Secondary Education Learning Strategies

Effective strategies instruction is not an "add-on" or a separate content area; rather, strategies instruction is used to support language learning and to accomplish authentic, meaningful language tasks. Although some initial explanations are needed, most strategies instruction should occur while you are working on language tasks.

Lesson materials should represent authentic language tasks. Select material that represents a slight stretch for most of your students. If the task is too easy, students will not need strategies; if it is too difficult, even appropriate strategies may not lead to success. The point is for students to experience the benefits of the strategies; they are not likely to apply strategies unless they believe the strategies help them.

Strategies instruction should not stand out as something separate from language learning. Although introducing and defining new strategies is explicit, it is important to "scaffold" instruction by turning the responsibility over to students.

In order to help you plan lessons that include learning strategies instruction, we offer three language-planning categories: the 5 C's, the language skills, and topics.

I. Learning Strategies Instruction and the 5 C's

Foreign language teachers are encouraged to focus on the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning, the 5 Cs. These C's - Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities - provide a vision of what students should know and be able to do with the target language. Specifically, students should be able to:

Learning strategies can help the students achieve these standards. Below we consider each C and suggest specific strategies that we feel are especially appropriate in helping students master it.

Strategies Especially Relevant To The Five Cs

Most of the learning strategies are appropriate for any of the Five Cs. Some strategies, however, are particularly appropriate for specific Cs. Below we will look at each of the Cs and suggest strategies.

Table 1. Communication: Interpersonal

The following learning strategies are very useful for any activities that engage the student in conversation in the foreign language. Some of them are also useful for written interpersonal communication such as writing personal letters and emails.

Activities that encourage interpersonal communication include role-plays, group discussions, pair work with questions and answers, pair work where students prepare or create something while discussing in the foreign language, and interviews.

Sample Activity	Strategy	Use of Strategy
Work with a group to create an alphabet book in French.	Substitute/ Paraphrase Spare Tire	Substitute/paraphrase helps you speak fluently and helps you express yourself. If you don’t know a particular vocabulary word in French, then use other words that you do know to express the same idea. If you don't know the French word for “turkey,” say “the big bird that Americans eat” in French.
Talk with a partner about things you do at home	Cooperate Together	Work together to keep the conversation going. When you are trying to think of a word, let your partner suggest vocabulary you can use. If your partner has trouble, help by offering what you know how to say. Helping each other learn will make the process more fun.
Answer questions the teacher asks in the foreign language	Access Information Sources Read all about it!	Look around you for things that will help – posters, gestures the teacher is making, and cognates. Follow a model that you remember from the foreign language instead of translating from English. Use standard phrases, greetings, hesitation noises, and clarification questions in the foreign language to give yourself time to think of an answer to a question.
Learn how to make requests.	Use Real Objects/ Roleplay Lights, Camera, Action!	Spend a little time imagining yourself in a situation where you make requests, such as in a Mexican restaurant. Go through the possible conversation in your mind: What will you say? What will the waiter say? What will you reply? Most highly talented language learners do a lot of “play acting” in their minds. It gives you practice and improves your performance.
Use new vocabulary related to school subjects to interview a classmate about likes and dislikes.	Transfer/ Use Cognates telephone/ teléfono/ Telefon/téléfon	Look at the vocabulary list for cognates, words that are similar to the English names of school subjects. Check your understanding of the words with the glossary and ask your classmate about the classes they like or dislike. Notice how the words may have a different stress or pronunciation in the foreign language, so you won’t pronounce them the same way as in English.

TABLE 2. COMMUNICATION: INTERPRETIVE

The following learning strategies are especially useful for any activities that help students understand receptive communication, whether written or aural.

Activities that foster interpretive communication include listening to lectures, viewing films or plays, watching television, listening to songs, and reading literature and periodicals.

