Demonstration Sheltered Content Lessons

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The Initiative on Diversity in Education is proud to present demonstration lessons, which are intended for use as training tools for administrators, coordinators/coaches, and teachers. The three demonstration lessons are experiential Sheltered Content lessons in which certified TESOL teachers taught a content area lesson to a group of non-native speakers of various languages. These lessons were conducted as part of the roll-out of the Connecticut English Language Learner Framework led by the Connecticut State Department of Education’s ELL/Bilingual Consultant (Marie Salazar Glowski) and the ELL Framework Committee (which included but was not limited to the teachers and facilitators of these lessons), and coordinated by SERC (2006-2009).

These lessons and materials are intended to serve two purposes. First, they are meant to serve as professional learning/development tools and resources for educators in CT who are learning more about how to instruct English Language Learners in general education classrooms, where instruction is delivered in English. Second, they are meant to be resources for instructional coaches and educators who develop and deliver professional development experiences within their own districts.

In the first lesson, Sherri Poi (ESOL Teacher in Avon Public Schools, Avon, CT) teaches a Grade 3 Math lesson in Japanese to a group of teachers from Connecticut. The group of teachers consists of English speakers, almost all of whom had no experience with or proficiency in Japanese at the time of this lesson. Sherri planned her lesson using both Content Area and English Language Learner standards and objectives. During this lesson, one will see the salient components/features of Sheltered Instruction and clear demonstrations of Sheltered Instruction strategies. The lesson plan and some of the supplementary materials for each of the lessons are provided here as well. At any time, you may click on the list of components/parts of the lesson or the list of teaching strategies to view only that part of the lesson. To view the lesson in its entirety, click “play” below.

Presenters and participants of the lessons have given permission for the release and publication of these videos.

Sheltered Content Lesson Materials

Sheltered Grade 3 Math Lesson in Japanese – Full Video

Sheltered Grade 3 Math Lesson in Japanese – Videos split by parts of lesson

Parts of Lesson	Sheltered Instructional Strategies captured in Parts of Lesson
Introduction of presenter and Sheltered Math Lesson	Presenter – Sherri Beals, Avon Public Schools Facilitator – Colleen Kubinski, Stafford Public Schools Assignment of participant and observation tasks.
PRESENTATION: Introductions, “What’s Your Name?”	Building background knowledge Greetings and introductions Teaching of key vocabulary Activation of background knowledge Use of gestures Use of repetition Modeling by teacher Modeling by students Positive teacher affect Use of sufficient wait-time
PRESENTATION: Teaching of vocabulary required by content lesson (Recycling Olympics)	Teaching of key vocabulary Use of visual aids Use of hands-on materials, realia Use of color coding and grouping Eliciting student output/oral response Modeling by teacher Appropriate speech per proficiency level of students Use of gestures Use of repetition Affirmation by teacher Positive teacher affect Use of students as models Use of cognates (katakana) Use of prior knowledge Varying of questioning strategies Varying of response types (choral, whole-group, and individual)
PRESENTATION/PRACTICE: Counting and counting song	Teaching of key vocabulary Use of gestures Use of repetition Positive teacher affect Use of multiple modalities Modeling by teacher Varying response types Use of cognates (katakana) Use of Romanized Japanese (rōmaji) Affirmation by teacher Appropriate pacing
PRACTICE: Numbers & Counting	Teaching and practice of key vocab Use of handouts, visual aids, and supplementary materials Use of gestures Use of repetition Clear explanations of tasks Modeling by teacher Varying types of response Use of scaffolding techniques Use of multiple modalities Varying types of reading Affirmation by teacher Positive teacher affect Appropriate engagement of students
PRACTICE: Money & Counting	Teaching and practice of key vocab Use of analogy and context Teaching of additional vocabulary Teaching of culture with language Modeling and acting out by teacher Teacher gives Ss a “present,” T Use of scaffolding techniques Use of prompts and cues Affirmation by teacher Positive teacher affect Use of “chunk and chew” technique Use of sufficient wait-time Allowing use of L1 for clarification Practice opportunities Support of language and content objectives
PRACTICE: How much? More and Less/Most and Least	Practice opportunities Support of language and content objectives Varying response types Use of scaffolding techniques Use of visual aids and organizers Use of gestures Use of repetition Use of prior knowledge Teaching of additional vocabulary
PRACTICE: How many?	Use of visual aids and organizers Use of supplementary materials Practice opportunities Support of language and content objectives Teaching of key vocabulary Modeling by teacher Use of hands-on materials, realia Use of gestures Clear explanation of tasks
USE/APPLICATION: Word Problems - Recycling Olympics	Clear explanation of tasks Use of cognates (katakana) Use of Romanized Japanese (rōmaji) Choral reading with teacher Modeling and acting out by teacher Use of visuals and organizers Affirmation by teacher Positive teacher affect Use of supplementary materials Practice and application opportunities Support of language and content objectives Varying of questioning strategies For the purpose of this demo lesson, the lesson was shortened. In the longer/ extended version of this lesson, participants go on to answer several other, higher-level and related math word problems.
DEBRIEFING OF LESSON: Participant Feelings	Facilitator – Colleen – participant feelings – challenged, lost, confused, stupid, embarrassed, needed to focus/pay attention, wanted to ask questions in L1 (English), couldn’t wait for it to be over, trying to look at everything at once, looking for clues/what would help most, constantly scanning for info, trying to make connections to English Teacher/Presenter – Sherri – lots of cognates/borrowed words - some people recognize them more than others (sound of it), katakana (C-V), borrowing of words for new dev/concepts, etc. Facilitator – Colleen – “That’s how ELLs feel in your content classrooms – even high-level students “missing pieces.” Imagine how hard it is to master content when you’re feeling this way.
DEBRIEFING OF LESSON: Observers and participants – what the teacher did; what the students did	Facilitator-led debriefing of the observation tasks – observers and participants – What the teacher did to make the content comprehensible; What the students did.

Sheltered Grade 3 Math Lesson in Japanese

Experiential Sheltered Content Lesson Professional Development Resources

Experiential Sheltered Content Lesson – Facilitator’s Debriefing Guide
Observation Task 1 - for lesson participants
Observation Task 2 - for observers – Steps of the Lesson
Observation Task 3 - for observers – Student Learning
Observation Task 4 - for observers – Stages of Second Language Acquisition
Observation Task 5 - for observers – Aspects of Language
Observation Task 6 - for observers – Comprehensible Input Strategies

ADDITIONAL VIDEOS and LESSON MATERIALS ARE CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTION.

Related Resources:

Additional Info

Resource Topic: English Language Learners
Source: SERC
Year of Publication: 2009
Resource Type: Article (web page)