The growing numbers of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools require specialized instruction in order to succeed academically and become proficient in English. Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, commonly known as SIOP, is one method of providing that instruction. SIOP is the product of several research studies conducted over the past fifteen years by two researchers, Dr. Jana Echevarria and Dr. Deborah J. Short (Echevarria, Short, & Powers, 2006) and is a method to help ESL and content teachers meet the needs of their linguistically diverse students. Although originally developed as an observation rubric for researchers to determine the degree of implementation of important sheltered instruction features in ESL lessons (Echevarria et al., 2006), SIOP has become an instructional model for English language learners (ELLs) that focuses on the simultaneous teaching and learning of academic content and language (Vogt & Echevarria, 2008). This paper will examine the reasons SIOP was developed, the basics of the SIOP model including ideas for classroom integration, and the benefits of using SIOP instruction with ELLs.
Why was SIOP developed?
Changing Demographics
The number of ELLs being educated in the United States has increased dramatically. Although total enrollment between the 1993-1994 school year and the 2003-2004 school year rose by only 10%, the number of school-age ELLs increased by 100% (Short & Echevarria, 2004), and researchers predict that by the year 2030, 40% of the school-age population will be ELLs (DelliCarpini, 2008). This rise in school-age ELLs can be attributed to the increasing immigrant population in the U.S. (Echevarria et al., 2006). Although 75% of all immigrant children reside ...
... middle of paper ...
..., 99(4), 195-210. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2008). Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Fratt, L. (2007). Professional Development for the New Century. (Cover story). District Administration, 43(6), 56-60. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Hansen-Thomas, H. (2008). Sheltered Instruction: Best Practices for ELLs in the Mainstream. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 44(4), 165-169. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Short, D., & Echevarria, J. (2004). Teacher Skills to Support English Language Learners. Educational Leadership, 62(4), 8-13. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Vogt, M. & Echevarria, J. (2008). 99 Ideas and Activities for Teaching English Learners with the SIOP Model. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Calderón, M., Slavin, R., & Sánchez, M. (2011). Effective Instruction for English . Future Of Children, 21(1), 103-127.
Because America is such a diverse country, public schools are faced with the challenge of providing students from all over the world with a quality education. As Chen points out “public schools have embraced the linguistic challenge presented by immigrant students” (¶1). Then, No Child Left Behind law was approved, and it required every public school should have an English Secondary Language (ESL) program that will provide the “academic support” for English Language Learners (ELLs). ELL parents are happy that their children are getting education help from the school, but it has raised the question of how successful are the ESL programs? Do ESL programs provide enough “academic support” to all ELL students? Do ESL programs have enough tools to help students learn English? Some ELL parents complain that ESL programs do not help their child learn English. A successful ESL program is not based solely on the test scores, but also the ability to connect parents, teachers, and students together to strengthen tools that will help ELL students to learn a new language in reading, writing, and speaking.
Tchudi, Susan J, and Stephen Tchudi. The English Language Arts Handbook: Classroom Strategies for Teachers. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1999. Print.
...l survival in our society. I work as a counselor each summer at a sports camp in Philadelphia, and each summer I encounter very intelligent students who are placed in lower tracks or labeled as ìlearning deficientî because of their language. This disturbs me because as a speaker of both Black Vernacular speech and Standard English, I know that students can learn to use Standard English just as I have. Unfortunately, many students are not privileged enough to have the same educational opportunities that I was given by my parents, therefore, it is my responsibility to teach these students Standard English the way that I have been taught. But I must learn more about teaching students and dealing with the issues that plague the educational system, and I am looking forward to receiving more of this knowledge during my pre-student teaching and student teaching experiences.
Over the past three decades a sudden and steady rise in the Hispanic population in the USA has become evident. While most of these migrants are coming from Mexico and Central America, they are all coming for better work opportunities. (STATS). Over the years more and more migrant families have taken residence in the USA. Now the Hispanic population is the largest minority group in America (SOURCE). As the amount of migrant children has increased, so has the need to incorporate these children into the local school systems so that they might have a chance to catch up with other children of their own age. Since the sheer number of migrant children, primarily of Spanish speaking countries, has increased so rapidly, the need for transitional English language proficiency programs has become more vital to the long term success of educating migrant children. According to J. Wirt, a writer for the National Center for Education Statistics, in general, Hispanic-Americans have a higher dropout rate from school and attain lower levels of education that non-Hispanics (Wirt, 2000, pg. 1). Wirt also continues to state that the more recent a migrant arrives in the United States the higher the chance for one to drop out or not continue to higher education.
Chapters seven, eight, and nine of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) were very helpful. I feel comfortable in my teaching ability and understand I have a lot to learn. There are many things that made me feel more comfortable that were established through the SIOP model. SIOP has proven to be an effective model for teaching students English proficiency.
