The presenter begins by relaying experiences of prejudice in a secondary ESL classroom between students of different cultural backgrounds. She discusses the development of curriculum units that validate homeland experiences and cultures. Finally, she explains the outcome of such projects on the students themselves and the entire school community. The presenters introduce five interactive projects integrated into a secondary social studies classroom. These activities are designed to engage ESL students in developing reading, writing, speaking, and research skills.
All projects are adaptable to a variety of content-based curriculum.
Brief overviews of additional activities are provided. Although secondary and college ESL students perceive limited academic English as their greatest obstacle in content-based instruction, most have ineffective approaches for mastering the critical terminology they encounter daily. The presenter demonstrates powerful independent study techniques that enable learners with diverse strengths to enhance their academic English lexicon productively. The presenters demonstrate the advantages of teaching grammar, writing, reading comprehension, and vocabulary expansion through the medium of short stories by U.S. authors. The session includes materials and audience participation.