April 11, 2025 • 46 mins
Episode 222
In this episode, teacher coach Margarita shares effective strategies for leveraging students' native languages to enhance their learning in the classroom. She discusses the importance of making cross-linguistic connections, structured routines like QSSSA for speaking, and vocabulary strategies that include cognates. She also explains writing techniques such as the APE method and reading comprehension strategies like STAR, all aimed at supporting emergent bilinguals in their academic journey.
Margarita shares her insights on effective reading routines, the importance of language functions, and strategies for grouping students in intervention blocks. She emphasizes the role of teacher training and support in enhancing student learning, particularly for multilingual learners. The discussion also covers the structure of intervention blocks and the significance of familiar topics in language acquisition. Margarita concludes with practical tips for educators working with diverse language backgrounds.
We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Melissa (00:00):
If you're an educator working with multilingual
learners, you know they bringincredible strengths.
But balancing language supportwhile building academic skills
takes thoughtful planning.
So where do you start?
Lori (00:13):
In this episode you'll hear from Margarita Cruz, a high
school instructional coach fromAldine, texas.
She's sharing teacher-testedactionable routines that set
students up for success in anycontent area, while also helping
them build language confidence.
Hi teacher friends.
I'm Lori and I'm Melissa.
We are two educators who wantthe best for all kids, and we
(00:37):
know you do too.
Melissa (00:39):
We worked together in Baltimore when the district
adopted a new literacycurriculum.
Lori (00:44):
We realized there was so much more to learn about how to
teach reading and writing.
Melissa (00:49):
Lori, and I can't wait to keep learning with you today.
Hi Margarita, welcome to thepodcast.
We are so excited to have youhere today.
Margarita (01:01):
Hello, hello, thank you for having me.
Lori (01:03):
Yeah, margarita, we're going to jump right in because
we know you are our teacherexpert here today and we want to
hear from you and yourexperience about some of the
most effective ways to leveragestudents' native language to
make sure that they're learningwell in the classroom.
Margarita (01:21):
Yeah, I think using students' native language is a
great way to accelerate theirlearning in their second
language.
So some of those things that wecan use are like
translanguaging strategies.
Specifically, cross linguisticconnections is something I feel
is very effective.
When we allow students to takethe time to see the connections
between their native language ortheir first language and the
(01:41):
new language they're acquiring,it makes it so much easier for
them to be able to learn it andreally internalize it.
Lori (01:49):
Okay.
So, margarita, I totally getthat to have those connections,
and I'm just thinking, if I'm ateacher listening, I would be
wondering how exactly do we dothat?
How do we help students engagewith their native language and
the target language, whateverthat might be, in meaningful,
authentic ways?
Margarita (02:08):
So I think, across content areas, one of the things
we can do is allow studentstime to maybe preview
information in their nativelanguage.
If it's something specific,maybe in the English classroom,
if we're going to talk aboutsymbolism, so allowing them to
look at examples of that in whatis their native language.
Especially as our students getolder, they already know how to
(02:28):
read and write, so we need toallow them time to make those
connections, because they're notstarting from zero.
They already have a startingpoint so and they already have a
lot of content knowledge.
And the same goes for, maybe,grammar structures allowing them
the time to look at how asentence is formed in their
native language and then comparethat to what it looks like in
their new target language, which, for our kids, is mostly
(02:50):
English, right?
So when they can see how asentence is structured maybe a
simple sentence in their nativelanguage and then in English,
they're able to see how to writein a way that's going to be
more effective and more accurate, a lot quicker than if they're
just learning things in bits andpieces without being able to
make those connections andleverage that knowledge they
already have.
Melissa (03:11):
Yeah, that makes so much sense and I love that.
Thinking right Instead ofthinking, oh, because they don't
necessarily know this inEnglish, yet you know, instead
of assuming that they don't knowit, period right, like finding
out what it is they do know intheir native language, which,
like you said, is probably a lot, and what can they use from
(03:32):
what they already know in theirnative language to make sense of
whatever the topic is inEnglish.
Like that is just such asmarter way to go about it than
just assuming, oh, they don'tknow this.
I'm going to start from scratch.
Margarita (03:49):
Yeah, I think that's where some students struggle
whenever they're learning thenew language, because they get
frustrated, because they knowwhat they already are capable of
doing but they just don't knowhow to get it out there.
And especially when we look atSpanish speakers Spanish native
speakers a lot of the languagethat is already used is complex
academic vocabulary that wewould use in the English
classroom.
Even the structures that arecommonly used in Spanish a lot
(04:11):
of times are more complex inEnglish.
So when students know how touse that, it makes it so much
easier for them to be able toshow what they already know.
Melissa (04:19):
Yeah, that's so smart.
Thank you for sharing that.
You actually told us about someroutines that you all use at
your school, right, and you saidthat these are routines that
all teachers are using prettymuch every day at your school,
and we want you to walk usthrough these routines and also
explain how they support thatlanguage development that we
(04:40):
just talked about, especiallyfor your English learners.
I'm going to start with onethat you shared with us, which
is QSSSA Make sure I get all theletters in there for structured
conversations, so can youexplain what that is and how it
helps your students with theirspeaking and listening skills?
Margarita (05:01):
Yes, definitely.
So.
I think a lot of us that haveworked with EB students know
that one of the biggest thingsthat they struggle with is just
producing language, especiallyorally, because of all of the
effective filters that come inright If they're very anxious or
, you know, they're trying toassimilate to a new environment.
But using something like QSSSAallows them to have a safe space
(05:23):
and on our campus, like youmentioned, these are routines
that we use in all classroomscontent classrooms, electives.
Our PE teacher uses this.
So it's a structuredconversation and it's nothing
that we created.
It's something that's been outthere for years.
But it's just having thatroutine across campus allowed
students to feel comfortablethat when they're going to speak
(05:45):
, this is the structure they'regoing to use.
So they're given a question,they're given time to think
about it, translate it if theyneed to, they're provided with a
STEM so language to be able toproduce an answer, maybe some
key vocabulary that they coulduse, but they're giving
something and they're alsoallowed in this moment.
(06:06):
If they don't have that language, they have to use the language
from the STEM and then they mayfinish in their native language
if they need to.
But having that structure helpsthem because they're given time
to think about it, write it,they signal when they feel that
they're ready to go and thenthey share with a partner.
So again it's giving them thatsafety and security of speaking
(06:27):
with just with one peer, versusspeaking out loud to the whole
class and then afterwards wekind of call out and share out
ideas as a whole class and kindof see where we're all at.
But that that routine, thatprocess is repeated in their
math or science or English, pe,art class, art class, so that
they're able to feel morecomfortable speaking out loud.
(06:48):
And we've noticed a differenceas students have grown from
level to level.
We've kind of moved from ourbrand new beginners using QSSSA,
which is very structured, tohaving more complex
conversations, which we callstructured conversations that
have more parts to them, wherestudents are able to elaborate
(07:09):
and just dig a little bit deeperinto those academic
conversations.
Lori (07:14):
Okay.
So for those listening, I wantto make sure we are all clear on
the Q, triple S a parts.
So it's question signal stems,share, assess, um and margarita
you mentioned earlier.
You said eb students.
Can you just clarify what it?
What do you mean when you say?
What does that acronym mean toyou?
Margarita (07:33):
uh, emergent bilinguals, and I know that a
lot of our students aremultilinguals, but, um, that's
just something that we use mostoften in ebs emergent bilinguals
.
Lori (07:42):
Okay, thank you.
I didn't want to forget to askyou, in case anybody was still,
like me, wondering what an EBwas.
Melissa (07:49):
And can I just jump in?
I just with that Q triple essay, which is much easier to say
than all the S's.
I was just thinking about it asyou were talking that you know
so often in classrooms it's theQ and the A right and you said
assessment, but you know thequestion and the A right and you
said assessment, but you knowthe question and the answer.
You're looking for that.
Teachers are often looking forthat answer right away and I can
just imagine that.
(08:10):
You know, if I'm not an Englishspeaker, having that time for
all the S's to like know I havea little bit of time to figure
this out in a little safe spacewith my partner and you know
time to look at the stems tofigure out what my answer is
going to be.
I would imagine would just be amuch safer practice and a
(08:33):
better feeling for all thestudents that they have that
time in between instead oftrying to be on the spot ready
to answer in a language that isnot my first language.
Margarita (08:44):
Yes, definitely, and that just allows students to be
able to share what they know andshare what they're thinking in
a way, like you said, that issafe and not so stressful for
them.
And whenever we do the questionand answer, like you mentioned,
sometimes students will answerwith one word or they'll answer,
you know, with just you know, aphrase, just very short, and a
(09:07):
lot of times what happens, it'sthe same students that are
answering every time.
So what I tell my teachers, andwhenever we have these
discussions about academicdiscourses, you don't want any
student leaving your classroomwithout having the opportunity
to produce language, and we wantthem to do that multiple times,
especially with our studentsthat are trying to acquire this
language.
(09:27):
If they don't have thoseopportunities, then it's not
going to happen, right?
And then, with this process,they're not just saying
something, they're speakingusing different structures
depending on what kind of STEMyou provide them.
Right, it could be somethingsimple, but if we want to make
it more complex, we can, andthat helps them practice that
language.
Lori (09:47):
That's so great and such a good point too.
Right Like we need many, manyopportunities within a class
period to practice, and I'mthinking you know, as students
are speaking, that's a great wayto practice.
You know before, after reading,writing, and you shared in our
pre-call a vocabulary strategythat we're going to dig into now
because vocabulary is soimportant as students are
(10:09):
speaking and reading and writing.
You mentioned using a routinethat includes front-loading and
focusing on cognates.
I'd love for you to tell usabout it.
Margarita (10:18):
Yeah, so really all of these routines become
interconnected and thisvocabulary routine we like to
look at whatever content iscoming up in that unit.
We look at maybe tier three totier two vocabulary that needs
to really be focused on andwe'll pick maybe eight to 12
vocabulary words.
We know that students needmultiple exposures to vocabulary
(10:40):
for them to be able tointernalize it.
So we want to be very specificabout the language we're using
and, like I mentioned before,there's a lot of similarities
when we're looking at Spanishspeakers, specifically between
the academic language andSpanish and English, right,
because they share a lot ofthose roots and a lot of that
language is already common tothem.
