every time. So what I tell my teachers, and whenever we have these discussions about academic discourses, you don't want any student leaving your classroom without having the opportunity to produce language, and we want them to do that multiple times, especially with our students that are trying to acquire this language. If they don't have those opportunities, then it's not going to happen, right? And then, with this process, they're not just saying something, they're speaking using different structures depending on what kind of STEM you provide them. Right, it could be something simple, but if we want to make it more complex, we can, and that helps them practice that language.
Lori:That's so great and such a good point too. Right Like we need many, many opportunities within a class period to practice, and I'm thinking you know, as students are speaking, that's a great way to practice. You know before, after reading, writing, and you shared in our pre-call a vocabulary strategy that we're going to dig into now because vocabulary is so important as students are speaking and reading and writing. You mentioned using a routine that includes front-loading and focusing on cognates. I'd love for you to tell us about it.
Margarita:Yeah, so really all of these routines become interconnected and this vocabulary routine we like to look at whatever content is coming up in that unit. We look at maybe tier three to tier two vocabulary that needs to really be focused on and we'll pick maybe eight to 12 vocabulary words. We know that students need multiple exposures to vocabulary for them to be able to internalize it. So we want to be very specific about the language we're using and, like I mentioned before, there's a lot of similarities when we're looking at Spanish speakers, specifically between the academic language and Spanish and English, right, because they share a lot of those roots and a lot of that language is already common to them.
Margarita:So when we're looking at that, we're looking at vocabulary that is academic, that's going to come up multiple times. It might be cross-curricular, so they might see it in other classes. So we're trying to get the biggest bang for our buck, right. And that key vocab that's maybe eight to 12 words is what students are going to be practicing multiple times. We're going to ensure that they can use it when we're doing QSSSA or when we're doing some of the other routines that we're talking about, so that by the end of that two, three week unit. They really have a grasp of that vocabulary and it'll stay in their long term memory.
Lori:Yeah, so do you notice that they are retaining new words with this strategy?
Margarita:We're trying to be very intentional, that it's vocabulary that they're going to read, that they're going to use in their writing, that they're going to speak, so that when we revisit it weeks later they still remember and they're able to use it more naturally.
Lori:Okay, so when you're doing this routine, or a teacher that you're coaching is doing this routine, can you walk us through the exact steps of it?
Margarita:Yes, definitely so. Through the internalization process of a unit we choose that vocabulary From there. That vocabulary is a lot of people might be familiar with the Freyer model where you have, like the picture, the definition. So we do something similar. We ensure teachers have either a poster or an area at the front of the room with the vocab for the unit they're working on and that vocabulary has to have a picture, a student-friendly definition, which we try to limit to around eight words. So the definition in English, the definition in Spanish and then the word in English and Spanish. So just that repeated exposure to seeing it visually helps them remember it as well. And then students participate in different activities that use that vocabulary. So at the beginning it might be something like matching, something simple like that, but we really want them to be using it with the content. So ensuring that when they're writing there, we say you have to use two to three words from the wall, or whenever they're speaking, you have to use a couple of these words from here, so that it's repeatedly being practiced.
Melissa:Marguerite, I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit. So if you don't have an example, tell me that you don't have one. But I'm wondering especially about the cognates. I feel like that's something that some people might be familiar with, but some may not be. I'm wondering if you have any examples of where those exist in some of that vocabulary that you're mentioning.
Margarita:Yes, definitely. So I know we might dig into it a little bit later, but easy, easy way to make those connections is when we look at language functions or in English class you might look at language structures, right, you know, when you look at how a writer uses key vocabulary to show if it's argumentative or if it's, you know they're using compare, contrast or things like that. That language a lot of times is the same in English and Spanish. So if I use similarly, similarmente, right. So a lot of those vocabulary words are very, very similar. So that when students see that and something we do on our campus also and that a lot of people do, it's nothing new is color coding, right? So the words in English are on our campus are always going to be in blue and then in Spanish they're going to be in red, so that students, whenever we put those things side by side, they can see how similar they are.