Sample Activity	Strategy	Use of Strategy
Read a short passage in your text.	Make Predictions Crystal Ball	Look at pictures and the title to predict what the passage is about. Think of words you know about that topic. Remember to check your prediction as you read. If your prediction was not accurate, that’s fine; it still helps start your learning processes.
Find out who won yesterday’s presidential election in Russia.	Use Selective Attention Look for It	Find an online newspaper in Russian. Read it quickly, looking for headlines with words that you think might relate to the election. When you find such words, read the sentences around them to find the information you need.
Listen to a dialogue about making a date.	Use Background Knowledge I know	Use what you know about dating to help you understand the dialogue. For example, there are different ways to ask if someone is free on a certain date in English. How do speakers of your foreign language handle the situation? Notice how the speakers make a request and respond to a request for a date.
Listen to a song by a popular singer. Answer questions about the song’s message.	Make Inferences Use Clues	Listen to the song carefully and use the words you know and the music itself to guess the meaning. For example, when the singer says “amor” you can guess she is singing about love. From the music you can guess if she’s happy or sad about love.
Learn a long list of vocabulary words for a final exam.	Manage Your Own Learning Pace Yourself	Depending on your own pace and learning style, decide on how to attack this task. If you work well with flash cards, make them for your words and plan a regular time to study them. If you study best by listening, record the words and meanings to listen to over and over on your portable player. Break the list into several smaller lists and schedule time to learn them well in advance of the exam.
Read a travel brochure. Answer questions about the place in the brochure.	Monitor Check	Begin reading the brochure and stop periodically to see if you are understanding what you are reading. Stop to monitor your progress frequently. If you don’t understand, access resources such as the glossary, your notes, or your dictionary.
Listen to sentences and complete a worksheet with the past tense forms of verbs.	Find/Apply Patterns Sound Out	Think of the patterns you know in English for past tenses. What do you listen for that tells you a sentence will be in the past tense? Notice what you can listen for in the foreign language. Look for patterns that will help you catch the tense of spoken verbs.

TABLE 3.COMMUNICATION: PRESENTATIONAL

The learning strategies below are particularly useful for any activities that help students with productive communication where there is little or no direct interaction with others.

Activities that encourage presentational communication include oral presentations, poster sessions, TV or radio broadcasts, monologues, essays, short stories, and poems.

Sample Activity	Strategy	Use of Strategy
Write about your dream home	Organize/ Plan Calendar	Don’t panic and think the task is overwhelming. Stop to make a list of what you need to do to accomplish your task. For example, what rooms will you describe? Then follow the list carefully, one step at a time. Use spatial order to list the things you want to describe in the home.
Create and perform a skit about ordering in a French restaurant.	Talk Yourself Through It (Self-Talk) I can do it!	Stop for a moment to encourage yourself. Tell yourself that you can do this assignment because you have good strategies for language learning. You can use cooperating as you work with a classmate to plan the skit. You can use what you know as you remember phrases in French to talk about food, drinks, and money. You can monitor as you practice the skit to check if you can understand the lines you and your classmate write. When problems come up, you can access resources to get the help you need.
Tell your class about your family.	Monitor Check	As you speak, look at your teacher’s face and the faces of your classmates to see if you are being understood. If you think there is a problem, try saying it a different way or asking a question.
Give a presentation on a foreign city that particularly interests you.	Make Predictions Crystal Ball	Before doing any research, make some guesses about what you will learn about lifestyle, shopping, transportation, politics and sports in that city. As you read about the city, check your predictions. Don’t worry if they were not accurate. Their effect is to begin the process that will help you take in new information.

TABLE 4. CULTURE: PRACTICES AND PERSPECTIVES

The learning strategies below are particularly useful for activities that help students understand the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the TL culture.

Activities that encourage this understanding include reading TC periodicals and literature, listening to TC television and radio broadcasts, going to movies, and talking to representatives of the TC.

