Introduction. Foundations : language learning through cooperative learning -- Structures -- Social roles -- Getting to know you -- Making words mine -- Guided grammar experiences -- Writing skills -- Lesson designs -- References & resources

Help your ESL students function comfortably in the classroom, around school, and in their communities with these conversation-based activities! The collaborative lessons encourage second-language students to interact with each other and with English-speaking classmates. Discussion, reading, and writing activities give you opportunities for authentic assessment of students' strengths. Topics cover language, literature, social studies, math, science, technology, health, and safety. The book provides teaching notes, objectives, and a student page for each activity.

Since the introduction of communicative language teaching, collaborative learning has played an important role in the second language (L2) classroom. Drawing from sociocultural theory, which states that human cognitive development is a socially situated activity mediated by language, studies in L2 pedagogy advocate the use of tasks that require learners to work together. Collaborative dialogue encourages language learning, and research shows that the solutions reached by students in this process are more often correct with a lasting influence on their language comprehension. This volume includes ten chapters that illustrate the benefits of collaborative dialogue in second foreign language classrooms. The volume considers key issues dealing with collaborative tasks and implications for language teaching.

Essays on cooperative learning focus on the use of this strategy to address the special needs of linguistically and culturally diverse student groups in elementary and secondary education. The volume contains several essays on theory, principles, and techniques of cooperative learning and a series of model instructional units for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. These include: "Cooperative Learning for Students from Diverse Language Backgrounds: An Introduction" (Daniel D. Holt); "The Structural Approach to Cooperative Learning" (Spencer Kagan); "Cooperative Learning and Second Language Acquisition" (Mary McGroarty); "Principles of Cooperative Learning for Language and Content Gains" (Spencer Kagan, Mary McGroarty); "Using Cooperative Learning at the Elementary Level" (Corine Madrid); "Using Cooperative Learning at the Secondary Level" (Barbara Chips); "Model Unit for K-1 Language Arts/Social Studies" (Carole Cooper, Angie Gilligan); "Model Unit for Grades 2-3 Language Arts" (Sue Heredia-Arriaga, Sue Gonzales); "Model Unit for Grade 4 Social Studies" (Sue Heredia-Arriaga, Mary Alvarez-Greeson); "Model Unit for Secondary Level Intermediate ESL" (Carole Cromwell, Linda Sasser); and "Model Unit for Grade 10 History-Social Science" (Daniel D. Holt, Diane Wallace). A "Coaching Instrument for Cooperative Learning," a checklist for implementing cooperative learning principles, is appended. (Contains 133 references.) (MSE)