Margarita:Um, but, yeah, using that functional language that I know we might talk about a little bit later is a great place to start, because it's something that they're going to see across all classes, especially if we're talking about, maybe, how to use, like first, second, third, that language is. We think of it as lower right Whenever we're thinking English. But when we get more advanced, more academic, that's when we see more similarities to Spanish. Okay so, but, like I said, we can dig into that a little later, okay.
Melissa:Yeah, no, that was a great example. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, and I mean I think it's kind of cool, like I would imagine kids kind of get excited when they see words like that. They're like, oh, that's just like this word, I know I think it's kind of cool. When I see them, I'm like, oh yeah, I can figure out what that word is in Spanish because it looks similar to something I know and they love it because then that's when they feel like they're having success.
Margarita:So something we do also is like little practices, where we might give them a paragraph and we're very intentional about having a lot of cognates, and then we're like you have two minutes to read it, tell me what it says. And then they're like oh, I can actually read this, why? Because we were on our end, we were very intentional about providing them language so that they can see they do know, they do have a lot of language and they can make those connections.
Melissa:All right, I'm going to switch to writing. So you have a strategy for writing called the APE strategy A-P-E, so can you tell us a little bit about that strategy and how it helps your students with writing?
Margarita:Yes, definitely so. Ape is answer, proof, explain. So others might use something like race or ace or you know there are very various different ones that are pretty much the same thing. But the reason that we use it on our campus and we use it again across all content areas, all of these routines are every single classroom. It is expectation for all teachers to use this is because it provides a safe, safe space for students to take risks and to practice.
Margarita:So we teach them like you would any student right Answer using the words from the question. So if you're provided a question, how do you create a STEM? So it starts helping them build that autonomy where they don't need us to give them the STEM every time. They're able to find the connections between the question and how to respond. And then proof we teach them just some ways to introduce maybe a citation. For example, the text states, and they're given maybe three to four options to memorize that make it a lot easier for them to be able to produce something Right.
Margarita:And then we tell them, like the load isn't all on you. If you're taking words from the question, that's something that's taking the load off of you If you're quoting something from maybe a textbook or an article. That's taking the load off of you, right? The E is where they're explaining. Then that's where they have to dig a little bit deeper and show what they think and what they've understood from that and what connections they're making. But it's a safe place. It's three sentences. We start off with three sentences, right, and as they progress in their language proficiency, that AP becomes a lot more complex and has more depth to it.
Melissa:And I like what you said. Margarita is like. I mean there are many that are like this. You know all the different acronyms, the painted essay. They have very similar structures. But I think I feel like the key is mostly here. If you're using it across all every classroom, you know, then you're not having the students go from. Well, in Mrs Cruz's class we use APE, but in Ms Sappington's class now, we use RACE, and it's like I'm trying to keep all these acronyms in my head and what they all mean and what I'm supposed to do for writing. That can be really overwhelming. But if they just know every time I'm asked to write, this is what I do and there's a structure for it and I know how to do it, then they can just feel more confident every time they're going into writing.
Margarita:Yeah, definitely, and that's what we've noticed in our students that they feel a lot more safe and more comfortable in producing language and orally or written, because we have these structures in place across all classes. And you know, it would be wonderful to be able to have that same thing when it comes to teaching, like different structures to have that.
Lori:So I think that's like the next step that we want to do, like ensure like we're all on the same pace when it comes to what we're practicing in class, when it comes to actual, like vocabulary and grammar.
Lori:But I think that's, you know, still'm not an English learner, but when I, if I go into a meeting, it would be really frustrating if I went into one meeting and they were like we're going to do things this way and then the next meeting it was like and you know, same idea, but we're going to do it this way, and then you have to just learn the structure.