Sample Activity	Strategy	Use of Strategy
Read a magazine article about Austrian sports and write a summary about what types of sports they play in Austria.	Make Inferences Use Clues	Use the headline, photo, caption, and key words to infer what the article will focus on. As you read, check to see if what you inferred matches information in the article.
After listening to a dialogue about a wedding in Kuwait, list the practices you learned about and talk about what this tells you Kuwaiti culture.	Use Imagery Mirror, Mirror	As you listen to the description of the wedding, create an image of the ceremony in your mind.
Research a European city and give a talk about what you would do there.	Personalize Me	Include what you would like and dislike about the city in your discussion. What activities or sights appeal to you personally? Thinking of your personal opinions about the city will help you recall things you plan to say in your talk.

TABLE 5. CULTURE: PRODUCTS AND PERSPECTIVES

The learning strategies below are particularly useful for activities that help students understand the relationship between the products and perspectives of the TL culture.

Activities that further this understanding include visiting museums, watching documentaries, going to movies, and reading fiction and non-fiction.

Sample Activity	Strategy	Use of Strategy
Write a description of an Italian work of art. Discuss why this painting was influential to Italian culture.	Access Resources Read all about it!	Search the Web for Italian works of art. Museum websites are frequently valuable sources of information about art.
Read a magazine article about current fashion trends in Paris.	Use Background Knowledge I know.	Before reading, brainstorm what you already know about fashion and French fashion in particular. For example, what clothing names do you know in French? How about colors? Apply what you know to help you understand the article.

TABLE 6. CONNECTIONS

The learning strategies below are useful to help students reinforce their knowledge of other disciplines through their knowledge of the target language.

Sample Activity	Strategy	Use of Strategy
Learn about Puerto Rico's geography, climate, foods, and customs	Use Imagery Mirror, Mirror	Remembering mental images you have of other Caribbean islands can help you to understand the description of Puerto Rico's beaches and tropical fruits. Imagine the kinds of food you know that grow in a warm climate and look in the text for the Spanish names of those foods. Look at the photos in the text as you practice new vocabulary.
Listen to your Art teacher talk about works of Italian art.	Take Notes Notepad	Take notes in your Art class and try to supplement this information with additional information in an Italian language art book. Or use the Internet to search for Italian-language art and museum sites.
Make a web page in Spanish about healthy living. Recommend what foods to eat and what exercises are best for different types of people.	Use Background Knowledge I know.	Remember and apply what you learned in Health class about choosing healthy foods and about exercises that reduce stress and give more energy. As you create the web page, use phrases you have already learned in Spanish for suggesting or recommending foods or activities. When you need help with vocabulary related to healthy living, access resources such as Spanish language health websites.
Read in World History class about how European countries established colonies in Africa.	Make inferences Use clues	Read a work of African literature written in French during colonial times and try to understand how the writer felt about the French colonists. Use clues you get from the writer’s language and descriptions of the colonists.
Read a difficult passage in English.	Transfer/Use cognates telephone/ teléfono/ Telefon/téléfon	Use the strategies you used for reading in a foreign language, such as Make Inferences and Predict, to help you improve reading comprehension in English. This transfer will help you apply the strategies more naturally when you read in your foreign language, too.

TABLE 7.COMPARISONS

The learning strategies below are particularly appropriate for helping students see language, issues, objects, and other people from a new and different perspective.

Sample Activity	Strategy	Use of Strategy
Read about how a girl's 15th birthday is celebrated in Latin American culture. Talk with a partner about how a girl's 16th birthday is celebrated in US culture.	Use Background Knowledge I know.	Use what you know about birthdays in the US and talk to friends about their parties. Compare the celebrations in Latin American culture with those you have experienced.
Prepare for a class discussion comparing the World Cup with the World Series	Access Resources Read all about it!	Talk with people who know about the sport, read Internet sites about the championship, watch videos of sporting events in the foreign language
Watch a documentary about young people in Asia.	Personalize Me	As you watch the documentary, try to relate the interests and hobbies of the young people in Asia to your own interests and hobbies and those of your friends. When you discuss the documentary in class, compare your daily life with that of the Asian youth you saw.
Write a report comparing government in the U.S. and another country.	Use Graphic Organizers/ Take Notes Notepad	Make a chart showing how leaders are chosen in the US and in the foreign country. Note where similar events occur on both charts. Use your chart to help organize your report.

