Words their Way to improve conventions for ELLs

[Sarah Russell]

I have been frustrated with my ability to support my students in passing the HSPE writing exam for several years. I find that through implementation of sheltered instruction and using a ton of scaffolding, I can help my students get a handle on ideas, organization and voice but their limited English makes word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions difficult to teach. I was trained to use Words Their Way with the students who come with no native language literacy but this year, I want to use WTW to support all of my students. I hope to increase their vocabulary, help them increase reading fluency and use the activities from the curriculum to work on strengthening sentences. Moreover, the curriculum should help their spelling a lot which will improve their chances of scoring well for conventions.

So, I set out to read Words Their Way for English Learners by Bear, Helman, Templeton, Invernizzi, and Johnston. The students I am focusing on are at the "transitional stage" and the "upper level" of word study. As with all levels of developing literacy, the authors recommend that you use RRWWT (Read to, Read with, Write with, Word Study, and talk to) to plan your curriculum.
One of the elements I am really struggling with is the aspect of vocabulary development. Word study is most effective if the words used are at least somewhat familiar to students. the curriculum asks that sorts begin as picture sorts. I love the use of pictures to emphasize sounds, but anything that can be turned into a simple picture is not a strong vocabulary word. Simple nouns are generally not what is missing from intermediate and advanced student's writing. I have only four hours a week with my advanced students and must teach them grammar and language skills, reading strategies, writing traits and vocabulary. My questions are:

What are your experiences using WTW with secondary students? Did you use picture sorts? How did it go?

Has anyone tried to link word study and vocabulary development?

[Catherine Guild]

Hi Sara,

I haven't used WTW with secondary students (since I've never taught secondary) but I am very interested in how pictures sorts would work with secondary students. I have used WTW a lot with my primary students, who are mostly ELLs. I use picture sorts to not only teach the letter sounds, but through the picture sorts students learn the word associated with the picture. Sorting by category also helps them learn connections between things and how things are grouped. However, you are right that usually only very simple items can be turned into pictures for sorting. I can see how word study in this manner can help teach beginning, basic vocabulary skills but not sure how it would work for more advanced vocabulary study.

Your post has raised a lot of questions. I'm curious what different strategies WTW for English Language Learners uses. I'm sorry I don't have any answers for you but wanted you to know I was very intrigued by your post and it really got me thinking about word study and vocabulary.

[Stacey Saulsgiver]

I can't imagine beginning with picture sorts with transitional stage or higher students. I have not worked with secondary students but I know when I tutored upper elementary ELLs I began with a vowel study to get the students into the routine of finding a pattern and generating a hypothesis. We then go to base words with affixes. This leads into the discussion of the kind of word it is (latin, greek etc), it's meaning, and then connect it to reading and writing.
I don't know if it is any help but I understand your frustration with your time constraints with your diverse group of students.