ELD Lessons: Topic Vocabulary

Nothing like a 3 day weekend to break the rut. But, it's back to work for all. I think by now, practically ALL teachers have started their school years, greeted by Mr. Obama's message to our students, one and all.

In that spirit of positive thinking, let's continue our conversation on the ELD lesson. But um, let's do a light topic today. I need to slowly get back into things here (because I had to dive head on back at work!)

The Purpose to Vocabulary

Why even bother to focus on topic vocabulary? Well, for starters, ELD instruction, like any other content instruction, does not occur in a vacuum. Much like in language arts for example, introducing topic vocabulary in the context of an instructional read aloud, with visuals and many examples our students begin to internalize the vocabulary and improve upon the target skill- e.g. reading comprehension.

However, here's the all important difference: In ELD instruction, content is not the emphasis, language is the driver. In other content areas, content is the target while language is a vehicle towards acquiring the content. The "content" of ELD is language (forms, functions and topical vocabulary)! Crystal clear right??!!

In any case, topics should be engaging, relevant, meaningful and age-appropriate. Certainly teaching the forms, functions and vocabulary without a context would not make kids want to learn at all! So topics make learning the grammatical forms and language functions more interesting!

Just remember, what drives an effective ELD lesson is the language function you are looking to teach, but the variety of topics you use allow students to employ one language function in a variety of settings and contexts!

Hope this makes some sense...it has been a few days since last posting. Get some sleep everyone!

- W