Laura Leigh Holland

EESL650
July 30, 2015
Critical Reflection
1. Academic language development of ELLs is affected by many factors related to the
background knowledge and previous learning. Based on your experiences in EESL 650,
what factors related to SLA and academic language development should math and science
teachers consider when designing instruction for ELLs in math and science?
One of the factors that teachers should consider when designing instruction for math and
science is the ELLs prior education. For example, it will benefit teachers to know if students are
literate in their first language. If they are literate, that means teachers can translate information
into their L1 to supplement their learning; if theyre not, teachers must use other strategies to
help the student. Also, teachers need to know how much formal education ELLs have had and
what knowledge they already possess.
Another factor that teachers need to remember is that conversational English is learned
before academic English. In other words, teachers cannot assume that students have academic
language just because they are fluent in conversational English. Also, teachers need to make
sure to keep an ELLs affective filter low. The students need to feel comfortable in the classroom
in order to learn content or language. In Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, the text
says, Krashen has further claimed that the best acquisition will occur in environments where
anxiety is low and defensiveness absent, or, in Krashens terms, in contexts where the affective
filter is low (Brown, 2007, p. 295). This quote shows that when teachers design instruction in
math or science, they must ensure that the students affective filters are low and they feel
comfortable and confident in the classroom.
2. A wide variety of techniques and strategies are known to promote academic language
development of ELLs. Based on your experiences in EESL 650, what techniques and
strategies do you believe would prove most beneficial to academic language development of
ELLs and most practical for use by science and math teachers?
Teachers can consider a variety of techniques or strategies to promote academic language
development. In order to help students in this area, teachers must teach key vocabulary
explicitly to students to help build their academic language. Teachers can also give the key
vocabulary words in the students L1 to help them better understand the content. Not only does
this vocabulary need to be introduced and explicitly taught, it must also be reviewed throughout
the lesson and in lessons that follow.
Another strategy for teachers is that teachers must plan lessons with academic language
in mind; in order to improve academic language, it must start in the beginning, at the planning
stage. One way to do this is through using the SIOP model because it focuses on language
acquisition. In the textbook entitled Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms, there is a
chapter on planning lessons around academic language. This text says, In summary, academic
language is vital to content area instruction; however, ELLs must also have the necessary oral
and written language to discuss, explain, and argue academic content (Gottlieb, 2014, p. 118).
In other words, in order for students to work collaboratively, they must have a common

vocabulary to discuss the content. Collaboration is one of the best ways for students to improve
their conversational English, but if structured well, it can also allow them to improve their
academic language. Teachers need to consider these factors when teaching students academic
language in a science or math class.
3. Based on your experiences in EESL 650, how will you improve support of ELLs in math
and science through academic language development?
Based on my experiences in this course, I can improve support of ELLs in math and
science through a focus on academic language development during the lesson planning process.
Everything must be intentional and start with planning. In Science for English Language
Learners, the text says, A principled teacher of ELLs scaffolds language learning to make it
comprehensible and relevant (Beltran, 2013, p. 46). Therefore, when I plan my lessons, I must
scaffold language for students. In other words, I must build their language knowledge while
building their content knowledge. One way to do this is through teaching key vocabulary. One
strategy to teach key vocabulary is to include an image with the word to help students make
associations with the word. Also, if the word is translated into the ELs L1, they can make
further connections. These strategies to teach key vocabulary allow students to learn English
words but also develop a common vocabulary among students to allow them to discuss the
content.
Another way to support ELLs in math and science is through collaboration. When
students work together, they must practice their language skills. In addition, they better
understand content when they have the opportunity to work together. Collaboration allows
students to understand language and content that would be too difficult for them alone but is
attainable when working in a group; this concept is known as the Input Hypothesis by Krashen.
Lastly, if structured well, then collaborative work will allow students to practice all four of the
language domains.
4. Change in instructional practice is most directly affected by interaction between
teaching peers. Additionally, change in instructional practice is only sustained when
supported through intensive and ongoing professional development of knowledgeable
practitioners. Based on your experiences in EESL 650, how do you plan to share what you
have learned about strategies for teaching math and science to ELLs?
One way in which I plan to share what I learned in this course is through my e-portfolio.
This portfolio contains valuable information about strategies that will help teach ELs especially
in math and science. Also, these e-portfolios contain a variety of model lessons in science and
math that focus on teaching ELs. These are lessons that other teachers can modify to use in their
own classroom. I will give my coworkers links to my portfolio and to others. I believe that if
teachers will use these resources, they would gain invaluable knowledge about helping improve
their teaching of ELs.
Also, I will let my colleagues know that I would be happy to help them with planning
lessons that include strategies to help ELs. As Ive said in previous questions, effectively
teaching ELs begins with the lesson planning. If teachers will begin implementing these
strategies, I have no doubt that they will see improvement in all of their students, but especially

