Making Science Accessible to English Learners, Grades 6-12: A Guidebook for Teachers

This updated edition of the bestselling guidebook helps middle and high school science teachers reach English learners in their classrooms. The guide offers practical guidance, powerful and concrete strategies, and sample lesson scenarios that can be implemented immediately in any science class. It includes

• Rubrics to help teachers identify the most important language skills at five ELD levels;
• Practical guidance and tips from the field;
• 7 scaffolding strategies for differentiating instruction;
• 7 tools to promote academic language and scientific discourse;
• Assessment techniques and accommodations to lower communication barriers for English learners;
• 2 integrated lesson scenarios demonstrating how to combine and embed these various strategies, tools, techniques, and approaches;
• And much more.

The volume is designed for teachers who have had limited preparation for teaching science in classrooms where some students are also English learners.

From the Back Cover
These strategies and teaching tips for classroom differentiation are easy to understand and the explanations of the levels of English proficiency are clear and concrete. As a teacher with many English learners in every class, I value the ideas and models presented in this guidebook.
— Sonia Jaramilla-Perez, LASERS Rural Schools Alisal (CA) School District

What a delight it was for me to read through these chapters! My teacher heart was filled with excitement over the support this book will provide to the field. The scenarios in which teachers talk about their instructional choices reveal clear decision-making pathways through the complexities of planning instruction for linguistically diverse classes.
— Dolores Beltran, Assistant Professor California State University, Los Angeles

Wow! This distillation of science teaching strategies for English learners establishes a solid foundation for effective classroom instruction in any subject, for all learners. This is truly the way I feel about this book — thanks.
— William E. Pence, National State Teacher of the Year California, 1999 --*