Connecting Content and Academic Language for English Learners and Struggling Students, Grades 2-6

While many educators may understand why academic language is important, they may wonder how to teach it more explicitly and effectively. In this hands-on guide, experts Ruth Swinney and Patricia Velasco offer a number of strategies and approaches to help ELLs and struggling learners master the language necessary to access grade-level curriculum and to succeed in related reading, writing, and speaking tasks. Part I of the book focuses on integrateing language development into classroom lessons, and Part II offers thematic units with detailed information on how to model appropriate academic language, address student errors, and identify key vocabulary words and grammatical structures before a lesson. Helpful tools include graphic organizers, concept maps, and numerous examples from a variety of classroom settings and language instruction models.