Scaffolding: the art of building with the GSE

One thing we hear about all the time in language teaching is the need for ‘scaffolding’. When I lead teacher-training
sessions, I take extra time to focus on what scaffolding is and how to use it in a lesson. Through years of experience, I
have found that a lesson that demonstrates excellent scaffolding will improve the results I can expect from my students.
Over the past few months, the Global Scale of English (GSE) has put a new focus on the way I think about scaffolding.
Building with the GSE means teachers have a new way to plan lessons that include strong scaffolding to achieve
demonstrable progress.

What is scaffolding?
To start, let’s define the term. One of my favourite examples of scaffolding is learning how to ride a bike. Scaffolding
is about support; it’s about building an experience in the mind of the learner to help them move from watching others
do and achieve to being able to do themselves. We begin by watching parents and others ride a bike, then practise
ourselves with help from parents, peers and training wheels, until finally we can ride unsupported.

In the classroom, creating support means allowing time for student interaction, observation and practice. Teachers can
further support learners by planning lessons that move through the stages of scaffolding. This allows learners, when
working together, to ‘hold’ each other’s respective ‘bikes’ until they come to a place where they are comfortable about
‘letting go’.

One of the ways in which I look to see if a lesson I am planning has scaffolding is to see how the activities in it build
from start to finish. In a well-scaffolded lesson you won’t see several different activities, but rather several similar
activities leading to the same place. A simple example is to teach students words that describe characteristics.

Let’s start with this objective:

Characteristics of Personality

SWBAT use characteristics of personality to describe

Objective
family members in a classroom mingle activity.
From my objective I can see that I need to teach the following:

 Characteristics of personality
 Model dialogue to describe people
I will take the target language from my course book, which will also save me some time and work. It includes an
activity to clarify the characteristics – a gap-fill practice dialogue where students can use the vocabulary to describe
pictures of fictional characters. So, that’s half of my class planned out. Now I need to get my students to describe not
just fictional characters, but their own family members too. From here my lesson unfolds:
 Characteristics of Personality

SWBAT use characteristics of personality to describe

Objective
family members in a classroom mingle activity.

TL quiet, strong, friendly, careful, honest, boring, serious.

Materials PPT, Book, Paper, Pencil

Procedure

1. Use pictures of some famous actors on a PPT or project

2 min on an overhead projector. Elicit characteristics to check

prior knowledge.

2. Write the TL on the board. Have Ss work in pairs to

2 min match TL to the pictures of actors. Clarify any words that

are new.

3. Have Ss complete the vocabulary activity in the book.

5 min
Check answers.

4. Have Ss complete the dialogue in the book. Check

5 min
answers. Erase board or close PPT while Ss work.

5. Have Ss complete the description of characters in the

10 min
book. Check answers.
10 min 6. Have Ss draw members of their family.

7. In pairs, have Ss describe members of their family to

15 min partner. If necessary, have Ss use the dialogue from the

book and change to match family members.

8. Ss close books. Have Ss mingle and ask at least three

other Ss to describe the characteristics of the family.

2 min
Listen and note any incorrect use of vocabulary or trouble

with pronunciation.

As time permits 9. Review and clarify any errors after the mingle activity.
This lesson will allow me to accomplish my objective by demonstrating clear scaffolding. Let’s look at how this works:

Procedure

1. Use pictures of some famous

actors on a PPT or project on an Scaffolding: Check prior knowledge,

2 min overhead projector. Elicit focus only on teaching words that are

characteristics to check prior new, not words the Ss already know.

knowledge.

2. Write the TL on the board. Have

Scaffolding: Spend time only on new
Ss work in pairs to match TL to the
2 min words. Observe Ss to see what is
pictures of actors. Clarify any words
difficult.
that are new.
 3. Have Ss complete the vocabulary Scaffolding: Make sure all Ss know
5 min
activity in the book. Check answers. the words before we move on.

Scaffolding: The dialogue is a model

4. Have Ss complete the dialogue in for conversation that the Ss will have

5 min the book. Check answers. Erase at the end of the lesson. Every activity

board or close PPT while Ss work. after this will use the dialogue format

to support learner success.

Scaffolding: Using the dialogue from

5. Have Ss use the dialogue to
step 4, Ss complete step 5. The
10 min describe the characters in the book.
dialogue will change a little and still
Check answers.
provides support to the learners.

