Instructional Resource Guide: Lesson on Thanksgiving 1

Instructional Resource Guide: A Lesson on the Thanksgiving Holiday

Kayla Teeney

TESL 220

Lesson on Thanksgiving 2

A Lesson on Thanksgiving

Cover Page (1 page)

Table of Content (1 page)

Introduction

o Guide overview and rationale. Your narrative should clearly frame your

understanding of the developmental stages of second language learners,

instructional strategies and curriculum modification included in your Instructional

Resource Guide (1-2 pages).

ELL Learning Outcomes

o List of student learning outcomes and content understanding supported in your

guide (you may use a chart and/or matrix to show this information). Make sure to

include how these learning outcomes and content understanding will support the

different phases of English language acquisition (1-2 pages).

Instructional Strategies

o Detailed description of teaching strategies and activities, at least six (6) that support

ELL instruction and increase English language production (2-3 pages).

Work Samples

o Select three (3) instructional activities (with student work sample) from section 4

and describe how they can be modified to teach ELL in the “silent period” of

language acquisition (3-5 pages).

Annotated Bibliography

o Annotated bibliography of content resources, including thematic literature,

technology support and community resources (2-3 pages).

Summary Reflection

o Your summary must clearly articulate how this assignment contributed to your

growth as a future educator and your understanding of culturally and linguistically

diverse students (1-2 pages).

Lesson on Thanksgiving 3

Introduction

This instruction resource guide is meant as a tool for teachers with students learning

English as a second language. This guide in particular deals with how to teach students who are

for the first time learning about the uniquely American Holiday of Thanksgiving. It is a

challenging topic to teach ELL’s because it is a concept that American culture has created to

honor a specific event in our cultural History. The nature of Thanksgiving, because there are few

if any ties to other cultures make it a difficult topic to teach to a child who has no knowledge of

the American culture and for this reason also, it makes it a fantastic topic to teach an ELL as an

introduction to American culture. It is a perfect topic to teach to any stage of language

acquisition; in pre-production period you can teach this lesson without any input needed from

the student. You can make the lesson very image heavy showing the foods and historical people

and sites associated with this event. Thanksgiving would also play nicely into the early

production and speech emergence as the student learns words for many kinds of foods, places

and actions. For beginning fluency and intermediate fluency, the teacher could create

numerous group activities in which the ELL would feel comfortable such as a mini-feast day to

make the child feel comfortable to speak freely or a create day where all the students make

hand turkey’s. For the children in the advanced fluency stage of language acquisition the

teacher can invite students to look into holidays and events that are similar to Thanksgiving in

their culture and provide them with the opportunity to share their special Holiday with the

class. Curriculum in this guide can also easily be adjusted to take into consideration the

different stages of language acquisition such as giving them a group role that involves less

Lesson on Thanksgiving 4

talking and more drawing. The teacher could also have the ELL students draw their understanding of

Thanksgiving rather than making them write or speak sentences.

ELL Learning Outcomes

The Student Will How to Achieve

Know that Thanksgiving is something that Americans celebrate to show how thankful they are

The teacher will read a picture book to the students on Thanksgiving. The picture book must either be large print or projected on the screen and the teacher will point to words as she reads them and make special emphasis on words the students will be seeing more in the lesson such as the location and the important people

Be able to identify the location of the first Thanksgiving

This portion of the assignment will be very image heave to accommodate pre-production, early production, speech emergent and beginning fluency students. The teacher will say the name of the location, project an image of the map with the location clearly marked and the name printed in bold noticeable lettering. Next the teacher will show the students other pictures of the setting of the first Thanksgiving as rendered by artists. Then the teacher will go back to the picture of the map and give students their own copy of the labeled map and have then write in the name in the blank and have them color it!

Be able to identify the main names associated with the first Thanksgiving

For this objective the teacher will once again make the lesson very image heavy showing artist renditions of the people in question. The teacher will project the images on to the screen with their names clearly labeled for every picture. This is good for pre-production all the way through advanced second language acquisition because it will allow the ELL student to identify the face of the person with the name of the person.

Be able to identify when families celebrate Thanksgiving and what it looks like when a family does celebrate.

