Listening & Speaking
With Language Learners
Strategies*Utilize Choral Responses to build vocabulary and practice proper sentence structure.
*Assign weekly Conversation Partners. Students can engage with their Conversation Partner about problem-solving in math, geography skills in social studies, a piece of text during reading, or a hypothesis in science. Rotate the Conversation Partners often and establish Conversation Partner Norms to ensure students feel safe. *Provide sentence stems for Speaking in partners or to the class. Remember, these can be scaffolded (beginning, developing, advanced) and students can choose which stem to utilize! *Wait Time: Allow the full class think time before partners speak to each other, so all students can gather their thoughts. "My question is _______. I won't call on anyone for thirty seconds so everyone has time to think." *Multiple Opportunities to practice saying a response (after Wait Time): "First, please tell your desk (the ceiling, the wall, the floor, etc.) your answer (wait while they tell their desk). Now, please tell your Conversation Partner your answer (everyone speaks at the SAME TIME so no one is listening). Next, please tell your group your answer (everyone listens to each other this time). Finally, would anyone like to share their thought with the whole class/group?" *Language Experience Approach Whole Body Listening (Behaviors) Clozed songs: Take common children's songs and write out the lyrics with missing words. Have kids fill in the blanks with what they hear. |
LinksThis article from Refugee Classroom by Louise El Yaafouri discusses 8 listening/speaking strategies to engage ELs.
Listening Strategies By: Ana Ruiz McLafferty Log into your WIDA account and view the Speaking Descriptors. EL Speaking Strategies (Scholastic) Chatterpix App or www.blabberize.com: Have students record themselves speaking to pictures! |
Intermediate Strategies*In this section, you will find speaking strategies that are best fit for intermediate classrooms in grades 3-5. *Weekly Pictures from NY Times: What's Going On in This Picture? features one picture a week with no text. Students will use oral language to take their best guesses of what the picture is trying to portray. *Blabberize.com allows you to select an image, draw a mouth on it, and make the image "talk." This is very engaging for students! Students who are studying ancient Egypt, for example, could provide facts from the perspective of a talking pyramid. *Plan each lesson in each content area so that students have time to engage in purposeful speaking/listening. *Utilize Whole Brain Teaching. Here is a great article by Janelle Cox that explains more! *Don't correct oral mistakes. Instead, repeat back the correct way to phrase the statement/question. *Establish Speaking Norms for your classroom. If students do not feel safe making a mistake, they will not speak. *Have students speak to themselves (on iPad camera/Seesaw, etc.) before writing. *Language Experience Approach *ListenWise has a collection of curriculum-aligned (across content areas) listening modules with accompanying activities. This is especially good for intermediate and middle school students. Clozed Songs: Have students listen to popular songs on the radio and write out the lyrics with missing words. Have students listen and fill in the blanks. Listening guides for classroom notes or content videos. |
Intermediate LinksBoost Student Speaking Time
www.wonderopolis.org Kids can wonder aloud and work together to learn about something they've always wondered about- supports inquiry learning! Google Cultural Institute to tour museums all over the world! Expeditions App for guided tours and virtual field trips GeoGuessr is a fun website that drops you somewhere in the world. Kids have to utilize their background knowledge and oracy skills in small groups/whole class to take their best guess. Listening Strategies By: Ana Ruiz McLafferty |
Middle School Strategies*Blabberize.com allows you to select an image, draw a mouth on it, and make the image "talk." This is very engaging for students! Students who are studying ancient Egypt, for example, could provide facts from the perspective of a talking pyramid.
*Utilize Google Voice to create a phone number for students to call. You can record a voice message prompt for students to respond to. They will have 60 seconds to record their voice message. Messages get stored in a Google email account. *Establish Communication Norms for your learning environment. Students who fear rejection or correction will not speak. *Explicitly plan for multiple speaking opportunities during your lesson. *Speak to Self (through video function of iPad), then speak to a partner, then speak to the classroom. This allows students to practice twice before sharing. This gives students three overall opportunities to engage in oral language practice. *Language Experience Approach *ListenWise has a collection of curriculum-aligned (across content areas) listening modules/podcasts with accompanying activities. This is especially good for intermediate and middle school students. Clozed songs or lectures Listening guides for videos or classroom notes Talk, Read, Talk, Write (Check out this page Empowering ELLs for more info on this strategy by Nancy Motley. |
Middle School LinksThis article from Refugee Classroom by Louise El Yaafouri discusses 8 listening/speaking strategies to engage ELs.
The Holy Grail of Speaking (Fluent U) Project Idea: Create an Infomerical to Persuade Speaking Sub Skills The Learning Network from the New York Times shares a photo each week. Students can discuss and respond to prompts to guess what is happening. At the end of each week, the headline is revealed. Listening Strategies By: Ana Ruiz McLafferty |