Here are some simple instructions I provided to him to get started:

Remember that you are not teaching US History. Instead, you are teaching English, and using US History as a vehicle by which to teach it.

Here is a suggestion of a routine to follow:

1. You read aloud the first page of the chapter and ask them to look at the words as you read them, and have students write a summary and share.

2. Have them also make a list in their notebook of words on the page that are new to them. Have them write the definition of that work in their home language.

3. Have them each try writing a new sentence using one of those new words on a whiteboard to show that they truly understand the word.

4. Follow that process for each page, EXCEPT for having them periodically read aloud a sentence or two instead of you.

5. At the end of a chapter you dictate some sentences to them to write on a whiteboard without their looking at the book.

6. Have each of them each try dictating a sentence to the others.

7. End each chapter (or class period) by showing a Brainpop Jr. video connected to the content, followed by doing the quiz as a game and keeping score of who is getting which ones correct, with the winner getting a prize AND/OR ask the comprehension questions at the end of each chapter instead of a Brainpop movie.

Interspersed in this, of course, you continue to do what you’re doing by showing maps and images to help their comprehension.

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