AMPLIFYING your ESL instruction is all about increasing comprehensible input for your students. In other words, ELLs learn best when you use instructional strategies that make your teaching (input) as easy to understand as possible (comprehensible). Makes sense, right? Amplification strategies are easy to adapt to whatever content you are teaching, and they are naturally differentiating (meaning students of all language abilities will benefit from their use). AMPLIFICATION STRATEGY: Use realia and hands-on activities Realia is a fancy word for everyday objects. You are using realia whenever you show your students actual objects (rather than an image or explanation of the object). Even something as simple as using real coins during math lessons counts as realia. Research shows us that the more ways we allow students to interact with the material we teach, the better they learn it. Realia and hands-on activities encourage students to participate and interact to the fullest. By handling, manipulating, and observing objects, ELLs are able to use more than just language to help them construct meaning. They are receiving information through interacting with the objects you present, which helps them understand your lesson in a deeper way. We've created a sample Five Senses unit to give you an idea of how easy it is to incorporate realia and hands-on activities into your teaching. Remember, amplification strategies can be added to any lesson to make it more comprehensible for ELLs! Below are a few ideas to get your wheels turning. 1.) Assemble a collection of objects. Have each student pick an object (secretly, if you want to add some drama) to describe using their five senses. They can write their description as a paragraph if they're more advanced students, or in list form if their English skills are intermediate. A true beginner may decide to create a drawing with labels or select from a collection of words you’ve supplied in a word bank. Pre-literate students may give an oral description of their objects. Allowing students to choose how to participate in this activity gives you the opportunity to assess their mastery of the content, regardless of their language abilities. 2.) Read “touch and feel” books. These relatively simple books are wonderful for helping students understand the more subtle variations in texture that we try to describe. They may seem inappropriate for older ELLs, but a more advanced activity could include asking the students to feel the texture and then come up with an appropriate word to describe its feel. Providing a word bank or the first letter of the target word makes this exercise slightly easier. Usborne has a series of books that are great for teaching vocabulary words about the sense of touch. In each of these books, a mouse is searching for something, but each time he thinks he’s found it, he realizes “it’s too (insert vocabulary word here).” The accompanying pictures allow students to feel the texture while hearing the word that describes the feeling. You can find many of the books in this series on amazon.com. 3.) Brainstorm a list of words that describe touch and texture with your students. Then ask them to go out and find objects that illustrate those words. Your class can create a poster of the different vocabulary words and objects they find. If you allow students access to this poster throughout the year, even beginner ELLs will be able to incorporate more advanced vocabulary into their writing. These sensory words are very useful when teaching students to "stretch their writing" in Small Moments units! For added cuteness, young students could trace their hands or even make a handprint using paint. The bottom line: Integrating hands-on experiences whenever possible is an important way to reinforce new concepts and vocabulary for ELLs. It encourages students of all language levels to participate to their abilities and is naturally differentiating. Not to mention, it motivates students, helps them stay focused (especially those kinesthetic learners), and encourages interaction with peers. Did you find this post helpful? Check out some of our other posts for more ideas about amplifying for ELLs. Here you'll find a printable list of questions for parents to ask their children to encourage deeper reading comprehension. For more tips on involving families in their children's schooling, visit our ELL Family Resources page and print out some of the forms on our post about parent communication. Want more suggestions foranchor charts and graphic organizers? Or take our quiz to find out how you're doing in terms of amplifying instruction for the ELLs in your classroom.
Monster Hair Cutting is a simple activity that enables children to practice their cutting skills by cutting different types of lines of hair. Children...
How to incorporate body awareness activities in your child's daily routine for better proprioception.
Vestibular input activities can provide some of the best stimulation for active sensory seeking kids which can keep their sensory needs met for hours.