(11:00):
So when we're looking at that,we're looking at vocabulary that
is academic, that's going tocome up multiple times.
It might be cross-curricular,so they might see it in other
classes.
So we're trying to get thebiggest bang for our buck, right
.
And that key vocab that's maybeeight to 12 words is what
students are going to bepracticing multiple times.
We're going to ensure that theycan use it when we're doing
(11:22):
QSSSA or when we're doing someof the other routines that we're
talking about, so that by theend of that two, three week unit
.
They really have a grasp ofthat vocabulary and it'll stay
in their long term memory.
Lori (11:33):
Yeah, so do you notice that they are retaining new
words with this strategy?
Margarita (11:47):
We're trying to be very intentional, that it's
vocabulary that they're going toread, that they're going to use
in their writing, that they'regoing to speak, so that when we
revisit it weeks later theystill remember and they're able
to use it more naturally.
Lori (11:54):
Okay, so when you're doing this routine, or a teacher that
you're coaching is doing thisroutine, can you walk us through
the exact steps of it?
Margarita (12:03):
Yes, definitely so.
Through the internalizationprocess of a unit we choose that
vocabulary From there.
That vocabulary is a lot ofpeople might be familiar with
the Freyer model where you have,like the picture, the
definition.
So we do something similar.
We ensure teachers have eithera poster or an area at the front
of the room with the vocab forthe unit they're working on and
(12:24):
that vocabulary has to have apicture, a student-friendly
definition, which we try tolimit to around eight words.
So the definition in English,the definition in Spanish and
then the word in English andSpanish.
So just that repeated exposureto seeing it visually helps them
remember it as well.
And then students participatein different activities that use
(12:45):
that vocabulary.
So at the beginning it might besomething like matching,
something simple like that, butwe really want them to be using
it with the content.
So ensuring that when they'rewriting there, we say you have
to use two to three words fromthe wall, or whenever they're
speaking, you have to use acouple of these words from here,
so that it's repeatedly beingpracticed.
Melissa (13:06):
Marguerite, I'm going to put you on the spot a little
bit.
So if you don't have an example, tell me that you don't have
one.
But I'm wondering especiallyabout the cognates.
I feel like that's somethingthat some people might be
familiar with, but some may notbe.
I'm wondering if you have anyexamples of where those exist in
some of that vocabulary thatyou're mentioning.
Margarita (13:31):
Yes, definitely.
So I know we might dig into ita little bit later, but easy,
easy way to make thoseconnections is when we look at
language functions or in Englishclass you might look at
language structures, right, youknow, when you look at how a
writer uses key vocabulary toshow if it's argumentative or if
it's, you know they're usingcompare, contrast or things like
that.
That language a lot of times isthe same in English and Spanish
.
So if I use similarly,similarmente, right.
(13:55):
So a lot of those vocabularywords are very, very similar.
So that when students see thatand something we do on our
campus also and that a lot ofpeople do, it's nothing new is
color coding, right?
So the words in English are onour campus are always going to
be in blue and then in Spanishthey're going to be in red, so
(14:15):
that students, whenever we putthose things side by side, they
can see how similar they are.
Um, but, yeah, using thatfunctional language that I know
we might talk about a little bitlater is a great place to start
, because it's something thatthey're going to see across all
classes, especially if we'retalking about, maybe, how to use
(14:37):
, like first, second, third,that language is.
We think of it as lower rightWhenever we're thinking English.
But when we get more advanced,more academic, that's when we
see more similarities to Spanish.
Okay so, but, like I said, wecan dig into that a little later
, okay.
Melissa (14:55):
Yeah, no, that was a great example.
Thank you for sharing that.
Yeah, and I mean I think it'skind of cool, like I would
imagine kids kind of get excitedwhen they see words like that.
They're like, oh, that's justlike this word, I know I think
it's kind of cool.
When I see them, I'm like, ohyeah, I can figure out what that
word is in Spanish because itlooks similar to something I
know and they love it becausethen that's when they feel like
(15:16):
they're having success.
Margarita (15:18):
So something we do also is like little practices,
where we might give them aparagraph and we're very
intentional about having a lotof cognates, and then we're like
you have two minutes to read it, tell me what it says.
And then they're like oh, I canactually read this, why?
Because we were on our end, wewere very intentional about
providing them language so thatthey can see they do know, they
(15:39):
do have a lot of language andthey can make those connections.
Melissa (15:42):
All right, I'm going to switch to writing.
So you have a strategy forwriting called the APE strategy
A-P-E, so can you tell us alittle bit about that strategy
and how it helps your studentswith writing?
Margarita (15:52):
Yes, definitely so.
Ape is answer, proof, explain.
So others might use somethinglike race or ace or you know
there are very various differentones that are pretty much the
same thing.
But the reason that we use iton our campus and we use it
again across all content areas,all of these routines are every
(16:13):
single classroom.
It is expectation for allteachers to use this is because
it provides a safe, safe spacefor students to take risks and
to practice.
So we teach them like you wouldany student right Answer using
the words from the question.
So if you're provided aquestion, how do you create a
STEM?
So it starts helping them buildthat autonomy where they don't
need us to give them the STEMevery time.
(16:35):
They're able to find theconnections between the question
and how to respond.
And then proof we teach themjust some ways to introduce
maybe a citation.
For example, the text states,and they're given maybe three to
four options to memorize thatmake it a lot easier for them to
be able to produce somethingRight.
(16:57):
And then we tell them, like theload isn't all on you.
If you're taking words from thequestion, that's something
that's taking the load off ofyou If you're quoting something
from maybe a textbook or anarticle.
That's taking the load off ofyou, right?
The E is where they'reexplaining.
Then that's where they have todig a little bit deeper and show
(17:17):
what they think and whatthey've understood from that and
what connections they're making.
But it's a safe place.
It's three sentences.
We start off with threesentences, right, and as they
progress in their languageproficiency, that AP becomes a
lot more complex and has moredepth to it.
Melissa (17:36):
And I like what you said.
Margarita is like.
I mean there are many that arelike this.
You know all the differentacronyms, the painted essay.
They have very similarstructures.
But I think I feel like the keyis mostly here.
If you're using it across allevery classroom, you know, then
you're not having the studentsgo from.
Well, in Mrs Cruz's class weuse APE, but in Ms Sappington's
(17:59):
class now, we use RACE, and it'slike I'm trying to keep all
these acronyms in my head andwhat they all mean and what I'm
supposed to do for writing.
That can be really overwhelming.
But if they just know everytime I'm asked to write, this is
what I do and there's astructure for it and I know how
to do it, then they can justfeel more confident every time
they're going into writing.
Margarita (18:20):
Yeah, definitely, and that's what we've noticed in
our students that they feel alot more safe and more
comfortable in producinglanguage and orally or written,
because we have these structuresin place across all classes.
And you know, it would bewonderful to be able to have
that same thing when it comes toteaching, like different
structures to have that.
Lori (19:00):
So I think that's like the next step that we want to do,
like ensure like we're all onthe same pace when it comes to
what we're practicing in class,when it comes to actual, like
vocabulary and grammar.
But I think that's, you know,still'm not an English learner,
but when I, if I go into ameeting, it would be really
frustrating if I went into onemeeting and they were like we're
going to do things this way andthen the next meeting it was
like and you know, same idea,but we're going to do it this
way, and then you have to justlearn the structure.
(19:21):
So, as I mean, simplifying itfor kids just makes sense, I
mean I think this practice issomething that could be done
regardless of which studentswere servicing right, like this
just feels like a best practicefor all students to have common
routines and not just, you know,within your grade level, like
not just within your sixth gradeteam, but truly within your
(19:43):
school right, so that asstudents are progressing from
kindergarten through fifth grade, they're able to see these
routines and see how they changeand grow over time, but still
understanding fundamentally thebasic ideas behind them.
So is that something thathappens in your school,
margarita?
Does it?
Is it like, everyone uses itregardless of the grade and yeah
(20:03):
, yes, definitely.
Margarita (20:05):
So we're nine through 12th.
We have our first senior classthis year.
We were a slow growth school sowe started just with the ninth
graders.
We started with these routinesand then, as the years have
progressed, we've seen howstudents have been able to take
this.
Like I mentioned before, likethe Q triple say, it's very
structured, it's very.
I say, then you say, and thenwe share out and we've kind of,
(20:25):
as the students have progressedto higher grade levels, it's
become more of a conversation,more of a back and forth, where
it's less on the teacher andmore students taking ownership
and it's because they've alreadyinternalized these different
structures that they're able toengage in that.
It's the same thing with the APE.
At the beginner level.
When they came in as newcomers,it was one, two, three
(20:47):
sentences, very simple, you knowto the point.
And then now our 12th gradersare writing like pages and pages
, using that same ideal, right,because that the AP is kind of
the building block to an essay,right, it's like the body
paragraph.
So they were able to take thatknowledge and just build off of
it to be able to share theirthoughts and ideas in a deeper
(21:08):
level.
Lori (21:09):
I love that.
That's great, All right.
So I want to talk about reading.
We haven't talked about thatyet.
You use a strategy called STARand I think our listeners would
love to hear you explain it andhow it helps your students
comprehend as they're reading.
Margarita (21:25):
Yeah.
So again, the star strategy issomething that we didn't come up
with.
We found it, we liked it and wethought it was a really great
way to help kind of chunkreading for our students and
just the process of reading.
And, like I mentioned, ourstudents, the majority of them.
We do have some students thatare SLIFE students that have
maybe interrupted schooling, butthe majority of them do come
(21:45):
with a pretty good grasp on howto read and write.
So for us, it was about beingable to simplify that process
and that thinking for themwhenever they're trying to go
through that translation process.
Because, right, they're readingand then they're thinking about
, okay, what does this mean inmy language?
Okay, this is what they'resaying.
So with star um specifically, itreally works a lot with, like,
(22:07):
multiple choice questions.
Uh, we start with scanning thequestions or scanning the
question.
Right, we always tell ourstudents we're reading for a
purpose.
So, whatever the big ideaswe're trying to take, we're
trying to take from that text,we're going to go over that
first.