Scaffolding: Visual tool, but without

6. Have Ss draw members of their words. This will help support learners
10 min
family. as they have an unscripted

conversation.

Scaffolding: Same dialogue from

7. In pairs, have Ss describe book, ONLY if students need it. I can

members of their family to partner. If encourage Ss in pairs to just use the

1 min necessary, have Ss use the dialogue pictures. Dialogue must change now

from the book and change to match to reflect the family members, not

family members. indicated in the book work. Work in

pairs helps model the final activity.

 8. Ss close books. Have Ss mingle Scaffolding: The pictures. At this

and ask at least three other Ss to point the only scaffolding learners

describe the characteristics of the have are the pictures. The language
14 min
family. Listen and note any incorrect and the dialogue are not available so

use of vocabulary or trouble with learners can demonstrate they have

pronunciation. achieved the objective.

9. Review and clarify any errors after

As time permits
the mingle activity.
As you can see, each part of the lesson builds on the support from the previous activity to help my students achieve the
goal. By in the final activity, which is my objective, the scaffolding is designed to allow students to demonstrate
fluency without providing direct answers. This is the best kind of scaffolding for learners.

Analysing a lesson with the GSE

How has the GSE changed the way I think about scaffolding and how I work with my students? It’s all about having
insight into learning objectives with a sense of the challenge my students will face. Let’s again take the example of
describing family members.

The first thing I want to find out, in order to use the GSE for scaffolding, is around what GSE range I would find the
speaking skill in this lesson. The speaking skill here includes ‘describe’ and ‘family members’. So I can use the GSE
Teacher Toolkit to look for speaking skill descriptors related to describing people. Before I begin searching, I know
that my intention is to design this lesson for my A2+ level class, so I will look within the A2+ range on the GSE.
Next, I read through the results to see if I can find something that is close to my objective. I know that GSE objectives
won’t have the exact same wording, so I don’t need an exact match, just something that is close. When I push the
search button there are 16 matches and one is a very good description of the objective of my lesson.

And I can confirm that I am correct about the general level of difficulty of the skill I selected for my A2+ level class.

Characteristics of Personality

SWBAT use characteristics of personality to describe

Objective
family members in a classroom mingle activity.

GSE 39 (A2+)

Level Can use simple language to describe people’s personality

and emotions
Now it’s time to look at the key feature of the lesson: vocabulary. This is where the GSE can be extremely useful for
scaffolding. I know that the skill I’m working with is perfect for the student level, so now I want to look at my target
language for this activity. First, I use the GSE Teacher Toolkit to look up the target language vocabulary to get a sense
of the level of difficulty.
 quiet, strong, friendly, careful, honest, boring, serious

GSE Values [A2+ 30-35]

TL
quiet (36), strong (37), friendly (36), careful (39), honest (40),

boring (42), serious (43)

As we can see, most of the vocabulary is around the range of my learners and only one word will be a real challenge as
it falls outside the range. This helps me to think about my scaffolding. Since I expect my students to be working around
the A2+ range, my goal is to provide a challenge (think i+1) that will push them to go a little further. With this in mind
I go back to the GSE Teacher Toolkit, look at the vocabulary and select a few items that will really stretch my students.
I choose a few words that will push them to the next level of learning, and a couple of words that are very advanced,
but interesting and relevant to the topic.

difficult (51 B1+)

independent (53 B1+)

strict (55 B1+)

Additional TL
rebellious (77 C1)

introvert (82 C1)

extrovert (83 C1)

Scaffolding with the GSE

Now that I know more about the difficulty levels of my lesson, I’m ready to look at my scaffolding and make some
changes. Here is what I need to keep in mind:

 The skill is at the level of my students so they should be able to do it.

 The vocabulary in the book is at the level of my students so some of the words my students will know, while a
few might be difficult.
 My additions to the target language are above the level of my students, so these will be very difficult.

Armed with this information, I know where I need to scaffold the most: understanding the difficult target language.
When scaffolding with the GSE, what teachers need to know is what part of the lesson is going to be the most
challenging and therefore require the most scaffolding. The most challenging content is the content a teacher should
plan to scaffold more significantly.

Modified lesson plan with GSE-based scaffolding (changes in bold):

Characteristics of Personality
 SWBAT use characteristics of personality to describe
Objective
family members in a classroom mingle activity.

GSE 39 (A2+)

TL Can use simple language to describe people’s

personality and emotions.

