WIDA’s (World-class Instructional Design and Assessment) vision includes both social and academic contexts in school by focusing on standards, curriculum, and instruction.  WIDA assesses content language across the four domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  The content areas include: Social & Instructional Language; Language of Language Arts; Language of Mathematics; Language of Science; and Language of Social Studies.  The WIDA content standards are organized with both formative and summative frameworks and sample topics.  Model performance indicators (MPIs) include the language function, the content stem, and the support or strategy.  For teachers unfamiliar with the ELP standards, the CAN DO Descriptors provide a starting point for working with ELLs and a collaborative tool for planning.  The CAN DO Descriptors are general enough to be appropriate to share with students’ family members to help them understand the continuum of English language development.

TESOL (Teachers of English to Students of Other Languages) standards were designed to be used in conjunction with content-specific standards and articulate the English language development needs of ELLs, provide direction on how to meet the needs of these students, and highlight the central role of language in attaining content standards. These standards address three main goals:

1. To use English to communicate in social settings.

2. To use English to achieve academically in all content areas.

3. To use English in socially and culturally appropriate ways (Lachat, 2004, p.48).

In addition, three elements are included for each standard:

1. Behavioral Descriptors: Representative behaviors that students exhibit when they meet a standard.

2. Progress Indicators: Assessable, observable activities for students to perform to show progress in meeting a standard.

3. Vignettes: Real classroom scenarios that include instructional sequences or activities to demonstrate the standards in action, and discussions that link the vignettes to the standards and progress indicators (Lachat, 2004, p.48 – 49).

Each country has its own communication style and trends. Examples include: - Americans like to use slang words and phrases that even other Americans don’t always understand. “I’m jazzed when that happens!” - Japanese people do not like to refuse something, so they say that it will be discussed “later”. Later meaning never. - French people can get easily offended. For example, every word has to have a French translation – e-mail, mail, and mèl are too English, so the word “courriel” was created. - Germans love details and Italians don’t. The purpose of this forum is to provide support and offer valuable insight on how to appropriately communicate with English Language Learners.

Culture is defined as the complete way of life of a group of people. Culture influences our behavior in countless ways, guiding our actions, reactions and interactions. Key aspects of culture include: - Views of Self: individualist or collectivist? - Perceptions of Time: linear or cyclical? - Verbal and Non-verbal Communication Styles: direct or indirect? This forum is available to encourage you to tie the cultures of your ELL students to your curriculum whenever possible. These students bring a wealth of experiences from their families, homes, neighborhoods and communities. Children with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds have stories and experiences that are unique and will help native students begin to understand other cultures. When students see their home cultures and languages being studied in the classroom, they will feel their culture has been validated. This helps to develop positive self – esteem in culturally and linguistically diverse children.

Integrated Content-Based (ICB) instruction provides ELL students with learning experiences that facilitate language acquisition and contextualize academic content. ICB method places an emphasis on three key factors: the use of a variety of media the development of students’ thinking skills the use of student-centered instruction. The more that the students learn and comprehend language related to specific content areas, the more likely they will comprehend future instruction in that content area. Real-world experiences through hands-on activities are an essential approach to integrating language and concept development for English language learners. In this forum, we will highlight the benefits of ICB instruction and provide insight on the planning, instruction, and assessment of ICB lessons.