Inquiry Project
Inquiry Based Project
Lesson Plan: ENL Learners
Francesca Figlioli, Sammie Elleman, Talia Schiff
Purpose
To see what the students think about the integration of ENL (English as a new language) learners into the “normal” classroom setting.
Getting the students to improve their opinion skills and discussion skills.
This debate will also improve the student’s public speaking skills.
Lesson Summary
The class will have a debate. The students will divide into two groups based on whether or not they believe ENL learners should be integrated into the classroom. Our driving question is: should non-English speaking students have their own classes? This is an important topic for elementary school students to discuss because it is a real world issue. Also, our driving question has more than one answer that can be discussed. Our target group is 4th grade students. This is relevant to them because they need to learn at a young age about diversity and the integration of diverse learners.
Lesson Narrative
Introduction: Review criteria for the debate before beginning. The main criteria will include no interrupting classmates, respecting peers’ and teachers opinions’ and viewpoints as well as using professional language.
Presentations: Prior to the debate, students will be divided into groups of four in which they will research information regarding instruction of teaching English as a new language. Each group will construct a chart where they write the positives and negatives of teaching learners whose new language is English. After the students research information they will decide whether or not students in English as a new language should be integrated into the regular education classrooms or if they should be taught separately. The students will then go to the side of the classroom that they agree with and discuss the main points they plan to argue against the opposite side. Each side will have the opportunity to share five points and defend any flaws that the opposing side address.
Strong Source for Evidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6cc27Zvbgg
Debriefing: After the debate, the entire class will come back together and discuss how they felt sharing their views and opinions in front of their peers. They will discuss what they thought their side did well and what the other side did well. They will also discuss what the entire class could improve on as a whole. The class will then discuss why they believe that public speaking skills are important, and why it is important to share your opinions and beliefs with others.
Grabber: Our grabber is bringing in a “special guest” to the classroom to speak to the students. That “special guest” will speak to the students only in Spanish. The point of this grabber is to make the students form an opinion based on a real life situation. This is an effective grabber because it will lead to the students asking more questions about ENL learners. This grabber is also effective because it will make the students confused, and if they are confused they will form a more sound opinion about ENL learners being integrated into the classroom. This grabber is also important because it is relevant to a real world situation that involves integrating ENL students into a general education classroom. This will then lead into our debate, which is our culminating activity.
Culminating activity
The debate: After the grabber, the students will be given a few minutes to form their opinion about the driving question. Should ENL learners be in their own classes or integrated into the “normal” classroom? Once they have an opinion formed, we will ask the students to go to opposites sides of the room based on their opinion. One side will be pro-integration and the other side will be anti-integration. This activity is authentic because it will improve the student's public speaking skills which they will use later on in life when they have a career. This activity, which is a debate, will allow students to form an opinion about whether or not they believe that ENL learners should be integrated into the classroom. This debate will also allow students to improve their public speaking skills which is something they will use later on in life. Before the students have the debate they will be working in groups to research information about ENL learners. Doing this research in a group will improve the student’s collaboration skills.
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTRMthzDjIQ
This example provides evidence of a strong classroom debate in which students are dressed and speak professionally.
Assessment: The assessment will be the teachers evaluating how well the students state and form their opinion. This debate will also assess how well the students can voice their opinions about a current real world issue in front of other people. The whole point of this activity is to build a foundation for students at a young age about forming and voicing opinions about a real world issue. Public speaking is a skill that students need to be taught at a young age, so that they can improve on it as they get older.