How to Be Prepared Ahead of Time to Meet the Needs of English Language Learners in Social Studies

Ok, it’s almost game time!! True story it’s probably in the middle of your “season” aka school year. I have filled you with tons of ideas throughout this series and trust me I had to condense it to not overwhelm you. You might be asking where the heck do I start? Or maybe you are thinking this is all stuff I can do next year! Well, yes but how about picking 1 or 2 ideas to try out NOWWWWW. Yep, I said it.

Well I have a list of simple action steps that you can apply any time of the year to be prepared or plan ahead. You never know when that new student is going to show up who may need extra support.

To-Do List

• Become familiar with your upcoming curriculum
• Fall in love with American History (ok, that may be a stretch haha)
• Plan/Revise a course page or website for students
• Make a Symbaloo for students and yourself (Check out www.symbaloo.com)
• Scout out and visit local historical spots
• Make Word Wall/Timeline
• Modify Tests
• Brainstorm Station Ideas
• Put together a Newcomer Kit (See post 4 in this series)
• Check out Websites
• Ask for help in Social Studies Salute (my FB group): http://bit.ly/SocialStudiesSalute
• Email me if you need help at runningthingwithrunnels@gmail.com

The Practice Round

    A few years ago I wrote a blog post with ideas for making any day D-Day. The objective of the activity featured in the blog post was to have students read three different passages about D-Day and determine what point-of-view (P.O.V.) each selection was written in. Obviously using paired passages and comparing and contrasting is a pretty challenging comprehension skill.

     Here are some ways to adapt my original idea to meet the needs of all learners. Focus on the D-Day aspect more than the point-of-view and paired passages aspect depending on the level of the student. These ideas answer the question, “What can my ELLs or SPED students do when the rest of the class is doing the P.O.V. activity?” Take the ideas and tweak to match your content.

• color and label France (for Normandy) and the US on a map or troops in uniform
• ”picture read” books about D-Day
• WWII Word Search (create one on a Puzzle maker web site)
• Draw a picture of the troops storming the beaches
• highlight or circle words they recognize in the passages
• D Day vocabulary matching
• WWII Picture Dictionary (D-Day section)
• read one of the passages and write a sentence about it using a sentence frame
• just pick one passage and fill out one column on P.O.V. graphic organizer
• write a paragraph telling why D-Day was the turning point for the victory in Europe
• work with a partner
• teacher-led small group

Now last but not least in this series I have a bunchhhhh of suggested resources for you! Here is a database of helpful links. Please let me know if any of the links no longer work.

• https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2015/10/day-6-salute-to-social-studies-seriously-sensational-sites/
• https://www.pinterest.com/runitrunnels/cultural-diversityell-instruction/
• http://www.wida.us/ (can-do charts, blog, etc)
• http://www.cal.org/what-we-do/projects/project-excell/the-go-to-strategies (jackpot!! Takes Can-Do and puts a teacher action spin on it)
• http://www.cal.org/siop (SIOP Method of teaching ELLs)
• https://www.edutopia.org/topic/dual-language-learning
• https://www.edutopia.org/blogs/tag/english-language-learners
• http://www.tolerance.org/supplement/being-culturally-responsive
• http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/im_uac-educators-guide_2016.pd

Translating Sites/Apps

• http://dictionary.reference.com/ (translations)
• https://www.duolingo.com/
• https://translate.google.com/
• https://www.tandem.net/

Miscellaneous Helpful Sites

• http://busyteacher.org/
• https://www.tesol.org/connect/tesol-resource-center
• http://www.slideshare.net/ritchey10/esol-strategies-with-definitions
• http://www.everyonedeservestolearn.com/
• http://www.eslsite.com/
• https://esl.brainpop.com/ (subscription site)
• http://www.jmu.edu/esol/
• http://www.esl-galaxy.com/index.htm
• http://a4esl.org/ 

Teacher Blogs/Resources with ELL Strategies

• https://wlclassroom.com
• http://kidworldcitizen.org
• http://www.teachmet.com/2015/11/how-do-you-embrace-diversity-in-your.html
• https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Becoming-Culturally-Responsive-Teacher-ebook/dp/B01848IXX0/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&ref_=tsm_1_aw_swf_item_title&vs=1
• http://esolodyssey.learningwithlaurahj.org/
• http://www.theeslconnection.com/
• http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/12/21/the-best-web-tools-for-english-language-learners-in-other-words-the-ones-my-students-regularly-use/

Differentiated Reading and Writing Resources

• www.rewordify.com              
• http://www.readworks.org/
• http://www.readwritethink.org

Vocabulary Building Sites for Kids

• http://www.learningchocolate.com/
• www.starfall.com
• http://www.colorincolorado.org/ (bilingual)
• https://wordsift.org/
•  http://www.wordle.net/create
• https://www.spellingcity.com/

Check out the rest of the blogs series here:

• Introduction: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/introduction-to-meeting-the-needs-of-english-language-learners-during-social-studies/
• Setting Up Your Space: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/setting-up-your-social-studies-space-with-english-language-learners-in-mind/
• Posting Learning Objectives: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/posting-learning-objectives-with-english-language-learners-in-mind/
• Meeting the Needs of Beginning Language Learners: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/meeting-the-needs-of-beginning-language-learners-in-social-studies/
• Building Listening, Speaking, and Vocabulary Skills in S.S.: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/building-listening-speaking-and-vocabulary-skills-in-social-studies/
• Non-Verbal Cues: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/supporting-english-language-learners-in-social-studies-with-non-verbal-cues/
• Learning Stations: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/using-learning-stations-in-social-studies/
• Incorporating the Arts: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/the-importance-of-incorporating-the-arts-into-social-studies/
• Even Playing Field: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/giving-english-language-learners-an-even-playing-field-in-social-studies/
• Picture Dictionaries: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/how-to-make-picture-dictionaries-to-support-your-english-language-learners/

The ideas in this blog series are the framework for my e-book. Check it out by clicking on the picture below!