ESOL+Online+-+Secondary+Mainstream

SECONDARY SCHOOLS LITERACY INITIATIVES
==Each subject has its own specialist language usages and text types and therefore its own literacy demands. The responsibility for supporting students' literacy lies not with parents, primary schools or the English department, but with //individual// subject teachers, working in their curriculum areas.==

- classrooms are more learning-oriented places; students' behaviour and engagement improves
**NOTE:**

**[|ESOL Online - Secondary Mainstream] has pages devoted to subject specific and generic literacy strategies for the secondary school classroom. **

= **SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF GOOD LITERACY PRACTICE:** =

Incorporating these seven principles into your planning will help your students make academic progress in your curriculum area while they are learning English.

1. Know your learners - their language background, their language proficiency, their experiential background.
//What do you know about your students' language skills? What do you know about their prior knowledge? How will you find out this information? How will it affect your planning?//

Useful strategies:

[|KWL] [|Anticipatory Reading Guides] [|Word Clusters] [|Structured Overviews]

2. Identify the learning outcomes including the language demands of the teaching and learning.
//What language do the students need to complete the task? Do the students know what the content and language learning outcomes are?//

3. Maintain and make explicit the same learning outcomes for all the learners.
//How can I make the lesson comprehensible to all students? How can I plan the learning tasks so that all the students are actively involved? Do my students understand the learning outcomes?//

Useful strategies:

[|Joint Text Construction] [|Writing Frames]

4. Begin with context embedded tasks which make the abstract concrete.
//How can I put these concepts into a concrete context?//

Useful strategies:

[|Interactive Cloze] [|Three Level Reading Guides]

5. Provide multiple opportunities for authentic language use with a focus on students using academic language.
//Is the language focus on key language? Do I make sure the students have many opportunities to notice and use new language?//

Useful strategies:

[|Information Transfer] [|4/3/2] [|Combining Tasks] [|Preview/Simplified Text Summary] [|Summarizing]

6. Ensure a balance between receptive and productive language.
//Are the students using both productive (speaking, writing) and receptive (listening, reading) language in this lesson?//

7. Include opportunities for monitoring and self-evaluation.
//Am I using 'think alouds' to show students my strategy use? What opportunities are there for reflection and self-evaluation?//

Useful Strategies:

[|Think Alouds] [|Self Checklists] [|Student Learning Logs]

=**NOTE:** =

For examples of the use of these strategies in a level 4 and 5 maths unit click [|here]

For examples of the use of these strategies in a level 4 and 5 science unit click [|here]

For more details on ways you can use these strategies in the classroom click [|here]