Holla for CALLA

No child Left Behind (2002) spawned CALLA, the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach.

CALLA is for English language learners at the advanced-beginning and intermediate learning levels.

CALLA model has three components:

  • topics from major content subjects
  • development of language skills
  • explicit instruction in learning strategies for both content and language acquisition.
Content Topics

Aligned with English curriculum, gradually introduces that curriculum with reduced language demands.

Academic Language Skills

Introduces all four language modes with daily content lessons. Includes vocabulary, grammar, concepts and skills. Skills are analyzing,evaluating, justifying and persuading.

Learning Strategies

Three major strategy categories:

  1. metacognitive
  2. cognitive
  3. social affective
Metacognitive

Students learn to plan, monitor and evaluate their process.

Cognitive

Students use resource material, take notes, summarize, use induction and inference, remember information using visual aides, and transfer knowledge from prior learning to further their understanding of concepts, words and terms.

Social Affective

Teaches students how to clarify, work co-operatively to problem solve and how to self-talk to reduce anxiety and increase a sense of personal competency.