Level: This is most suited to A2 -B2 level students. Time: 30 minutes + This Talk for a Minute: Activities task is a great way to revise hobbies and activities vocabulary, develop fluency, and bring some fun into the classroom. Students take turns to choose a topic/card and talk about the activity-related topic for a minute. We have a teacher's copy (including teacher's notes) and a student version which you can email to your class for online lessons. For best results when printing our PDFs, open and print them through Adobe Acrobat. https://get.adobe.com/reader/
Learn how to make oobleck with this simple recipe of cornstarch and water! Oobleck is SO FUN to play with and it's a great science experiment for kids involving non-Newtonian fluids and viscosity. Oobleck Recipe Have you ever heard of oobleck?! This substance gets its name from a Dr. Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. In the book, Bartholomew has to rescue his kingdom from a sticky green substance that falls from the sky. You can make oobleck with only 2 pantry ingredients: water and cornstarch (aka cornflour). It's a simple science experiment that's somewhat similar to slime, but it's
Obs in Theory is our latest new template. This template enables educators to link their observation to child development theories. Theories enable edu...
Physical Boundaries and Consent Activities for Kids
Join us with some fun science experiments with sound. Learn how sounds waves vibrate, how we can affect the vibrations, and how this affects what we hear.
Image courtesy of @jojomontessori This is the time of year when we switch to what I like to call “cozy-schooling” ~ cozy crafts, recipes, lots of books, and of course candles and tea. O…
Doctor's office with kids? Car repair shop? We have a list FULL of activities for when kids have to wait. And the best part? No materials required!
Teddy bear worksheets printable activities, do a dot teddy bear, maze, trace and color, traing worksheets, draw a teddy bear
Hello there! I am writing a blog post about activities you can do to teach your students about life long and today. I always try to make Social Studies a
30+ anti-racism activities for kids that you can do at home or in the classroom to help start the conversation of race and racism.
Here are 5 activities that you can use in your group music lessons. The activities work for multi-age group levels. Read how each activitiy can be used with students of various levels.
These occupational therapy midline crossing activities are quick and easy to use. They're great for all young brains, bodies and eyes!
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Learn how energy is transfered from one object to another in this newton's cradle experiment which will amaze kids of all ages!
Learn how to integrate art into your plant science activities by having students make chlorophyll paintings. Similar to leaf rubbings, this simple science based art project is a fun and creative extension for teaching kids about photosynthesis.
Children's Play SchemasIn case you need a recap on Play Schemas then I highly suggest you head to our blog 'What are Play Schemas?' before reading ahead.
Since the middle of February while were creating our dragon project, I started to notice something. The kids were taking the logs out of ou...
Perfect for the classroom, a holiday party or homeschool Christmas themes, these fun jingle bells activities will be a big hit!
Science and art combine in this amazing and simple rainbow experiment. The kids will love to make, explore and paint rainbows,
Starting a unit with an exciting activity, like this, engages children right away. Drama games for kids build interest in drama class.
I made these Sense of Smell Swatches and Sense of Touch Boards last year for a early years class I was teaching. They were
Grandparents play an essential role in the lives of their families! What better way to bond than with some fun-filled grandparent activities?
Coin sorting is a Montesorri-Inspired Sensorial Activity because sorting coins can help children develop and refine the senses as they sort money.
Help your child learn how to code with 19 easy and fun coding activities for kids, including preschoolers, Kindergarten, and elementary, too.
When selecting chairs and seating for kids, it is important to consider their age, size, and activities. Child-sized chairs with back support and adjustable
Use the fun and creative sensory strategies to help your child explore their sense of smell through everyday play activities.
Tackle that awkward getting-to-know-you moment with these 6 fun ESL icebreaker activities. Whether you work with ESL beginners or more advanced students, children or adults, these icebreakers are sure to make the start of your year great!
Here's a fun science experiment that makes DIY crystals overnight! DIY crystals are easy to create and teach kids about chemistry!
This printable poster presents a 5 step calm down plan to help children learn to manage big emotions in socially acceptable ways.
How can I prepare my child for kindergarten? These listening games are a fun way to start working on kindergarten readiness!
Children love the book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, and for good reason. It has rhythm, repetition, and hand motions! Did you know that you can take this story farther than you ever dreamed? Make and explore algorithms – even with your younger elementary student! An algorithm is simply the series of steps needed to complete...
Looking for an amazing STEM activity that's exciting for the whole class? These STEM straw bridges will spark creativity in your little engineers!
Learn about play schemas and get activity ideas for each of the 9 play schemas. Transporting, positioning, connection, transforming...
