Scenario Response 10

For elementary school students, language development is crucial for academic success and overall communication skills. Here are ten high-quality language practices:

• 1.  Daily Reading: Encourage daily reading habits 

• 2.  Read Alouds: Foster creativity and language skills through storytelling. 

• 3. Positive Interdependence and Individual Accountability - Individual students are taught that they must be responsible for their own work, while also working cooperatively with others.  Not only are singular students held accountable, but the success of the group is dependent on individual students.

• 4. Phonics Practice: Help children understand the relationship between letters and sounds. 

• 5. Cooperative Learning Strategies - Use heterogeneous groups of students in which students with fluent English language skills are mixed with those still learning.  In this way, students can learn from each other and engage in authentic language experiences.

• 6. Interactive Vocabulary Games: Use interactive online resources or educational apps to engage children in vocabulary-building games.

• 7. Role-Play and Dramatization: Encourage role-play and dramatization to practice fluency and prosody.

• 8.  Language Arts Projects: Assign language arts projects that integrate reading, writing, and creative expression. 

• 9. Language Learning Through Arts and Crafts: Encourage children to write captions for their drawings or create comic strips with dialogue.

• 10.  Language Games for Social Interaction: Facilitate language games and activities that promote social interaction and teamwork. 

The criteria for this list included considering evidence based support for the strategies along with allowing for opportunities for authentic language experiences and cooperative group learning.