An important intervention for English Learners is the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol model, also referred to as the SIOP model. This intervention is used primarily in subject matter lessons, such as math, history, or science, in which the majority or all of the students are English Learners. It uses techniques that allow the materials to be accessible and better understanding to English learners and at the same time the students continue to develop their English (Short, Echevarría, & Richards-Tutor, 2011). The SIOP model includes eight components: lesson preparation, building background, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice & application, lesson delivery, and review & assessment (Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short,
Throughout this course, my beliefs have been reaffirmed regarding the literacy needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners in a few ways. First, I have been implementing sheltered instruction observation protocol in my classroom. “Sheltered instruction teachers use the regular core curriculum and modify their teaching to make the content understandable for ELLs while at the same time promoting their English language development” (Echevarria, Short & Powers, 2008, pg. 42). The sheltered instruction I have been using in my classroom includes slow and clear speech, scaffolded instruction, visual representations, connecting prior knowledge to learned knowledge, cooperative learning, and targeted vocabulary development (Echevarria, Short & Powers, 2008). This course has reaffirmed the importance of using sheltered instruction to support the needs of the diverse
My observation is in a diverse title I class which allowed for me to experience and gain knowledge not only on ELL students but as well as special education. My interview consisted of a preschool and second grade classroom which help me understand the different milestones and differentiated instruction. When having a language barrier teachers need to not only know their students but check that the student is understanding the lesson. Instead of just asking questions that can make the student feel uncomfortable or different is by planning ahead and having activities where all students participate and answer (Herrell, 2015). When having everyone answer it helps students who don’t like to participate to feel comfortable when it’s their turn to
Thus, the book answers numerous practical questions that teachers have often struggled with; for example, how to increase the chances of academic success for language learners, how to use technology to teach language effectively, or how to teach language and content material concurrently. From the preface, the author makes it very clear that the book is designed to support language teachers in their journey as new teachers and throughout their teaching careers. In total, the book contains eleven chapters, which have been divided into four parts. The first part, "What Do Language Teachers Think About?" includes topics of foreign/ second language acquisition theories and language teaching methodologies. This part introduces the background knowledge readers will need in their journey as language teachers. The second part, "How Do You Teach a Language?" introduces approaches to teaching and learning that improve students’ writing, listening, speaking and reading abilities. Each chapter in this part includes suggestions for how students can be motivated and describes teaching and testing approaches to assess students ' language skills and academic literacy. The third part, "How Do I Know What to Teach?" is instrumental in helping teachers adopt teaching practices to particular teaching settings. The fourth part, "Where Do I Go from Here?" helps teachers gain a clearer perspective of what language teaching is all about; this section also considers teacher 's self-assessment and personal
How can I, as an educator, help Spanish-speaking, English Language Learners, become more comfortable with the English language, academically, and socially? Providing students with ample, high quality books that they can relate to is a key step to answering this question. The books chosen to help answer the inquiry topic would be useful for a wide range of grades, from kindergarten to fifth grade. I chose these books to show that high quality books can be implemented throughout grades to help any students at any level.
Since, the Ministry of Education has been taken initiatives in English language learning and introduced multiple programmes to achieve a high standard proficiency of English. As a global competitor, Malaysia is aware of the necessary need to enhance in English in order to establish in all the aspects such as education, trade and industry (Brutt-Griffler, 2002). In order to enhance the usage of English in schools teachers play the important roles and they are the instructors for the pupils. The teachers need to come up with variety of strategies to create the awareness among the pupils the importance of learning English and they must introduce interesting activities to attract the pupils to take part in the activities to increase their level
Syrja, R. C (2011). How to reach and teach English language learners: Practical strategies to ensure success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
The increase limited-English proficient students in today’s classrooms are presenting unique academic and social challenges in education. Teachers who lack experience and training in working with linguistically and culturally diverse students must make a commitment to address these student’s needs by learning strategies that can fulfill the dual function of presenting academic content while also providing opportunities for the limited-English proficient student to develop their language skills naturally (Garret, 1999). Diversity in our classrooms represents opportunities for expanding ideas, for learning about language, and for cultural exchange among students. The cultural and racially diverse classroom is a natural resource, yet few teachers realize the educational benefits that can be attained through understanding how diversity enhances the learning experience, especially when teachers are striv...
Regardless of what type of characteristics an ESL student falls into, learning and comprehending English is a tough challenge for them to fully grasp the complexities of the second language, however, the number of these students is growing vastly in public schools. According to Douglass Horsford, & Sampson (2013) nearly one in every ten public school students (roughly 4.5 million of 50 million total students) were classified as English language learners (ELL’s) during the 2010-2011 school year. The approximate number of people living in America that spoke a language that was not English was around 57 million. Among those people, about 4.7 million were school age children enrolled in either a bilingual or English a Second Language program at