Research shows a critical quality of an engaging lesson is relevance to student lives. With an election focused on issues like jobs, health care, education and immigration — all deeply important to the lives of E.L.L. students — we asked our expert, Larry Ferlazzo, to devote this month’s installment of “Ideas for E.L.L.s” to Election, 2012, only 40 days away.
In addition to the ideas in this post, you can find more here:
- The Learning Network’s collection Election 2012 Teaching Ideas and Resources
- Our list Great Free Web Sites for Teaching Election 2012
- The New York Times Politics Page, with the latest articles, photos, videos and interactives.
Introductory Activity: The Electoral Process Around the World
Plenty of research shows that we are more likely to learn something new if we can connect it to something we already know.
A “K/W/L” chart on which students write down what they think they know already, what they want to know, and, later, what they learn can be a good tool to use to introduce any lesson.
By broadening the assignment to ask students to think about what they know about how a president is selected anywhere, E.L.L.s can contribute a more global perspective to a class discussion. What discussion wouldn’t be enriched by hearing about electoral procedures in other countries, or even about places where leaders are not elected?
Ideas for Times Articles
Create an Internet Scavenger Hunt: An Internet scavenger hunt is a list of questions along with the URL addresses of Web pages where students can find the answers.
Here is a simple one I made with a few questions using articles on the presidential election from The Times. It was created using a free Web tool called Bag the Web, but there are many other similar sites.
One other easy way to create them is by typing the questions, pasting URL addresses and then uploading your document to the Web with a tool like TxtBear. Students can also create their own so that classmates can complete them. As E.L.L.s develop increased language fluency, they can also use similar tools to complete or create activities called Webquests, which focus more on higher-leveling thinking skills.
Develop Good Questioning Skills: One simple way to begin developing this important skill is by helping E.L.L. students understand the difference between literal and interpretive questions.
First, ask students, “What color are my shoes?” After students give the correct response, ask them, “How did you know?” Tell them that this is an example of a “Right There,” or literal, question. Next, ask them, “How do I feel today?” After students give various answers, explain that these are “Think About” questions, or interpretive questions.
Next, go to The New York Times’s Accessible Reader and identify articles that are related to the election. Reading aloud the first paragraphs, stop to model literal and interpretive questions for each of them. Then, have students develop their own for another article.
Finally, ask students,”If you had a chance to ask one of the presidential candidates a question, would you want to ask him a literal or an interpretive one?” After students share with a partner their responses, students might develop one or more interpretive questions they would like to ask each candidate. (This lesson idea is adapted with permission from Kelly Young at Pebble Creek Labs.)
Ideas for Times Interactives
Write a Biographical Essay: Students can choose one of four interactive timelines from The New York Times that describe the candidates’ life stories:
- President Obama
- Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
- Former Governor Mitt Romney
- Congressman Paul D. Ryan
They might then use a planning document from Read Write Think to write a short biographical essay. Depending on their language level, students can supplement their essay with information from other Times articles.
Compare and Contrast Word Clouds: Students can look at Times interactives showing the most popular words used at the Republican and Democratic conventions. Then, ask students to list in order the 15 most popular words at each convention and identify their meanings.
Next, tell students to look at the words and look at the sentences in which they are used. Ask, “What do you think might be two or three differences between the two parties?”
Students could be asked to use the A.B.C. format to answer in a paragraph: Answer the question; Back It Up with evidence (in this case, quotations); and make a Comment or Connection. You can see examples of these types of A.B.C. paragraphs here. This kind of structure can help students develop better skills and self-confidence in their writing.
Design a Ballot: Since the 2000 presidential election, ballot designs have been controversial. Have students explore this interactive from The New York Times where designers have used federal recommendations to create a more accessible ballot.
Teachers can also create short read-alouds excerpted from a recent Times article on problems with this month’s New York primary ballot design.
Then, have students compare that accessible ballot with the one used in their community. (Many local Registrar of Voters offices place sample ballots online 30 days before an election.) Finally, students could work in small groups to design their own ballots and explain why they chose the design they used.
Ideas for Times Videos
Have students list them on a sheet of paper, and tell them the class is going to watch portions of speeches from the two political conventions. Students are to check which qualities they see demonstrated and how they are shown. Short clips, particularly portions of speeches from Senator Marco Rubio and Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio, might be particularly engaging to E.L.L.s, but others can also be played.
Afterward, students might consider writing and delivering portions of speeches they might give to a similar audience if they had a chance.
Write and Record a Position Statement on an Issue Important to You: Have students watch a few clips from “The Deciders,” short video interviews with voters around the country explaining what issues are important to them. Then ask students to write a short A.B.C. paragraph, as described above, in answering the question: “What issue or issues are most important to you this election?” (The Learning Network also has a four-part election unit, one part of which focuses on this question.)
Students can share their paragraphs with classmates, and the teacher could even record them on video and upload them to a class YouTube channel. (Be sure to get parent permission before publishing a video on a public channel, although YouTube also provides the option of making a video private.)
Do you teach E.L.L. students? How would you add to these ideas?