76. I have a student who speaks good, but not perfect, English. When he attempts to write simple sentences, he does poorly on grammar. What is the best way to teach written English?

The best way to teach written English is to help students SPEAK in English about the topic they wish to write. In ALL languages, GREAT WRITERS usually are GREAT SPEAKERS, too.

Now, a student may "speak" good English when (s)he speaks about familiar topics, when (s)he interacts in informal, conversational situations. A student who speaks "good English" in these types of every-day "polite / survival / common" situations is a speaker who has highly developed "BICS," that is, Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills.

Speaking:

about a school topic that requires high level thinking skills,

about a specialized topic from the content areas,

to describe or explain a content area concept or key idea,

about a topic that requires knowledge of a specialized vocabulary,

demands that the speaker develops "CALP," that is, Cognitive-Academic Language Proficiency. It is very difficult to develop CALP: The language proficiency needed to talk fluently about the key concepts, ideas, topics, issues, themes that form the academic core of the content areas. To WRITE about these key concepts, ideas, topics, issues and themes is extremely difficult, especially in the absence of the ORAL LANGUAGE SKILLS that serve as foundations to writing skills.

How can we help students: Here is a complete lesson plan, including extensions into content areas, from a second grade teacher. Observe how she develops writing skills in her lessons over a period of several days. How she builds the vocabulary for students to TALK about the chosen topic. And, most importantly, HOW SHE DEMONSTRATES, FIRST ORALLY AND THEN IN WRITING, HOW TO USE ALL THE INFORMATION AND VOCABULARY POSTED ON THE WALL CHART to write a paragraph.

Topic: My Favorite Pet

SUBJECT: Written language-vocabulary development and paragraph writing.

OVERALL OBJECTIVE: After thorough development of vocabulary about "My Favorite Pet", students will demonstrate understanding of vocabulary and concepts by writing a paragraph about their favorite animal or pet.

OBJECTIVE 1 (Day 1)

1. Students will understand the concept of "animals as pets in the United States" and compare the concept of animals for a purpose in Mexico.
2. Students will share what their pet is and where they got their pet. Teacher will chart each child's name, his/her pet(s) and where they got their pet.
3. Teacher will introduce additional vocabulary of pets and places that were not mentioned by students. *It is important to introduce new vocabulary after known vocabulary has been named.

OBJECTIVE 2 (Day 2) (Continuation of chart -development of adjectives & verbs)

1. Students will share descriptions of their pet. Teacher will chart descriptions according to color, texture and personality.
2. Students will describe the sounds their pet makes, as teacher charts their responses. ( Development of verbs)
3. Teacher will introduce and chart additional vocabulary not mentioned by the students.

OBJECTIVE 3 (Day 3) (Continuation of chart -development of nouns and verbs)

1. Students will describe what he/she feeds his/her pet and the movements his/her pet makes as teacher charts his/her responses.
2. Teacher will introduce and chart additional vocabulary not mentioned by the students.

OBJECTIVE 4 (Day 4) (Continuation of chart and teacher demonstration)

1. Students will complete vocabulary development by sharing where they keep their pet, as teacher charts their responses.
2. Teacher will demonstrate orally a paragraph about her favorite pet, using the chart as reference.
3. Teacher will demonstrate by writing a paragraph about her favorite pet for students.

OBJECTIVE 5 (Day 5)

1. Students will demonstrate their understanding of vocabulary and write a paragraph about their favorite pet using the categories developed on the chart.

CATEGORIES developed by the teacher on a wall chart over a period of 5 instructional days.

The teacher had written these vocabulary words --organized into categories-- in her lesson plans, as she prepared her lessons. During the lessons, the teacher charted the vocabulary words provided by the students. When the students, as she was charting their responses, did NOT mention the words she had in her lesson plans, then the teacher introduced them as NEW vocabulary.

MY FAVORITE PET

What movements does your pet make?

shell

Here is the DRAWING:

And this is the poem the students will read AFTER the teacher builds the vocabulary through meaningful CATEGORIES.

BEAR IN THERE

There's a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire-
He likes it 'cause it's cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He's nibbling the noodles,
He's munching the rice,
He's slurping the soda,
He's licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he's in there-
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire.

By Shel Silverstein "A Light in the Attic"

Here are the teacher’s vocabulary CATEGORIES, prepared in her lesson plans:

Vocabulary Development for "Bear in There" by Shel Silverstein