Problem Based Enhanced Language Learning

iteachELLs, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University

Context:
This lesson is for 8th grade English language arts
students. Most of the students have intermediate to
advanced proficiency in English. The students with
intermediate proficiency are bilingual in English and
Spanish. Most students are proficient in the use of
social English, but are still developing proficiency in
academic English.
Title of Experience/Topic:
Proposing for an Environmentally Sustainable Program for Our School.
Grade/Subject:
This lesson would be at the end of a longer
research project. Students would have
independently written research papers on local,
environmentally sustainable programs. During this
lesson, students who wrote their research papers
on the same topic would examine their selected
program in-depth and create a presentation for
implementing a similar program at our school.

Problem:
How can we propose the implementation of an environmentally sustainable program to our schools
administration?

Time Frame: (number of sessions and length of sessions)

Approximately one week (5 class meetings, 50 minutes each)
Content Standard(s):
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. (8.W.1)
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate
to task, purpose, and audience. (8.W.4)
Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships
between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others. (8.W.6)
ELP Standard(s):
ELL Stage IV (Grades 6-8) Listening and Speaking (Delivery of Oral Communications) Standard 2:
The student will express orally his or her own thinking and ideas.
LI-8: Providing an appropriate response to given formal and informal situations.
ELL Stage IV (Grades 6-8) Writing (Expository Writing) Standard 1: The student will express his or
her thinking and ideas in a variety of writing genres.
LI-4: Writing simple reports, based on research, using topic sentences, main ideas, relevant facts,
details, and concluding statements.

Content Language Objective:

Students will be able to...
Students will be able to describe and propose the adoption of an environmentally sustainable program
at our school using graphic organizers, sentence frames, and small group collaboration.

Sub-Objectives:
Students will be able to identify a sustainable program that could be
implemented at our school in their small groups.
Students will be able to brainstorm the implementation of their sustainable
program by completing the provided graphic organizer.
Students will be able to complete the provided sentence frames about the
sustainable program they would like to propose.
Lesson Sequence:
Students will be provided with a sample text written by the teacher, in which she uses the target
vocabulary words to propose a sustainable program:

An environmentally sustainable program we could implement at our school is a recycling program.

In order to implement this program at our school, we need to invest in receptacles for recyclable
waste. We can accomplish this by organizing a fundraiser. We could propose this program by
designing a Power Point presentation. This program will benefit our school community because it
will decrease the amount of waste our school is contributing to landfills.

Students will be asked to read the text and circle or underline words they are unfamiliar with. We will
then have a short class discussion, in which we will use context clues to determine the meaning of
these unfamiliar words.
Students will then complete their graphic organizer (which will include their presentations main idea
and at least 4 supporting details) in their small groups.
After the graphic organizer is complete, students will complete their sentence frames handout in their
small groups. This handout will be the groups proposal for their final presentation.

Materials (5 pts):
Independently-written research reports
Graphic organizer handout
Sentence Frames Handout

Vocabulary taught prior to the experience (social) (5 Vocabulary developed during lesson (academic)
pts): (5 pts):
Collaborate Sustainability
Brainstorm Environmentally sustainable
Explain Community
Persuade Recycle/Recyclables
Present/Presentation Receptacles
Implement Fundraiser
Program Landfill
Feasible/feasibility
Propose
Accomplish
Contribute
Design

Academic Conversation (5 pts):

What language function will students have the opportunity to practice? How will this language be explicitly
taught? How will this language be applied and practiced?
What language function will students have the opportunity to practice?
Justify/persuade, synthesize

How will this language be explicitly taught?

This language will be explicitly taught by providing students with a sample text written by the
teacher, in which she uses the target vocabulary words to propose a sample sustainable program:

An environmentally sustainable program we could implement at our school is a recycling program.

In order to implement this program at our school, we need to invest in receptacles for recyclable
waste. We can accomplish this by organizing a fundraiser. We could propose this program by
 designing a Power Point presentation. This program will benefit our school community because it
will decrease the amount of waste our school is contributing to landfills.

Students will be asked to read the text and circle or underline words they are unfamiliar with. We will
then have a short class discussion, in which we will use context clues to determine the meaning of
these unfamiliar words.
Students will then complete their graphic organizer (which will include their presentations main idea
and at least 4 supporting details) in their small groups.
After the graphic organizer is complete, students will complete their sentence frames handout in their
small groups. This handout will be the groups proposal for their final presentation.

How will this language be applied and practiced?

This language will be applied and practiced through the use of sentence frames, including:
An environmentally sustainable program we could implement at our school is __________.
In order to implement this program at our school, we need to __________.
We can accomplish this by __________.
We could propose this program by __________.
This program will benefit our school community because __________.

Establish the Problem(5 pts):

How will prior knowledge be accessed? How will the problem be introduced to students? How will students
inquire about the problem (optional planning tool attached) How are students using language (reading,
writing, listening, and/or speaking) and how are they being supported?
Students will access prior knowledge by discussing their findings about an environmentally sustainable
program with their collaborative peer group.

The teacher will present the problem to students by providing them with a sample text using the target
vocabulary and sentence frames (this text will serve as a model for students to emulate in their group
proposals).

Students will inquire about the program by working through their graphic organizer in their collaborative
peer groups. They will be asked to identify at least four reasons why their selected program would benefit
our school. After completing the graphic organizer, students will incorporate their main idea and supporting
ideas into the sentence frames handout. The completed handout will be the groups proposal for their final
presentation.

Students will use reading, writing, and speaking to create a proposal for the implementation of their program
at our school. They are being supported by the teachers mini-lesson on context clues, the sentence frames
handout, and the help of their collaborative peer groups.

Creating the Experience (5 pts):

How will students work together to develop and present solutions? How are students using language
(reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking) and how are they being supported?
Students will work collaboratively in their peer groups to create a short presentation about how to implement
their selected program at our school. Because students have previously written a research paper about their
selected program, they will have their research (as well as the research of their peers) to draw upon when
constructing their presentations.

Students will use language by reviewing (reading) their research papers and identifying important
information to include in their presentations. They will use writing, speaking, and listening during the
construction of their presentations, and speaking during their groups final presentation to the class. During
the construction of their presentations, students will have their research papers, their proposal (the sentence
frames handout), and their peers as resources. During their final presentations, their presentation and their
individual note cards (if the students choose to use them) will act as supports.
Evaluate (5 pts):
When and how will you use formative and summative assessments to measure student progress and learning
(content and language)?
Content:
Formative: The teacher will evaluate students content formatively by reviewing the content
provided in the groups sentence frames handout and their graphic organizer.
Summative: The teacher will evaluate students ability to describe and propose an environmentally
sustainable program at our school by having students create a Power Point with their group members.
Language:
Formative: The teacher will evaluate students language formatively by having students identify
target vocabulary words in the persuasive text written by the teacher. Students will also complete the
sentence frames handouts with their group members.
Summative: The teacher will evaluate students language summatively by having groups present
their Power Points to the class using the sentence frames provided by the teacher.