Social+Studies

=Social Studies = Social Studies is a content area that is very culturally-embedded. For English Language Learners who may be new to the United States, the complex and abstract concepts that are discussed within this subject can be especially challenging. In addition, these concepts are often difficult to represent. Social Studies encompasses skills from other subject areas as well, especially language arts. Therefore, there are many challenges facing teachers in this content area.

On this page you will find resources to help mitigate the challenges of teaching ELL’s Social Studies.

Judie Haynes has identified several challenges of ELL's specific to each content area (**[]** )

Here are some for Social Studies, and some suggested resources to help with those areas: || [] Use actual pictures of the earth to teach about countries’ locations. GoogleEarth even lets you see streetview images of many cities and places. [] Interactive mapmaker of the US where students can choose to show different criteria on their maps [] Interactive atlas [] CIA’s WorldFactBook || [] A unique site that takes a look at different cultures around the world and their people. It is designed almost like an art gallery or museum, with the “exhibits” changing and updating. || Using timelines to enhance comprehension: [] ||
 * ** Challenges ** || ** Resources ** ||
 * **Higher Order Thinking Skills for reading and writing** || Higher Order Thinking Skills- a resource for activities in social studies to promote the development of HOTS from University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Faculty Center for Teaching and e-Learning.
 * **Lack of familiarity with historical terms, govn’t processes, vocabulary** || [] Powerpoint presentations and interactive activities ||
 * **Nationalistic and cultural focus of maps** || [] Pictures taken by people from around the world- Gives students background knowledge about places in the world from real perspectives.
 * **Culture-specific concepts: freedom, privacy, democracy, rights, etc.** || [] An interactive website by Sesame Workshops where students can explore the world and different concepts of culture
 * **Timeline teaching vs. “dynasty” or “period” teaching** || [] Digital history resource. Includes interactive explanations and great teacher resources
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Picking out important parts in text** || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Reading Nonfiction Text resources

Directed Reading Strategy- Help to understand the textbook ||

<span style="color: #0e75a4; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">Additional Resources
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">This PowerPoint presentation, gives a thorough overview of ELL instruction of social studies, and great activities to try. (Prepared by Global Language Solutions, LLC for the Institute for Second Language Achievement (ISLA) at Texas A&M - Corpus Christi and the Texas Education Agency)

[] A list of tons of interactive social studies websites for students to explore This article, published by NYU- Steinhardt, gives great review of challenges students have in social studies, as well as additional strategies teachers can use to help ELLs in social studies instruction.

Providing opportunities for “virtual field trips” will add to your ELL students’ background knowledge and make them more familiar with different places they may not be able to go on their own: [] [] [] [] [] []
 * __Virtual Tours of Museums and Art Galleries__**
 * United States Holocaust Memorial Museum**
 * Metropolitan Museum of Art**
 * American Museum of Natural History**
 * Library of Congress**
 * Colonial Williamsburg**
 * The Louvre**