Boosting English Acquisition in Choice Time
A Review of a Quick Guide for Teachers of Young ELL Students
Feb 8, 2009
Choice time is a traditional part of the kindergarten day. But more and more, in today’s culture of testing and high stakes accountability, a heavy dose of academics supplants language rich experiences like choice time in primary grade schedules.
Educators Alison Porcelli and Cheryl Tyler, in their pocket-sized Quick Guide to Boosting English Acquisition in Choice Time (84 pages), from Heinemann’s Workshop Help Desk Series, make the case that choice time is an important opportunity for English language learners (ELLs). The authors further argue that using a workshop framework for choice time “provide[s] teachers with a developmentally appropriate way to engage all ELLs and to support their language development” while still giving children meaningful choices within which to use their imagination and experience hands-on learning.
Teaching Using the Workshop Format
The structure of workshop teaching, as illustrated by Porcelli and Tyler, begins with a short, but focused, mini-lesson directed at all students, in which a specific teaching point is demonstrated. Then, students are given the opportunity to independently engage in the workshop activity (writing, reading, or – in the case of this book – choice time) for a sustained period of time. During this time, the teacher holds conferences with individual students and/or calls small groups together for additional, differentiated instruction. After the workshop activity has ended, the teacher and children reconvene to debrief and share about their learning.
Adapting the Workshop Format to Kindergarten Choice Time
According to Porcelli and Tyler, a choice time workshop is different from a traditional choice time experience. In a choice time workshop the teacher focuses on specific teaching points designed to enhance language as well as other social and academic skills. Also, the children are expected to work/play in their area of choice for extended periods of time, generally the length of one or more choice time periods.
Porcelli and Tyler step the reader through the pre-activity mini-lessons, and provide plenty of examples of how a teacher’s interactions can shape ELL students’ language acquisition. The authors encourage teachers to develop curriculums specific to choice time. To this end, the authors outline in detail two units of study that can be used to make the choice time workshop a rich experience for ELL students: “Planning and Pursuing Collaborative Projects” and “Story Play.”
Structuring young learners choice or play time can be a controversial topic. Some would argue that young children need less structure, not more. But Porcelli and Tyler provide a thoughtful rationale for why the workshop structure is good for all children and especially beneficial to ELL students, while still giving young learners opportunities to make choices and use their imagination.
Boosting English Acquisition in Choice Time is a compact, concise curriculum guide for teachers of young children. The book provides specific information relevent to supporting students learning English as their second language in a safe, language rich environment that connects to their literacy instruction. Whether teachers adopt the format as is, or take nuggets from the book to tweak their own classroom learning environments, this book is well worth the read.
Authors Alison Porcelli and Cheryl Tyler
Alison Porcelli, an experienced kindergarten teacher, is currently a staff developer with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) at ColumbiaUniversity, focusing on effective literacy instruction. Cheryl Tyler has taught kindergarten, first grade, and Reading Recovery and is currently principal at PS 277 in the South Bronx. She has worked with TCRWP for fifteen years, teaching summer institutes and collaborating with teacher-researchers focusing on early literacy and inquiry based social studies and science.
The Workshop Help Desk Series
Edited by literacy expert Lucy Calkins, the Workshop Help Desk Series published by Heinemann is a collection of pocket-sized “quick guide” books that focus on workshop teaching, particularly as it relates to reading and writing instruction.
Porcelli, Alison and Tyler, Cheryl. A Quick Guide to Boosting English Acquisition in Choice Time. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008.
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