SIOP

Strategy of the Week

Sheltered Instruction for Second Language Learners

Content and Language Objectives

Do your ESL students understand your lesson objectives? Have you express “how” the objective will be accomplished? In effective instruction, concrete content objectives that identify what students should know and be able to do must guide teaching and learning. While carefully planning and delivering content objectives, teachers must also incorporate in their lesson plans activities that support students’ language development. As with content objectives, language objectives should be stated clearly and simply, and students should be informed of them, both orally and in writing.

When writing language objectives, consider these six categories as a starting point for generating ideas:

  • Key Vocabulary refers to the technical terms, concept words, and other words needed to discuss, read, or write about the topic of the lesson, (i.e. Students will be able to define the terms chemical reaction, reagent, and physical change orally and in writing.)
  • Language Function refers to the ways students use language in the lesson, (i.e. Students will be able to formulate questions and generate hypotheses before conducting an experiment.)
  • Language Skills are the reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills students need to learn, (i.e. Students will be able to scan directions for a laboratory experiment to identify the necessary equipment or Students will be able to draft a lab report)
  • Grammar or Language Structures can be taught when they are prevalent in the written or spoken discourse of the class, (i.e. Students will be able to recognize the difference between imperative sentences – like those in lab directions- and declarative sentences – like those in their textbooks.)
  • Lesson Tasks are a source for language objectives as well, (i.e. Students will be able to read and summarize a text passage with peers and then teach the main information to another student.)
  • Language Learning Strategies may include corrective strategies (e.g., reread confusing text), self-monitoring strategies (e.g., make and confirm predictions), prereading strategies (e.g., relate to personal experience), or language practice strategies (e.g., repeat and rehearse phrases, visualize) – (i.e. Students will be able to confirm their responses to text questions with a peer.)

Echevarria, Jana , MaryEllen Vogt, and Deborah J. Short. Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, 2008.

English - Spanish Verbs for Content Objectives
  • analyze – analizar
  • apply – regir
  • arrange – adjustar
  • build a model – modelizar
  • calculate- calculada
  • choose the best response-escoge la mejor respuesda
  • classify - clasificar
  • combine - aunarse
  • compute - calcular
  • conclude – concluir
  • connect – conexión
  • construct - construir
  • convert – convertido
  • create – crear
/
  • decide – decidir
  • demonstrate - demostrar
  • design – diseño
  • determine – decidir
  • distinguish between – diferenciar entre
  • divide – partir
  • draw conclusions – sacar una conclusión
  • find – encuentro
  • give an example –dar un ejemplo
  • hypothesize – formar
  • identify – identificar
  • illustrate – ejemplificar
  • locate - hallar
  • make – hacer
  • match – aparear
  • measure – medir
/
  • order – pedir
  • produce – arrojar
  • put in order – arreglar
  • rearrange – reordenar
  • reconstruct – reconstruir
  • reorganize – reacondicionar
  • select – acotar
  • separate – descasar
  • show – mostrar
  • show the relationships between – entroncar
  • solve – apear
  • subdivide – subdividir
  • support – soporte
  • use – para usar

Language Skills Associated with Content Lessons
Listening / Speaking / Reading / Writing / Vocabulary
  • draw a picture – debuja un debujo
  • role play - desempeñar
  • answer questions - responder
  • listen and retell – escuchar y recontar
  • follow directions – seguir instruccións
  • demons-trate (show understading by doing something) - demostrar
/
  • name - apellidar
  • discuss - debatir
  • explain - explicar
  • rephrase - neuvamente
  • ask & answer questions – preguntar y acudir las preguntas
  • summarize - resumir
  • evaluate - evaluar
  • clarify - aclarar
  • justify - justificar
/
  • preview & predict – preestrenar y predecir
  • find specific information –buscar información especifíco
  • read fluently – leer con fluidez
  • indentify main idea – identificar un idea mejor
  • determine fact versus opinion – decidir realidad contra opinión
/
  • create complete sentences – escribir oración completa
  • summarize - resumir
  • list - listar
  • compare - comparar
  • explain - explicar
  • write questions – escribir preguntas
  • create a poem – escribir un poema
/
  • define specific words – definir palabras especifíca
  • find best meaning among multiple meanings – buscar mejor valor
  • identify parts of speech – identificar la partes de la oración
  • identify derivations – identificar el derivación
  • generate words related to a concept – generar las palabras conexa de un concepto
  • apply words to topic – aplicar las palabras de el tópico