Florida's Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education Program

English Language Learners in the VPK Classroom

Demonstration Lesson:  Sentence frames

One instructional strategy that is useful in working with language structures is sentence frames.  Sentence frames are grammatically correct structures that allow children to insert information and to practice correct English at the same time.  It is a valuable tool that can become part of your instructional practice to help support all VPK children, but especially those who have language delays or English language learners.  Dr. Argüelles demonstrates this in her next clip.

[video clip]

To begin the video, press the "play"  button. Click here to print the transcript of this video, then close the pop-up window to return to the course.

Remember, sentence frames have multiple uses and can be used with many lessons when you want to be sure children are inserting correct information. 

NOTE –  Dr. Argüelles discusses additional strategies such as recast, reteach and changing the mode of response in the Director’s Corner at the end of this section. She also tells us about the importance of scaffolding – modeling and providing lots of practice for all children so they will internalize the skill that you are teaching.