Sheltered Instruction

Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English

Effective sheltered content instruction provides English learners with access to the core curriculum while concurrently developing their proficiency in academic English.

Student Engagement Strategies

Student engagement strategies are essential tools to implement in your classroom to help students internalize language and get "miles on the tongue". Structured Oral Language Practice routines help students internalize academic language patterns and content-specific vocabulary. We need to provide students multiple opportunities to practice in engaging and supportive settings.

There are a myriad of strategies for structuring interaction. Here are instructions for incorporating nine different routines in your classroom.

Structured Oral Practice Routines

Here are some templates for some Structured Language Practice Routines that assist in engaging your students in purposeful and extended discourse while also requiring students to turn in a brief written product to ensure individual accountability.

A-B Conversations

Clock Appointments

Conducting an Interview

Academic Response Frames and Writing Templates

Response frames and writing templates provide our students the necessary scaffolds they need for academic oral and written discourse. We must explicitly teach our students to recognize and utilize the distinct language functions they encounter in their daily content course work in ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies. The dominant language functions and text structures found in these academic core subjects include: Compare & Contrast, Cause & Effect, Description/Elaboration, Proposition & Support, and Sequencing.

Here are some resources you can use in your classrooms to equip students with the language they need to express their thinking.

A Thumbnail Look at Common Functions

Response Frames for Academic Writing and Speaking

Cause and Effect Signal Words and Sentence Frames

Compare and Contrast Signal Words and Sentence Frames

Elaboration and Description Signal Words and Sentence Frames

Proposition and Support Signal Words and Sentence Frames

Sequencing Signal Words and Sentence Frames

Genre Writing Templates

Expository Writing Template

Narrative Writing Template

Persuasive Writing Template