Adopting and Adapting

Social Studies

Standards for teachers of social studies are maintained by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS, 2000). These standards do not explicitly reference English language learners, but they do charge social studies teachers with a responsibility to diverse learners:

Vocabulary

Since Social Studies involves a lot of reading and writing, teachers should pay particular attention to pre-teaching vocabulary words with ELLs in mind. The selected words should be a combination of content words (the words typically bolded in a textbook) and other “access” words essential to grasping the meaning. For example, Calderón (2007) describes a lesson on trading and bartering skits in which the following vocabulary is pre-taught:

Accessing Content

Teachers can provide a pre-reading handout with key words, events, and dates that are extracted from the textbook. At right is an example timeline on the life of the Mexican American activist and leader of the United Farm Workers, César Chávez.

Often, the Internet is a resource for integrated graphic organizers, multi-media and content. For an example with animated maps, see the multimedia tutorial “European Voyages of Exploration” from the Applied History Group in the resources section that follows.

Another strategy that is particularly helpful for students with diverse cultural and education backgrounds is the Know-Want to Know-Learn (K-W-L) chart. This allows

teachers to informally assess what background knowledge students have on a particular topic, and then adapt their instruction to fill in the gaps. The following is an example that could be used in conjunction with studying César Chávez:

Once the students have completed the pre-reading activities, they need instruction in the metacognitive skills of reading. To teach these, the teacher can do a think-aloud to model asking questions, making judgments, and noting new words while reading.

Inquiry-based Projects

Another option besides scaffolding the text is to lead an inquiry-based project in which students act as historians or social scientists. If ELLs are literate in their native languages, they can complete Internet research in those languages. To encourage active participation, students should be able to choose their own topics within a common category. Choice enables students to draw on their own background knowledge and sociocultural identity, and familiarity with common themes or information will assist in understanding the material in English. In this way, ELLs are viewed as cultural resources that enrich the classroom experience for other students.

To learn more about teaching Social Studies to ELLs: Web Resources

Anstrom, K. (August 1998). Preparing secondary education teachers to work with English language learners: Social Studies). NCBE Resource Collection Series, 10. Retrieved December 17, 2007 from http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/resource/ells/language.htm

Irvin, J. (2002). Reading strategies for the social studies classroom. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Retrieved December 30, 2007 from  http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/gohrw_rls1/pKeywordResults?ST2Strategies

National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition. (2002). In the classroom: A toolkit for effective instruction of English language learners. Retrieved May 5, 2008 from  http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/practice/itc/lessons/sinquiryss.html

The Applied History Research Group. (1997). The European Voyages of Exploration. Retrieved May 7, 2008 from http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/eurvoya/vasco.html

The César E. Chávez Foundation. (2008). American Hero. Retrieved May 13, 2008 from  http://www.chavezfoundation.org/_page.php?code=001001000000000&page_ttl=Americ  an+Hero&kind=1