We want to make sure that theyunderstand why they're reading,
what the purpose is.
So, maybe there's some multiplechoice questions, maybe there's
(22:30):
a short answer question they'regoing to answer at the end, or
it's just the unit question thatwe're going to be discussing.
From there we go to target thetext and this is where some of
those other routines come intoplay, because when we're
targeting, we're looking at well, how is it structured?
Is it an informational text?
Are they using some of thatsignal language for compare,
contrast or cause and effect andthings like that, just to give
(22:53):
us an idea of how the writing isstructured?
And then they want todifferentiate, right, is it
fictional, nonfiction?
So that kind of puts them inthe mindset of what am I looking
for.
And then after that is the bigthing, which is the annotation,
and I think that's the mostimportant part to help students
be able to think through thatprocess, because we chunk the
(23:15):
reading and then they stop, theypause and they have those
conversations with their peers.
We have a discussion stems forthem to think, hey, what do you
think this part was about?
What key words did you noticein this area?
Okay, what do you think is theoverall message in this
paragraph or these paragraphs,and how does it tie into those
overall questions that we talkedabout at the beginning and that
(23:36):
helps them so that at the endthey're able to have a better
grasp of what it is they read.
Because a lot of times ourstudents will go through and
they're like, well, I read itall and I'm like, okay, well,
what did it say?
And they're like, oh, I don'tremember.
And then they have to go backand do it all over again.
So it just really helps thempause, really think about what
you're reading and really makemeaning of what it is that's in
(23:59):
front of you.
Melissa (24:01):
Marguerite, I'm curious about the annotation.
Do you have any specific waysthat you have students annotate
Any routines around thatannotation, or is it kind of
open for them to make sense ofthe text however they need to?
Margarita (24:16):
So we do annotations in a notebook.
We would love to be able toannotate on the paper.
Melissa (24:24):
Every teacher's dream is that they could write right
in the text.
That would be amazing.
Margarita (24:28):
But unfortunately we can't always do that.
So we do have like a graphicorganizer that we create, where
students identify keywords orphrases, so any vocabulary words
that pop out to them or anyquotes that they feel are very
important from the text, andthey'll make note of that.
And then any unknown vocabulary.
And I think this is where somepeople get tripped up, because
(24:50):
if you tell a student to writeunknown vocabulary that a
student that's learning Englishyou know they're going to want
to write every word they don'tknow.
But it's so hard to getstudents into the routine of
reading, like we say, readingfor the gist or reading for the
overall idea.
But once they do, they're ableto see that they do understand
(25:11):
more than they don't.
So that's why we have them readand really focus in what do I
know, the things I do know, andthen are there gaps?
Then maybe I need to go backand look for a couple of those
vocabulary words, but they don'thave time to look up every
single word, right.
So I always tell them if theword is repeated, if it was in
(25:32):
the title, right, if it'ssomething that came up before
and now it's popped up again,then yeah, it's probably very
important and you need to lookit up.
So that goes in that column ofunknown words.
And then they have what does itmean, what's the connection of
unknown words?
And then they have uh, whatdoes it mean?
What's the connection?
So in their notes they'll writewell, I think this paragraph is
talking about this.
Um, it connects to question one, question two or whatever it
(25:52):
may be, right?
Um, they don't have.
I always tell them in that notesection it's your thoughts,
your ideas.
If you want to use your nativelanguage, go for it, because
these are your notes.
I'm not grading that, right,that's just for you to go
through the process of thinkingabout what you're reading.
And but those are pretty muchthe three big pieces that go
into their notes.
Lori (26:12):
That's helpful.
Thank you.
I was wondering if you had anyspecial symbols, Cause I
remember having a lot of symbolswhen I was doing annotation.
Melissa, I don't know if you'reremembering all the.
Baltimore city stuff we didwith annotation.
I gotta say I'm not a fan ofthe symbols.
Melissa (26:29):
I love the way Margarita's doing it with those.
It's more authentic.
You're looking through thetopics but it's like things they
actually well, it will helpthem make sense of the text
versus.
I mean, you don't know what akid's thinking when they just
put a little heart next tosomething they're usually
thinking.
Lori (26:39):
I like that right, I mean no, I think that the only symbol
I felt like that I've reallyencountered as an educator that
was really helpful and that Iuse personally is a star like oh
, that was important.
Melissa (26:50):
Right.
Lori (26:50):
Which feels like you're pulling that out anyway,
margarita, right on the separatepiece of paper.
So yeah.
And like I, said we, we woulduse symbols, probably if we
could write on all the texts,but because that's not happening
, you know, I also think toomany symbols gets like in the
way of your like, if you have toremember, if I have to hold in
my head like, okay, anexclamation point, whatever that
(27:14):
might mean, and then a star,and then a heart, and then a, an
underline, like I mean I'malready like I need a little
reference post-it note already,right, so I think it's fine,
you're doing great.
Margarita (27:26):
Yeah, and that's what we want, right To make it as
simple and as easy for them.
Lori (27:31):
Yeah, exactly Right, simple is best.
Melissa (27:34):
But I let this reminds me similar to some of the other
routines is like it gives themagain at this safe place to make
sense of what they're reading,right, versus, again read this
and then, okay, tell me what itwas about.
And they're like I, right,versus.
Again read this and then, okay,tell me what it was about and
they're like I don't know.
Right, you're giving them thisplace to, like you said, even
think in their native language,talk it out with a friend you
know, make sense of thevocabulary they're having this
(27:54):
time before they have to thentell you whatever the answer to
whatever question it is thatthey're looking for.
But I love that this is anotherroutine where they get to have
that safe, safe place to makemeaning and make sense of what
they're reading.
All right, so we're going toswitch to the language functions
, which you already mentioned alittle bit.
But let's just start with thatterm might be new for a lot of
(28:19):
our listeners just languagefunctions.
So let's just start with whatdoes that mean before we even
talk about a routine for it?
Margarita (28:25):
Yeah, definitely so.
When we just start with, whatdoes that mean, before we even
talk about a routine for it?
Yeah, definitely so.
When we talk about the languagefunction, we're talking about
the purpose of the language.
So, like I mentioned earlier,maybe students are writing a
persuasive paper, right, there'scertain vocabulary that's going
to pop up when they're usingthat type of writing structure.
Or maybe if they're speaking,right, if they're going to be
(28:46):
presenting something that'ssupposed to be persuasive or
argumentative, sometimes theyhave to compare and contrast, so
there's certain vocabularythat's going to pop up again
when they're doing that processor cause and effect or
sequencing, which is, I think,one of the ones that we use the
most specifically because itpops up and it's so easy to
incorporate across all contentareas because students can just
(29:09):
talk about the process ofwhatever it is they're doing,
right.
Um, but whenever we're teachingthat, we want students to be
able to see, like I mentionedpreviously, the connection and
they're able to make thoseconnections between their native
language and English.
And even if the student is nota Spanish speaker, if that's not
(29:29):
their first language, justhaving something that they can
focus in on that's going to beseen over and over again makes
it easier for them to be able toreally internalize that
language and use it.
So maybe they don't have thatcognate in their language.
But because we're focusing onthese four sequencing words over
and over again in all mycontent areas, I'm going to be
(29:51):
able to learn that a lot quickerthan if I just sporadically had
one word here, one word thereand there was no cohesion in the
way that it was presented to me.
Lori (30:01):
Okay, margarita, so now I'm going to dive in with, like,
the million dollar questionhere.
So you work with studentsduring intervention blocks and
those students typically needadditional support with literacy
, right With reading and writing.
I'm wondering if you could tellus a little bit about how you
group those students based onproficiency and then how the
(30:23):
intervention blocks aredifferent for the different
groups of students that you workwith.
I feel like everyone wants toknow the answer to this question
.
Margarita (30:32):
So the way we group our students depends on a few
factors.
The first one we look at isproficiency level.
So our students are grouped byspeaking proficiency, because we
know that students struggle alot with just getting
comfortable with speaking.
And whenever they're able topractice that, they're really
going to be able to internalizesome of that vocabulary and some
of those structures a lot moreeasily.
(30:55):
And when we talk about output,if we strengthen their speaking
we're going to strengthen theirwriting as well.
So that's one thing we do.
But then of course, we are ahigh school, so we have students
that need to pass their stateexams.
So those students that have topass math, biology, english, us
history, they'll be groupedseparately.
(31:16):
But we also include some ofthat language practice on
certain days in thoseintervention groups.
But for our main groups, whatwe do is, as I mentioned before,
cross-linguistic connections isreally important.
So, depending on the level,students might start off with
analyzing the structure of asimple sentence and the
(31:36):
different parts of that andlooking at how that is in their
native language and what thatlooks like in English.
And then they're presentedmaybe with a small scenario or a
picture, something that can bethe springboard for a
conversation and as a class, andit's very teacher led at the
(31:57):
beginning as well, especially atour lower level, where and this
is all of our teachers ourstudents are not grouped just
with English teachers, theirlanguage intervention teacher,
grouped just with Englishteachers, their language
intervention teacher might be ascience teacher, a math teacher,
a PE coach.
It can be anyone.
Lori (32:12):
Oh, that's awesome.
I love that, yes.
Margarita (32:14):
So we all, all the students that are at a beginner
proficiency level, will be doingthe same lesson during
intervention with whicheverteacher that they've been
grouped with, and it's really agroup effort.
So they go through, they talkabout the sentences, they might
make some anchor charts, what'ssimilar, what's different.
Then they'll practice withwhatever they were provided
(32:37):
Writing.
We'll just tell them write asmany simple sentences as you can
here's some support and howthat might look, given some
examples, and then as a class,they'll just produce as much as
they can.
They'll be asked to recordthemselves.
We get them really comfortablejust speaking and holding them
accountable.
And then at the end of the week, the teacher will have
(33:00):
conferences with those studentsso they'll listen to their
recording with those students.
So they'll listen to theirrecording.
They'll talk about things likepronunciation, fluency, just the
use of the vocabulary, and wetell them, if we're at a
beginner level, our goal is tobe able to formulate a simple
sentence correctly.
Right, we don't need you to betrying to be super elaborate.
(33:22):
We want to meet you where youare, and that's what we're
trying to do so that studentsare actually able to really
internalize those structures andbuild from there.
