Specially Designed Academic
Instruction in English The four major components
of S.D.A.I.E. lesson design are: A. hands-on
activities B. visual
clues C. cooperative
learning D. guarded
vocabulary “Hands-on activities engage the
students in meaningful experiences so that students can comprehend the concepts
teachers are trying to convey and make sense of key language components or the
content vocabulary. Students learn to link this new vocabulary to the
experiential process. Students also acquire the language by understanding their
meaning through real experiences rather than artificially looking the word up in
a glossary.” (Ron Rohac, educational consultant and
S.D.A.I.E. specialist) A good
example is to have students start a written and photo illustrated blog or web site or creating their own dialogues using
text-to-speech programs. Visual clues
Pictures,
models, gesturing, and body language demonstrations, etc. the idea is to take
abstract concepts and make them concrete. “They can be used in activities,
writing prompts, vocabulary games, concept development, sequencing activities
and assessment just to name a few. (Rohac) Cooperative learning
strategies
takes advantages strengths to build on student weaknesses, provide peer support,
and expose students to other ways to solve complex problems, develop social
skills and provide an excellent vehicle to practice oral language skills. The teacher must plan carefully and
monitors the process.
Part of the peer support
students can offer each other is with their first language. This can be an
excellent resource to consider when bilingual aids are not available or the
teacher does not speak the student’s first language. First language helps
acquire English a S.D.A.I.E. classroom. Note taking in
L1 should be encouraged, to the point of phonetically spelling out difficult
words using transliteration as a pronunciation tool. Guarded Vocabulary