if I throw a triangle out of the car and the car is going at 20 miles per hour
and the wind resistance is a thing that exists how many cupcakes can bedro by
with one human soul whether you're new or veteran teacher to teaching English
language learners I think we can all agree that it can be daunting to teach
math word problems especially if our students are beginners or newcomers to
the English language in this video I want to show you my top favorite
strategies and taking the content of teaching math word problems and to make
it more engaging and comprehensible for your students hello my name is dr.
Hampton and welcome to my channel I want to let you know that I have over 20
years of working as an English language development specialist as well as an
English language coordinator and over the years I have collected all of the
top game strategies resources and tips to help you with the English language
learners in your classroom please make sure to hit the subscribe button and the
notification bill so you don't miss a Wednesday video pre teaching the math
vocabulary that students are going to see in a word problem is so paramount
because we cannot assume that students are going to understand even the most
basic terms in the context of the word problem class for today's assignment
what I want you to do is to construct a table and create an X and y axis so that
you can demonstrate what you know about what's happening in this word problem an
effective methodology and helping your students with vocabulary is pre teaching
the vocabulary word but even before you teach it to them I recommend having them
rate their knowledge on a scale of one to five one being that they've never
heard this word before out of five they know what this word means and they can
apply it in context and then teaching them the vocabulary word whether is by
showing them the picture or showing a video or bringing real-life objects so
they can see the concept of the meaning of the word in an applicable way and
then having them go back into their notebook or their piece of paper and
then rating themselves again to see if the way that you showed them if
worked and if it increased their knowledge of that particular vocabulary
word don't be afraid in having your students reread over and over and over
again a word problem I think as teachers we have a little bit of a fear of
slowing down the lesson because we're constantly on a time crunch and we feel
like we have to get to the end of the lesson but it's better to go deeper into
the lesson then trying to cover so much and then our students walking away not
really understanding the concepts so I highly recommend going over and over and
then isolating those parts of the word problem that the students are not
understanding and then you can then laser in and focus more on those areas
math word problems are loaded with information and there's so much
vocabulary and our students are expected to understand every single vocabulary
word but then how when we group those words together what it means and how one
vocabulary word or one phrase can actually propel and change the meaning
of where the word problem is going and they have to decide what function that
they're going to use not only is what the problem is asking them but are
they're going to divide are they going to multiply add subtract do they have to
create a table do they have to find a ratio and the list goes on and I think
what really has helped my students is to have a specific strategy or step in
order to attack a problem and one of the very effective strategies that I have
found is called the cube strategy and after explicitly teaching your students
how to use the cube strategy then they're able to internalize it and use
it more independently and it is a great way for your students to break down a
math problem into more digestible bits apply it and be able to test it out and
then they have a reference to go back if they feel like they have missed a
stepped when they get an answer wrong for your students who are kinesthetic
and visual learners I highly recommend having them act out the math word
problem because not only does it make it more realistic and applicable to real
life it actually slows down their thinking because they have to really
isolate and pay attention to the from parts of the word problem okay so
here's a math problem we have to solve how many handshakes will occur if 25
people have to hand shake each other I don't know but that's a lot of hand
washing if you ask me and work problems like this you can have students actively
shake each other's hands or you can use counters to figure out how many
handshakes were given have you use any of these strategies so far in your
classroom before if you have please make sure to comment in the comment section
below and if not please make sure to comment which ones you would like to try
when I taught elementary school to English language learners many years ago
I always have my students using counting bears or cues blocks and so many
different concrete manipulatives to help them to conceptualize a very abstract
concept but there's no reason why secondary students cannot have the same
access to materials as well especially if they're english-language learners so
what it's really nice about these manipulatives is that if they're working
on a math problem and it seems like it's not working out for them they can then
go back to their manipulatives rearrange them so that they can try different
strategy to see if they will arrive at a result that adequately answers a math
problem that they're working on drawing out a math problem is a wonderful skill
to have your students do whether they're newcomers beginners or students who are
in advanced levels of proficiency of English and what's really nice is
because they're taking what they're reading on paper and translating into a
comprehensible concept that they can apply in order to solve something and
it's really nice is that it gets them to think in a mathematical way and it's a
great fallback strategy when mental math or other types of strategies are not
working for them customarily when I start any unit or lesson I start with an
exemplar and I go over that example and I break it down into different
digestible bits and go over each component and then once they've
internalized it then I have them be involved in a guided practice where then
they'll copy it and write it in their notebooks and that way it's a reference
point that they can come to time and time again when they solve similar
problem that way they have a model in front of
them because oftentimes with math problems it's there's so many different
steps to it and it's nice to have some type of anchor text to go back to so
that they know that if they run into a snag they can refer to that exemplar
problem and hopefully be able to solve the new problem on their own here's an
amazing book that will help you understand your students learning of
math so that you will not only raise their expertise but also increase their
understanding of the language of math concepción Molina also provides
practical steps in helping you to teach math in this compelling book math for
ELLs by Jim Ewing we're not he not only spells all different strategies that you
can use for ELLs but he also provides guidance to help your else think more
positively about math and growth mindset he also provides templates from math
games to talking with parents about their child's growth in math if you have
students in grades 4 through 9 this is a great tool because it not only has the
definition for all the math topics that students will be learning but it also
provides an explicit breakdown of math problems and applications of important
math terms then for students who are in middle school here are some simple and
ready-made math games to help reinforce the concepts that you are teaching in
class thank you so much for taking time out of your day to watch my video as you
have many choices to watch when it comes to topics surrounding English language
learners but if you like this video I appreciate your feedback by hitting
the like button and sharing with your colleagues and if you're looking for
more tips strategies resources games make sure to check out this video and
all the other videos on my channel and I can't wait to see you next week for more
tips strategies resources and games for the students in your class