Integrating Language and Content

By Sandra Weatherup

Deborah Short's article discusses teaching content in English to LEP students. She mentions several methods for teaching LEP students in her article and discusses the importance of the integrated approach which "bridges the gap that often seperates the language and the content classrooms." (pg 1) Her article is specifically talking about middle and high school students. Short says that an integrated language and content approach focuses on three principal factors: 1) using multiple media 2) enhancement of the student's thinking skills and 3) student centered instructional organization. After reading her article I think there are many benefits to the integrated approach. Although I think almost all of the methods she suggests using would be helpful, there were a few I really liked.
One of the first techniques Short says to use is collaborating with your colleagues, which I think would be really beneficial to students. In order to help students adjust to the classroom she suggests announcing the lessons objectivies and simply writing legibly. I liked that she included writing legibly, because it is a simple technique that could make a big difference but I wouldn't have thought of on my own. Hands on activites and using objects in your lessons are two other tips that she provides. In order to meet students academic needs Short suggests teaching study skills, which would be useful to the student but I would never think of teaching. In order to check comprehension the author suggests setting up dialogue journals where the student writes and the teacher responds. I like the idea of this activity because it would provide the teacher with a better understanding of where the students are at and what they are learning.
Short ends the article with two sample lesson plans for different grade levels that integrates content with language learning. I found going over her lesson plans very useful because they are very detailed and I think they give a good example of a solid lesson plan. Reading through them helped me get a better idea of what a good lesson plan should look like.
Overall, I thought Short's article was very interesting and helpful. I was able to understand everything because it was written very straight forward and I think a lot of the information she gives is necessary if someone is going to teach ESL students in middle or high school. Although, I think some of her techniques and methods could apply to younger students as well.
For a task pick two or three of the suggestions the author gives for use in a content based class and tell why you think they would or would not be effective. Would you use them in your future classroom? Why? Why not?