SIOP Strategies for English Language Learners

Sheltered Instruction Components and Features	Suggested Instructional Activities
Lesson Preparation (LP) 1. Write content objectives clearly for students. 2. Write language objectives clearly for students. 3. Choose content concepts appropriate for age and educational background level of students. Teach required concepts without diminishing the content. 4. Identify supplementary materials to use (graphs, models, visuals). 5. Adapt content (e.g., text, assignment) to all levels of student proficiency. 6. Plan meaningful activities that integrate lesson concepts (e.g., surveys, letter writing, simulations, constructing models) with language practice opportunities for reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking. Avoid planning a lecture as a meaningful activity.	Incorporate listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities Realia, manipulatives, props, photographs, illustrations Demonstration of lesson procedures Videos, DVDs, CD-ROMs, audio tapes Adapted, taped, or highlighted text Teacher-prepared outlines Jigsaw activities Marginal notes High-interest, low-readability texts, Trade books Thinking Maps and other graphic organizers Bilingual dictionaries Native language texts
Building Background (BB) 7. Explicitly link concepts to students’ backgrounds and experiences (“Have you ever…?) 8. Explicitly link past learning and new concepts. (Do you remember when we….?) 9. Emphasize key vocabulary (e.g., introduce, write, repeat, and highlight) for students.	Question Stems to elicit and share background experiences Classroom charts and posters to link prior learning to new learning Advance Organizers Videos, DVDs, stories, articles, books, pictures, or photographs Insert Method, Anticipation Guides Concept/Question Board Concept definition maps Word sorts, Vocabulary flip books Word generation activities Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS), Personal dictionaries Cloze activities Mnemonic strategies Interactive word walls Labeling Word knowledge self-assessment, Word banks
Comprehensible Input (CI) 10. Use speech appropriate for students’ proficiency level (e.g., slower rate, enunciation, and simple sentence structure for beginners). 11. Explain academic tasks clearly. 12. Use a variety of techniques to make content concepts clear (e.g., modeling, visuals, hands-on activities, demonstrations, gestures, body language).	Preview lesson topic; provide multiple exposures to key details Provide both oral and written directions for tasks Step by step explanation and modeling of tasks Display a finished product as an example Assess students’ comprehension often (“Tell your partner what to do.”, Thumbs up if you can repeat the directions”, etc.) Multimedia resources (music, overhead transparencies PowerPoint presentations, Web sites, videos/DVDs, etc.) Graphic organizers specific to the task Allow students to express understanding via alternative forms
Strategies (S) 13. Provide ample opportunities for students to use strategies, (e.g., problem solving, predicting, organizing, summarizing, categorizing, evaluating, self-monitoring). 14. Use scaffolding techniques consistently (providing the right amount of support to move students from one level of understanding to a higher level) throughout lesson. 15. Use a variety of question types including those that promote higher-order thinking skills throughout the lesson (literal, analytical, and interpretive questions).	Rehearsal strategies Thinking Maps and other graphic organizers Text comprehension strategies (predicting, retelling. summarizing, etc.) QAR strategy Questioning the Author Anticipation / Reaction Guides Think-Alouds Note Taking (Three-Column, Cornell notes, etc.) Scaffolded Questions / Verbal scaffolding of student responses Question stems that promote higher-order thinking skills