Recycle it! Learning and Lessons in Beginning ESL
Created by Darlene Snider ESL Instructor
This curriculum was designed for level 1 and level 2 ESL learners at Walla Walla community College. The curriculum focuses on developing English communication skills and providing opportunities for learners to use these skills inside the classroom and outside in the community. The units reflect the needs and interests of the learners. The lessons were designed using the WASLS with a special focus reading.
Class Goal/ Life based Task: Each student will read with understanding information about different recycling programs in their community. Students will identify ways to participate in campus and community recycling programs.
Types of Texts to be used:
Textbook phonebook Teacher- written dictation
Flyers Students writing
Internet websites www.reduce.org and www.globalstewards.org
Overview of the Unit
Themes for the quarter are selected during the second week of classes. Individual lessons are designed to meet students stated needs and to accommodate students who enter the program throughout the quarter. The theme of reduce, reuse, and recycle is then “recycled” into each unit of lessons. Once the students have completed several of the individual lessons they use information to guide reading, and begin to form questions around the topic of recycling. A problem posing approach is used to help guide the final lessons and to empower students to take action at school, at home, and in their community. Vocabulary and alphabetic instruction is explicitly taught in each lesson in order to strengthen basic literacy skills. Special attention is given to addressing the TLOs in the Washington State Learning Standards at level 1 &2. To practice fluency students work individually, and in groups to read high interest materials- brochures, ads, maps, signs, stories, internet articles, and teacher/student writing. Comprehension activities are built into individual lessons and include the ability to present new ideas, analyze and interpret new information using context clues, recognize and use signs and symbols, articulate(with visual and verbal scaffolding) the impact of new information on ideas and behaviors.
Read with Understanding Classroom Activity Form
Recycling Unit
Thematic Unit: Broad overview of connection to the learning standards.
Components of the Standard / How did the lesson help students develop these knowledge, skills, and strategies?Determine the reading purpose. / Students want to know how they can participate in community and campus recycling efforts.
(Guiding questions and visuals were used to determine the level of interest in this topic.)
Students form/answer questions about what they can do to participate in community recycling programs.
Select reading strategies appropriate to the purpose. / Students skim and scan a variety of materials to locate new words/ information pertaining to the topic.
Students locate information in the phone book, flyers, stories, and on the internet to answer simple questions.
Students decode new information- using a picture dictionary or asking for clarification.
Monitor comprehension and adjust reading strategies. / Students work in groups to answer questions. Students re-read, discuss, and/ or ask for clarification. Students generate questions and find the answers to their questions. Students reread complex content and use learned strategies to ask for clarification.
Students work individually on tasks to apply knowledge to their own lives and to reflect on meaning.
Analyze the information and reflect on its underlying meaning. / Students use a graphic organizer to sort out new information.
Using the Problem Posing approach- students use answers to WH questions to summarize information, advocate for the cause, and to plan the field trip.
(technology)Students their own digital photos to summarize the planning process and field trip experience
Recycle it!
Unit #1 Housing
Types of housing
Household Problems
Bills to pay- “How much is your water bill”?
(lesson plan included in handouts)
Extension activities: “Earth day”- Visit the Woman’s center on campus. Learn about the activities at the center and get a house plant!
Trip to the Water Center
Unit #2 Food
Types of food containers- word sort activity
Types of materials
Shopping habits
What to recycle
Extension activities: Sorting exercise (TPR)
What do we have in our classroom garbage? What can we recycle?
What can we reuse?
Ways to reuse a grocery bag:
1. Wastebasket liners
2. When I travel, I put shoes in the bags, and then in our suitcase. Nothing gets dirty!
3. Packing material when mailing things. They are very lightweight and fit around any item.
4. Wet bathing suits or towels. The larger bags can be used to cover car seats when the kids are wearing the wet bathing suits!
5. Carrying lunches to work or school or on a field trip.
6. If you're painting, cover your hands with a plastic bag and your hands will stay clean. Put the roller in the bag and then remove the roller from the paint sleeve to keep your hands clean
Unit #3 Places in the community
Identify People and Places in the community
“What chemicals do we use in our homes?”
“Who uses them?” What do we need to know?
Signs
Danger/ Information signs
Jobs in the community- focus on exterminator!
Extension: Reading about Pesticides and Exterminators.
Reading taken from English in Action 1- Page 178
Locate phone numbers in the phone book.
Unit #4 Problem posing exercise-
What do we need to do to keep our community save for our families?
“What is the Problem?”
Students generate Wh- questions and pose possible solutions.
Problem Solution Outline- see handout
Extension exercise: Students prepare a PowerPoint presentation and share it with the Level 3-4 ESL Class.
(Student generated script to accompany pictures in the PowerPoint.)
We have a problem!
There is too much trash!