their ELs. I would like to work as a mentor for anyone who is willing in order to create lessons
that are geared towards helping ELs.
5. Based on your experiences in EESL 650, how has your understanding of effective
strategies for teaching math and science to ELLs changed?
I realized during this course that many of the strategies we learned for math and science
actually apply to all disciplines. For example, the Interactive Notebook that we learned and
practiced in this course would be just as beneficial in my English class. It is valuable in science
and math because it helps students record and reflect on new information in an organized fashion
that they can refer back to. This type of activity would be beneficial in any academic class.
Also, the strategies we used to teach key vocabulary in math and science also applies to English.
For example, using images to help create associations with the words will benefit student with
any word, academic or conversational.
Also during this course, I had the opportunity to practice incorporating learning academic
language with learning content. Also, I incorporated all four of the language domains in a math
lesson and a science lesson. When I began the lesson planning process, I was concerned that I
would not be able to incorporate reading and writing into these lessons, especially the math
lesson. However, after writing and teaching these lessons, I realized how much more effective
math and science lessons are when students not only speak and listen but also read and write.
Using the four language domains helped students gain a deeper understanding of the content
being taught.
6. After reviewing a peers e-portfolio, offer 3 commendations and 3 recommendations.
Cite specific aspects from the peers portfolio as support for your commendations and
recommendations. Include the web address at the end of your response as a hyperlink.
E-Portfolio Evaluation
Title: EESL650 Portfolio
Author: Jessica Williams
Address: http://jessicalwilliams.weebly.com/
Rating Scale: Highlight the luminous star-type to indicate the usefulness of the resource.
Supergiant
Giant
Dwarf
White Dwarf
Black Hole
(4-Terrific)
(3-Good)
(2-Okay)
(1-Marginal)
(0-Useless)
Review: Write a 1-2 well-formed paragraphs to describe the usefulness of the information provided
in your peers e-portfolio.
Jessicas e-portfolio is an excellent resource for math and science teachers of ELLs. I
commend her on her websites easy navigation and aesthetically pleasing format. While her
font is nicer looking than just a basic font, it is still easy to read. I also commend Jessica on her
section with resources. The summaries of each resource help me know which of these sources
would be most beneficial to me. It saves me time from having to read each link in completion
before knowing whether I would use this information or not. Lastly, I really appreciate that
Jessica included all of the necessary resources for her model science and model math lessons. If
I were to need lessons for a math or science class, I know I could go back to Jessicas page and
reference these lessons to modify for my own classroom use.

I only have one recommendation for Jessicas website. This recommendation would be
to check the font color on the drop-down links under More. For some reason, on my
computer, the subheadings do not show up under the More heading. I have to click on a
blank space and wait for the website to pull up before I can see what the subheading is.
However, this could just be an issue on my computer. Overall, Jessicas e-portfolio was filled
with valuable information, it was organized in a way that was easy to use, and it was pleasing to
look at it. Great job, Jessica!

Works Cited
Beltran, D., Sarmiento, L., & More-Flores, E. (2013). Science for English language learners:
Developing academic language through inquiry-based instruction. Huntington Beach,
CA: Shell Education.
Brown, H. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (5th ed.). White Plains, NY:
Pearson Longman.
Gottlieb, Margo, Gisela Ernst-Slavit. (2014). Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms:
Definitions and Contexts. Corwin.