When you present new concepts, there are several strategies which you can use to make the concepts clear.
Use connecting words and phrases to signal the organisation of your talk. For example:
as a result, so, therefore, etc
Say what you will do in the lesson (e.g.: Today we’re going to…; after that…etc); and summarise each main idea (e.g. let’s summarise, so what have we learned? etc). Say things in more than one way, e.g. repeat, rephrase and illustrate.
1.2 Ask questions
Teachers often use questions to introduce new concepts and get the students to think. Ask different types of questions to different students. For instance, ask questions which require a short answer to students who are less fluent and questions which require a long answer to those who are more fluent. Questions for introducing new concepts are provided in the Language Teacher Notes under the heading 'Introduce the topic'. Check regularly to see whether students understand.
1.3 Use the students’ first language (L1)
Where necessary, (e.g. if a student does not understand a concept in the L2), switch into the first language (L1) of the students, or the language in which they are most fluent.
1.4 Use visuals
Illustrate your talk with visuals. These could be objects, diagrams, charts, graphs, line-drawings, photographs, maps, etc.
2. Helping students with vocabulary
Draw students’ attention to important new words, as they arise. Explain the word, illustrate it, write it on the board. Translate it if necessary and if there is a clear equivalent in the L1. The Language Section for each unit gives an idea of what vocabulary is important under the heading 'Introduce new vocabulary'.
2.1 Increasing students’ vocabulary
2.1.1 Deciding which words to learn
Show the students that:
If they wish, give an example sentence which illustrates the use and meaning of the word.
b) Maintain a database
You or the students may wish to construct a computer database of vocabulary for the whole class to use. Students should maintain it regularly. They should enter the kinds of information shown in 2.1.2a.
c) Make a poster
Sometimes it is useful to put a family of words/phrases which are common to a particular topic on a poster, and display it so that the class can remind themselves easily of the meaning of a word/phrase.
d) Use new words
The best way to remember new words is to use them. Encourage students to use them consciously in speech and writing in your Science Across the World lessons.
2.2 Using vocabulary in reading, listening, speaking and writing activities.
For advice on the use of vocabulary in these activities, see sections 3 to 6.
3. Strategies for supporting reading
Forms of Support
Divide up the reading: pre-, while-, post-
Pre-:
a) Talk through the topic briefly with the students in a general way. As key terms in the text arise, draw students’ attention to them, check they know them and put them on the board. (Link to ‘reading’ generic section)
b) If you wish, set some questions for the students to answer as they read.(Link to ‘vocabulary’ generic section); the students read and answer the questions; they then check their answers in pairs.
While-
Post-
a) Ask questions about the text to check if they have understood. Put any other key terms on the board. b) Get the students to record and remember the most important words/phrases.
4. Strategies for supporting listening
5. Strategies for supporting writing
There are several ways of supporting students when they write in the L2.
5.1 Writing frames
A writing frame provides headings which divide the text into sections, sentence starters which help the student to begin sentences under each heading, and sometimes vocabulary which the student may need to write each section. Examples of writing frames can be found in the Language Teacher Notes for most topics (e.g. Chemistry in our Lives Activity 3).
5.2 Visuals
Visuals, such as a sequence of pictures can provide support for writing. The student can write a sentence for each picture. A diagram of a process can provide similar support: the student can write a sentence for each step in the process.
5.3 Knowledge structure diagrams
Sometimes students are writing a text which needs organising in a particular way. A scientific process, for instance, needs to show a time or cause-effect sequence. A concept Visuals can also show this structure of knowledge, for example a tree-diagram for classification, a flow-chart for sequence, a matrix for description or contrast, etc. Visuals of this kind can support students while they write. Different text-types of this kind are organised by using connecting words and phrases which signal the particular knowledge structure (see 1.1 above). A list of connectors appropriate to the text-type in question, in addition to a diagram, can help students a lot. Lists of connectors and other forms of words which are associated with specific text-types can be found throughout.
5.4 Vocabulary
Sometimes a set of vocabulary items can provide good support at the level of the word. A simple list of key words and phrases, specific to the topic in question, on the board or on a worksheet will suffice. Phrases which will help students to write are provided in each topic in the Language Teacher Notes under the heading 'Help students to write'.
6. Strategies for supporting student talk
6.1 Forms of interaction
You can get students to talk in the second language either in the plenary classroom – with the whole class as audience – or in small groups or pairs. These forms of interaction have their advantages and disadvantages. In the whole-class group, you can control, correct and support the student better in his/her use of the language. On the other hand, students do not normally say much in front of the whole class: they take infrequent, short turns and they may not want to make mistakes in public. In the small group, students will often talk much more, especially when they are working with people they feel comfortable with. But the natural language for them to use is their first language, if they share one.
6.2 Groups and pairs
Students may be reluctant to talk in small groups in the second language. They may feel silly talking in a language which is not the natural one for them to use; they may not want to make mistakes, or they may feel not fluent enough. This is natural. There is also no reason why a group should not work in both languages, moving from one to the other. In addition, it is sometimes good for students to complete a task in the first language, which will allow them to be more fluent and precise, and then to have to report on it in the second language (see 6.3). However, there are several ways of encouraging students to use the L2 in groups.
a) Providing support
The main way of helping students to talk in the second language is to put on the board some key language items which they need to use to accomplish the task. These may be lists of vocabulary or lists of phrases which are basic to the task. For example, a task which requires the students to compare data from a partner school with their own data will require them to compare in English. Here, some phrases for comparing will be useful. The Language Teacher Notes of each topic provides such phrases under the heading 'Help the students to talk'.
b) Agreeing ground rules
It is sometimes possible to agree with the class a set of simple rules which all will try to follow, regarding the use of the L1. The students might agree, for example, to use the L2 whenever they can, in the whole-class context; to use it when reporting the work of groups and to use it in groups when enough support is given (see 6.2.1 a).
c) Group composition
Students are more willing to use the L2 and make mistakes if they with people with whom they feel comfortable. This means it is sometimes a good idea to compose groups on a friendship basis. On the other hand, some individual students are fairly fluent in the L2 and good at encouraging other group members to use . In this regard it is sometimes useful to compose groups so that they contain at least one student of this kind.
d) Reporting
It is often useful to insist that students report the work of their group in the L2. If students have used the L2 for their groupwork, this reporting comes more easily. If they have used the L1, they will have to get ready to report in the L2. A group which knows that it must report in the L2 will often start preparing the L2 report collaboratively towards the end of their groupwork time. The medium of their work will gradually change from L1 to L2. This is good language practice. The use of the L1 here aids the use of the L2 later.