TABLE 8.COMMUNITIES

The strategies below can be useful in helping students participate in multilingual communities in the US and around the world and they will help them become lifelong learners.

Sample Activity	Strategy	Use of Strategy
Listen to songs of a pop singer. Think of questions to ask the singer about his or her career.	Use Background Knowledge I know.	Think about what you know about talk shows, interview questions, and pop music to help you understand what’s going on. Remember the kinds of questions you have heard interviewers ask singers. Think of the questions you know how to ask in your foreign language as you prepare to do the assignment.
Practice your foreign language outside of class.	Access Information Sources Read all about it!	This strategy is particularly useful outside the classroom. Do your best to find speakers of the foreign language, and engage them in conversation in the language. Research has shown that the most successful language learners are those who seek out opportunities for practice. Find out if your school has a conversation partners program with participating native speakers of the foreign language.
Write to your pen pal about your typical school day.	Evaluate I did it!	After writing about your day, read your sentences aloud and listen for parts that sound natural in the foreign language. If any sentences sound strange, check them with the teacher or a classmate.
Make up a weather report for a city in another country.	Access Information Sources Read all about it!	Look up the weather online and follow the format used to forecast weather in your foreign language to organize your weather report. Get ideas from TV or Internet weather forecasts to help you create graphics to aid in creating your report.
Use Internet resources to plan an imaginary journey in a foreign country.	Make Inferences Use Clues	Make inferences about life in the country based on what you learn from travel brochures, maps, accommodation ads, travel guides, and exchanging email with people who lived there. Use the clues to plan how you should travel, where you should stay, and what you can expect to see and do.
Plan an imaginary four-course meal for a dinner party.	Use Imagery Mirror, Mirror	Draw and label each course to help you describe the dishes. If you can’t draw, cut out pictures from a magazine or find them on the Internet by searching in your foreign language. As you plan each course, say the name of each dish aloud so you can associate the sound with the image.
Subscribe to a listserv to receive emails related to a foreign language.	Summarize Main Idea	At least once a week, tell a classmate what particular issues are important to that community. Try to use your own words in your foreign language to give the main ideas of the messages you read.

II. Learning Strategies Instruction and the Language Skills

Learning strategies can be very useful when you are focusing your students' attention on one of the language skills (speaking, listening, reading or writing), grammar, or vocabulary.

Here are some examples of how you can integrate specific learning strategies instruction into language-based lessons.

1. Speaking

Two particularly appropriate learning strategies for speaking activities are Substitute/Paraphrase and Use Graphic Organizers. If, while making an oral presentation in the target language, a student suddenly cannot remember a word, he/she can substitute another word that is similar or paraphrase the concept. When students are preparing oral presentations, they can organize their ideas more effectively by using graphic organizers such as lists, charts, and semantic maps.

2. Writing

The strategies Substitute/Paraphrase and Use Graphic Organizers are equally relevant to speaking and to writing activities. Another strategy that students can use when working on a writing assignment is Monitor. After writing part of an essay, for example, the student can look back over it and consider whether he is making sense or not. He can also ask another student to look it over.

3. Reading

To increase one's understanding of a text, two particularly useful strategies are Take Notes and Summarize.

4. Listening

Use Background Knowledge and Make Inferences are equally useful for reading and listening. When preparing to listen to a lecture, for example, a student will understand it better if she activates her background knowledge, i.e. thinks about what she already knows about the topic.

5. Grammar

When trying to master the grammar of a language, students will find the following strategies useful: Use Selective Attention, Group/Classify, and Find/Apply Patterns. Students can focus their attention on all of the past tense verbs in a story if they are trying to learn this tense. They can group together various examples of tenses when the focus is verbs. Finding examples of language rules and applying them cements their grammatical knowledge.