Because once I have the basis,then it's easy, because then
okay, then I teach you about acoordinating conjunction and
then I take my baby sentence andmy other baby sentence and I
put them together right and thenthat's how they start building
(33:45):
from there, and then we bring insome of that functional
language or the subordinatingconjunctions and then we build
onto a different level Um.
But we do that as studentsprogress in proficiency and we
provide them um assessmentsthroughout the semester.
So there might be points whenstudents might upgrade to a next
class because they've been ableto grasp those basic structures
(34:09):
and that basic high frequencyvocabulary and they're showing
growth.
So we might bump them up toanother group as the year
progresses.
Lori (34:19):
That's so neat.
Okay, I have a couple offollow-up questions here.
First is I love that you haveall hands on deck, that every
teacher is involved in this.
I think that really maximizesthe students' opportunities for
growth.
How do you train teachers sothat they know what to do?
Margarita (34:36):
So at the beginning of the school year at our campus
specifically, we do have abouta week or two of PD where we
come in and either I deliversome PD on our routines and what
the intervention block lookslike, what the lessons look like
.
Everything we do is tied intoour routines.
That we're already doing aswell.
But we also get a lot of duallanguage professional
(34:59):
development, support on how touse native language to leverage
their learning in the new targetlanguage.
So we've tried to give as muchsupport to teachers from the
beginning, especially our newteachers new teachers that
haven't maybe taught thispopulation before from the very
beginning of the school year sothat once we get into it
(35:21):
teachers feel a lot morecomfortable.
So there's PD throughout theschool year during CBPLs or PLCs
, whatever you might call them,we refresh, we go through that,
we talk about these differentroutines and these different
lessons that we're doing, butthe lesson creation comes from
me.
So I'll create the lessons,I'll provide them to teachers
and then, if there's any supportthey need, I'll be there to
(35:44):
answer questions.
I do go into third periodclasses I'm sorry it's during
our third period intervention soI'll go into those intervention
blocks and support teacherswork with them and sometimes
model.
I'll model during those CBPLtimes Teachers will ask me to
come in.
Maybe I'll record and sharesome of those different things
(36:04):
teachers are doing.
But it really helps wheneverstudents have that uniformity
because sometimes schedulechanges happen, right.
But if they already know whatthe structure looks like and the
intervention lessons are thesame each week, just with
different topics.
So the way it works is they'realways going to have like a
(36:31):
grammar warmup where they aredoing some kind of
cross-linguistic connection.
Then it goes into the practice,the group practice, then it
goes into the independentpractice, the recording, and
then the teacher feedbacksession.
So every week they're doing thesame thing, just with different
examples and maybe a differentgrammar focuses or vocabulary
that is being introduced.
Lori (36:47):
Okay, and I hear you saying every week, is it once a
week?
Margarita (36:51):
No, it's Monday through Thursday so okay, sorry
If you said that.
Lori (36:57):
I apologize if if you had mentioned that Okay, so it's,
it's your intervention.
Block happens Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday.
Margarita (37:05):
Yes, fridays, during that intervention block, we have
them participate in socialemotional learning practices, so
we have circle time and thingslike that.
So they're still practicingtheir language, just not in such
a structured way.
Lori (37:18):
That's great.
Okay, I'm glad you shared that,and I'm curious what topics do
students speak about, writeabout, read about during these
intervention blocks?
Margarita (37:31):
Everything and anything.
We try to start off with thingsthat are more familiar maybe
family, school, friends and thenwe definitely want to get more
academic.
So we do have opportunitieswhere maybe they're talking
about things that they've talkedabout, maybe in their science
class, in their history class,making connections to their home
(37:52):
countries and things they'reexperiencing here, so it can be
any kind of topic.
It's not so much about whatthey're saying but how they're
producing that language, andanytime they speak we always
give them time to write, justlike with the QSSSA, where we
give them the stem.
We let them write their answerbefore they have to speak.
We do the same thing duringthese intervention blocks.
(38:14):
So, whatever it is we'refocusing on or talking about, we
let them plan it out, write itout, talk to a friend.
Do you think there's anything Icould add here?
Maybe some sequencing languageyou know?
Next, finally, whatever itmight be, and then we go through
practice saying it with afriend.
We listen, we get feedback,then we record ourselves and
(38:38):
then we get feedback from ourteachers.
Lori (38:40):
That's helpful, and can you just go through that
intervention block structure onemore time for everybody?
Listening group.
Margarita (38:47):
It'll be writing simple sentences and they might
have an example about home life,right, and they try to write as
(39:13):
many sentences as they can justusing that structure.
And then from there they go intoa partner group where they've
maybe written something on theirown and they're practicing with
a partner, and then finallythey go into the teacher
conference.
So at the end of the week, maybethat Thursday, they'll be
pulled aside with a teacherwhere they'll listen to the
recording and then get feedbackfrom the teacher, and there's a
lot of goal setting that goesthrough this.
(39:34):
So if students are at maybe moreadvanced group, their goal
might be to use more complexsentences or more compound
complex sentences, or I want touse three academic words from
outside the English classroomwhenever I'm talking about a
certain topic, maybe I want tospeak for 45 seconds with less
(39:58):
than two pauses, you know.
So they're very specific aboutthese goals they're setting and
they are, in a way, tied intowhat our state expectations are
whenever our students areevaluated at the end of the year
, so that they know and we wantthem to be very comfortable
knowing what they're beingassessed on, because it's not
(40:19):
fair to them if you know they'regetting an exam and they have
no idea what is being asked ofthem.
So they do know.
You know, we want to showfluency, we want to show the
ability to elaborate, and sothey set those goals for
themselves and the teachers givethem that feedback as they go.
Lori (40:36):
That's helpful.
Would you be able to share thecross-linguistic focus?
Can you give like an advancedexample of that?
Margarita (40:45):
Yeah, so, like I mentioned and that's what I
mentioned previously that someof these things are
interconnected.
So maybe whenever we'respeaking, we want to be able to,
the question might be there's apicture of a car with a flat
tire and you're asked to explainwhat's happening and what you
(41:06):
would do to solve that problem,right, so they'll use some of
that functional language.
They're going to try to usemore complex structures, so we
might say you need to use atleast two subordinate and
conjunctions when you'reexplaining this.
Maybe we want them to usesequencing language, and then
we'll say you can't use first,second, third, you need to use
(41:28):
subsequently, additionally.
So there's like little thingswhen it comes to the type of
vocabulary we're using, thestructure that we're using to
produce the language and thenthe length, right?
So, and whenever you talk aboutthis topic, I need you to speak
for at least 45 seconds, okay,and that that kind of pushes
them to give more detail andelaborate more, versus just
(41:51):
saying there's a flat tire andwe need to change it.
Melissa (41:53):
And I just have one more follow-up question.
I liked what you talked aboutwith the flexibility between
groups.
It reminded me, actually, of mysons in swim lessons and you
know, there's always like fouror five different groups going
at the same time and they havethese little sheets that the
instructor fills out and as soonas they can do the four things
on their sheet, it's like okay,you got to move to a different
(42:14):
group and they could be in thatgroup for two months.
They could be in that group fortwo weeks.
It's just like can they do thethings on here?
If they can, they got to moveto the next one.
Do you create those?
Like what are we I don't knowwhat we call them, but the, yeah
, the checklist for how theymove on to the next groups?
Margarita (42:34):
and how do you?
Where do you get those from?
Yes, definitely, we do havechecklists and that's where
students' goals come from.
But that, like I mentioned, isvery much tied into what our
PLDs are in the state of Texas,so what students are expected to
achieve at the end of theschool year, depending on their
proficiency level.
So here there's either beginner, intermediate, advanced or
(42:57):
advanced high.
That's how students are groupedby the TELPAS assessment that
they take at the end of the year.
So, taking those rubrics, welook at what features students
are going to be assessed on andthen that's what we look at.
So if you're at a beginner, ourgoal is to get to intermediate.
So what do you need?
To be at an intermediate levelto show at least one level of
(43:18):
growth?
Right?
And then so that turns into achecklist and then students make
goals based off of that and,like you mentioned, some of our
students might move on prettyquickly because you know
language.
It's.
It depends on who the studentis right.
They're not all the same,they're not all going to learn
at the same rate.
So some students might graspthings a lot quicker and be able
(43:39):
to move a lot faster where youhave students that are exiting
their ESL programs in a coupleof years to where others.
It might take them a littlelonger, but it but as long as
they're making that growth andthat progress.
That's all we want to see Rightand that's where giving them
those specifics and giving thema clear, detailed outline of
what it is that they need to dothat's what's going to help them
(44:00):
to be able to track thatprogress for themselves and
create those goals forthemselves as well.
Melissa (44:06):
Yeah, this is super helpful.
Yeah, I'm wondering as we wrapup here, margarita, do you have
any last tips or pieces ofadvice for any teachers out
there who are teachingmultilingual learners or English
learners?
Just anything that you wouldshare with them that you haven't
already shared?
Margarita (44:24):
Yeah, definitely, I think it was just like we
mentioned.
Native language is such anamazing thing to take advantage
of when students are learning anew language, especially for
myself, I work with high schoolstudents, so we're in a very
limited time to be able tosupport them and help them to
reach that goal of learning asecond language, so taking
advantage of anything that isavailable is going to be of
(44:48):
great help.
So translanguaging, givingopportunities for students to
make connections between theirbackground knowledge in order to
be able to accelerate theirlearning in the new language, is
going to be amazing.
So, just baby steps, trying onething Maybe, if we want to, you
know cognates.
If that's going to be our focus, great.
But just anything that we cando to help them make those
(45:09):
connections is going to be agreat, great help for the
students and for the teacher.
Lori (45:14):
Well, we are so grateful that you took some time to share
all of these awesome strategiesthat you're using and, honestly
, the great work that'shappening in your school.
So we appreciate you, weappreciate everything happening
in your school building andthank you for sharing it with us
and our listeners.
Thank you so much.
Melissa (45:34):
To stay connected with us, sign up for our email list
at literacypodcastcom, join ourFacebook group and follow us on
Instagram and Twitter.
