Scaffolding + reading (and a little bit of writing)

1. Scaffolding Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum

3. When conversing informally they use a very different type of English than they need for academic purposes.

4. We cannot assume that students have the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to read or write in English for a particular academic situation.

5. We need to explicitly model and teach the academic English that IB tasks require.

6. If we explicitly address the academic and linguistic demands that IB tasks demand of our students, everyone should benefit.

8. The textbooks and other materials we use give the students exposure to well-written English, appropriate to a particular type of situation/audience/culture.

9. In their books and other reading materials students have the opportunity to develop their language skills as well as their subject knowledge, but we need to guide them, or, in the rush to acquire subject knowledge, they miss the chance to enhance their understanding of how the language is used.

12. Engage students, create connections, stimulate interest, motivate, and establish a purpose

13. Generate questions and opinions

15. Look at language choices and predictable patterns in texts and the expectations of tasks.

17. Draw on shared understandings about the topic and the text.

18. Create an opportunity to participate in a successful text construction.

19. Take through students through some of the decisions made in constructing a successful text.

21. idioms

22. humour

23. pronunciation

24. grammatical structures

25. sentence length

26. pronoun references

27. transition words/phrases

28. familiar words used in an unfamiliar way

30. What do the students need to understand in order to successfully engage with a text?

33. What is the purpose of each paragraph or section?

36. idioms, phrasal verbs, and so on

38. What are your content and language objectives?

39. What do the students know about this topic? How can I find out?

40. How can I motivate the students to connect with what they are going to read and learn?

42. If students do partner reading, what are the best sections to use? How should the partner reading be carried out and what should the focus be?

43. Which words should I teach? How should they be taught? How can I make sure students use new vocabulary?

45. During reading, where should we stop and debrief? If students are reading at home, where should they stop and summarise what they’ve understood so far?

46. When and how will I expect the students to generate their own questions, and what will they do with them?

48. Students need to hear the words pronounced and to pronounce it themselves, repeatedly. The stress also needs to be practised.

49. They need to connect the sound to the symbols.

50. A definition needs to be given, and multiple definitions, possible causes of confusion, need to be explained.

52. skimming and scanning

53. guessing the meaning of words in context

54. summarising

55. paraphrasing

56. using graphic organisers

57. note-taking

58. differentiating between fact and opinion

59. clarifying

61. Reflect on what know about the topic already and make predictions.

62. Stop and reread confusing bits.

63. When you come to a difficult word, look for clues to meaning and talk through the guessing/figuring out process.

65. Mention text-related questions that arise in your mind as you read.

66. Note punctuation, sentence structures, interesting grammar, use of idioms, humour, transitions, etc.

69. Students work in pairs through other recipes, practising the process modelled by the teacher, with the teacher circulating and supporting.

70. A recipe is cut into strips that students order, justifying decisions in discussion.

71. The joint construction of a recipe for a well-known dish all students have in common.

72. Independent writing of a recipe for a favourite dish, which is then shared with others, edited, and put in a class collection...

74. Students should be paired so that there are not two students with little English together. Ideally, a linguistically stronger student will be matched with a less proficient student.

75. Initially, alternate sentence reading can ease students into this activity. Start with asking students to reread what you have read, paying attention to pronunciation, stress and intonation, punctuation.

77. We can explicitly point out features (language, structures, patterns) of different texts used in different situations.

78. The less students have to guess about these features and choices, the better.

80. Outlining and writing frames: exercises providing 'skeleton' outlines, perhaps with sentence prompts, key vocabulary or pre-arranged paragraphs, to give writers a structure to write in

81. Cloze procedures: exercises in which texts with missing elements - words, phrases, sentences - have to be completed by the student

82. Re-writing: exercises which provide language elements of a text but which require rewriting in some way, perhaps re-arranging in an appropriate order or changing the tone

83. Genre scaffolding: using models or samples to discover and then imitate language features which are commonly used in a particular type of text, such as description or explanationExamples of exercises which work on the principle of guided learning through practice:

85. Joint Construction: an exercise where a group of learners construct a text together, for example on an overhead projector or a flipchart, with the teacher as the 'scribe' and 'mentor', suggesting possible words and phrases but also writing down what the learners say to build up a text (this approach can also be used effectively for revising a first draft)

86. Peer Response Feedback: an exercise where learners work in pairs or small groups, perhaps using prompts provided by the teacher, to respond to each other's writing

89. discuss the pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses of different examples of a particular type of text,

90. identify structural elements, appropriate language, transitions, and so on, and

91. participate in a jointly constructed piece of writing guided by the teacher, they are much more likely to have successful outcomes when they come to produce independent work.

93. assess the strong and weak points, look for better alternatives, and

95. When planning reading activities, consider the linguistic demands being placed on the students as they read.

96. Make the structure, language expectations, and purpose of tasks explicit.

97. When planning, keep in mind a Teaching and Learning Cycle.

98. Model tasks you expect your students to do. Move to collaborative activities and only then to independent work.

99. Try reading in class yourself and establish partner-reading routines, pointing out the features of a text and practising reading skills and strategies.