Differentiated Learning Activities for ELLs
When individuals decide to learn English as a second language, they also learn the culture the language originates from. It is always said that culture and language are two aspects of society that can not be separated. English language learners in America are students from different backgrounds such as Asia, Mexico, and other countries. The students are from different cultures which hold different values and beliefs. The cultural differences, therefore, affect the student’s reasoning and understanding. Due to cultural variation in English language learning classes, students will perceive, reason, and respond to various learning aspects differently. For instance, when students are asked to describe their homes, various students will describe them differently due to cultural variation.
One differentiated learning activity that will help meet learning objectives for ELLs students is creative writing. The primary objective of creative writing activity is to develop language skills. There is a strong relationship between writing and language development (Choi & Yi, 2016). First, writing allows students to freely formulate ideas in the language they are writing, therefore, developing language skills. Similarly, creative writing portrays that students have enough language to express their ideas. The second objective of creative writing is to improve word and sentence construction which in turn enhances communication. Finally, creative writing entails language processing to produce a sound message. The students will be required to put in writing the ideas they already have in their minds. First, the student will think of a suitable way of saying the idea, then start to write, trying to spell it correctly. As they write and form the idea in their minds, their communication skills improve.
The students will be asked to write about a particular topic, for instance, their family. The activity will be differentiated so that it will accommodate all the needs of diverse groups in the ELL class and improve their skills. In the ELL class, there are different students with various abilities and different levels of brightness. Some are smarter, some fast learners, some have various disabilities, and others may have different abilities and talents which must be nurtured and promoted to better understand the language. While writing about their families, students will be given more than one activity to write about. For instance, intelligent students and fast learners will be requested to write about their family, home, and even their school. For average students they will be required to only write about their families. Students with other abilities, such as arts and drawing, will be required to write and draw their families. The activity will be differentiated to meet the learning objective.
Students’ cultural values and beliefs are integrated into the learning because they will write a story concerning their families. Various cultural backgrounds differ in how families and arranged and structured. Therefore, different students in the class will portray their culture while creatively writing about their families.
Creative writing will be assessed on five product factors; content, conversations, vocabulary, fluency, and syntax/punctuation. The writings will be assessed mainly on how the students have structured their sentences and how fluent they have communicated their ideas in writing (Katto, 2018). Similarly, the writings will be evaluated across various writing goals to give a complete insight into the student’s writing performance across various text genres and structures (Taylor, Kaufman, & Barbot, 2020). The Assessment factors will help recognize weaknesses and strengths, monitor performance, assess instructional activity, give feedback, and report progress.
Some of the disabilities that will be considered for this activity are students with hearing impairment, language impairment, emotional disturbances, and other health impairments (Lee, 2019). Creative writing will allow students with exceptionalities to be taught in a comfortable environment. They will be allowed to participate in the writing activity freely. There will be no time restriction during creative writing. Every student will be allowed to write at their own pace, depending on their capabilities.
Creative learning activities will be modified to accommodate all the needs and exceptionalities in the ELL class. For normal and fast learning students, they will be given more enhanced tasks to accomplish. They may be given more than one activity to work on. For slow learners, they will be given more time to write and participate in the creative writing activity. Emotional disturbances reduce the alertness of students. Such students will be given more time to express their ideas. They will be monitored regularly since they need extra attention. Students with health impairments that may limit their energy, strengths, and even alertness will also be given more attention during writing. They will be given more time to fully describe their ideas. Students with language impairments will be given extra activities that may enhance word pronunciation and that allow them to express themselves. For instance, the three students (Makayla Jones, Kevin Roberts, and Victoria Miles) who have different capabilities in terms of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills will be handled differently during a learning session. They have scores of 548, 551, and 492, respectively. Kevin Roberts appears to be smart because he has the highest score on reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Therefore, he will need minimum attention during a learning session. He can do most of the things by himself. Victoria Miles requires more attention, followed by Makayla.
In a nutshell, ELL students are from different cultural backgrounds. Creating creative writing activities will integrate all their cultures in learning because various students reason differently depending on their culture. Similarly, creative writing can be differentiated to accommodate all the needs of ELLs students. It can be used to achieve a common goal of improving communication and language development.
References
Choi, J., & Yi, Y. (2016). Teachers’ integration of multimodality into classroom practices for English language learners. Tesol Journal, 7(2), 304-327.
Katto, M. P. (2018). Assessment of the use of language techniques that promote creative writing among secondary school students: a case of Tunduru district (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Dodoma).
Lee, A. M. I. (2019). The 13 disability categories under IDEA.
Taylor, C. L., Kaufman, J. C., & Barbot, B. (2020). Measuring Creative Writing with the Storyboard Task: The Role of Effort and Story Length. The Journal of Creative Behavior.
