Using Kaizena with ELL Ss in a Station Rotation Classroom

Natalie has been using Kaizena to help prepare her ELL students for the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC), a required state test for students whose primary language is not English.

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Natalie uses station-rotation blended learning in her classroom. What does that mean? In short, it’s a model that invites students to rotate through different stations, allowing for more small group time and personal interaction with the teacher. Under this classroom structure, Natalie created a station where learners used Kaizena to practice their oral responses to situational prompts.

Here’s how she did it:

• (Optional): To help her students understand their task, Natalie recorded herself in a video outlining what they would be doing at this station, then included this video at the beginning of her Google Doc
• Create a Google Doc
• Number the different prompts (Prompt #1, Prompt #2, Prompt #3) by typing on the Doc
• Make a highlight over each prompt, and record yourself reading the prompt out loud. In Natalie’s case, the prompts were situational based and designed to test the students’ ability to speak fully structured sentences. Ex: You want to know if your friend has finished working on a science project. What would you say to your friend
• Share the document with the students (whether by Google Classroom, sharing the link, etc)
• Students access the document at a designated station, review the prompts, then record themselves responding to the different situations

“I’m using this as a formative assessment tool so I can figure out what else my students need help with. It’s been great because even the really shy ones participated, without me having to pressure them! Plus, having it on Kaizena means that my students can get more practice rounds in, since they can access all the prompts in one place. This has really allowed them to practice their speaking skills before the big assessment.”

PS: Check out Natalie’s blog where she shares about the different projects she’s working on!