ELL Integrated Thematic Learning
Creating Consistency for Language Acquisition in Primary Grades
Integrating Social Studies and Science into Language Arts instruction is a tool to improve content comprehension and language acquisition for English Language Learners.
Often times in the American school system, students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) are pulled out from the traditional classroom environment to receive special ESL instruction with a certified ESL teacher. More and more, primary classroom teachers are beginning to see an increase in the number of ELLs entering their schools. The question is, how can these teachers be more inclusive and ensure that the ELLs are not only learning English, but also comprehending content. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Integrated Thematic Units
An effective approach to improving instruction for ELLs is to design integrated thematic units around the areas of content study. To do this means to view the curriculum as being connected with a thread that links different subject areas. Content can be woven into Language Arts easily by developing lessons using authentic literature connected to the area of study, taking this time to practice reading comprehension strategies with texts that are related to the content, building vocabulary through writing or investigating topics embedded in the content.
By doing this, the children are exposed to science and social studies through a myriad of perspectives and instead of compartmentalizing subjects, their learning becomes more fluid and interrelated. They are reading, writing and thinking about content while building different linguistic skills that help them improve their understanding of academic subject areas.
Inquiry Topics Chosen from Content
One example of how to integrate content into Language Arts is through inquiry. Inquiry is an excellent approach to working with ELLs because first and foremost it is based on a child’s interests. By allowing the student to choose an area of study within the content, the motivation factor is taken care of.
Children are often so motivated by what they want to research that it is hard to stop them. The content often lends itself to topics of interest for the children. For instance, while studying Japan one student chose to do research on volcanoes. This exploded into several of the students beginning their own projects on volcanoes and sharing resources, teaching each other and working together to gather and interpret information from a variety of sources including books, magazines and the Internet.
Another example is Australia. Many children become very interested in the unique fauna in Australia and delve into research about kangaroos, wallabies, Tasmanian Devils, kookaburras or koalas. By using the content to work on inquiry projects the students are reading and writing about the content, acquiring vocabulary, talking about the content together and teaching each other about their new learning.
Expand into Other Genres
Content integration can also be done by introducing thematic poetry during Language Arts. This might include working on folktales from the different geographic areas being studied, reading informational texts about a subject area, doing read-alouds with picture books and chapter books related to the content, readers theater with a thematic basis, and the use of thematic books during small reading strategy group work. The point is that the more ELLs are interacting with the content, the easier it is for them to understand it.
Bring the Classroom to Life
A rich environment that surrounds the students with the content will enhance the ELLs entire learning experience. If the unit of study is insects, for example, the classroom can reflect this by being saturated with information about insects, including books, posters, DVDs, word walls, diagrams, student work, live insects and more. The more in depth the unit of study goes, the more the children will get out of it.
If an ELL knows where to go to get information about ladybugs, can find the vocabulary she/he needs to write about the ladybugs on the word wall, is producing research and poetry about ladybugs, is observing the life cycle and habitat of the ladybug, and teaching other students about ladybugs, this child is involved in learning and is integrating language acquisition with his/her academic endeavors. They are living their own educational experience.
