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Download PDF of scaffold here
theory behind scaffold…
Studies show that memorising academic language is ineffective in the long-term*. Students may be able to pass an exam they are studying for, but without having used the terms to analyse, compare, categorise, and defend their own ideas, most students will forget the meanings of the words as quickly as they learned them.
The solution is easy. We create opportunities for our students to use these words, terms and phrases while analysing, comparing, categorising, and defending their own ideas.
And let’s add one more element: writing. According to experts, writing is the most difficult skill for language learners to master. The difficulty lies not only in generating and organising opinions, but also in translating these ideas into readable text – and in the classroom language. The skills involved in writing are highly complex. When language learners write, they have to pay attention to higher level skills of planning and organising as well as lower-level skills of spelling, punctuation, word choice, etc. The challenge for students becomes even more pronounced if proficiency in their home language is also weak.**
This scaffold combines visual, verbal and writing skills to assimilate academic language, so that students’ linguistic development is supported through varied learning styles. Moreover, when we include translanguaging (judiciously using direct translations of students’ home language to clarify terms), this combination of skills enables them to become more proficient in both the classroom and their home language/s.
Above all, the scaffold turns a purely linguistic activity into a visual puzzle and when we make teaching visible to students, we encourage them to become their own teachers – an important component of becoming lifelong learners. ***
- * Zwiers, Jeff (2011), Academic Conversations Stenhouse Publishers
- ** Richards, Jack C. and Renandya, Willy A. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching, New York, Cambridge University Press.
- *** Hattie, John Visible Learning
step by step…
The concept of this scaffold is to distinguish between two ostensibly identical images – that originate from your students’ books or any resource you may be using. Some images appear in different places on the two copies, so that students are motivated to verbalise, negotiate and later write the differences between the two.
You want to choose and manipulate those images that highlight key vocabulary, terms, and/or phrases from the unit so that students are using, repeating and clarifying these terms, thus deepening their knowledge of their meaning.
- Choose a page with an image from a lesson, unit or project you are about to begin, that has an overview of the academic concepts included. (See example below.)
- Enlarge the image and make two copies of it.
- Choose images from the main image, copy them, and paste them in another place on the duplicated image. (See example below.)
- Prepare and give your students a list of prepositions of location, and cardinal numbers.
- Explain that they will work together in pairs to verbalise the differences they see between the two copies. They repeat everything each of them says (thus reinforcing academic language and prepositions of location.)
Example:
- Formative Assessment: In pairs, students write a 8-10-sentence paragraph about appropriate connections of a nuclear plant and what might happen with inappropriate connections.
- Reflection: Students answer the following questions from the Question Continuum. (Remember, some questions reflect content and others reflect methodology thus augmenting even further self-efficacy.)
- Do you know the main connectors of a nuclear power plant?
- Which are the most important connections in a nuclear power plant?
- Who is responsible for maintaining the security of a nuclear power plant?
- When is power from a nuclear power plant used?
- Where are nuclear power plants in your area?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of a nuclear power plant?
- How do communities react when a nuclear power plant is proposed and/or constructed in their area?
- Why were nuclear power plants invented?
- What if you were given the opportunity to close all nuclear power plants? Would you support the decision and if so, how would you structure the closures and what alternative energy would you offer the communities?
* Richards, Jack C. and Renandya, Willy A. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching, New York, Cambridge University Press.
video explanation of scaffold…
Find more scaffolds here:
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