Lori:So, as I mean, simplifying it for kids just makes sense, I mean I think this practice is something that could be done regardless of which students were servicing right, like this just feels like a best practice for all students to have common routines and not just, you know, within your grade level, like not just within your sixth grade team, but truly within your school right, so that as students are progressing from kindergarten through fifth grade, they're able to see these routines and see how they change and grow over time, but still understanding fundamentally the basic ideas behind them. So is that something that happens in your school, margarita? Does it? Is it like, everyone uses it regardless of the grade and yeah, yes, definitely.
Margarita:So we're nine through 12th. We have our first senior class this year. We were a slow growth school so we started just with the ninth graders. We started with these routines and then, as the years have progressed, we've seen how students have been able to take this. Like I mentioned before, like the Q triple say, it's very structured, it's very. I say, then you say, and then we share out and we've kind of, as the students have progressed to higher grade levels, it's become more of a conversation, more of a back and forth, where it's less on the teacher and more students taking ownership and it's because they've already internalized these different structures that they're able to engage in that.
Margarita:It's the same thing with the APE. At the beginner level. When they came in as newcomers, it was one, two, three sentences, very simple, you know to the point. And then now our 12th graders are writing like pages and pages, using that same ideal, right, because that the AP is kind of the building block to an essay, right, it's like the body paragraph. So they were able to take that knowledge and just build off of it to be able to share their thoughts and ideas in a deeper level.
Lori:I love that. That's great, All right. So I want to talk about reading. We haven't talked about that yet. You use a strategy called STAR and I think our listeners would love to hear you explain it and how it helps your students comprehend as they're reading.
Margarita:Yeah. So again, the star strategy is something that we didn't come up with. We found it, we liked it and we thought it was a really great way to help kind of chunk reading for our students and just the process of reading. And, like I mentioned, our students, the majority of them. We do have some students that are SLIFE students that have maybe interrupted schooling, but the majority of them do come with a pretty good grasp on how to read and write. So for us, it was about being able to simplify that process and that thinking for them whenever they're trying to go through that translation process. Because, right, they're reading and then they're thinking about, okay, what does this mean in my language? Okay, this is what they're saying.
Margarita:So with star um specifically, it really works a lot with, like, multiple choice questions. Uh, we start with scanning the questions or scanning the question. Right, we always tell our students we're reading for a purpose. So, whatever the big ideas we're trying to take, we're trying to take from that text, we're going to go over that first. We want to make sure that they understand why they're reading, what the purpose is. So, maybe there's some multiple choice questions, maybe there's a short answer question they're going to answer at the end, or it's just the unit question that we're going to be discussing. From there we go to target the text and this is where some of those other routines come into play, because when we're targeting, we're looking at well, how is it structured? Is it an informational text? Are they using some of that signal language for compare, contrast or cause and effect and things like that, just to give us an idea of how the writing is structured? And then they want to differentiate, right, is it fictional, nonfiction? So that kind of puts them in the mindset of what am I looking for.
Margarita:And then after that is the big thing, which is the annotation, and I think that's the most important part to help students be able to think through that process, because we chunk the reading and then they stop, they pause and they have those conversations with their peers.
Margarita:We have a discussion stems for them to think, hey, what do you think this part was about? What key words did you notice in this area? Okay, what do you think is the overall message in this paragraph or these paragraphs, and how does it tie into those overall questions that we talked about at the beginning and that helps them so that at the end they're able to have a better grasp of what it is they read. Because a lot of times our students will go through and they're like, well, I read it all and I'm like, okay, well, what did it say? And they're like, oh, I don't remember. And then they have to go back and do it all over again. So it just really helps them pause, really think about what you're reading and really make meaning of what it is that's in front of you.
Melissa:Marguerite, I'm curious about the annotation. Do you have any specific ways that you have students annotate Any routines around that annotation, or is it kind of open for them to make sense of the text however they need to?
Margarita:So we do annotations in a notebook. We would love to be able to annotate on the paper.
Melissa:Every teacher's dream is that they could write right in the text. That would be amazing.
