Topics 1
Content-Based Instruction( CBI) Teachers
1-Language proficiency
Teachers need some tasks to practice. These tasks include typical classroom management practices that many teachers already perform in English, such as setting instructions for student assignments, organizing students into groups, and directing students to turn their attention to the board or a certain page in their books. Other classroom language-use tasks may be specific to CBI contexts. For example, CBI teachers will need to be able to make both language and subject-area content information accessible to students. To do so, they will need to be able to comprehend, explain, and model academic discourse patterns and vocabulary usage.
2-Academic skills
These teachers will need to develop skills such as information retrieval, note-taking, paraphrasing, summarizing, and synthesizing. These teachers will need to develop skills such as information retrieval, note-taking, paraphrasing, summarizing, and synthesizing.
Pedagogical knowledge and skills
CBI teachers need to be introduced to and given extensive opportunities to observe and try out for themselves teaching practices that have been shown through empirical research to support effective language and content learning.In the CBI classroom, language instruction is presented in a highly contextualized manner. Rather than being based on a chronological progression of grammatical forms as in more traditional language classrooms, the selection of grammar and vocabulary activities in CBI classes is based on the texts that students are asked to read or listen to in order to learn and relate new content knowledge. Good CBI also makes use of a wide range of visual support and graphic organizers to scaffold content and language learning. Finally, successful CBI classrooms often incorporate some culminating activity that allows students to synthesize new information about a given topic and display it in creative, personally meaningful ways.
Understanding how different learners learn differently:
CBI teachers need to recognize that different learners will progress through content and language learning stages at different paces, and will need different types and amounts of scaffolding support to achieve content andlanguage learning targets. These teachers will need to develop skills for identifying what motivates individual learners, along with skills to help those students set and achieve personal learning objectives.
Materials development and syllabus design:
The shortage of relevant, appropriate materials is a constant dilemma for CBI teachers. Generally, language-learning textbooks that purport to be content- or theme-based rarely treat a given topic in sufficient depth to afford students multiple opportunities to receive sustained input on the topic.
Assessment for learning.
In many educational systems, standardized tests determine what teachers and students do in the classroom. In effective CBI classrooms, assessment is used to support student learning, rather than to direct it. Teacher and students use information gathered via different assessments to gauge how students are progressing towards content and language-learning goals and to determine whether additional instructional time or learning support is needed for students to achieve those goals.
Incorporating educational technologies.
CBI teachers will need to possess technological skills that will allow them to reach Net Generation students. Many technologies are already being used to effectively support CBI projects. It has become commonplace in schools and classrooms around the world to use the Internet as a means to access information. To be effective consumers of Internet information, students need to be taught how to effectively evaluate the trustworthiness of information sources. It is also now common for students to collaborate with peers from around the world on content and language-learning projects. Such international collaborative projects give students important opportunities to learn firsthand about using English for intercultural
communication.
Content-language interface skills
1-Future CBI teachers will need a clear understanding of how emerging proficiency in both the first and second language will impact content and language learning achievement.
2-Future CBI teachers need to be aware of this research and need to know how the learning processes and progress of students in dual-language programs will differ from those of students in traditional monolingual programs. This knowledge will enable these teachers to adjust their instructional strategies appropriately and reassure concerned parents, students, and school directors.
3-Future CBI teachers will also need the professional and social skills to form effective partnerships with subject-area instructors.
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