We need to save the earth for our children.
We need to recycle.
We need to teach our children to recycle.
We can recycle in our homes or we can take our recycling to the recycling center.
We are going to the recycling center next week.
Thursday, May 29th.
We are going to take two suburbans.
We are going to take our recycling to the center.
We are going to get money, but more importantly, we are going to save the earth.
We need more people to help us.
Please help us!
Unit # 4 Map reading Skills
Directions
Time and distance
Extension: In the computer lab, Students type in the website for the recycling center. What information can they find? Print the page and come back to class and talk about the maps and other information.
Students prepare to read the directions to Darlene as she drives to the recycling center.
Unit #5 The Field Trip to the local recycling center.
Based on Bright Ideas Heidi Wrigley Unit 3- www.clese.org
(Materials: digital camera, scale)
Day 1 - Pre-trip activity
Read information from the brochure and answer questions.
Skim and scan for information.
On the board,- students generate a list of things they think they will see at the recycling center. Students copy the words into the work sheet and use these as vocabulary words for the day.
Make a list of the signs you think you will see (I used my signs flashcards to do a sort first).
Make a list of questions we want to ask the employee at the recycling center. Students practice asking/ answering the questions. Then they role play all possible answers, then copy the questions into their notebooks.
As a class, we decide who will ask the questions. They copy their question onto a small note card so they can take it home and practice. The next day they bring the note card on the trip and they look for an opportunity to ask their question.
Day 2 We are going to the recycling center today!
Practice a dialogue:
Hi, where are you going?
I’m going to take some stuff to the recycling center.
Oh, what are you taking?
Let me see. I have some plastic, glass and paper.
That’s great! Drive carefully and I’ll See you later.
OK, see you later.
Before we go:
Practice using the camera
Identify and sort items into bags
Weight items and estimate how much money we will receive.
Trip Assignments:
In class, we practiced using the digital camera. Each group was given an assignment and a corresponding number. They were asked to pass the camera along to another student so that each student could have a turn taking a picture with the digital camera.
TASKS
1. Find a sign that has information about the place you are visiting and take a picture.
2. Find an employee and ask if you can take their picture.
3. Look for a symbol sign that gives information and take a picture.
4. Look for a warning sign and take a picture.
5. Take a picture of something you can recycle.
6. Take a picture of your classmate.
7. Ask someone a question you practiced in class.
Day 3 The next day!
Field Trip Pictures- Slide Show and discussion (this was really fun)
I asked these questions.
Who is in the picture?
What are they doing?
What does the picture help you to remember about the trip?
Then I divided the students into small groups and gave each group one picture to discuss.
I wrote my questions on the board and asked them to practice asking and answering the questions with their partner. They switched groups a few times.
Write the Field Trip Story
Dictation exercise/ past tense verbs
I typed the story about our trip on the computer and made copies for each student. We read the story out loud and students completed the dictation using the words provided at the bottom of the page. I divide the students into pairs and they re- read the story to each other. They asked for clarification on new words. Students made a list of new words in their notebook
Finally, I handed copies of the pictures and students used the slides to free write words and sentences!
FOOD CONTAINERS AND RECYCLING
WORD SORT
FOCUS: ALPHABETICS//VOCABULARY
COMPREHENSION
Academic: Can and can’t
Teaching and learning objective
1A3 Reread, Compare understanding with another reader
2B2 Recognize letter patterns learned through personally-relevant words
2C1 Understand meaning of words in relation to the community
Questions:
What words do you recognize?
How do you find out the meanings of new words?
What can you recycle?
What can’t you recycle?
Follow up writing activity:
Students read about the community recycling program.
Students locate contact information.
Students re-read the flyer with a partner and work together decode new information.
Students write a sentence in their notebook.
Students pass their books to their partner.
They read their partners sentences and add one more sentence.
The research used to inform this presentation includes classroom practice and student assessment along with the application of in-depth exploration of the Washington State Learning Standards while participating as an ESL Reading CADRE member.
Additional Resources include:
Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles Website: www.nifl.gov
Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults: www.nifl.gov
Research-Based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction: www.nifl.gov
Teaching Low-level Adult ESL Learners: www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/HOLT.html
What works for Adult ESL Literacy Students: www.ncsall.net
Equipped for the Future eff.cls.utk.edu
Foley Barbara H, Neblett Elizabeth (2003) English in Action: Heinle
Curriculum ideas taken from:
Heidi Wrigley (field trip unit#3) http://www.clese.org/brightideas_eslcurric.htm
California distance learning project http://www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=stories&topic
Reading materials used in the lessons were adapted from http://www.reduce.org and www.globalstewards.org
Civics material http://www.elcivics.com
Activities and reading www.marshaladulteducation.org
Hands- on English, Vol.17, No.6
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