Margarita:But unfortunately we can't always do that. So we do have like a graphic organizer that we create, where students identify keywords or phrases, so any vocabulary words that pop out to them or any quotes that they feel are very important from the text, and they'll make note of that. And then any unknown vocabulary. And I think this is where some people get tripped up, because if you tell a student to write unknown vocabulary that a student that's learning English you know they're going to want to write every word they don't know. But it's so hard to get students into the routine of reading, like we say, reading for the gist or reading for the overall idea. But once they do, they're able to see that they do understand more than they don't. So that's why we have them read and really focus in what do I know, the things I do know, and then are there gaps? Then maybe I need to go back and look for a couple of those vocabulary words, but they don't have time to look up every single word, right. So I always tell them if the word is repeated, if it was in the title, right, if it's something that came up before and now it's popped up again, then yeah, it's probably very important and you need to look it up.
Margarita:So that goes in that column of unknown words. And then they have what does it mean, what's the connection of unknown words? And then they have uh, what does it mean? What's the connection? So in their notes they'll write well, I think this paragraph is talking about this. Um, it connects to question one, question two or whatever it may be, right? Um, they don't have. I always tell them in that note section it's your thoughts, your ideas. If you want to use your native language, go for it, because these are your notes. I'm not grading that, right, that's just for you to go through the process of thinking about what you're reading. And but those are pretty much the three big pieces that go into their notes.
Lori:That's helpful. Thank you. I was wondering if you had any special symbols, Cause I remember having a lot of symbols when I was doing annotation. Melissa, I don't know if you're remembering all the. Baltimore city stuff we did with annotation. I gotta say I'm not a fan of the symbols.
Melissa:I love the way Margarita's doing it with those. It's more authentic. You're looking through the topics but it's like things they actually well, it will help them make sense of the text versus. I mean, you don't know what a kid's thinking when they just put a little heart next to something they're usually thinking.
Lori:I like that right, I mean no, I think that the only symbol I felt like that I've really encountered as an educator that was really helpful and that I use personally is a star like oh, that was important.
Melissa:Right.
Lori:Which feels like you're pulling that out anyway, margarita, right on the separate piece of paper. So yeah.
Lori:And like I, said we, we would use symbols, probably if we could write on all the texts, but because that's not happening, you know, I also think too many symbols gets like in the way of your like, if you have to remember, if I have to hold in my head like, okay, an exclamation point, whatever that might mean, and then a star, and then a heart, and then a, an underline, like I mean I'm already like I need a little reference post-it note already, right, so I think it's fine, you're doing great.
Margarita:Yeah, and that's what we want, right To make it as simple and as easy for them.
Lori:Yeah, exactly Right, simple is best.
Melissa:But I let this reminds me similar to some of the other routines is like it gives them again at this safe place to make sense of what they're reading, right, versus, again read this and then, okay, tell me what it was about. And they're like I, right, versus. Again read this and then, okay, tell me what it was about and they're like I don't know. Right, you're giving them this place to, like you said, even think in their native language, talk it out with a friend you know, make sense of the vocabulary they're having this time before they have to then tell you whatever the answer to whatever question it is that they're looking for.
Melissa:But I love that this is another routine where they get to have that safe, safe place to make meaning and make sense of what they're reading. All right, so we're going to switch to the language functions, which you already mentioned a little bit. But let's just start with that term might be new for a lot of our listeners just language functions. So let's just start with what does that mean before we even talk about a routine for it?
Margarita:Yeah, definitely so. When we just start with, what does that mean, before we even talk about a routine for it? Yeah, definitely so. When we talk about the language function, we're talking about the purpose of the language. So, like I mentioned earlier, maybe students are writing a persuasive paper, right, there's certain vocabulary that's going to pop up when they're using that type of writing structure. Or maybe if they're speaking, right, if they're going to be presenting something that's supposed to be persuasive or argumentative, sometimes they have to compare and contrast, so there's certain vocabulary that's going to pop up again when they're doing that process or cause and effect or sequencing, which is, I think, one of the ones that we use the most specifically because it pops up and it's so easy to incorporate across all content areas because students can just talk about the process of whatever it is they're doing, right.