The teacher will show a calendar and point out what day Thanksgiving will be that year and that it always comes on a Thursday. The teacher will visually point to the day and show by a graphic that Thanksgiving falls on that day. Then the teacher will show images of American families celebrating Thanksgiving to show the students what a modern day celebration would look like. Then the class will have a mini-Thanksgiving day where the class makes hand turkeys and have a little feast with some traditional Thanksgiving food. During this day the teacher would invite intermediate to advance fluency ELL’s to share a holiday they have in their culture that is similar to Thanksgiving, with much assistance from parents (since they are little ones ). The teacher could invite other classes to come and see.

Lesson on Thanksgiving 5

Instructional Strategies

1. Reading Out Loud

For the ELL student, hearing the text read out loud is key. They need to learn how the

words sound and how to pronounce them. They only way to learn this though, is through direct

modeling whether it be teacher lead or led by a group member or partner. The teacher, when

modeling this reading aloud, will make sure the ELL student can see the text and the

accompanying pictures. As the teacher reads she will use a pointer to point to the words as she

says them. This way the ELL will work on identifying the written and spoken word. By presenting

the text and saying it out loud, this allows for the silent period ELL’s to be involved in the

listening and seeing part, they will be listening to the text while the teacher makes it clear what

words she is reading. In this lesson, the teacher will be reading a book to introduce the topic,

Thanksgiving, which is Kindergarten SOL K.1.b. the teacher will read a picture book on the topic

and either project the book onto a big overhead screen or use a large print book to ensure

every student can see and follow along when she points to the text and reads out loud.

2. Giving the ELL New Vocabulary

For an ELL, expanding their vocabulary is crucial for language acquisition. Vocabulary is

something that can be taught and reviewed in every lesson a teacher would do, but in this

resource guide Thanksgiving vocabulary is especially important for the retaining of the

information. To retain names, locations, name of foods, are all critical for the students of this

kindergarten class. The teacher will teach directly the words that are key to the concept of

Thanksgiving: Fall, November, Colonists, Puritans, Indians, Mayflower, Plymouth,

Massachusetts, Pilgrims, Harvest, Turkey, Corn, etc. For an ELL in the silent period, the teacher

Lesson on Thanksgiving 6

will make the vocabulary very heavy on images, attaching to every word a picture of the object

and invite the ELL to keep these as a tool to use in the future. The teacher will also place the

new word and the picture up on the vocabulary wall the class has been keeping all year. This

way the ELL or any student can view the word whenever they need.

3. Create Comfortable Classroom Environment

For the students, especially since this is a kindergarten class, all of the students will be

learning phonemic awareness and phonics. In a sense this will make the ELL child feel more at

ease, because they are not the only children in the room learning these words for the first time.

So the teacher will use this fact to create an environment of comfort and safety for the

students. The children will be allowed to work as they please on the images, books and crafts

the teacher gives them like the hand-turkey’s and coloring the maps and all the other fun

activities planned. So the students will have the freedom to sit how and where they are

comfortable. If the teacher sees the ELL is in the silent period and needs a little help getting

comfortable, they teacher will assign a nice class buddy to show the ELL how to get comfy and

where the other kids are sitting. Such is the case for the hand-turkey drawings. The students

will work with a buddy and trace their buddies hand then turn that tracing into a turkey and cut

it out. This task is a perfect way to non-verbally

4. Foster Connections between Students

The teacher will look for opportunities, like the mini-thanksgiving party, to foster the

relationship between students. The teacher will seek out lessons and use activities that allow

for the ELL to feel like they are a part of the group. This interaction with classmates, especially

in kindergarten, will allow the students to feel more comfortable and confident in themselves.

Lesson on Thanksgiving 7

For ELL’s in the silent period the teacher will assign the student a buddy that will help them

through the day. The ELL will be their buddy’s shadow until they understand the rhythm of the

classroom through non-verbal cues until they begin to understand the language.

