I plan to help students who are learning English as a second language by:

__ conveying to students that their primary language and home culture is valued and respected (e.g., by encouraging students to retain and/or develop their first language)

__ trying to learn about the cultural beliefs and practices of my students, their families, and their communities as a way of understanding behaviour that might seem strange or unfamiliar to me

__ trying to learn as much as possible about each student's prior knowledge, schooling, and life experiences

__ trying to blend content learning with language learning and strategies learning

__ providing students with resources at a variety of levels of linguistic complexity

__ providing students with opportunities to use English in personally relevant ways

__ using a variety of instructional strategies that enhance language acquisition, such as concept webbing, categorizing, cloze activities, role play or contextual drama, guided reading, and a language experience approach

__ encouraging positive interactions with English speaking students through a variety of instructional strategies such as co-operative learning, and cross-age and peer tutoring

__ using a variety of "sheltering" strategies to make my teacher talk more comprehensible (e.g., pairing non-verbal cues with verbal instruction, paraphrasing and defining important vocabulary in context, using key linguistic structures repeatedly)

__ assessing and building background knowledge prior to reading or listening through visuals, demonstrations, graphic or pictorial organizers, brainstorming, etc.

__ helping students to perceive the text structures of a broad variety of both oral and written text types through the use of graphic organizers

__ using a variety of "scaffolding" techniques to encourage students to move beyond their current level of proficiency (e.g., feeding back a more precise term or a more correct structure, asking students to clarify or expand on what they have said)

__ using a variety of alternative assessment strategies that measure the progress of students engaged in meaningful tasks and that provide meaningful and positive descriptions of what they know, understand, and can do

__ seeking out opportunities for professional development related to second language learning.