Margarita:Um, but whenever we're teaching that, we want students to be able to see, like I mentioned previously, the connection and they're able to make those connections between their native language and English. And even if the student is not a Spanish speaker, if that's not their first language, just having something that they can focus in on that's going to be seen over and over again makes it easier for them to be able to really internalize that language and use it. So maybe they don't have that cognate in their language. But because we're focusing on these four sequencing words over and over again in all my content areas, I'm going to be able to learn that a lot quicker than if I just sporadically had one word here, one word there and there was no cohesion in the way that it was presented to me.
Lori:Okay, margarita, so now I'm going to dive in with, like, the million dollar question here. So you work with students during intervention blocks and those students typically need additional support with literacy, right With reading and writing. I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about how you group those students based on proficiency and then how the intervention blocks are different for the different groups of students that you work with. I feel like everyone wants to know the answer to this question.
Margarita:So the way we group our students depends on a few factors. The first one we look at is proficiency level. So our students are grouped by speaking proficiency, because we know that students struggle a lot with just getting comfortable with speaking. And whenever they're able to practice that, they're really going to be able to internalize some of that vocabulary and some of those structures a lot more easily. And when we talk about output, if we strengthen their speaking we're going to strengthen their writing as well. So that's one thing we do.
Margarita:But then of course, we are a high school, so we have students that need to pass their state exams. So those students that have to pass math, biology, english, us history, they'll be grouped separately. But we also include some of that language practice on certain days in those intervention groups. But for our main groups, what we do is, as I mentioned before, cross-linguistic connections is really important. So, depending on the level, students might start off with analyzing the structure of a simple sentence and the different parts of that and looking at how that is in their native language and what that looks like in English. And then they're presented maybe with a small scenario or a picture, something that can be the springboard for a conversation and as a class, and it's very teacher led at the beginning as well, especially at our lower level, where and this is all of our teachers our students are not grouped just with English teachers, their language intervention teacher, grouped just with English teachers, their language intervention teacher might be a science teacher, a math teacher, a PE coach. It can be anyone.
Lori:Oh, that's awesome. I love that, yes.
Margarita:So we all, all the students that are at a beginner proficiency level, will be doing the same lesson during intervention with whichever teacher that they've been grouped with, and it's really a group effort. So they go through, they talk about the sentences, they might make some anchor charts, what's similar, what's different. Then they'll practice with whatever they were provided Writing. We'll just tell them write as many simple sentences as you can here's some support and how that might look, given some examples, and then as a class, they'll just produce as much as they can. They'll be asked to record themselves. We get them really comfortable just speaking and holding them accountable. And then at the end of the week, the teacher will have conferences with those students so they'll listen to their recording with those students. So they'll listen to their recording.
Margarita:They'll talk about things like pronunciation, fluency, just the use of the vocabulary, and we tell them, if we're at a beginner level, our goal is to be able to formulate a simple sentence correctly.
Margarita:Right, we don't need you to be trying to be super elaborate. We want to meet you where you are, and that's what we're trying to do so that students are actually able to really internalize those structures and build from there. Because once I have the basis, then it's easy, because then okay, then I teach you about a coordinating conjunction and then I take my baby sentence and my other baby sentence and I put them together right and then that's how they start building from there, and then we bring in some of that functional language or the subordinating conjunctions and then we build onto a different level Um. But we do that as students progress in proficiency and we provide them um assessments throughout the semester. So there might be points when students might upgrade to a next class because they've been able to grasp those basic structures and that basic high frequency vocabulary and they're showing growth. So we might bump them up to another group as the year progresses.
Lori:That's so neat. Okay, I have a couple of follow-up questions here. First is I love that you have all hands on deck, that every teacher is involved in this. I think that really maximizes the students' opportunities for growth. How do you train teachers so that they know what to do?
