WHS ESL 2B Curriculum Guide

Grades 9-12  College Prep  7.5 credits

ESL focuses on systematic, explicit, and sustained language development within the context of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and WIDA. This course is designed to build on students’ cultural and linguistic knowledge and bridge into more complex English skills.   Students enrolled in ESL 2B  are also offered English for the Workplace 2 and/or ESL Comp 2. Students will engage in academic conversations and writing to inform, explain, narrate, and argue. They also research meaningful topics and give short individual and group presentations, using technology. In line with the school’s focus on Project Based Learning and collaboration between the Multilingual Department and other departments, there will be curriculum embedded performance assessments and a final project.  Prerequisite: Demonstrated competence of the language addressed in ESL 1B and 2A or equivalent assessment and teacher recommendation.

Unit

Timeframe

Big Ideas (Statements or Essential Questions)

Major Learning Experiences from Unit 

Module 1-Cultural Identity

August-

October

  • How do people identify with racial and ethnic categories? 

  • How does a person’s culture affect what is important to them and how they see the world? 

  • How do you identify yourself?

  • Who are some influential Hispanic people and what have they accomplished?

Students read accounts of how people in US/Spanish speaking communities identify with the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino”. They discuss what these terms mean to them. They then read biographies of people in these communities and summarize key points. 


Students will be able to:

  • Paraphrase and summarize key information from a text.

  • Create a presentation that informs others about a famous person. 

  • Distinguish between past simple and present perfect when talking about past experiences.

Module 2-Myths and Monsters

November-

December

  • What monster myths exist in different cultures?

  • How can science explain popular myths and legends?  

  • What does it mean to be human?

Students read various myths from around the world, making connections between the myths and their scientific explanations. They then read the novel Frankenstein and discuss what it means to be human.


Students will be able to

  • Summarize fiction and nonfiction texts, focusing on main ideas and details. 

  • Explain a monster myth through the lens of science using cause and effect language. 

  • Argue using evidence from a text to support a claim. 

Module 3 - The Power of Personal Stories

January-

February

  • What makes a story powerful?

  • How can we tell our own stories in a way that engages the reader?

Students write personal narratives and discuss how experiences have shaped their lives. 


Students will be able to

  • Describe using  verbs of the senses.

  • Narrate a personal experience with strong sensory details.

Module 4-Social Justice in Fiction and Nonfiction

March-May

  • How does a person’s  environment influence them?

  • How do people change when faced with challenges?

  • Who decides identity-a person or a society? 

  • How do people survive when faced with adversity? 

Students read one of three texts with their class: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, March, by John Lewis, or Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga. They explain how social justice affected the people in these works and discuss what social justice means to them.


Students will be able to

  • Inform by summarizing the most important aspects of information

  • Inform by sorting, clarifying, and summarizing relationships within a text

  • Explain how a character/person is affected by racism and adversity in their lives.

  • Narrate events in a text. 

Module 5-

Policies and Current Events.

May-June

  • What issues do you feel are important?

  • How does the topic affect you, the people of our community, and the world?

  • What solutions can you propose to a problem?

Students research a current events issue or a school policy that they feel is important to them. They read articles on the topic and then create a presentation arguing possible solutions to a problem or policy.


Students will be able to

  • Create claims and support them with evidence and reasons.

  • Argue a point

  • Lead a discussion.