TL quiet, strong, friendly, careful, honest, boring, serious.

difficult (51 B1+), independent (53 B1+), strict (55 B1+),

rebellious (77 C1), an introvert (82 C1),

Challenge TL

an extrovert (83 C1)

PPT, Book, Paper, Pencil, Challenge TL vocabulary

Materials
cards

Procedure

1. Use pictures of some famous Scaffolding: Check prior

actors on a PPT or project on an knowledge, focus only on teaching

2 min overhead projector. Elicit words that are new, not words the Ss

characteristics to check prior already know. of TL from the book.

knowledge. Introduce challenge TL.

 Scaffolding: Spend time only on new
2. Write the TL on the board. Have
words. clarifying challenge
Ss work in pairs to match TL to the
2 min TL. Observe Ss to see what is
pictures of actors. Clarify any words
difficult. for comprehension of
that are new.
challenge TL.

3. Have Ss complete the vocabulary

activity in the book. Check answers.

CHANGE: Assign vocabulary activity

in book for homework)

3. Make vocab cards for new Scaffolding: Make sure all Ss

TL. In pairs, one Ss shows the know the words before we move
5 min
card, partner names someone on. the new challenge TL before

famous that has the moving on.

characteristic.

A: [Card: an extrovert]

B: Taylor Swift is an extrovert.

Scaffolding: The dialogue is a model

4. Have Ss complete the dialogue in
for conversation that the Ss will have
the book. Check answers. Erase
5 min 10 min at the end of the lesson. Every activity
board or close PPT while Ss work.
after this will use the dialogue format
4.1 Have Ss complete a second time
to support learner success. Add
 using the challenge TL. additional practice for the new

challenge TL.

5. Have Ss use the dialogue to

describe the characters in the book. Scaffolding: Using the dialogue from

Check answers. step 4, Ss complete step 5. The

CHANGE: Model using tl from book dialogue will change a little and still

10 min and challenge TL. provides support to the

learners. Model including the

A: Do you know Jimmy T?
challenge TL in the dialogue

practice.
B: Yes, he is independent andserious.

Scaffolding: Visual tool, but without

6. Have Ss draw members of their words. This will help support learners
10 min 5 min
family. as they have an unscripted

conversation.

7. In pairs, have Ss describe Scaffolding: Same dialogue from

members of their family to partner. If book, ONLY if students need it. I can

necessary, have Ss use the dialogue encourage Ss in pairs to just use the

1 min from the book and change to match pictures. Dialogue must change now

family members. to reflect the family members, not

A: Who’s this? indicated in the book work. Work in

pairs helps model the final

 B: This is my sister, Annie. She is an activity. Model using the challenge

extrovert, and she’s a little rebellious. TL.

She is also very friendly. Just ask my

friends.

8. Ss close books. Have Ss mingle Scaffolding: The pictures. At this

and ask at least three other Ss to point the only scaffolding learners

describe the characteristics of the have are the pictures. The language
14 min
family. Listen and note any incorrect and the dialogue are not available so

use of vocabulary or trouble with learners can demonstrate they have

pronunciation. achieved the objective.

9. Review and clarify any errors after

the mingle activity.Review the

challenge TL and definitions.

As time permits
Assign vocabulary activity from book

as homework.

In my revised plan I’ve looked specifically at the parts of my lesson where my students will work with the challenging
vocabulary content. I’ve added some extra time to practise the vocabulary and new content. Notice that the amount of
time for practice did not change. As I expect the vocabulary to be the real challenge the time allocated for practice
should be fine as long as I allow enough scaffolding to support work with the new vocabulary. Also, because the
challenging content was an addition to the book, I revised how I would use the book content, setting some of the
content as homework to give more time to practise the challenging content in the classroom. I will still meet my core
skill objective for speaking with a lesson that is now designed to build my students’ knowledge at their level and
provides a challenge to stretch them as they work with new vocabulary.

I’ve found the GSE to be extraordinarily valuable for planning content. If I keep the desired range of my students in
mind, I can balance my lesson plan to target support right where they need it. Thinking about the skill, the vocabulary
and the grammar, I can pinpoint exactly where the scaffolding will be. This can help me plan the timing of my lesson
and generate ideas for how to use the content in the book, as well as what content I might need to create to supplement
and support my learners. In many ways, the GSE highlights the science behind the scaffolding.