6. Vocabulary Development

When students encounter an unfamiliar word, they can consider whether it resembles a word in their native language (e.g. haus in German, house in English). This strategy is especially useful when students are studying Western languages that have many cognates to English words. Learning vocabulary lists is much easier when the words are grouped into logical categories. Use Imagery can help students remember vocabulary items by associating them with an image.

III. Learning Strategies Instruction and Topics

You can also weave learning strategies instruction seamlessly into your presentation of a particular topic or thematic unit. Below you will find a chart that provides examples for four topics: Family, All about Me, Food, and Travel.

FAMILY	Useful Learning Strategies
Through the Eyes of Artists: Develop insight into art history and the target culture by analyzing color copies of images of families in Spanish paintings and reading short bios of the artists.	Make Inferences Manage Your Own Learning Use Background Knowledge
Family Trees: Develop vocabulary about family relationships in Spanish by creating and presenting personal or fictional family trees.	Personalize Use Graphic Organizers Use Selective Attention
The Faces of Spanish Families: Describe photographs of Hispanic families and make comparisons with U.S. families. Think about how this helps shape societies.	Make Predictions Transfer Group/Classify Use Resources
Making it Personal: Show and tell about an artifact that somehow represents your family life. Classmates will ask questions about why this helps define your family identity.	Substitute/Paraphrase Use Real Objects Use Imagery
ALL ABOUT ME	Useful Learning Strategies
Personal Crest: Draw pictures that represent your likes, dislikes, beliefs, hobbies, and loved ones to design a crest and credo. Explain your crest to a partner and then the class.	Use Imagery Substitute/Paraphrase Monitor
Being a Teen in the New Millennium- U.S. vs. French: Read some short biographies of French teenagers. Describe different aspects of teen life in the U.S. and then compare how this is similar of different in France. Use outside sources to extend your information on French teens.	Organize/Plan Use Graphic Organizers Make Predictions Summarize
My Favorite Subject: Write a short essay describing what you are learning in your favorite subject this year (other than the TL of course).	Role Play Transfer Use Selective Attention
What I Would do in Paris: Describe an ideal day visiting Paris. Use a map of the city to help organize your thoughts.	Use Resources Personalize Cooperate
FOOD	Useful Learning Strategies
Italian Food in the U.S.: Create and present a poster describing Italian dishes favored by Americans. Discuss how important Italian cuisine is in the U.S.	Use Graphic Organizers Use Background Knowledge
Making a Menu: Using models of real menus to help you, design a menu for an American restaurant in Rome and an Italian restaurant in your city. What are the similarities and differences?	Use Resources Manage Your Own Learning Transfer/Use Cognates Cooperate
Dinner Out: Write and role-play a scene in an Italian restaurant. Make sure you include: asking for a table, asking questions about and ordering from the menu, and describing what you like and dislike about the different foods.	Role-play Talk Yourself Through It Monitor
TRAVEL	Useful Learning Strategies
Transatlantic Travel: Read and compare advertisements for American Airlines and Lufthansa. What are the differences in marketing and images? What does this tell you about the two cultures?	Personalize Use a Graphic Organizer/Take Notes Make Inferences Use Background Knowledge
Virtual Field Trip: Complete a WebQuest that involves an online tour of Austria. Practice speaking by describing your trip to a partner.	Monitor Use Imagery Talk Yourself Through It Cooperate
Come Visit the U.S.: Design a travel brochure about your state for German-speaking teens. Make sure you take their needs and interests into account as you create a marketing strategy.	Organize/Plan Evaluate Use Background Knowledge Summarize
My Dream Vacation- In a German-Speaking Country: Think about your favorite type of vacation and then research where you could find that in a German-speaking region.	Manage Your Own Learning Use Resources Make Predictions Use Imagery

IV. How Do I Write a Learning Strategies Lesson?

We will walk you step-by-step through the process with an example. The purpose of teaching learning strategies is to help students learn the content of the lesson.

Chapter 4: Integrating Learning Strategies into Your Language Lessons