A description of the Optimal Learning Environment Curriculum, a resource that helps teachers of Spanish-speaking students with language arts.
Download
Page 1 of 2

Effective Instruction for English Language Learners with Mild Disabilities

This digest describes the Optimal Learning Environment (OLE) Curriculum Guide – a Resource for Teachers of Spanish Speaking Children developed to suggest ways of teaching language arts to such students and to suggest specific classroom activities that are compatible with the research on effective instruction. This bilingual special education class model looks for the upper range of the bilingual child's academic, linguistic, and social skills. The following principles govern the OLE curriculum:

Take into Account the Students' Sociocultural Background and Its Effect on Oral Language, Reading and Writing, and Second Language Learning

The following four areas have been identified as important to children from language minority groups: oral language uses, knowledge about print, background knowledge, and sense of story.

Oral Language Uses
Some children arrive at school already familiar with the use of language in a decontextualized manner, that is, dissociated from shared experience and dependent on precise linguistic formulations. For example, they may come from homes where books were introduced and discussed at an early age; their parents may have modeled, scaffolded, and elicited their narratives about real and fictional events. Children from families with few outside links, however, may not have sufficient experience with specific, precise, topic-centered language to function effectively in a typical language arts curriculum. Educators should not categorize these children as having language disabilities; rather, they should recognize that a sociocultural factor has influenced the children's verbal performance and has pinpointed the area that must be addressed by oral language instruction in the classroom.

Knowledge About Print
Another area of sociocultural influence is the knowledge about print that children bring to school literacy tasks. Children begin learning to read and write before they start school and begin to learn letter-sound correspondences. Very early on, they may learn why Dad writes a list before he does the grocery shopping (functions of print); where Mama looks to start to read the storybook (book conventions); and how to read "McDonald's" or "K mart" from commercial signs (environmental print). Research has shown that knowledge in these and similar areas related to print is a precursor to conventional reading.

Background Knowledge
A third aspect of literacy instruction that is directly influenced by sociocultural differences is background knowledge. Studies with second language learners show that when they read texts congruent with their background knowledge (for example, when Indian students read about a wedding in India rather than a wedding in the United States), they read it faster, recall both the gist and the details better, and summarize or retell it better. Another study shows that second language learners with limited English proficiency can do as well as more proficient students on reading comprehension tasks when they do prereading activities that activate and extend the background knowledge pertinent to the tasks.

Sense of Story
The final sociocultural influence on reading and writing involves the development of a sense of story or narrative schema, that is, an internal sense of the usual components of a story: setting, main character(s), problem, attempts to resolve the problem, character reactions to the attempts, and resolution. An optimal learning environment would have children reading and listening to a variety of well-formed stories.

Featured High School Resources

Poetry Packet for High School

ACTIVITIES

National Poetry Month Themed Packet for High School

To celebrate Poetry Month, this resource shares 3 activities that will help high school students to engage with poetry i...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER
lesson plans for animal farm - kit for a complete unit on the novel

LESSON PLANS

Animal Farm Teaching Unit Kit

Everything you need to teach a full or partial unit on Animal Farm Help your students dive into the modern relevance, m...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER
Romeo and Juliet Teaching Unit Kit

LESSON PLANS

Romeo and Juliet Teaching Unit Kit

A complete teaching kit for a full or partial unit on Romeo and Juliet Take your students on a thought-provoking, insig...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

Related Resources

TEACHING RESOURCE

Communicating with Culturally Diverse Parents of Exceptional Children

Communicating with Culturally Diverse Parents of Exceptional ChildrenERIC EC Digest #E497, Author: ERIC Clearinghouse on...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER
A student who is learning English studying in the classroom. English Language Learner.

TEACHING RESOURCE

Teaching English-Language Learners with Learning Difficulties

Teaching English-Language Learners with Learning DifficultiesHere is some practical information and guidelines for speci...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

TEACHING RESOURCE

Key Instructional Principles to Use with English Language Learners

Key Instructional Principles to Use with English-Language Learners There are two common activities that are ineffective ...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

TEACHING RESOURCE

Bilingual Special Education

Bilingual Special EducationERIC EC Digest #E496, Authors: Leonard M. Baca and Hermes T.

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

TEACHING RESOURCE

Reducing Overrepresentation of Diverse Students in Special Education

Reducing Overrepresentation of Diverse StudentsERIC EC Digest #E596, Authors: Cynthia Warger and Jane Burnette, 2000 Fi...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

TEACHING RESOURCE

Empowering Diverse Students with Learning Problems

Empowering Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students with Learning Problems ERIC EC Digest #E500, Author: Jim Cumm...

Add to Folder
creative writing
children's book
activities
classroom tools
language arts and writing
vocabulary
Create new folderCREATE NEW FOLDER

About the author

TeacherVision Staff

TeacherVision Editorial Staff

The TeacherVision editorial team is comprised of teachers, experts, and content professionals dedicated to bringing you the most accurate and relevant information in the teaching space.

loading gif