Teaching Academic Language in High School Biology Through Coteaching

• In Event: Redesigning Curriculum and Instruction to Meet the Needs of English Language Learners in Content Areas

Abstract

To prepare a greater number of high school students for the rigors of a career in science, high schools need to tap the potential of English learners (ELs) as well as native English speakers. Two teachers with the assistance of two faculty members at a local area college have created a co-teaching model that integrates science content with the academic language of science. The program involves the collaboration of an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher with a biology teacher who plan, teach and assess student work in a sheltered biology course. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the elements of this collaboration and how it integrates the academic language of science with the content of biology.

Authors

• James F. Nagle, Saint Michael's College

• Rita MacDonald, University of Wisconsin - Madison