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Not long ago, some teachers asked me
to explain to them what I thought

sheltered instruction meant.

Simply stated, sheltered
instruction is a teaching method.

It employs a wide variety of strategies
that the teacher uses to modify their

instruction so that students can
negotiate the value of the lesson,

the language, and the concepts.

The best way to teach a language in
school is to provide meaningful context.

And the simplest way to provide meaningful

context in schools is
to embed it in content.

English speaking teachers that
teach math and science and

social studies are employed in
this process, because simply,

they are the best resources that we
have to teach meaningful content.

After that explanation, teachers often
tell me they believe sheltered instruction

then is just good teaching.

And I won't argue that it's good teaching,
but

it goes well beyond that particular realm.

Teachers must understand
the application of language,

the acquisition of language,
the stages of language development,

what influences productivity,
what influences negative productivity.

Teachers must also understand how cultural
influence student behaviors and outcomes.

Sheltered instruction lesson planning
revolves around four cornerstones,

hands on activities, guarded vocabulary,
visual clues and cooperative learning.

But beyond that, I must also consider
some linguistic expectations.

I must make sure that listening and
speaking skills always precede reading and

writing skills.

That I don't depend too often
on first language components

called concurrent translation,
I must guard against that kind of thing.

And maybe the most important element is to
understand where my students are relative

to their language development.

What level are they actually on?

I need to make sure my students
are actively participating,

part of my task is to make sure I
get language out, not language in.

Which means that when I pose questions,
I must be prepared to scaffold those

questions so that all language
learners can actively participate.

Inevitably, every component of the lesson
needs to be carefully considered and

planned.

To sum up, sheltered instruction is
a teaching method that uses a variety of

applications that surround
four cornerstones.

The purpose is to provide
meaningful context so

students can negotiate the language and
learn the content.

While at the same time promoting
active participation so

that students provide language, or
language out, and not language in.

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