Justification

for differentiated instruction Advertisements play a key role in so many aspects of our lives. However for children, the power of advertisements is massive. They are immersed in a life which surrounds them with technology, and additionally advertising. It has been argued that todays children are now exposed to advertising than any previous generation (Dunn, 2011). For children with an English as a second Language (ESL), looking as advertising can be extremely difficult due to the language conventions such as puns and similes being a common feature, unlike other literacy genres. It is therefore a vital topic to cover, helping all children, especially ESL students, to understand the power of persuasive, brainwashing techniques that they constantly exposed to as social, technological members of the 21st Century. When teaching in a class with a large proportion of ESL students, its important for educators to adapt and devise lessons which allow children to extend or modify to suit their needs and ability. For many ESL students a series of classes based on advertising can be both a challenge and a benefit. While advertisements have their own language features, and at times unconventional persuasive techniques appealing to target audiences, conversely they also strong use of visual material to help them contextualise the topic conveyed graphically. Moreover the use of illustrations and graphics within the advertisement genre cab help prepare learners for reading and contextualise vocabulary (Brawn, 2005). For most children, whether they are learning English as a first or an additional language, many skills and techniques are first developed from interactions from the people around them. With this point in mind, educators can extend childrens learning and understanding through classroom discussions. Whole class and small group discussions within the classroom can be a powerful tool to teach through contextual understanding. Discussions provide children with a more holistic range of knowledge within a topic, while also scaffolding the learning through targeted questions and activity directions. Through teacher- lead discussions educators can scaffold the childrens learning by not only

encouraging children to seek further interaction verbally but also allowing them to feel more confident using and engaging with their additional language (Emmitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff & Pollock, 2010). In Lesson two it is clear that the teacher plays a larger role scaffolding the ESL students learning about advertisements. Within this lesson, with the focus group of ESL students, the teacher plays a key role directing the childrens learning through advertisement choice and discussion. With the assistance from the teacher children are able to deepen knowledge of the new text types genre conventions. Through a teacher-led discussion it can be argued that learners conceptualise new or extend prior understandings through collaborative participation in scaffolded activities and by doing so they are not just trying to digest content knowledge (Hammond, & Gibbons, 2005). To create successful writers in our students, educators need to provide good models and opportunities to write for real purposes and real audiences, on a topic that is contextually valid for them (Wild, 2009). With Wilds point in mind the educator has developed a lesson that asks the children to create their own advertisements about a toy or game they developed in previous weeks. This allows children to concrete knowledge of a difficult persuasive technique of advertisements in a contextual format. It also provides ESL students with the opportunity to bridge the social functions of playground language and the formal language requirements within the curriculum, this difference between the two language functions can be hard to differentiate for ESL students (Emmitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff, & Pollock, 2010). Wing Jan (2009) states that during writing tasks when educators demonstrate, how writing choices affect the mood of a text; they therefore affect writers influences the text on their intended audience, and furthermore how writer can put forward a view, or persuasive text that may only target one particular audience. This point is highlighted within the second lesson, focusing on planning the creation of their individually created advertisements. Students are able to call on assistance of the teacher to help model successful techniques that

will help them create meaningful, persuasive advertisements which are aimed at a target audience of their age. With the assistance of the teacher children can grow in confidence to be aided or individually complete the task due to good modeling and scaffolding that will assist ESL children within the classroom. The points raised above, demonstrate how the context of advertising can be a complex genre to cover and analyse within the classroom, moreover for children with an ESL background, the lack of language makes the context of advertisements at times hard to grasp, or comprehend. However as also discussed above with the right guidance and support the benefits of discovering and creating advertisements within the classroom can create many successful opportunities for ESL students to develop as competent literacy users. Reference List Brawn. P., (2005). Creating teaching materials that support learning In A.B. Joyce, Teachers voices 8: Explicitly supporting reading and writing in the classroom (pp.54-62). Sydney, NSW, Australia: National Centre for English Language Research- Macquarie University. Dunn, J. (2011). Encouraging Children to talk about advertising. Practically Primary, 16 (3), 34-37 Emmitt, M., Zbaracki, M. Komesaroff. L. & Pollock. J. (2010). Language and Learning -An Introduction to Teaching (Vol. 5). South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press. Hammond. J. & Gibbons. P. (2005). What is scaffolding? In A. B. Joyce, Teachers voices 8: Explicitly supporting reading and writing in the classroom (pp. 8- 17). Sydney, NSW, Australia: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research- Macquarie University. Wing Jan, L. (2009). Write Ways (Vol. 3). South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.