Teaching ESL Using Graphic Organizers

AmericanPronunciationCoach.com 1

Peggy Tharpe, AmericanPronunciationCoach.com
AmericanPronunciationCoach.com

Graphic Organizers
Power tools that help ESL and EFL students develop and
use language.
1

DO YOU HAVE ESL STUDENTS IN YOUR MAINSTREAM CLASSROOM?
By building graphic organizers on the board with students as they talk about a subject
matter, teachers give ESL students the time and opportunity to observe the language
being used, see the development of relationships between phrases and ideas, and
have the chance to experiment with it themselves.

Venn Diagrams: Language
of Compare and Contrast
1

The language “power tools” used to discuss information in a Venn diagram are
terms of comparison and contrast. At the simplest level, students learn to formulate
statements using conjunctions like ‘but’ and ‘however’ to describe how the two
topics are different, and terms like ‘and’ and ‘both’ to discuss commonalities.
Question formats elicited from the Venn information can also focus on comparisons
and contrasts.

Filling in a Venn gives teacher and students lots of opportunities to use the new
vocabulary, using the language of comparison and contrast. This first Venn uses
language related to weather, climate, precipitation, and numbers. The Amazon Rain
Forest receives 175 inches of rain per year, however, the Mojave Desert receives
only 2-to-6 inches of rain per year. There is only a small change in temperature in
the Rain Forest, but in the Desert, there is a large change in daily temperature. etc.

Compare the Amazon Rain Forest & the Mojave
Desert
Develop vocabulary, enter it into Venn, compare and contrast orally, transfer
that to writing. Lots of opportunities for numbers, measurement, and
scientific terms.

Same topic, easier language
Building graphics organizers as you go is much more interactive, more memorable
and more meaningful to students.

GO SLOWLY AND BUILD IT TOGETHER
If you build these graphic organizers in class (instead of using already-made tables
and charts), you’ll give ESL students multiple opportunities to hear and process new
language as it’s being spoken. ESL students hear teacher and classmates negotiate
meaning, paraphrase, summarize, and decide on the the most relevant information to
add to the graphic organizer.

Table Charts: Language of
Cause and Effect
2

Next is an example taken from an American history class.
Create student teams and “jigsaw” these laws so that each team member
studies a different law and shares their information with their team. They must
establish the date, provide a one-sentence clear explanation of it, and describe
the reactions by colonists, and enter this information into the team chart.

Law or Tax Date Explanation Result
Navigation Act 1660 Goods imported from
Europe, Africa and Asia
had to go through Britain
before they could come to
the colonies.
Many merchants smuggled
goods into the colonies.
Sugar Act 1764 Merchants had to pay
taxes on sugar and
molasses from the West
Indies.
Merchants were angry
about high taxes; they had
to raise prices.
Quartering Act 1765 Colonists had to give
British soldiers food and
housing.
Colonists were angry and
felt the soldiers were there
to spy on them.
Stamp Act 1765 For the first time, colonists
had to pay a direct tax on
50 items they commonly
used.
Newspapers said the tax
was unfair. Merchants
complained.
Colonists assembled to
protest.
By having teams develop these charts as a group, they are creating a perfect reference point and study source for your linguistically overwhelmed ESL
students.

Bridge from Speaking to Writing3

Use Organizers to Bridge from Speaking to Writing
It’s a short jump from the filled-in chart to a short, factual essay. Read the
paragraph below, in italics, about the Navigation Act. It was created using the
language from the first row of the chart, with the addition of 3 bolded ’power tools’
for ESL students.
“The British imposed taxes on the colonies. The Navigation Act, imposed in l660,
said that goods imported from Europe, Africa, and Asia had to go through Britain
before they could come to the colonies. As a result, many merchants smuggled
goods into the colonies.”

Assessments Based on
Graphic Organizers
4

What About Assessment?
Be sure to assess only what was taught. Assessment for ESL students must be
different from assessment for mainstream students, who come with a lifetime of
English language experience and background information.
ESL students are just beginning to accumulate language, so test what you’ve
taught to them, not what you’ve covered with the whole class of native English
speakers.
To see examples of assessments for ESL students’ and read more about how to
extend the learning potential of graphic organizers, click here.

Graphic organizers are fantastic ways to develop vocabulary, speaking skills,
functional terms, writing skills…everything is built right into them. They make
language concrete. They help your students feel more in control of their learning.
And most importantly, they deepen and strengthen the language your students learn.

Want to read the full
pdf this was taken
from?
Click here

Teaching ESL Using Graphic Organizers

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