Oral Language Development How can we get students speaking?

Grade Level Expectation: Third Grade

Content Area: Reading, Writing, and Communicating
Standard: 1. Oral Expression and Listening
1. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with
appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at
an understandable pace. (CCSS: SL.3.4)
2. Speak clearly, using appropriate volume and pitch for the purpose and
audience

Standard: 3. Writing and Composition

b. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. (CCSS: W.3.3)

WIDA: Englishlanguagelearnerscommunicateinformation,ideasandconcepts

necessaryforacademicsuccessinthecontentareaofLanguageArts
Overview: First I will have students gather on the meeting rug to listen to a short story. I will
read the book Harry the Dirty Dog. However, I wont read the whole story. Before I get to the
end I will stop reading and have the students come up with ideas about how they think the story
will end. First I will have them think silently to themselves and then I will ask them to share with
a partner the ideas that they brainstormed. Then I will send them back to their desks with a
worksheet about the book. First they will answer questions about the reading. Once they are done
with the questions they will write at least 5 sentences that describes how they think the book is
going to end and draw a picture. After the students complete the worksheet they will have to
present in front of the class. Each student will read to class the ending they came up with and
then also describe the picture that they drew. They will have 45 minutes to complete the
worksheet and each student will have around 3 minutes to present.
Oral Language Development: This promotes oral language development in the sense that every
student is not only given the opportunity to orally communicate but it is required. As Wayne E.
Wright discusses in Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners, a students oral
development, and how they learn to communicate is one of the most important factors of their
language development (160). All the students, including ELL students, will have to use their
language skills and develop a story to orally share with the class. This lesson also focuses on
how well students are able to listen. They first have to listen to the story before they can begin
writing their own. Of the four traditional language skills, listening is by far the one we use the
most frequently. Think about how much time you spent listening today. Then think about how
much time you spent speaking, which typically is second to listening (Wright 2015, page 150).
This is also a chance for ELL students, as well as all students, to step out of their comfort zone
and start to become more confident in themselves. This also incorporated differentiation for the

students because the teacher can assess them depending on their English language proficiency.
The goal of differentiated instruction is to ensure that each student, regardless of learning style,
current ability level, or level of English Language proficiency, is able to demonstrate mastery of
key content-area concepts at varying levels of complexity (Colombo, 19).
ELL Extension: This lesson will especially help ELL students because they are REQUIRED to
talk. They will have use what language skills they have to develop their own story and then
orally present it in front of their peers. This is great practice for them to start to gain confidence
with their oral language expression. To even further help the ELL student the teacher can provide
vocabulary words that should be incorporated into the students writing. This can help them learn
new words and expand their vocabulary. (This can even be done for all students not just ELL
students)
Artifacts:

Book Harry the Dirty Dog

Worksheet

Harry the Dirty Dog

1. Why did Harry run away?

2. Why did Harry return home?

3. Why did Harrys family not recognize him?

Now its your turn to decide what will happen! Writing at least 5 sentences
describe how you think the book will end and draw a picture!