Curriculum Plan: ESL Newcomer: USA Addresses and Maps

Curriculum Plan Overview

ESL Newcomer provides foreign and newly arrived students with the necessary language skills to enable them to maneuver and smoothly function in society. The lesson will focus on interpersonal communication skills with significant emphasis on how to locate, describe, and ask location, addresses, and maps in the country. This will be accomplished with emphasize on listening, speaking, and writing skill development. Students will have developed communication, vocabulary, and grammar development that will enable them to live comfortably and move around the school, homes, state, and country. By the end of the lesson, the students will develop adequate communication, writing, reading, and speaking skills to enable them to travel and move around the places easily. They will acquire literacy development ranging from phonological awareness and richness to speak, write, and read easily and confidently.  

Critical Question

• What strategies of learning will enable effective vocabulary acquisition and retention?

Smaller Questions 

• What are the critical elements of a successful lesson?
• What measures can measure the success of the lesson academically and socially?

Theoretical Stance

Effective teaching is achieved and accounted for by the use of a curriculum plan and the pedagogy implemented. The CP adopts the principles of a culturally responsive pedagogy due to the diverse backgrounds of the students. An ESL class comprises of students from different races, ethnics, cultures, and languages, which makes it vulnerable to challenges of retention and effective learning. The diversity is likely to cause learning challenges among students; however, through culturally responsive learning, attitudes, and expectations of students will be enhanced. Understanding each student’s name and cultural background will enable in adopting effective teaching and instruction strategies (Krasnof, 2016). With the appropriate learning strategies, students will easily interact and actively participate, which is the primary expectation. Students have different learning styles and needs; thus, being culturally responsive will minimize instances of underachievement. 

Planning Overview

Reading is a continuous and active process that requires word recognition and the development of comprehension. Comprehension requires the study to summarize, question, and make inferences in any content area they are given. This will enable them to comprehend and retain the content to apply in the society. The CP allows for metacognition in the reading process to reduce poor reading and confusion among students. Reading and teaching strategies will enable students to assimilate details into larger cognitive patterns rather than just focusing on facts only. This is achieved through content area literacy instructions. It allows students to summarize, question, and make inferences in any content area they are given. The learning process includes the use of trade books, other reading sources, and the use of technology to create connections and similarities for better understanding, increased acquisition, and retention.

The CP is disposable for newcomer and international students of all genders, appropriate for children, teenagers, and accommodating for young adults. More importantly, it is available for all races present in the school. The school is an accommodative place that admits students of all races, originality, ethnicities, and nationalities. This forms a high diversity and culturally diverse learning environment. The CP acknowledges the diversity of the students culturally, ethnically, and nationally. The learning strategies developed are disposable and effective for all grade levels and among young adults. They are culturally responsive to accommodate and embrace the diversity for maximized learning and comprehension (UNESCO, 2014). The teaching and learning methods follow a slogan ‘Respect for All’ that will create a favorable learning environment for all students. It allows for respect, accommodation, and promotion of diversity in the classroom in reference to multicultural students and different learning styles. A favorable learning environment involves

• The use of different teaching styles and learning tools. This broadens the student’s abilities and accommodates the difference in earning among students
• Presenting equal access to opportunities. It maximizes chances for participation and contribution. Students are required to perform projects, group discussions, and participate in learning activities. These contribute to the assessment plan

The CP and learning content lacks any biases but provides a balanced study. The content does not embrace invisibility stereotypes, imbalances, isolation, or any language biases. Learning processes and materials are adaptable to changes to achieve desired learning results and meet student’s needs. Adaptation in teaching the content uses two strategies, namely accommodation and modification (Cunningham, 2009). The accommodation allows for the changes in the instructions given, learning environments, and assessments. Modifications alter the content delivered for more accessibility to the learning objectives. Modifications in the course include the use of

• Use of eDictionaries
• Simplified instructions
• Teacher modeling and use of gestures for comprehension and effective learning
• Use of alternate responses such as pictures, art, among written and spoken responses.

Learning and teaching adopt both traditional and technological tools. The tools will increase class productivity, participation, and faster learning. The technology used in learning and teaching this unit include

• Podcasts
• Films and videos
• Language learning apps
• Online ESL platforms

Lesson Calendar

Teaching Overview 

The learning of this unit adopts various instructional practices, strategies, approaches, and materials. The learning process and materials include both non-print media and digital technologies for effective learning. They will keep changing to ensure content learning is supported and maximized understanding.

CP Introduction

Introducing the CP must be simple, creative, and motivational. Learning a new language can be challenging for some students, but once the introduction is captivating and easily understood, the student’s attitudes become positive and receptive and vice versa. CP introduction methods include

• The use of visual presentation
• The use of realia
• Assessment of the student’s background and language abilities.

