Oral Language Development Activities
Common Core Standards have increased focus on argumentation,the document titled "Argumentation Activities and Tools" includes a list of argumentation activities and tools.
The second document "Opinion Formation Cards" provides an opportunity and structure for students to practice their academic language while building their opinions on a topic. It encourages oral language development (both speaking and listening), and argumentation skills.
Source: Zwiers, O’Hara, & Pritchard (2014). Common Core Standards in diverse classrooms: Essential practices for developing academic language and disciplinary. Stenhouse.
The activity is also available on the Academic Language Development Network.
LESSON PLANS & ACTIVITIES: Informational Texts (NYT)
The New York Times' The Learning Network blog features an initiative of lesson plans and activities centered around informational texts from the newspaper. Two places to start within the Learning Network blog are Reading Strategies for Informational Text and Compare-Contrast, Cause-Effect, Problem-Solution: Common 'Text Types' in the Times.
LESSON PLAN: Introduction to Critical Lens Essay
This lesson plan, "Introduction to Critical Lens Essay," is for Grades 9-12 ELA and ESL. It is designed to be implemented in five 45-minute class periods.
LESSON PLAN: The Story of an Hour
This lesson plan is based on "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. It is designed to implement Common Core Standards with 8th grade ELLs. This lesson plan includes teachers' guides, student charts, and interactive reading power points.
This video module provides tips on scaffolding this lesson for middle school ELLs.
TextLESSON PLAN: Sharing the Story of Your own Community
A CCSS- aligned lesson plan that teachers can implement for use with intermediate/advanced ESL or ELL students with relevant content related to a student's home community. This lesson plan is framed around these essential questions:
- What are the advantages and tradeoffs of a changing community?
- How might demographic changes affect local and state politics?
- How might local demographic changes affect the national electoral map?
This lesson plan can be modified for grades 6-12.
LESSON PLAN: Nature Reflections (Intl. Reading Assoc. & read.write.think)
In this lesson plan, developed especially for ELs in grades 3-5, students reflect on nature through readings, a visit to a green area, and bookmaking using the writing process and peer feedback. EL strategies in this lesson include previewing before reading, read-alouds, choral reading, total physical response, shared reading, listening to recorded text, explicit error correction, interactive writing, and a wealth of oral and written language practice. The lesson, published by the International Reading Association on read.write.think, is a unit that covers eight 45-minute classes.
ACTIVITIES: Informational Text and the Common Core: Lesson Frameworks to Engage ELs
Patricia Cunningham from Wake Forest University presents strategies for engaging ELLs with informational texts. These approaches can be applied across a range of content areas, including ELA texts. For each strategy she provides examples, tips for planning and implementing, and how they can incorporate the Common Core State Standards. The strategies outlined in this document include:
- Guess Yes or No
- Find It or Figure It Out
- Preview-Predict-Confirm
- Main Idea Trees
- Compare/Contrast Bubbles
- Text Features Scavenger Hunt
LESSON PLAN: Race and Poverty
A CCSS- aligned lesson plan that teachers can use with ESL or ELL students that explores with students the relationship between race, ethnicity, wealth and education equality. This lesson is formed around the following essential questions:
- How, and to what extent, is race a factor in poverty?
- How important is access to a quality education?
- For people of color who live in poverty, what are the barriers to such access?
- How can such access be broadened on a local basis?
This lesson plan can be modified for grades 6-12.
LESSON PLAN: 6th Grade ELA (Achieve EQuIP)
Achieve has a new initiative called Educators Evaluating Quality Instructional Products (EQuIP). It’s an effort to increase the supply of high-quality lessons and units aligned to the CCSS that are available to elementary, middle, and high school teachers. Each exemplar lesson has a feedback document where reviewers have made comments about the materials and how well it meets the criteria for aligning to CCSS and being rigorous in content.
One three-week unit featured is a 6th Grade ELA unit, "The Wolf You Feed." (Please note that this link will automatically open a ZIP file and prompt you to either save or open the folder containing all of the lesson plan materials.) Supports for English Learners in the unit's activities can be found on pages 5 and 6 of the Unit Plan PDF, found in the Unit Plan and Texts folder.
Sample ELA Unit (Understanding Language)
This sample ELA unit from the experts at Stanford University's Understanding Language shows instructional approaches that are likely to help ELLs meet new standards in English Language Arts.
Below is the first video in a series of six in the unit. Click here to see the whole series of videos.