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[MUSIC]

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

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sheltered instruction meant.

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Simply stated, sheltered
instruction is a teaching method.

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

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

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the language, and the concepts.

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

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And the simplest way to provide meaningful

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context in schools is
to embed it in content.

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English speaking teachers that
teach math and science and

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social studies are employed in
this process, because simply,

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

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

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then is just good teaching.

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

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it goes well beyond that particular realm.

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Teachers must understand
the application of language,

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the acquisition of language,
the stages of language development,

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what influences productivity,
what influences negative productivity.

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

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Sheltered instruction lesson planning
revolves around four cornerstones,

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

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

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

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writing skills.

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

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

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

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to their language development.

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What level are they actually on?

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I need to make sure my students
are actively participating,

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

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

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questions so that all language
learners can actively participate.

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

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planned.

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

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applications that surround
four cornerstones.

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The purpose is to provide
meaningful context so

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students can negotiate the language and
learn the content.

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While at the same time promoting
active participation so

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

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[MUSIC]