Primarily, the assessment of the student’s language proficiency will enable us to determine how much grammar the teacher can use and the understanding level. The evaluation will include class introductions from each student, stating their names, backgrounds, and languages they speak. They will also describe their proficiency levels in English since this is not the first ESL class to attend (UNESCO, 2013). This will enable the identification of students that will easily understand the CP and instructions. Moreover, the assessment helps in knowing the most common language demographics in the classroom. The self-introduction acts as embracing diversity and establishing cordial relations among the students that will allow projects and group works.

Secondly, the introduction of the CP will be conducted visually through a presentation. The main details include the unit overview and description, goals and objectives, assessment, and teacher expectations. The exhibition will consist of the use of pictures and gestures for easy understanding. These pictures include those from magazines, books, and supporting materials prepared from the library (NA, 2015). Finally, the use of realia is complementing and an effective strategy. A good realia would be the globe illustration of the USA map, among other objects present in the world. These two strategies are the best choice as they expand the alternate responses. If a student cannot describe a place, town, or address using written or spoken language, they can use pictures to give a reply. On the other hand, the teacher will use photos to illustrate the names of towns, states, and public figures.

Learning Sources

Learning sources	Reasons
Bliss, S. J. (2010). Word by Word Picture Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.pearsonerpi.com/en/elt/vocabulary/word-by-word-picture-dictionary-international	It enables students to learn words through pictures. It is essential as it visualizes the learning to come alive
Collective, i. (2019). English ESL United States of America (USA) worksheets. Retrieved from iSLCOLLECTIVE: https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-worksheets/vocabulary/united-states-america	Students can learn, watch, and take quizzes on USA places
Heyer, S. (2006). All New Very Easy True Stories. Longman: Pearson.	It will enable reading of the stories and experiences required for prior knowledge strategy
Newman, S. H. (2015). Taking Off: Beginning English Student Book. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.	A basic guideline for undertaking the course
Source, G. (2005). ACCESS Newcomers. GREAT SOURCE.	A basic guideline for undertaking the course

Learning Strategies

Learning/teaching strategy	Description	Reason for choosing	Content assessment
Scaffolding	Involves using graphic organizers, Organizing the classroom with content-based learning materials, and using visual aids. It is followed by quizzes and exercise to assess content comprehension	It supports the learning process of the students. It supports the written materials that can be difficult to discern.	At the end of the lesson, students will have excises such as Filling-in-the blanks Verbal and loud reading
Scanning method	Involves pairing reading passages with questions. Students read passages as they answer the questions	It trains students to look up keywords and scan for the same words from the passages. They can use these keywords in their writing, speaking, and reading	The questions they answer from the passage determine their level of understanding
Use of prior knowledge	The teacher may describe an experience, situation while asking, or giving directions, stating their locations and areas in the map. Students read such instances of experiences from books for thirty minutes. Afterward they are required to retell the experience in a role play setting	It activates and engages students. They can think and visualize the experiences then relate to their personal experiences. The strategy familiarizes students with things they can say in specific areas, what information to build on, and possible connections to make.	Engaging the students by asking questions on experiences, they have read then retelling in their personal forms. Using role-plays where students converse in reference to the read experiences.
Sentence framing	Every day the teacher uses a presentation or hangs sentence frames in the front of the class where students learn them (partially completed sentences).	It enhances the oral and writing aspects of speaking, as they can structure words and the language itself	A written test where new and content-based sentence frames are used and required to fill.
Digitalized/virtual learning	In two sessions weekly, students change their learning environments where they go to a theater and virtually learn about various places in the school, state, and country	It enables them to see the sites and listen to their names. Thus, it enhances the writing, speaking, and oral communication skills	Visual tests, where places are placed in a video. Students are expected to write or orally present about the places and form dialogues

Assessment

The assessment plan is comprehensive and conclusive of formal and informal assessment tools. Being comprehensive allows for the maximization of final grades and targets different capabilities of students (Victoria R. Gillis, 2016). For the formal assessment, the grading policy is as follows

• Tests and quizzes – 35%
• Class participation – 40%
• Homework and projects – 25%

Informal Strategies 

• Role-plays demonstrating one’s knowledge
• Group theatre plays and projects
• Regular classmate remarks, which will identify strengths and weaknesses among students

Formal Strategies and Projects 

• Final exam. The final exam will examine the students listening, writing, and reading skills
• Project-based learning. The students are required to research a place of their choice in the USA, write about it, use all academic vocabularies, and state their feelings about the situation.

References

Cunningham, G. (2009). Chapter 7. Lesson Plans and Unit Plans: The Basis for Instruction. New York: Pearson.

Krasnof, B. (2016). Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Guide to Evidence-Based Practices for Teaching All Students Equitably. Equity Assisstance Center, pp: 1-25.

NA. (2015). Chapter: 6 Educational Practices. In T. N. Academies, Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation (pp. pp: 239-324). Washington, D.C.: THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS.

UNESCO. (2013). Training Tools for Curriculum Development . INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Vol 1 pp: 108-118.

UNESCO. (2014). Teaching respect for all: implementation guide. UNESCO.

Victoria R. Gillis, G. B. (2016). What’s New in Literacy. New York: Pearson.