Lori (45:44):
If this episode resonated with you, take a moment to share
with a teacher friend or leaveus a five-star rating and review
on Apple Podcasts.
Melissa (45:54):
Just a quick reminder that the views and opinions
expressed by the hosts andguests of the Melissa and Lori
Love Literacy Podcast are notnecessarily the opinions of
Great Minds PBC or its employees.
Lori (46:06):
We appreciate you so much and we're so glad you're here to
learn with us.
If you're an educator working with multilingual
learners, you know they bringincredible strengths.
But balancing language supportwhile building academic skills
takes thoughtful planning.
So where do you start?
Lori (00:13):
In this episode you'll hear from Margarita Cruz, a high
school instructional coach fromAldine, texas.
She's sharing teacher-testedactionable routines that set
students up for success in anycontent area, while also helping
them build language confidence.
Hi teacher friends.
I'm Lori and I'm Melissa.
We are two educators who wantthe best for all kids, and we
(00:37):
know you do too.
Melissa (00:39):
We worked together in Baltimore when the district
adopted a new literacycurriculum.
Lori (00:44):
We realized there was so much more to learn about how to
teach reading and writing.
Melissa (00:49):
Lori, and I can't wait to keep learning with you today.
Hi Margarita, welcome to thepodcast.
We are so excited to have youhere today.
Margarita (01:01):
Hello, hello, thank you for having me.
Lori (01:03):
Yeah, margarita, we're going to jump right in because
we know you are our teacherexpert here today and we want to
hear from you and yourexperience about some of the
most effective ways to leveragestudents' native language to
make sure that they're learningwell in the classroom.
Margarita (01:21):
Yeah, I think using students' native language is a
great way to accelerate theirlearning in their second
language.
So some of those things that wecan use are like
translanguaging strategies.
Specifically, cross linguisticconnections is something I feel
is very effective.
When we allow students to takethe time to see the connections
between their native language ortheir first language and the
(01:41):
new language they're acquiring,it makes it so much easier for
them to be able to learn it andreally internalize it.
Lori (01:49):
Okay.
So, margarita, I totally getthat to have those connections,
and I'm just thinking, if I'm ateacher listening, I would be
wondering how exactly do we dothat?
How do we help students engagewith their native language and
the target language, whateverthat might be, in meaningful,
authentic ways?
Margarita (02:08):
So I think, across content areas, one of the things
we can do is allow studentstime to maybe preview
information in their nativelanguage.
If it's something specific,maybe in the English classroom,
if we're going to talk aboutsymbolism, so allowing them to
look at examples of that in whatis their native language.
Especially as our students getolder, they already know how to
(02:28):
read and write, so we need toallow them time to make those
connections, because they're notstarting from zero.
They already have a startingpoint so and they already have a
lot of content knowledge.
And the same goes for, maybe,grammar structures allowing them
the time to look at how asentence is formed in their
native language and then comparethat to what it looks like in
their new target language, which, for our kids, is mostly
(02:50):
English, right?
So when they can see how asentence is structured maybe a
simple sentence in their nativelanguage and then in English,
they're able to see how to writein a way that's going to be
more effective and more accurate, a lot quicker than if they're
just learning things in bits andpieces without being able to
make those connections andleverage that knowledge they
already have.
Melissa (03:11):
Yeah, that makes so much sense and I love that.
Thinking right Instead ofthinking, oh, because they don't
necessarily know this inEnglish, yet you know, instead
of assuming that they don't knowit, period right, like finding
out what it is they do know intheir native language, which,
like you said, is probably a lot, and what can they use from
(03:32):
what they already know in theirnative language to make sense of
whatever the topic is inEnglish.
Like that is just such asmarter way to go about it than
just assuming, oh, they don'tknow this.
I'm going to start from scratch.
Margarita (03:49):
Yeah, I think that's where some students struggle
whenever they're learning thenew language, because they get
frustrated, because they knowwhat they already are capable of
doing but they just don't knowhow to get it out there.
And especially when we look atSpanish speakers Spanish native
speakers a lot of the languagethat is already used is complex
academic vocabulary that wewould use in the English
classroom.
Even the structures that arecommonly used in Spanish a lot
(04:11):
of times are more complex inEnglish.
So when students know how touse that, it makes it so much
easier for them to be able toshow what they already know.
Melissa (04:19):
Yeah, that's so smart.
Thank you for sharing that.
You actually told us about someroutines that you all use at
your school, right, and you saidthat these are routines that
all teachers are using prettymuch every day at your school,
and we want you to walk usthrough these routines and also
explain how they support thatlanguage development that we
(04:40):
just talked about, especiallyfor your English learners.
I'm going to start with onethat you shared with us, which
is QSSSA Make sure I get all theletters in there for structured
conversations, so can youexplain what that is and how it
helps your students with theirspeaking and listening skills?
Margarita (05:01):
Yes, definitely.
So.
I think a lot of us that haveworked with EB students know
that one of the biggest thingsthat they struggle with is just
producing language, especiallyorally, because of all of the
effective filters that come inright If they're very anxious or
, you know, they're trying toassimilate to a new environment.
But using something like QSSSAallows them to have a safe space
(05:23):
and on our campus, like youmentioned, these are routines
that we use in all classroomscontent classrooms, electives.
Our PE teacher uses this.
So it's a structuredconversation and it's nothing
that we created.
It's something that's been outthere for years.
But it's just having thatroutine across campus allowed
students to feel comfortablethat when they're going to speak
(05:45):
, this is the structure they'regoing to use.
So they're given a question,they're given time to think
about it, translate it if theyneed to, they're provided with a
STEM so language to be able toproduce an answer, maybe some
key vocabulary that they coulduse, but they're giving
something and they're alsoallowed in this moment.
(06:06):
If they don't have that language, they have to use the language
from the STEM and then they mayfinish in their native language
if they need to.
But having that structure helpsthem because they're given time
to think about it, write it,they signal when they feel that
they're ready to go and thenthey share with a partner.
So again it's giving them thatsafety and security of speaking
(06:27):
with just with one peer, versusspeaking out loud to the whole
class and then afterwards wekind of call out and share out
ideas as a whole class and kindof see where we're all at.
But that that routine, thatprocess is repeated in their
math or science or English, pe,art class, art class, so that
they're able to feel morecomfortable speaking out loud.
(06:48):
And we've noticed a differenceas students have grown from
level to level.
We've kind of moved from ourbrand new beginners using QSSSA,
which is very structured, tohaving more complex
conversations, which we callstructured conversations that
have more parts to them, wherestudents are able to elaborate
(07:09):
and just dig a little bit deeperinto those academic
conversations.
Lori (07:14):
Okay.
So for those listening, I wantto make sure we are all clear on
the Q, triple S a parts.
So it's question signal stems,share, assess, um and margarita
you mentioned earlier.
You said eb students.
Can you just clarify what it?
What do you mean when you say?
What does that acronym mean toyou?
Margarita (07:33):
uh, emergent bilinguals, and I know that a
lot of our students aremultilinguals, but, um, that's
just something that we use mostoften in ebs emergent bilinguals
.
Lori (07:42):
Okay, thank you.
I didn't want to forget to askyou, in case anybody was still,
like me, wondering what an EBwas.
Melissa (07:49):
And can I just jump in?
I just with that Q triple essay, which is much easier to say
than all the S's.
I was just thinking about it asyou were talking that you know
so often in classrooms it's theQ and the A right and you said
assessment, but you know thequestion and the A right and you
said assessment, but you knowthe question and the answer.
You're looking for that.
Teachers are often looking forthat answer right away and I can
just imagine that.
(08:10):
You know, if I'm not an Englishspeaker, having that time for
all the S's to like know I havea little bit of time to figure
this out in a little safe spacewith my partner and you know
time to look at the stems tofigure out what my answer is
going to be.
I would imagine would just be amuch safer practice and a
(08:33):
better feeling for all thestudents that they have that
time in between instead oftrying to be on the spot ready
to answer in a language that isnot my first language.
Margarita (08:44):
Yes, definitely, and that just allows students to be
able to share what they know andshare what they're thinking in
a way, like you said, that issafe and not so stressful for
them.
And whenever we do the questionand answer, like you mentioned,
sometimes students will answerwith one word or they'll answer,
you know, with just you know, aphrase, just very short, and a
(09:07):
lot of times what happens, it'sthe same students that are
answering every time.
So what I tell my teachers, andwhenever we have these
discussions about academicdiscourses, you don't want any
student leaving your classroomwithout having the opportunity
to produce language, and we wantthem to do that multiple times,
especially with our studentsthat are trying to acquire this
language.
(09:27):
If they don't have thoseopportunities, then it's not
going to happen, right?
And then, with this process,they're not just saying
something, they're speakingusing different structures
depending on what kind of STEMyou provide them.
Right, it could be somethingsimple, but if we want to make
it more complex, we can, andthat helps them practice that
language.
Lori (09:47):
That's so great and such a good point too.
Right Like we need many, manyopportunities within a class
period to practice, and I'mthinking you know, as students
are speaking, that's a great wayto practice.
You know before, after reading,writing, and you shared in our
pre-call a vocabulary strategythat we're going to dig into now
because vocabulary is soimportant as students are
(10:09):
speaking and reading and writing.
You mentioned using a routinethat includes front-loading and
focusing on cognates.
I'd love for you to tell usabout it.
Margarita (10:18):
Yeah, so really all of these routines become
interconnected and thisvocabulary routine we like to
look at whatever content iscoming up in that unit.
We look at maybe tier three totier two vocabulary that needs
to really be focused on andwe'll pick maybe eight to 12
vocabulary words.
We know that students needmultiple exposures to vocabulary
(10:40):
for them to be able tointernalize it.
So we want to be very specificabout the language we're using
and, like I mentioned before,there's a lot of similarities
when we're looking at Spanishspeakers, specifically between
the academic language andSpanish and English, right,
because they share a lot ofthose roots and a lot of that
language is already common tothem.
(11:00):
So when we're looking at that,we're looking at vocabulary that
is academic, that's going tocome up multiple times.
It might be cross-curricular,so they might see it in other
classes.
So we're trying to get thebiggest bang for our buck, right
.
And that key vocab that's maybeeight to 12 words is what
students are going to bepracticing multiple times.
