 Okay, the next topic is setting content objectives and language objectives. Before watching this video, have a discussion about what you think academic language is. Academic language includes syntax, which is word order, sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary. Ultimately, we want ELLs to acquire academic language so that they can fully participate in the classroom and achieve success at school. For example, we want them to be able to express themselves with complex ideas fluently and confidently, both verbally and in writing. We want them to listen and read with full comprehension. Too often, ELLs plateau at the intermediate level of English proficiency because they have not been adequately supported in acquiring academic language. ELLs have the same number of years in school as their native English speakers. Consequently, they need an accelerated approach to instruction to catch up. They need lessons that build their knowledge about how the English language works while learning content. In other words, we need to teach students about English and not just teach in English. One way to accomplish this is to set content objectives and language objectives. This is a comprehensive approach, which requires time and pre-planning, but the payoff for language growth is significant. Where do you begin? Teachers are well-versed in setting content objectives. They are found in the programs of study and state what students will learn and be able to do. For example, a content objective could be, students will understand how decomposers are different from producers. Language objectives, on the other hand, support the linguistic development of ELLs. The teacher analyzes the language demands of the task and then develops lessons that support structured language use based on the student's English proficiency. The language objective complements the learning objective. The teacher asks, what are the language demands of this learning? So let's take a look at language demands in the classroom. There are three kinds of language demands that we need to consider. Function, form, and vocabulary. The function of the language is the purpose for speaking. What are we asking students to do with language? And there are examples here of some of the things we ask students to do. Compare, describe, persuade, infer, and so on. The form of language is the grammatical structure or the way that words are put together. And then there's the academic vocabulary. So with the earlier example, students will understand how decomposers are different from producers. The teacher thinks, what are the language demands of this task? What am I asking my students to do? So you can see that we're comparing decomposers and producers. But before that, the students are probably going to need to define what a decomposer is and what a producer is. Next think, what language structures are students going to need to communicate comparing and contrasting a decomposer and a producer? How do we put words together to do that? And then there's the vocabulary of this particular science unit. So it might be decomposer, producer, organism, perhaps ecosystem. So let's take a look at what the teacher would do with this content objective. So the function is to define decomposer and producer, and then later they're going to compare and contrast the two. So defining would look like this. As something is as something. A decomposer is an organism that breaks down dead or decaying organisms. A producer is a source of food. Students are using the academic vocabulary to decompose their producer organism decaying source. So already you can see the number of words that students are going to need to know. Later, when students are comparing and contrasting the two, they could use a paragraph template something like this. Something producers and decomposers are similar, and then later in the paragraph both decomposers and producers are different in several ways. Students can use this pattern along with the academic language of the science unit to express their understanding. When teachers show ELLs the pattern for compare and contrast, students can transfer this to other content areas, such as comparing two characters in a novel or two triangles in geometry. The point I'd like you to take away is that we speak and write in predictable ways. Here are some common linguistic forms that we find in the classroom. If they had to explain something sequentially, we use words like first, second, next, and finally. All of these forms consist of predictable words and phrases. When teachers intentionally teach these patterns of language, we are front-loading language so that students are better able to participate in the lesson and understand the content. We're making the invisible skills visible that are needed to participate and to build students' academic language. Another way to think of this is as a construction metaphor of bricks and mortar. Deutro, the reference is on your study guide, talked about bricks as being the topic-specific vocabulary, and the mortar are the functional words holding the key vocabulary together. So in this case, decomposer, organism, and so on are the brick words, and the mortar are the smaller words that only have meaning in the content text of the sentence. If you want to know more about this, Susanna Deutro has many examples of linguistic forms and functions on her website, and I know this is a blurry picture, but this is a forms and functions chart for language arts. And then you can see how the sentences going across the chart increase in complexity. So once you've decided on your language objective, you can accommodate different levels of proficiency. A first consideration is to look at what your students are doing with language and what they're expected to do with language at various levels of proficiency, and that is what drives instruction. As mentioned in the previous clip, students move from simple words and phrases to longer sentences, more complex sentences, and academic vocabulary. Also be clear with students that this is the skill that they're going to learn this week, or this month. You're going to learn the language needed to compare and contrast two things, for example. You can post this language objective in your classroom so that students are clearly aware of what it is they need, what academic language they need to participate. And also notice that you don't need to write a language objective for each proficiency level. You choose one language objective, such as compare and contrast, and then you adapt it for every level of proficiency. So what might this look like in the classroom? I will share one more example with you. First of all, though, here's a sample chart of a describing task. The students are asked to describe a brown bear from simple to complex, level one to level five levels of proficiency. So in the next activity, let's just say the content objective is that students will be able to compare and contrast lakes and oceans. The students, again, are using the language function of compare and contrast, so I know what the form of that looks like. The target vocabulary is put on a wall chart, and you can see that the language varies depending on level of proficiency. The words on the right-hand side could be for students that can understand a bit more English. So students at a level one of proficiency are probably only going to be able to match pictures and words. So we have an ocean and a lake, and we have visuals that we supply for those students, and they would simply match ocean and lake, and perhaps big and small. A level two student is going to be able to create simple sentences based on this task. So a sentence frame could be, an ocean is big, a lake is small. A level three student should be able to compare and contrast, so we might want to teach the E-R-E-S-T comparative form of words so that they're able to say a notion is larger than a lake. And again, as I showed you in the last clip, level four and five are going to be better able to use language, but we could still provide a compare-contrast template for them to be able to do this task using complex language structures. Why is this important to know? Setting content objectives and analyzing the lesson for language objectives is a high leverage strategy for building ELL's academic language proficiency. As Dutro says, we argue that well-planned and early use of academic language accelerates acquisition. The utterances students learn, practice, and generate move from simple to complex depending on their level of English proficiency. Always building toward the goal of fully proficient use. So we want to give students those tools so that they can grow in their language. If you think back to the previous clip of the triangles and the circle that you were trying to describe, this is giving students those structures and words so that they're able to express themselves. We want to give students those tools needed to grow in language, to grow with their language proficiency, and we also know that teaching language and content together just makes sense. We have to have something to talk about, so we really want to have both of those things happening at once. Here are two samples of writing before and after explicit language instruction. So I'll just read the first paragraph to you. I really not need humanity 20 writing class because since time I come to United States, all my friends speak language. Until now, everyone understand me and I don't need study language. I don't know Vietnam language, I speak only English. I have no communication problem with my friend in dorm, my English teacher in high school, key person to teach me. And after explicit language instruction, I am apologized for having to send you this information at the last minute. I still need a letter. This letter should discuss my qualifications, skills, and accomplishments. It should be written on letter head and addressed to whom it may concern and submitted with a recommendation form which I will give to you tomorrow. Thank you.