Margarita:So at the beginning of the school year at our campus specifically, we do have about a week or two of PD where we come in and either I deliver some PD on our routines and what the intervention block looks like, what the lessons look like. Everything we do is tied into our routines. That we're already doing as well. But we also get a lot of dual language professional development, support on how to use native language to leverage their learning in the new target language. So we've tried to give as much support to teachers from the beginning, especially our new teachers new teachers that haven't maybe taught this population before from the very beginning of the school year so that once we get into it teachers feel a lot more comfortable. So there's PD throughout the school year during CBPLs or PLCs, whatever you might call them, we refresh, we go through that, we talk about these different routines and these different lessons that we're doing, but the lesson creation comes from me. So I'll create the lessons, I'll provide them to teachers and then, if there's any support they need, I'll be there to answer questions.
Margarita:I do go into third period classes I'm sorry it's during our third period intervention so I'll go into those intervention blocks and support teachers work with them and sometimes model. I'll model during those CBPL times Teachers will ask me to come in. Maybe I'll record and share some of those different things teachers are doing. But it really helps whenever students have that uniformity because sometimes schedule changes happen, right. But if they already know what the structure looks like and the intervention lessons are the same each week, just with different topics. So the way it works is they're always going to have like a grammar warmup where they are doing some kind of cross-linguistic connection. Then it goes into the practice, the group practice, then it goes into the independent practice, the recording, and then the teacher feedback session. So every week they're doing the same thing, just with different examples and maybe a different grammar focuses or vocabulary that is being introduced.
Lori:Okay, and I hear you saying every week, is it once a week?
Margarita:No, it's Monday through Thursday so okay, sorry If you said that.
Lori:I apologize if if you had mentioned that Okay, so it's, it's your intervention. Block happens Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Margarita:Yes, fridays, during that intervention block, we have them participate in social emotional learning practices, so we have circle time and things like that. So they're still practicing their language, just not in such a structured way.
Lori:That's great. Okay, I'm glad you shared that, and I'm curious what topics do students speak about, write about, read about during these intervention blocks?
Margarita:Everything and anything. We try to start off with things that are more familiar maybe family, school, friends and then we definitely want to get more academic. So we do have opportunities where maybe they're talking about things that they've talked about, maybe in their science class, in their history class, making connections to their home countries and things they're experiencing here, so it can be any kind of topic. It's not so much about what they're saying but how they're producing that language, and anytime they speak we always give them time to write, just like with the QSSSA, where we give them the stem. We let them write their answer before they have to speak. We do the same thing during these intervention blocks. So, whatever it is we're focusing on or talking about, we let them plan it out, write it out, talk to a friend. Do you think there's anything I could add here? Maybe some sequencing language you know? Next, finally, whatever it might be, and then we go through practice saying it with a friend. We listen, we get feedback, then we record ourselves and then we get feedback from our teachers.
Lori:That's helpful, and can you just go through that intervention block structure one more time for everybody? Listening group.
Margarita:It'll be writing simple sentences and they might have an example about home life, right, and they try to write as many sentences as they can just using that structure.
Margarita:And then from there they go into a partner group where they've maybe written something on their own and they're practicing with a partner, and then finally they go into the teacher conference.
Margarita:So at the end of the week, maybe that Thursday, they'll be pulled aside with a teacher where they'll listen to the recording and then get feedback from the teacher, and there's a lot of goal setting that goes through this.
Margarita:So if students are at maybe more advanced group, their goal might be to use more complex sentences or more compound complex sentences, or I want to use three academic words from outside the English classroom whenever I'm talking about a certain topic, maybe I want to speak for 45 seconds with less than two pauses, you know. So they're very specific about these goals they're setting and they are, in a way, tied into what our state expectations are whenever our students are evaluated at the end of the year, so that they know and we want them to be very comfortable knowing what they're being assessed on, because it's not fair to them if you know they're getting an exam and they have no idea what is being asked of them. So they do know. You know, we want to show fluency, we want to show the ability to elaborate, and so they set those goals for themselves and the teachers give them that feedback as they go.