We're going to ensure that theycan use it when we're doing
(11:22):
QSSSA or when we're doing someof the other routines that we're
talking about, so that by theend of that two, three week unit
.
They really have a grasp ofthat vocabulary and it'll stay
in their long term memory.
Lori (11:33):
Yeah, so do you notice that they are retaining new
words with this strategy?
Margarita (11:47):
We're trying to be very intentional, that it's
vocabulary that they're going toread, that they're going to use
in their writing, that they'regoing to speak, so that when we
revisit it weeks later theystill remember and they're able
to use it more naturally.
Lori (11:54):
Okay, so when you're doing this routine, or a teacher that
you're coaching is doing thisroutine, can you walk us through
the exact steps of it?
Margarita (12:03):
Yes, definitely so.
Through the internalizationprocess of a unit we choose that
vocabulary From there.
That vocabulary is a lot ofpeople might be familiar with
the Freyer model where you have,like the picture, the
definition.
So we do something similar.
We ensure teachers have eithera poster or an area at the front
of the room with the vocab forthe unit they're working on and
(12:24):
that vocabulary has to have apicture, a student-friendly
definition, which we try tolimit to around eight words.
So the definition in English,the definition in Spanish and
then the word in English andSpanish.
So just that repeated exposureto seeing it visually helps them
remember it as well.
And then students participatein different activities that use
(12:45):
that vocabulary.
So at the beginning it might besomething like matching,
something simple like that, butwe really want them to be using
it with the content.
So ensuring that when they'rewriting there, we say you have
to use two to three words fromthe wall, or whenever they're
speaking, you have to use acouple of these words from here,
so that it's repeatedly beingpracticed.
Melissa (13:06):
Marguerite, I'm going to put you on the spot a little
bit.
So if you don't have an example, tell me that you don't have
one.
But I'm wondering especiallyabout the cognates.
I feel like that's somethingthat some people might be
familiar with, but some may notbe.
I'm wondering if you have anyexamples of where those exist in
some of that vocabulary thatyou're mentioning.
Margarita (13:31):
Yes, definitely.
So I know we might dig into ita little bit later, but easy,
easy way to make thoseconnections is when we look at
language functions or in Englishclass you might look at
language structures, right, youknow, when you look at how a
writer uses key vocabulary toshow if it's argumentative or if
it's, you know they're usingcompare, contrast or things like
that.
That language a lot of times isthe same in English and Spanish
.
So if I use similarly,similarmente, right.
(13:55):
So a lot of those vocabularywords are very, very similar.
So that when students see thatand something we do on our
campus also and that a lot ofpeople do, it's nothing new is
color coding, right?
So the words in English are onour campus are always going to
be in blue and then in Spanishthey're going to be in red, so
(14:15):
that students, whenever we putthose things side by side, they
can see how similar they are.
Um, but, yeah, using thatfunctional language that I know
we might talk about a little bitlater is a great place to start
, because it's something thatthey're going to see across all
classes, especially if we'retalking about, maybe, how to use
(14:37):
, like first, second, third,that language is.
We think of it as lower rightWhenever we're thinking English.
But when we get more advanced,more academic, that's when we
see more similarities to Spanish.
Okay so, but, like I said, wecan dig into that a little later
, okay.
Melissa (14:55):
Yeah, no, that was a great example.
Thank you for sharing that.
Yeah, and I mean I think it'skind of cool, like I would
imagine kids kind of get excitedwhen they see words like that.
They're like, oh, that's justlike this word, I know I think
it's kind of cool.
When I see them, I'm like, ohyeah, I can figure out what that
word is in Spanish because itlooks similar to something I
know and they love it becausethen that's when they feel like
(15:16):
they're having success.
Margarita (15:18):
So something we do also is like little practices,
where we might give them aparagraph and we're very
intentional about having a lotof cognates, and then we're like
you have two minutes to read it, tell me what it says.
And then they're like oh, I canactually read this, why?
Because we were on our end, wewere very intentional about
providing them language so thatthey can see they do know, they
(15:39):
do have a lot of language andthey can make those connections.
Melissa (15:42):
All right, I'm going to switch to writing.
So you have a strategy forwriting called the APE strategy
A-P-E, so can you tell us alittle bit about that strategy
and how it helps your studentswith writing?
Margarita (15:52):
Yes, definitely so.
Ape is answer, proof, explain.
So others might use somethinglike race or ace or you know
there are very various differentones that are pretty much the
same thing.
But the reason that we use iton our campus and we use it
again across all content areas,all of these routines are every
(16:13):
single classroom.
It is expectation for allteachers to use this is because
it provides a safe, safe spacefor students to take risks and
to practice.
So we teach them like you wouldany student right Answer using
the words from the question.
So if you're provided aquestion, how do you create a
STEM?
So it starts helping them buildthat autonomy where they don't
need us to give them the STEMevery time.
(16:35):
They're able to find theconnections between the question
and how to respond.
And then proof we teach themjust some ways to introduce
maybe a citation.
For example, the text states,and they're given maybe three to
four options to memorize thatmake it a lot easier for them to
be able to produce somethingRight.
(16:57):
And then we tell them, like theload isn't all on you.
If you're taking words from thequestion, that's something
that's taking the load off ofyou If you're quoting something
from maybe a textbook or anarticle.
That's taking the load off ofyou, right?
The E is where they'reexplaining.
Then that's where they have todig a little bit deeper and show
(17:17):
what they think and whatthey've understood from that and
what connections they're making.
But it's a safe place.
It's three sentences.
We start off with threesentences, right, and as they
progress in their languageproficiency, that AP becomes a
lot more complex and has moredepth to it.
Melissa (17:36):
And I like what you said.
Margarita is like.
I mean there are many that arelike this.
You know all the differentacronyms, the painted essay.
They have very similarstructures.
But I think I feel like the keyis mostly here.
If you're using it across allevery classroom, you know, then
you're not having the studentsgo from.
Well, in Mrs Cruz's class weuse APE, but in Ms Sappington's
(17:59):
class now, we use RACE, and it'slike I'm trying to keep all
these acronyms in my head andwhat they all mean and what I'm
supposed to do for writing.
That can be really overwhelming.
But if they just know everytime I'm asked to write, this is
what I do and there's astructure for it and I know how
to do it, then they can justfeel more confident every time
they're going into writing.
Margarita (18:20):
Yeah, definitely, and that's what we've noticed in
our students that they feel alot more safe and more
comfortable in producinglanguage and orally or written,
because we have these structuresin place across all classes.
And you know, it would bewonderful to be able to have
that same thing when it comes toteaching, like different
structures to have that.
Lori (19:00):
So I think that's like the next step that we want to do,
like ensure like we're all onthe same pace when it comes to
what we're practicing in class,when it comes to actual, like
vocabulary and grammar.
But I think that's, you know,still'm not an English learner,
but when I, if I go into ameeting, it would be really
frustrating if I went into onemeeting and they were like we're
going to do things this way andthen the next meeting it was
like and you know, same idea,but we're going to do it this
way, and then you have to justlearn the structure.
(19:21):
So, as I mean, simplifying itfor kids just makes sense, I
mean I think this practice issomething that could be done
regardless of which studentswere servicing right, like this
just feels like a best practicefor all students to have common
routines and not just, you know,within your grade level, like
not just within your sixth gradeteam, but truly within your
(19:43):
school right, so that asstudents are progressing from
kindergarten through fifth grade, they're able to see these
routines and see how they changeand grow over time, but still
understanding fundamentally thebasic ideas behind them.
So is that something thathappens in your school,
margarita?
Does it?
Is it like, everyone uses itregardless of the grade and yeah
(20:03):
, yes, definitely.
Margarita (20:05):
So we're nine through 12th.
We have our first senior classthis year.
We were a slow growth school sowe started just with the ninth
graders.
We started with these routinesand then, as the years have
progressed, we've seen howstudents have been able to take
this.
Like I mentioned before, likethe Q triple say, it's very
structured, it's very.
I say, then you say, and thenwe share out and we've kind of,
(20:25):
as the students have progressedto higher grade levels, it's
become more of a conversation,more of a back and forth, where
it's less on the teacher andmore students taking ownership
and it's because they've alreadyinternalized these different
structures that they're able toengage in that.
It's the same thing with the APE.
At the beginner level.
When they came in as newcomers,it was one, two, three
(20:47):
sentences, very simple, you knowto the point.
And then now our 12th gradersare writing like pages and pages
, using that same ideal, right,because that the AP is kind of
the building block to an essay,right, it's like the body
paragraph.
So they were able to take thatknowledge and just build off of
it to be able to share theirthoughts and ideas in a deeper
(21:08):
level.
Lori (21:09):
I love that.
That's great, All right.
So I want to talk about reading.
We haven't talked about thatyet.
You use a strategy called STARand I think our listeners would
love to hear you explain it andhow it helps your students
comprehend as they're reading.
Margarita (21:25):
Yeah.
So again, the star strategy issomething that we didn't come up
with.
We found it, we liked it and wethought it was a really great
way to help kind of chunkreading for our students and
just the process of reading.
And, like I mentioned, ourstudents, the majority of them.
We do have some students thatare SLIFE students that have
maybe interrupted schooling, butthe majority of them do come
(21:45):
with a pretty good grasp on howto read and write.
So for us, it was about beingable to simplify that process
and that thinking for themwhenever they're trying to go
through that translation process.
Because, right, they're readingand then they're thinking about
, okay, what does this mean inmy language?
Okay, this is what they'resaying.
So with star um specifically, itreally works a lot with, like,
(22:07):
multiple choice questions.
Uh, we start with scanning thequestions or scanning the
question.
Right, we always tell ourstudents we're reading for a
purpose.
So, whatever the big ideaswe're trying to take, we're
trying to take from that text,we're going to go over that
first.
We want to make sure that theyunderstand why they're reading,
what the purpose is.
So, maybe there's some multiplechoice questions, maybe there's
(22:30):
a short answer question they'regoing to answer at the end, or
it's just the unit question thatwe're going to be discussing.
From there we go to target thetext and this is where some of
those other routines come intoplay, because when we're
targeting, we're looking at well, how is it structured?
Is it an informational text?
