1. CALLA curriculum planning,
educators begin by selecting the
content, which should align
with national or state standards
for each academic content
subject and the TESOL K-12
Proficiency Standards.
The content determines the academic
language objectives and the types of
learning strategies that are appropriate.
By aligning content topics with
national or state standards, English
learners are provided with a selection
of actual topics that they will
encounter in content subject
classrooms.
Provides opportunities for students to use higher-order
thinking from the beginning stages of English acquistion by
posing questions that require thoughtful answers and higher
order thinking.
2. Academic language
development, includes all four
language skills (listening, speaking,
reading and writing)
The focus is always on literacy
across the content
curriculum.
English language learners develop academic language
skills and literacy through cognitively demanding
activities in which comprehension is assisted by
contextual supports and scaffolded instruction.
Scaffolding includes the provision of extenisve instructional support
when concepts and skills are being first introduced, and the gradual
removal of these supports when students begin to develop greater
proficiency, skills, and knowledge.
3. Central component
is instruction in
learning strategies.
Students who are mentally active and who analyze
and reflect on their learning activties will learn, retain,
and be able to use new information more effectively.
Students will be able to learn and apply
strategies more effectively with new
tasks if they verbalize and describe their
efforts to apply strategies with learning
activities.
English language learners can use
background knowledge, make inferences,
and make predictions.
Learning Strategies
Students in a content ESL program like CALLA
are faced with the formidable task of learning
academic content and language at the same
time.
To learn new content information, an essential learning strategy is using background knowledge, or associating one's
prior knowledge with the new information learned.
Examples include
graphic organizers,
taking notes,
Interaction
Between
Cognitive and
Social Learning
Humans live in an
environment that includes
booth social relationships
and cultural artifacts that
influence the way we think
Many factors influence a student's
second-language development, including
both internal cognitive and affective factors
and external social and cultural factors.
CALLA emphasizes cognition, it also
recognizes that the social and cultural
learning environment strongly
influences the way in which students
learn as well as their motivation for
learning.
Thinking Skills
To accomplish the
academic language
functions successfully
with academic content
requires the use of both
lower and higher order
thinking skills.
Lower order thinking skills make it possible for ELL to
answer correctly by rote. CALLA teachers are encouraged
to ask students quetions that require explanation on a
daily basis. At first, students' answers may be hesitant and
their language inaccurate, but with good teacher modeling
and sufficient practice they will be able to express complex
thoughts in English.
Lower order thinking include recalling facts, identifying vocabulary,
and making definitons, Examples of higher order thinking skills
invovle using language to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate.