View Content #20835

From http://blog.tesol.org/helping-secondary-students-develop-scientific-literacy/

Nathan Hall writes, “Secondary ELL teachers who focus on content-based instruction quickly become masters at adapting vocabulary. With a little familiarity of the subject and the assignment’s goals, they can turn a seldom-used word into something more conversational faster than most people can say ‘thesaurus.’

“But this ability becomes much less useful when it comes to science. Many of this subjects’ terms have only one set definition—for example, what’s a synonym for ‘photosynthesis’? Looking up the words often leaves the students frustrated, especially when they can’t understand how one part of the process relates to another. There comes a point where we worry that simplification will lead to an inadequate explanation, which would not only take our students further from their science curriculum’s goals but also give them the wrong information.”

Read on for tips for successful science instruction for English language learners: http://blog.tesol.org/helping-secondary-students-develop-scientific-literacy/