Lori:That's helpful. Would you be able to share the cross-linguistic focus? Can you give like an advanced example of that?
Margarita:Yeah, so, like I mentioned and that's what I mentioned previously that some of these things are interconnected. So maybe whenever we're speaking, we want to be able to, the question might be there's a picture of a car with a flat tire and you're asked to explain what's happening and what you would do to solve that problem, right, so they'll use some of that functional language. They're going to try to use more complex structures, so we might say you need to use at least two subordinate and conjunctions when you're explaining this. Maybe we want them to use sequencing language, and then we'll say you can't use first, second, third, you need to use subsequently, additionally. So there's like little things when it comes to the type of vocabulary we're using, the structure that we're using to produce the language and then the length, right? So, and whenever you talk about this topic, I need you to speak for at least 45 seconds, okay, and that that kind of pushes them to give more detail and elaborate more, versus just saying there's a flat tire and we need to change it.
Melissa:And I just have one more follow-up question. I liked what you talked about with the flexibility between groups. It reminded me, actually, of my sons in swim lessons and you know, there's always like four or five different groups going at the same time and they have these little sheets that the instructor fills out and as soon as they can do the four things on their sheet, it's like okay, you got to move to a different group and they could be in that group for two months. They could be in that group for two weeks. It's just like can they do the things on here? If they can, they got to move to the next one. Do you create those? Like what are we I don't know what we call them, but the, yeah, the checklist for how they move on to the next groups?
Margarita:and how do you? Where do you get those from? Yes, definitely, we do have checklists and that's where students' goals come from. But that, like I mentioned, is very much tied into what our PLDs are in the state of Texas, so what students are expected to achieve at the end of the school year, depending on their proficiency level. So here there's either beginner, intermediate, advanced or advanced high. That's how students are grouped by the TELPAS assessment that they take at the end of the year. So, taking those rubrics, we look at what features students are going to be assessed on and then that's what we look at.
Margarita:So if you're at a beginner, our goal is to get to intermediate. So what do you need? To be at an intermediate level to show at least one level of growth? Right? And then so that turns into a checklist and then students make goals based off of that and, like you mentioned, some of our students might move on pretty quickly because you know language. It's. It depends on who the student is right. They're not all the same, they're not all going to learn at the same rate. So some students might grasp things a lot quicker and be able to move a lot faster where you have students that are exiting their ESL programs in a couple of years to where others. It might take them a little longer, but it but as long as they're making that growth and that progress. That's all we want to see Right and that's where giving them those specifics and giving them a clear, detailed outline of what it is that they need to do that's what's going to help them to be able to track that progress for themselves and create those goals for themselves as well.
Melissa:Yeah, this is super helpful. Yeah, I'm wondering as we wrap up here, margarita, do you have any last tips or pieces of advice for any teachers out there who are teaching multilingual learners or English learners? Just anything that you would share with them that you haven't already shared?
Margarita:Yeah, definitely, I think it was just like we mentioned. Native language is such an amazing thing to take advantage of when students are learning a new language, especially for myself, I work with high school students, so we're in a very limited time to be able to support them and help them to reach that goal of learning a second language, so taking advantage of anything that is available is going to be of great help. So translanguaging, giving opportunities for students to make connections between their background knowledge in order to be able to accelerate their learning in the new language, is going to be amazing. So, just baby steps, trying one thing Maybe, if we want to, you know cognates. If that's going to be our focus, great. But just anything that we can do to help them make those connections is going to be a great, great help for the students and for the teacher.
Lori:Well, we are so grateful that you took some time to share all of these awesome strategies that you're using and, honestly, the great work that's happening in your school. So we appreciate you, we appreciate everything happening in your school building and thank you for sharing it with us and our listeners. Thank you so much.
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