This approach allows teachers to track students progress in multiple skills.

At the same
time, integrating the language skills also promotes the learning of real content, not just
the dissection of language forms.

-Yes, in this approach teachers are given the privilege to track students progress in not
just one but in a variety of ways. As we all know teaching multiple skills in one class is a
challenge, but it is a fun challenge. It involves teaching multi skills in English such as
writing, listening, speaking, and reading skills, as well as the culture and grammar.

So why it is used and how teachers use these four skills without making the class
unorganized?

-The least we know that this approach is versatile and can be used at any age or ability
level. When teaching multi skills in one class it is helpful to the teacher to use the
following:

1. Select Your Theme

When teaching multiple skills in one class it is helpful to use a theme based approach. A
theme is a topic that you can use as a base for your lessons. Remember back to your
high school English class, did your teacher use themes such as romantic literature,
Shakespearean literature, American novels, etc. These are all example of themes that
are common in a first language English class. In order to choose themes,  you will need
to consider the following:

Student Needs

First, you will need to know what your students need to learn. This means that you need
to think of what they would like to do with their English. All students learn English for a
variety of reasons. For example, If you have students who are learning English to travel,
then your themes may include survival or travel English such as English for airports,
hotels and restaurants.

2. Make a Schedule

Planning, planning, and more planning are very important when teaching multiple skills.
Planning for each day could be somewhat frustrating, as you know you need to teach
speaking, listening, reading, and writing. One of the best ways to make sure that you
cover everything is to come up with a plan or schedule that you follow each day/week.

3. Choose Your Objectives

Objectives are always so important. Once you have your themes and schedule ready
you will need to make sure each activity has an objective. An objective is a goal that you
would like your students to achieve by the end of the lesson.
Language objectives
Your language objectives need to be included in each class. Language objectives are
ones that focus on the language being learned. Here are some examples

Writing
Write supporting points
Write a 5 sentence paragraph
Speaking
Hold a simple conversation
Give a 1 minute presentation
Listening
Comprehend lectures or short conversations
Listen for specific words

As you can see there are many language objectives and it is so important that all of our
lessons use language objectives to focus our teaching and help out students to actively
learn.

4. Structure Your Lessons

Good language classes employ good lesson planning and this is especially true of
multiple skills classes. Use the before, during and after model. example, perhaps in your
lesson your main focus will be on reading, so to introduce the topic for the day you
would need to do a speaking activity, then you would have your reading activity,
followed by a writing activity.

-Through the mismatch between teacher expectations and child behavior that may
occur both when the teacher and child share a native language or when their native
language differ, educational programs must accommodate to the cultural influences
children bring to the classroom.

It is normal for us, as humans, to want to communicate with people in the language we
know best. It is less cognitively demanding, comforting, and allows us to clarify concepts
that may have been confusing or that we have lingering questions about.

The practice of allowing students to clarify or discuss concepts in their native language
with peers is an important and useful scaffold in our classrooms.

Benefits of Allowing Students to Use Their Native Language in the Classroom

As mentioned, it is beneficial for students to have the opportunity to clarify key concepts
with a classmate who speaks the same language. Teachers can provide opportunities
for students to do this by giving a prompt for discussion.

Here are some strategies:

 Summarizing what they just read, heard or learned: Teachers prompt

students to share with a partner important details about what they just studied or
read. For example: "Tell your partner three important details from the text you
just read."
 Brainstorming: Students discuss, or write, ideas around a particular subject.
 Quick-writes: Similar to brainstorming, students write as much as they can in a
short amount of time about a particular subject or topic.
 K-W-L: The K-W-L chart lists what students know, want to know and learned
about a particular topic. When implementing the K-W-L, students can discuss or
fill in the K-W-L in a small group with peers who speak the same language, and
cart their responses. If an instructional aid or parent volunteer who speaks the
native language(s) of the students is available, he/she can assist in this process.
 Reading materials: If reading materials are available to students in the native
language, reading them may help to build background, increase reading skills or
clarify concepts.

Challenges and Potential Issues with Allowing Students to Use Their Native
Language in the Classroom

If students are not speaking English, they are not practicing the
vocabulary, academic language, grammatical structures, etc. that they
need to learn. Teachers should think strategically about the purpose of a given
activity or lesson. The development of academic language and vocabulary
should be a priority in every classroom. Coupled with this, students need to
deeply understand the content they are learning.

There are limited resources available for students who speak other
languages. At times, program materials are provided in other languages for
students. Certain reading programs, for example, have stories available that
have been written or translated in another language. Some teachers have
bilingual books that students can access in their classrooms or school libraries.

Concluding Thoughts

There are benefits to allowing students to use their native language for instructional
purposes in an otherwise English-speaking classroom. Teachers must follow the law
while advocating at local, state and national levels for best practices. Where not
explicitly banned, teachers must be strategic in terms of when it is appropriate for
students to use a language other than English, and when students must practice the
content vocabulary and academic language.

In all classrooms, English learners benefit from sheltered instruction practices that help
them to learn content while developing English proficiency. Sheltered instruction
practices such as:

 Providing comprehensible input during instruction

 Building in student-to-student interaction opportunities to build oral fluency and
for clarification and processing of key concepts
 Linking to students' prior experiences
 Building background knowledge
 An explicit focus on developing academic English

All of these practices benefit English learners in particular and each student in
general. The strategic use of students' native language should be considered as
an important and useful scaffold and instructional tool

HOW?

Writing needs to be approached as both a vehicle of personal expression and as a way

for students editing skills, thereby promoting a more general awareness of language
and helping lessen some of the discrepancies between teacher and students
expectations.

As we all know language is more than just communication. It is the primary method by
which we do things together. Language can be use as a vehicle for thought, creativity,
reflection, self expression and social interaction. It can develop also develop our
different skills in a variety of contexts. Then, through writing we can be more visible, we
can express ourselves, our ideas and thoughts that were hesitant to tell to others. As an
individual we are obliged to be more determine and have the courage to speak up in
order for us to engage in different