Are they using some of thatsignal language for compare,
contrast or cause and effect andthings like that, just to give
(22:53):
us an idea of how the writing isstructured?
And then they want todifferentiate, right, is it
fictional, nonfiction?
So that kind of puts them inthe mindset of what am I looking
for.
And then after that is the bigthing, which is the annotation,
and I think that's the mostimportant part to help students
be able to think through thatprocess, because we chunk the
(23:15):
reading and then they stop, theypause and they have those
conversations with their peers.
We have a discussion stems forthem to think, hey, what do you
think this part was about?
What key words did you noticein this area?
Okay, what do you think is theoverall message in this
paragraph or these paragraphs,and how does it tie into those
overall questions that we talkedabout at the beginning and that
(23:36):
helps them so that at the endthey're able to have a better
grasp of what it is they read.
Because a lot of times ourstudents will go through and
they're like, well, I read itall and I'm like, okay, well,
what did it say?
And they're like, oh, I don'tremember.
And then they have to go backand do it all over again.
So it just really helps thempause, really think about what
you're reading and really makemeaning of what it is that's in
(23:59):
front of you.
Melissa (24:01):
Marguerite, I'm curious about the annotation.
Do you have any specific waysthat you have students annotate
Any routines around thatannotation, or is it kind of
open for them to make sense ofthe text however they need to?
Margarita (24:16):
So we do annotations in a notebook.
We would love to be able toannotate on the paper.
Melissa (24:24):
Every teacher's dream is that they could write right
in the text.
That would be amazing.
Margarita (24:28):
But unfortunately we can't always do that.
So we do have like a graphicorganizer that we create, where
students identify keywords orphrases, so any vocabulary words
that pop out to them or anyquotes that they feel are very
important from the text, andthey'll make note of that.
And then any unknown vocabulary.
And I think this is where somepeople get tripped up, because
(24:50):
if you tell a student to writeunknown vocabulary that a
student that's learning Englishyou know they're going to want
to write every word they don'tknow.
But it's so hard to getstudents into the routine of
reading, like we say, readingfor the gist or reading for the
overall idea.
But once they do, they're ableto see that they do understand
(25:11):
more than they don't.
So that's why we have them readand really focus in what do I
know, the things I do know, andthen are there gaps?
Then maybe I need to go backand look for a couple of those
vocabulary words, but they don'thave time to look up every
single word, right.
So I always tell them if theword is repeated, if it was in
(25:32):
the title, right, if it'ssomething that came up before
and now it's popped up again,then yeah, it's probably very
important and you need to lookit up.
So that goes in that column ofunknown words.
And then they have what does itmean, what's the connection of
unknown words?
And then they have uh, whatdoes it mean?
What's the connection?
So in their notes they'll writewell, I think this paragraph is
talking about this.
Um, it connects to question one, question two or whatever it
(25:52):
may be, right?
Um, they don't have.
I always tell them in that notesection it's your thoughts,
your ideas.
If you want to use your nativelanguage, go for it, because
these are your notes.
I'm not grading that, right,that's just for you to go
through the process of thinkingabout what you're reading.
And but those are pretty muchthe three big pieces that go
into their notes.
Lori (26:12):
That's helpful.
Thank you.
I was wondering if you had anyspecial symbols, Cause I
remember having a lot of symbolswhen I was doing annotation.
Melissa, I don't know if you'reremembering all the.
Baltimore city stuff we didwith annotation.
I gotta say I'm not a fan ofthe symbols.
Melissa (26:29):
I love the way Margarita's doing it with those.
It's more authentic.
You're looking through thetopics but it's like things they
actually well, it will helpthem make sense of the text
versus.
I mean, you don't know what akid's thinking when they just
put a little heart next tosomething they're usually
thinking.
Lori (26:39):
I like that right, I mean no, I think that the only symbol
I felt like that I've reallyencountered as an educator that
was really helpful and that Iuse personally is a star like oh
, that was important.
Melissa (26:50):
Right.
Lori (26:50):
Which feels like you're pulling that out anyway,
margarita, right on the separatepiece of paper.
So yeah.
And like I, said we, we woulduse symbols, probably if we
could write on all the texts,but because that's not happening
, you know, I also think toomany symbols gets like in the
way of your like, if you have toremember, if I have to hold in
my head like, okay, anexclamation point, whatever that
(27:14):
might mean, and then a star,and then a heart, and then a, an
underline, like I mean I'malready like I need a little
reference post-it note already,right, so I think it's fine,
you're doing great.
Margarita (27:26):
Yeah, and that's what we want, right To make it as
simple and as easy for them.
Lori (27:31):
Yeah, exactly Right, simple is best.
Melissa (27:34):
But I let this reminds me similar to some of the other
routines is like it gives themagain at this safe place to make
sense of what they're reading,right, versus, again read this
and then, okay, tell me what itwas about.
And they're like I, right,versus.
Again read this and then, okay,tell me what it was about and
they're like I don't know.
Right, you're giving them thisplace to, like you said, even
think in their native language,talk it out with a friend you
know, make sense of thevocabulary they're having this
(27:54):
time before they have to thentell you whatever the answer to
whatever question it is thatthey're looking for.
But I love that this is anotherroutine where they get to have
that safe, safe place to makemeaning and make sense of what
they're reading.
All right, so we're going toswitch to the language functions
, which you already mentioned alittle bit.
But let's just start with thatterm might be new for a lot of
(28:19):
our listeners just languagefunctions.
So let's just start with whatdoes that mean before we even
talk about a routine for it?
Margarita (28:25):
Yeah, definitely so.
When we just start with, whatdoes that mean, before we even
talk about a routine for it?
Yeah, definitely so.
When we talk about the languagefunction, we're talking about
the purpose of the language.
So, like I mentioned earlier,maybe students are writing a
persuasive paper, right, there'scertain vocabulary that's going
to pop up when they're usingthat type of writing structure.
Or maybe if they're speaking,right, if they're going to be
(28:46):
presenting something that'ssupposed to be persuasive or
argumentative, sometimes theyhave to compare and contrast, so
there's certain vocabularythat's going to pop up again
when they're doing that processor cause and effect or
sequencing, which is, I think,one of the ones that we use the
most specifically because itpops up and it's so easy to
incorporate across all contentareas because students can just
(29:09):
talk about the process ofwhatever it is they're doing,
right.
Um, but whenever we're teachingthat, we want students to be
able to see, like I mentionedpreviously, the connection and
they're able to make thoseconnections between their native
language and English.
And even if the student is nota Spanish speaker, if that's not
(29:29):
their first language, justhaving something that they can
focus in on that's going to beseen over and over again makes
it easier for them to be able toreally internalize that
language and use it.
So maybe they don't have thatcognate in their language.
But because we're focusing onthese four sequencing words over
and over again in all mycontent areas, I'm going to be
(29:51):
able to learn that a lot quickerthan if I just sporadically had
one word here, one word thereand there was no cohesion in the
way that it was presented to me.
Lori (30:01):
Okay, margarita, so now I'm going to dive in with, like,
the million dollar questionhere.
So you work with studentsduring intervention blocks and
those students typically needadditional support with literacy
, right With reading and writing.
I'm wondering if you could tellus a little bit about how you
group those students based onproficiency and then how the
(30:23):
intervention blocks aredifferent for the different
groups of students that you workwith.
I feel like everyone wants toknow the answer to this question
.
Margarita (30:32):
So the way we group our students depends on a few
factors.
The first one we look at isproficiency level.
So our students are grouped byspeaking proficiency, because we
know that students struggle alot with just getting
comfortable with speaking.
And whenever they're able topractice that, they're really
going to be able to internalizesome of that vocabulary and some
of those structures a lot moreeasily.
(30:55):
And when we talk about output,if we strengthen their speaking
we're going to strengthen theirwriting as well.
So that's one thing we do.
But then of course, we are ahigh school, so we have students
that need to pass their stateexams.
So those students that have topass math, biology, english, us
history, they'll be groupedseparately.
(31:16):
But we also include some ofthat language practice on
certain days in thoseintervention groups.
But for our main groups, whatwe do is, as I mentioned before,
cross-linguistic connections isreally important.
So, depending on the level,students might start off with
analyzing the structure of asimple sentence and the
(31:36):
different parts of that andlooking at how that is in their
native language and what thatlooks like in English.
And then they're presentedmaybe with a small scenario or a
picture, something that can bethe springboard for a
conversation and as a class, andit's very teacher led at the
(31:57):
beginning as well, especially atour lower level, where and this
is all of our teachers ourstudents are not grouped just
with English teachers, theirlanguage intervention teacher,
grouped just with Englishteachers, their language
intervention teacher might be ascience teacher, a math teacher,
a PE coach.
It can be anyone.
Lori (32:12):
Oh, that's awesome.
I love that, yes.
Margarita (32:14):
So we all, all the students that are at a beginner
proficiency level, will be doingthe same lesson during
intervention with whicheverteacher that they've been
grouped with, and it's really agroup effort.
So they go through, they talkabout the sentences, they might
make some anchor charts, what'ssimilar, what's different.
Then they'll practice withwhatever they were provided
(32:37):
Writing.
We'll just tell them write asmany simple sentences as you can
here's some support and howthat might look, given some
examples, and then as a class,they'll just produce as much as
they can.
They'll be asked to recordthemselves.
We get them really comfortablejust speaking and holding them
accountable.
And then at the end of the week, the teacher will have
(33:00):
conferences with those studentsso they'll listen to their
recording with those students.
So they'll listen to theirrecording.
They'll talk about things likepronunciation, fluency, just the
use of the vocabulary, and wetell them, if we're at a
beginner level, our goal is tobe able to formulate a simple
sentence correctly.
Right, we don't need you to betrying to be super elaborate.
(33:22):
We want to meet you where youare, and that's what we're
trying to do so that studentsare actually able to really
internalize those structures andbuild from there.
Because once I have the basis,then it's easy, because then
okay, then I teach you about acoordinating conjunction and
then I take my baby sentence andmy other baby sentence and I
put them together right and thenthat's how they start building
(33:45):
from there, and then we bring insome of that functional
language or the subordinatingconjunctions and then we build
onto a different level Um.
