Sheltered Instruction - An Early Strategy

Sheltered Instruction is one of the most effective methods for teaching ELL’s and ensuring their comprehension and ability to progress in their fluency after beginner levels. It helps ELL students gain proficiency and literacy in their L2 via exposure to content lessons.

Science is a great content area for students to participate in sheltered instruction because it allows them to learn through means than other, traditional classes; especially effective are thematic lessons based on a central theme and this can let students learn more intensely and effectively.

Speaking and Presentation are other good areas for learning in a sheltered instruction environment. It is very good for building academic knowledge and helping students prepare their presentation skills. Additionally, speaking in front of peers allows students to bridge the gap between social and academic language,  because they are forced to use more formal language and full sentences when presenting information to their classmates.  Development of these skills can assist students in bridging the gap between BICS and CALP, and therefore help them to enrich their English speaking, reading, writing and listening abilities.

I have created a one-week lesson plan for incorporating elements of Sheltered Instruction, in regular lessons as well as content lessons. I focused on enhancing science vocabulary proficiency and speaking and presentation lessons as well as daily theme lessons and morning work. 

One-Week Lesson Plan

Grade Level: 1 / 2	Content Area 1: Science	Content Area 2:Speaking and Presentation
Theme: Habitat	Learning Objectives: After three science classes, students should be able to write 2 pages about the Arctic Habitat, its plants, animals, and features. Writing should include a topic sentence and well-developed paragraphs. Additionally, students should be able to write a paragraph about any of the specific plants, animals or features of the habitat for the presentation board.	Learning Objectives: Students should be able to present a coherent and informative ‘mini lesson’ to the class and Science Teacher about their specific aspect of the Arctic Habitat.
Real-Life Application: Why is this relevant to students’ lives? Students can learn effective communication skills; collaboration skills and how to effectively perform academic tasks while simultaneously learning discourse and will effectively integrate all four elements of successful English instruction.
Enrichment Experience: What speakers, field trips, etc. will be included? Students will attend presentations from other classes and will enjoy the boards and dioramas created by their peers.
Project: What will students create as a result of this lesson plan? Students have already created a life-size diorama of the Arctic Habitat before the submission of this lesson plan, and during this week they will enrich their technical knowledge of the theme and collaborate on a group poster. Students will also write a 2-page descriptive non-fiction text about the Arctic Habitat for display in the hallway.
Presentation and Celebration: How will students present their projects and celebrate their success? Students will present their posters to the science content teacher, the homeroom teachers, and their peers. Next week, students will present their posters to the science teacher and homeroom teachers. Students will receive feedback from teachers and homeroom teachers will provide comments for the parents in the daily report, with encouragement to praise their children’s successes.

Day 1 Lesson Plan
Time Requirement	Strategy/Activity	Resources
20 minutes – Morning Work	Sheltered Instruction – Preparation: Students will learn the vocabulary and concepts related to habitats. Students will try to match the pictures independently at first, and then we will review the answers as a class.	Printed sheet of matching pictures to words
20 minutes Theme Class	Review – Students will come to the touch screen and match the previously discussed pictures to words.	National Geographic Kids website: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com /games/
10 minutes Theme Class	Assessment  - Students will employ an oral retelling of the vocabulary they learned. I will ask detailed questions garnering specific responses, ie: “I am a big, white animal that eats seals and fish. What am I?” Students’ answers will be written on the board for review and concept checking.

Day 2 Lesson Plan
Time Requirement	Strategy/Activity	Resources
10 minutes Morning Work	Review - Quizlet Activity – Cards Students will complete the activity on the touch screen as they finish their regular Tuesday morning work. If they finish correctly, they will move on to wash their hands for snack.	https://quizlet.com/ 87389466/flashcards
30 minutes – Science Class  (With Content Teacher)	Focusing on a comprehensible input strategy – First show students a BrainPopJr video about Arctic Habitats. This video has questions that allow teachers to pause and ask students to preview concepts and allow them to activate schema about habitats and ecosystems.	Students will sit on the mat and watch the touch screen.
10 minutes Science Class	Review - Brainpop  Jr “Talk About It “ – Students will be expected to compare the arctic habitat to another habitat by using a Venn diagram to talk about the similarities and differences. Students can choose their own habitat or use suggestions from the Habitat Wall in the Science classroom.	A Venn Diagram from the BrainPopJr website printed on paper for each student.

Day 3 Lesson Plan
Time Requirement	Strategy/Activity	Resources
10 minutes Morning Work	Review - Quizlet Activity – Scatter – Students will take turns in teams to correctly answer the questions. Students will be allowed to consult with teammates if they speak in full sentences.	https://quizlet.com/87389466/scatter
30 minute Science Class (With Content Teacher)	Discussion Class – meaningful tasks, model and assigning turn taking and supporting or disagreeing with clarification (The Education Alliance at Brown University, 2006). This will be enabled by teachers providing questions that students can answer with details and show their individual understanding	Habitat Wall in Science class will be used to allow students to brainstorm and gather ideas. Students will look at pictures, video clips, and other gathered materials to help them produce ideas and relevant details about the topic.
15 minutes Theme Class	Assessment  - Brainstorm Blitz – Students will receive a modified T- Chart with 3 columns titled Animals, Plants Features and will be responsible for using the information they learned about the Arctic to complete the paper.  Students will not be expected to write in full sentences at this stage.	T-Chart printed on paper with access to the brainstorm chart on the touchscreen featuring pictures and short captions.

Day 4 Lesson Plan
Time Requirement	Strategy/Activity	Resources
30 minutes Writing Class	Write about Arctic Habitat using full paragraphs, topic sentence, and details. Students will be allowed to consult their brainstorm charts from the previous day to assist them.	Brainstorm chart, spelling dictionary.
30 minutes Speaking and Presentation Class / 25 minutes Theme Class	Start Poster Board – Students will be split into groups of 5 and asked to present on one of the main ideas – Animals, Plants or Features.	1 presentation board for each group, printed pictures of each element discussed in class, lined paragraph paper, crayons, glue, writing tools and colored construction paper for decoration.

Day 5 Lesson Plan
Time Requirement	Strategy/Activity	Resources
20 minutes Morning Work	Finishing touches on poster/practice and assign speaking parts to each student.	Previous class work.
30 minutes Science Class	Present poster to classmates and Science teacher

Sheltered instruction is a great way to add structure and success to thematic lessons, especially science and other content areas in ELL classes where students have moved past a basic, beginner level of English. It is important for teachers to enhance students’ learning through content lessons with reduced language difficulty, in order to ensure student comprehension and success in the classroom.

Utilizing sheltered instruction in science classes has proven to be extremely successful in explaining difficult to understand concepts to ELLs. This makes it a great method of teaching for these students in semi-immersion programs with no L1 support. This is an effective method of instruction as long as teachers keep expectations high, but reasonable, and keep their students’ individual progresses in mind.