MLL LESSON PLAN

Multilingual learner lesson plan

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

ITE 320, Fall 2019

Kaluhi Kaʻapana
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Key information

The lesson was designed for a 5th grade Hawaiian immersion class. There are 12 students

total in this class. Each student is a Hawaiian second language learner, as their first language

from home is English. Of the 12 students, 10 have been attending Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Waiau since

kindergarten, one since 3rd grade, and we have one student who transferred from Kula Kaiapuni

ʻo Ānuenue during second quarter. She has attended Hawaiian immersion since she was in

preschool. These 5th grade students are in a combined 5th and 6th grade class with 22 students

total, but the lesson was taught to the 5th grade students only. In our class, there is not much

science that is taught. Science is supposed to be taught at least 45 minutes a day, twice a week,

but currently it is being taught once a week. Science is taught through a project-based style unit,

which is typically done with the 5th and 6th graders. Since the 6th graders had already focused

on this content standard last year, this lesson was taught to the 5th grade students only.

The standard that was focused on in this lesson was 5-LS2-1. Develop a model to

describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. My

learning objective was “I can use a model to describe the movement of matter through a food

chain.” In my lesson, there were two summative assessments. The students were graded on their

model of the food chain that they created in their small groups. Once their created their model,

they had to present their model as a group, saying which organism they were, where their

organism stands on the food chain, and how they know that is the organisms place on the food

chain. The next summative assessment was the individual writing in their science notebooks. The

students had to write down the food chain, which they worked on and presented in their groups.
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They also answered questions about the relation of omnivores to the food chain. This was

intended to lead to a food web after we learn about food chains in other ecosystems.

Multilingual learner supports

The multilingual learner supports that I focused on in this lesson was speaking. In each

lesson, I try to incorporate a language building component in speaking. This is something

commonly incorporated into Hawaiian immersion lessons because the students do not speak

proper Hawaiian and many times their ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is what we call hemahema or lacking. In

the younger grades, it is usually simple sentence structures like those you would learn in your

first few lessons of speaking Hawaiian, but in the upper grades, we try to focus on correcting

common errors or expanding their skill level of speaking. This lesson focused on listening, as the

students listened to one another rephrasing the explanation. The lesson also included reading and

writing, where the students read the captions on the pictures, in order to classify organisms. After

they had created their models, they needed to write and answer questions in their science

notebooks. Vocabulary was incorporated in the previous lesson to this, but was reinforced in this

lesson.

On page 159 of Goh and Burns’ ​Teaching speaking: a holistic approach, ​the

teaching-speaking cycle goes through different stages of teaching speaking. First, the teacher

must focus learners’ attention on speaking, provide input, conduct speaking tasks, focus on

strategies, repeat speaking tasks, direct learners’ reflection on learning, then finally facilitate

feedback on learning. In this lesson, I would say that I focused on stages 3, 4, and 5. Stage 3 is

conducting speaking tasks, to develop fluency of expression. Stage 4 focuses on language, skills,

or strategies. In my lesson, I asked the students to explain a food chain using a certain sentence
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pattern. The purpose of this was to expand their speaking skill level. The students interacted as a

group, first explaining the food chain to one another based on the organism that each person in

their group was assigned. Once the group had created their food chain model, they needed to

explain their organisms place in the food chain using the required sentence pattern. This is where

the students demonstrated stage 5, which was repeating the speaking task.

Second language teaching methods

There are two main second language teaching strategies that I focused on. One strategy is

“get two for one,” of course, since it is a Hawaiian immersion classroom. The other strategy that

I tried to incorporate was the “let’s talk” strategy. The “let’s talk” strategy was implemented

through discussion in various areas of the lesson. First, this method was integrated through the

turn-and-talk, where each pair had to reiterate what a food chain is. Then, when the students

broke out into their groups, they need to discuss the food chain with the purpose of developing a

model. The “get two for one” method was incorporated through science being taught in

Hawaiian. The whole lesson was conducted in Hawaiian about scientific concepts.

Incorporating diversity

Typically, Hawaiian culture is integrated in every lesson. This lesson was a little difficult

to focus on culture, since I needed to build understanding of content. Our class visited a loko iʻa

(fishpond) and I used the fish from the pond to create the understanding of a food chain. This

was the first of many food chains that we focused on. I also tried to use indigenous species when

incorporating the organisms.

Project 1 and 2
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Based on what I learned from my first and second project, I tried to incorporate what I

have learned from my observations and from my MLL interview. In the previous lesson when

teaching organisms, I asked the students what the Hawaiian words for each organism was based

on their knowledge of organisms. Most of the students knew the English words of carnivores,

herbivores, omnivores, and decomposers. Those who knew explained the terms to those who

didn’t. I also allowed the student to make the connection of the Hawaiian terms to the English

terms. For example, in class, one student said, “oh like me kekahi food chain?” (like a food

chain). Even though we encourage them to speak Hawaiian, I accepted what the student had said

and even validated them, then explained that the Hawaiian word we will use for food chain is

kuʻina meaʻai.

Assessment

In my lesson, there were two summative assessments. The students were graded on their

model of the food chain that they created in their small groups. Once their created their model,

they had to present their model as a group, saying which organism they were, where their

organism stands on the food chain, and how they know that is the organisms place on the food

chain. This is where the students were required to use the sentence pattern. The students were

graded on if they used the sentence pattern to describe their organism in the food chain. The next

summative assessment was the individual writing in their science notebooks. The students had to

write down the food chain, which they worked on and presented in their groups. They also

answered questions about the relation of omnivores to the food chain. This was intended to lead

to a food web after we learn about food chains in other ecosystems.

Corrective feedback
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The corrective feedback used in this lesson was recasts and metacognitive feedback.

Recasts were used in general errors throughout the lesson. For example, a student said, “loaʻa au

i ka manō” (the shark got me) and I used recast feedback by saying, “loaʻa ka manō iā ʻoe?” (you

have the shark). There was not much student uptake, as the student just responded with “ʻae” and

moved on. When they were using the required sentence structure given, however, I used

metacognitive feedback by explaining the sentence pattern and why we are using that specific

pattern.

Conclusion

This was the lesson where I was intentionally incorporating language building. Some

times, teaching in Hawaiian, the focus on language happens organically, but this is something I

am still trying to master. I think that learning about the different strategies is what allowed the

lesson to be successful, where the students can use this sentence pattern to explain the food

chain. My next steps for myself is to encourage them to utilize the pattern in other aspects of

speaking.
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Works Cited

Goh, C. C., & Burns, A. (2012). ​Speaking competence.​ ​Teaching speaking: A holistic approach.
New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Goh, C. C., & Burns, A. (2012). ​A model for teaching speaking.​ ​Teaching speaking: A holistic
approach.​ New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (2017). Chapter 6: Second language learning in the classroom.

How languages are learned​ (4th ed.). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press