But we do that as studentsprogress in proficiency and we
provide them um assessmentsthroughout the semester.
So there might be points whenstudents might upgrade to a next
class because they've been ableto grasp those basic structures
(34:09):
and that basic high frequencyvocabulary and they're showing
growth.
So we might bump them up toanother group as the year
progresses.
Lori (34:19):
That's so neat.
Okay, I have a couple offollow-up questions here.
First is I love that you haveall hands on deck, that every
teacher is involved in this.
I think that really maximizesthe students' opportunities for
growth.
How do you train teachers sothat they know what to do?
Margarita (34:36):
So at the beginning of the school year at our campus
specifically, we do have abouta week or two of PD where we
come in and either I deliversome PD on our routines and what
the intervention block lookslike, what the lessons look like
.
Everything we do is tied intoour routines.
That we're already doing aswell.
But we also get a lot of duallanguage professional
(34:59):
development, support on how touse native language to leverage
their learning in the new targetlanguage.
So we've tried to give as muchsupport to teachers from the
beginning, especially our newteachers new teachers that
haven't maybe taught thispopulation before from the very
beginning of the school year sothat once we get into it
(35:21):
teachers feel a lot morecomfortable.
So there's PD throughout theschool year during CBPLs or PLCs
, whatever you might call them,we refresh, we go through that,
we talk about these differentroutines and these different
lessons that we're doing, butthe lesson creation comes from
me.
So I'll create the lessons,I'll provide them to teachers
and then, if there's any supportthey need, I'll be there to
(35:44):
answer questions.
I do go into third periodclasses I'm sorry it's during
our third period intervention soI'll go into those intervention
blocks and support teacherswork with them and sometimes
model.
I'll model during those CBPLtimes Teachers will ask me to
come in.
Maybe I'll record and sharesome of those different things
(36:04):
teachers are doing.
But it really helps wheneverstudents have that uniformity
because sometimes schedulechanges happen, right.
But if they already know whatthe structure looks like and the
intervention lessons are thesame each week, just with
different topics.
So the way it works is they'realways going to have like a
(36:31):
grammar warmup where they aredoing some kind of
cross-linguistic connection.
Then it goes into the practice,the group practice, then it
goes into the independentpractice, the recording, and
then the teacher feedbacksession.
So every week they're doing thesame thing, just with different
examples and maybe a differentgrammar focuses or vocabulary
that is being introduced.
Lori (36:47):
Okay, and I hear you saying every week, is it once a
week?
Margarita (36:51):
No, it's Monday through Thursday so okay, sorry
If you said that.
Lori (36:57):
I apologize if if you had mentioned that Okay, so it's,
it's your intervention.
Block happens Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday.
Margarita (37:05):
Yes, fridays, during that intervention block, we have
them participate in socialemotional learning practices, so
we have circle time and thingslike that.
So they're still practicingtheir language, just not in such
a structured way.
Lori (37:18):
That's great.
Okay, I'm glad you shared that,and I'm curious what topics do
students speak about, writeabout, read about during these
intervention blocks?
Margarita (37:31):
Everything and anything.
We try to start off with thingsthat are more familiar maybe
family, school, friends and thenwe definitely want to get more
academic.
So we do have opportunitieswhere maybe they're talking
about things that they've talkedabout, maybe in their science
class, in their history class,making connections to their home
(37:52):
countries and things they'reexperiencing here, so it can be
any kind of topic.
It's not so much about whatthey're saying but how they're
producing that language, andanytime they speak we always
give them time to write, justlike with the QSSSA, where we
give them the stem.
We let them write their answerbefore they have to speak.
We do the same thing duringthese intervention blocks.
(38:14):
So, whatever it is we'refocusing on or talking about, we
let them plan it out, write itout, talk to a friend.
Do you think there's anything Icould add here?
Maybe some sequencing languageyou know?
Next, finally, whatever itmight be, and then we go through
practice saying it with afriend.
We listen, we get feedback,then we record ourselves and
(38:38):
then we get feedback from ourteachers.
Lori (38:40):
That's helpful, and can you just go through that
intervention block structure onemore time for everybody?
Listening group.
Margarita (38:47):
It'll be writing simple sentences and they might
have an example about home life,right, and they try to write as
(39:13):
many sentences as they can justusing that structure.
And then from there they go intoa partner group where they've
maybe written something on theirown and they're practicing with
a partner, and then finallythey go into the teacher
conference.
So at the end of the week, maybethat Thursday, they'll be
pulled aside with a teacherwhere they'll listen to the
recording and then get feedbackfrom the teacher, and there's a
lot of goal setting that goesthrough this.
(39:34):
So if students are at maybe moreadvanced group, their goal
might be to use more complexsentences or more compound
complex sentences, or I want touse three academic words from
outside the English classroomwhenever I'm talking about a
certain topic, maybe I want tospeak for 45 seconds with less
(39:58):
than two pauses, you know.
So they're very specific aboutthese goals they're setting and
they are, in a way, tied intowhat our state expectations are
whenever our students areevaluated at the end of the year
, so that they know and we wantthem to be very comfortable
knowing what they're beingassessed on, because it's not
(40:19):
fair to them if you know they'regetting an exam and they have
no idea what is being asked ofthem.
So they do know.
You know, we want to showfluency, we want to show the
ability to elaborate, and sothey set those goals for
themselves and the teachers givethem that feedback as they go.
Lori (40:36):
That's helpful.
Would you be able to share thecross-linguistic focus?
Can you give like an advancedexample of that?
Margarita (40:45):
Yeah, so, like I mentioned and that's what I
mentioned previously that someof these things are
interconnected.
So maybe whenever we'respeaking, we want to be able to,
the question might be there's apicture of a car with a flat
tire and you're asked to explainwhat's happening and what you
(41:06):
would do to solve that problem,right, so they'll use some of
that functional language.
They're going to try to usemore complex structures, so we
might say you need to use atleast two subordinate and
conjunctions when you'reexplaining this.
Maybe we want them to usesequencing language, and then
we'll say you can't use first,second, third, you need to use
(41:28):
subsequently, additionally.
So there's like little thingswhen it comes to the type of
vocabulary we're using, thestructure that we're using to
produce the language and thenthe length, right?
So, and whenever you talk aboutthis topic, I need you to speak
for at least 45 seconds, okay,and that that kind of pushes
them to give more detail andelaborate more, versus just
(41:51):
saying there's a flat tire andwe need to change it.
Melissa (41:53):
And I just have one more follow-up question.
I liked what you talked aboutwith the flexibility between
groups.
It reminded me, actually, of mysons in swim lessons and you
know, there's always like fouror five different groups going
at the same time and they havethese little sheets that the
instructor fills out and as soonas they can do the four things
on their sheet, it's like okay,you got to move to a different
(42:14):
group and they could be in thatgroup for two months.
They could be in that group fortwo weeks.
It's just like can they do thethings on here?
If they can, they got to moveto the next one.
Do you create those?
Like what are we I don't knowwhat we call them, but the, yeah
, the checklist for how theymove on to the next groups?
Margarita (42:34):
and how do you?
Where do you get those from?
Yes, definitely, we do havechecklists and that's where
students' goals come from.
But that, like I mentioned, isvery much tied into what our
PLDs are in the state of Texas,so what students are expected to
achieve at the end of theschool year, depending on their
proficiency level.
So here there's either beginner, intermediate, advanced or
(42:57):
advanced high.
That's how students are groupedby the TELPAS assessment that
they take at the end of the year.
So, taking those rubrics, welook at what features students
are going to be assessed on andthen that's what we look at.
So if you're at a beginner, ourgoal is to get to intermediate.
So what do you need?
To be at an intermediate levelto show at least one level of
(43:18):
growth?
Right?
And then so that turns into achecklist and then students make
goals based off of that and,like you mentioned, some of our
students might move on prettyquickly because you know
language.
It's.
It depends on who the studentis right.
They're not all the same,they're not all going to learn
at the same rate.
So some students might graspthings a lot quicker and be able
(43:39):
to move a lot faster where youhave students that are exiting
their ESL programs in a coupleof years to where others.
It might take them a littlelonger, but it but as long as
they're making that growth andthat progress.
That's all we want to see Rightand that's where giving them
those specifics and giving thema clear, detailed outline of
what it is that they need to dothat's what's going to help them
(44:00):
to be able to track thatprogress for themselves and
create those goals forthemselves as well.
Melissa (44:06):
Yeah, this is super helpful.
Yeah, I'm wondering as we wrapup here, margarita, do you have
any last tips or pieces ofadvice for any teachers out
there who are teachingmultilingual learners or English
learners?
Just anything that you wouldshare with them that you haven't
already shared?
Margarita (44:24):
Yeah, definitely, I think it was just like we
mentioned.
Native language is such anamazing thing to take advantage
of when students are learning anew language, especially for
myself, I work with high schoolstudents, so we're in a very
limited time to be able tosupport them and help them to
reach that goal of learning asecond language, so taking
advantage of anything that isavailable is going to be of
(44:48):
great help.
So translanguaging, givingopportunities for students to
make connections between theirbackground knowledge in order to
be able to accelerate theirlearning in the new language, is
going to be amazing.
So, just baby steps, trying onething Maybe, if we want to, you
know cognates.
If that's going to be our focus, great.
But just anything that we cando to help them make those
(45:09):
connections is going to be agreat, great help for the
students and for the teacher.
Lori (45:14):
Well, we are so grateful that you took some time to share
all of these awesome strategiesthat you're using and, honestly
, the great work that'shappening in your school.
So we appreciate you, weappreciate everything happening
in your school building andthank you for sharing it with us
and our listeners.
Thank you so much.
Melissa (45:34):
To stay connected with us, sign up for our email list
at literacypodcastcom, join ourFacebook group and follow us on
Instagram and Twitter.
Lori (45:44):
If this episode resonated with you, take a moment to share
with a teacher friend or leaveus a five-star rating and review
on Apple Podcasts.
Melissa (45:54):
Just a quick reminder that the views and opinions
expressed by the hosts andguests of the Melissa and Lori
Love Literacy Podcast are notnecessarily the opinions of
Great Minds PBC or its employees.
Lori (46:06):
We appreciate you so much and we're so glad you're here to
learn with us.
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