5. Drawing and Labeling

The teacher will allow for the opportunity for the students to draw and label maps of

Massachusetts where the first Thanksgiving took place. The students will be shown the map on

the overhead first and the teacher will show the location labeled and explain this is where the

first Thanksgiving took place using images. Then the teacher will hand out maps that look

identical to the overhead projection, but this time the students have to label Plymouth and

color it all on their own. For ELL’s in the silent period the teacher will allow for the use of

symbols such as a star or “x” that marks the correct place on the map. The ELL’s in this silent

stage will not be required to write the word “Plymouth” but just to indicate it is important using

any symbol they would like.

6. Metacognitive Task

The students will be asked not to write anything down, but just to think about what it

would have been like for them to live during the first Thanksgiving, would they have liked it?

Why or why not? Students are encouraged to think about, share with a buddy, draw it or share

with a teacher or anything other way in which they would like to express it. ELL students in the

silent period are encouraged to draw how they would feel or point to pictures in the picture

book to signal if they would like it or not.

Lesson on Thanksgiving 8

Thanksgiving Vocabulary

FallTurkey

HarvestMayflower

Pilgrims Indian

MassachusettsCorn

Lesson on Thanksgiving 9

Hand-Turkey Drawing!

1) Find a buddy!

2) Trace their hand!

3) Color it in and cut it out!

Lesson on Thanksgiving 10

Image the Teacher Will Show on Overhead:

Teacher will give Students This Map:

Students will indicate by circling, coloring, drawing a symbol on Plymouth. The arrow is given as a hint to help those who are struggling.

Lesson on Thanksgiving 11

Annotated Bibliography

Bolos, N. (2012). Successful strategies for teaching reading to middle grades English language learners. Middle School Journal, 44(2), 14-20.

In this article the author expresses the need for reading out loud to English language learners. This is an important tool in leaning to help ELL students with comprehension. The author also stresses the importance of widening am ELL’s vocabulary and providing them an environment in which they are exposed to as much vocabulary as possible.

Haynes, J., & Zacarian, D. (2010). Teaching English Language Learners Across the Content Areas. ASCD. EBook.

This book is actually an eBook; so it is available with ease. It is perfect for teaching across all content areas, as it is not specific to one content area, but general enough to apply to any classroom situation.

Reyes, S., & Vallone, T. (2008). Constructivist strategies for teaching English language learners/ Sharon Adelman Reyes, Trina Lynn Vallone. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, c2008.

This book focuses on the ideas of the constructivism in teaching an ELL student. It also teaches the teacher how to create classroom connections between all students. This book focuses on a variety of grade levels so it would be appropriate for many lesson plans.

Barrette, Doris & Markes, Julie. (2004). Thanks for Thanksgiving. HarperCollins, 2004.

This is a silly book with lots of vocabulary words in it and it gives students the chance to reflect on the meaning of Thanksgiving. It is also a very visual book and the children will have many pictures to look at while the teacher read the text. The text on each page is short and brief so a child as young as kindergarten can follow along!

Lesson on Thanksgiving 12

Reflection:

As a future educator I can only see the benefits of teaching in a culturally sensitive way.

The benefits far outweigh any other factor. For students who are learning English for

perhaps the first time it is great thing to give them the opportunity to do so in a

comfortable environment. One that I will strive to do my humanly best to create in my

classroom. An ELL child requires patience and persistence. Just because they do no

answer doesn’t mean they are dumb, far from it; conversely just because an ELL is good

at speaking English, doesn’t mean they understand everything. It is never safe to

assume anything about your students, especially not an ELL. As a future teacher I want

nothing more than to build a personally connection with all the students I teach. If I can

do nothing but make an ELL feel like they have hope to continue on learning, then I will

feel good. I want all ELL students, and all students I have in general to feel they have

what it takes to be a successful person. Every student has that potential as a teacher I

must help them tap into that potential. Culturally and linguistically students can bring so

many great things to the classroom if the teacher knows how to activate their

background knowledge, harness it and use it to further their education. These students

go through stages and begin in a silent period. Just because the student isn’t speaking

doesn’t mean they are not listening and do not want to learn. As a teacher it will be my

job to be sensitive to these students, care for them and tap into their potential so they

can achieve what they are really capable of doing. Whether this take place in a

kindergarten classroom teaching Thanksgiving or middle school teaching math, the core

goal is to help the ELL achieve.