Integrating Title IV and Title VII: Using TRIBES
to Teach English as a Second Language (ESL)

by Harvey Lee and Tim Donahue*

The Improving America’s Schools (IAS) Act of 1994 was established to insure that all children succeed in school. It addresses issues that impede educational success–for example, Title IV of the IAS Act provides schools with assistance to address risk issues such as current levels of drug use and gang-related activities among children. The IAS Act also identifies student populations at risk of failure. One of these groups—children who enter school speaking a language other than English—might not be receiving the help they are entitled to under Title IV because, although they attend workshops and other functions that schools offer under Title IV, a lack of English comprehension might prevent them from understanding concepts presented. These children need access to English language instruction services–a need that is covered under Title VII of the IAS Act.

Because the U.S. Department of Education encourages program integration as a strategy for effectively implementing the IAS Act, this briefing paper discusses how TRIBES, a proven resiliency-building model, can simultaneously be an effective vehicle for language learning, particularly in terms of speaking and listening skills. Classroom teachers, as well as school staff working with Title IV and VII programs, might find the following observations useful when planning a program integration strategy.

What is TRIBES?
The TRIBES approach is an effective way to establish a caring and challenging learning environment in any school or group setting. It is not a program or a curriculum, but a process, based on sound learning theory and interactive teaching methods. By using TRIBES, administrators, teachers, support staff, parents, students, and adult role models can promote cooperative group learning, adult and child development, resiliency (resistance to adversity), and early prevention of youth problems.

In the Pacific region, the first TRIBES program began in the Federated States of Micronesia when Yap High School hosted a four-day TRIBES workshop for teachers, administrators, and support staff in March 1997. Normally, following a workshop, teachers need time to examine and further experience the TRIBES process. However, during the Yap State workshops, several teachers implemented the process in their classrooms and shared their success stories during the following training sessions. One teacher introduced an activity in which students answer a series of content questions. For this activity, students sit in a large circle. One student stands in the middle and poses a question supplied by the teacher—for example, “Who knows what a right angle is?” Students who know the answer, including the one in the middle if he or she knows the answer, must exchange chairs. The student left standing has to answer the question. The teacher then questions the students who moved to determine if they know the answer, and the student left standing in the middle of the circle asks another content question to keep the activity going. This process continues until all content questions have been asked and answered. The teacher who tried this activity reported that, although one student did not initially want to participate, everyone, including that student, was actively involved by the third question.

How does the TRIBES process work?
Everyone in the school community agrees to follow four “caring” guidelines: listen attentively, share appreciation, practice mutual respect, and honor any person’s right to pass a turn when in a group. Teachers learn how to develop community spirit in their classrooms by making sure that each student feels a sense of belonging. The students often work in a circle, and, in time, each person feels connected to this group (tribe). This structure makes it easier for students to participate, share ideas and expectations, and be acknowledged in positive ways by their peers. Once students feel included in class activities, they are ready for the next stage: activities that encourage each person to feel that he or she has influence and is valuable. Students learn to appreciate individual differences through group activities such as problem solving, decision making, goal setting, managing and preventing conflict, and celebrating diversity and achievements.

The result is a community of learners who can work together creatively and responsibly because they know how to relate to each other using positive social skills, constructive thinking, and consideration for each other. TRIBES is based on the premise that if people do not feel included, they try to gain attention by either acting out or dropping out. The best way to decrease behavioral problems and to motivate students is to develop a sense of belonging and a sense of value in each individual in the school community (Gibbs, 1994).

Based on classroom observations and an understanding of the TRIBES process, the authors feel that TRIBES creates a relevant and natural context for teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). One approach to teaching ESL is the communicative approach, in which students communicate during real situations and about authentic matters (Larsen-Freeman, 1986). TRIBES gives students abundant opportunities to use social language that promotes communication competence. In addition, language learning is most effective when learners engage in cooperative and productive activities (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988). The cooperative and interactive nature of TRIBES supports such active language-learning experiences.

Three of the TRIBES agreements—listen attentively, practice mutual respect, and share appreciation—are positive behaviors that also foster linguistic and social competence. In any classroom group, these behaviors contribute to an environment that supports new cultural and personal perspectives and encourages intercultural competence—the ability to interact effectively with individuals from different cultures (Kang & Dutton, 1994)—a common objective of any ESL class. ESL instruction goes beyond that objective by focusing specifically on the acquisition of knowledge and skills required to listen attentively, learn vocabulary and language structures that express respect and appreciation, and recognize culturally appropriate contexts in which to use those language functions.

Furthermore, the interactive nature of TRIBES activities prompts the use of English without reliance on the teacher. Communicative approaches encourage the teacher to become a facilitator, or even a participant, in classroom activities, so that the demands for language learning do not come from the teacher as an authority figure, but rather from the social needs of the peer group and the requirements of the activities. This method can reduce anxiety levels among students and encourage trial and error when using the new language (Larsen-Freeman, 1986). TRIBES’ fourth agreement—the right to pass—further enhances this freedom from anxiety by providing a respite for the new-language learner, who will not have to perform on demand.

Taken together, the four TRIBES agreements promote a caring and supportive environment in which students can overcome apprehensions about learning English: They use and consequently acquire the language through communication-rich activities. In TRIBES activities, the motivation to use a new language is not simply the need to supply a correct response on demand; rather, it is the need to participate in supportive social interactions. Language is not reduced to decontextualized memorization or repetition exercises, but is embedded in communicative tasks, a scenario that promotes social interactions and cooperative problem solving.

However, it is increasingly clear that there are multiple strategies for learning a language, and this makes an eclectic but well-organized approach advisable (Chamot & Kupper, 1989). From a teacher’s point of view, TRIBES activities motivate students to learn language forms that are presented in explicit ways. For example, when students know they will engage in an activity that requires them to arrange themselves in order of height, they will be responsive to the introduction of language as it applies to that activity; in this case, they would use words for ordinal numbers: first, second, third, and so on. This also allows the teacher to preview TRIBES activities for opportunities to teach language as it applies to the activity at hand. The instructional language introducing the activity will be based on the students’ current level of English proficiency, and the students’ receptivity to that language will reflect their anticipation of a meaningful activity.

Since accurate assessment requires a wide range of evidence and must recognize varieties of learning styles (Hancock, 1994), another benefit associated with TRIBES is the opportunity it gives teachers to listen for vocabulary growth and improved syntactic competence, and to observe the cultural competencies that students display. From students’ demonstrations of authentic language use, the teacher can judge the extent to which they are becoming competent language users and can determine next steps for guiding each student to fluency.

A TRIBES activity can incorporate language teaching and acquisition:

Mixed Plate is an activity similar to “musical chairs,” in which there is one less seat than the number of participating students. One student prompts the others to change seats by using sentences such as, “I like everyone with brown eyes.” Upon hearing this, all brown-eyed students get up and move quickly to another seat. One will inevitably be left standing, and becomes the person to give the next prompt. For native English speakers, this activity can get going in no time at all, with lots of activity and competitive verbal play for the cleverest prompt. However, second-language students may not be familiar with this type of activity and may have difficulty understanding the directions. Also, they will have a limited language repertoire from which to express the type of action-prompt required by the activity.

One way to facilitate participation is by conducting a preliminary language warm-up activity, such as traditional sentence-pattern practice, where students supply substitute vocabulary words for a given sentence. On the board, write the words everyone and some people, and list a few characteristics of each. For example, say, “Everyone has arms,” and write “arms” under everyone. Then identify a characteristic of some people, such as, “Some people have short hair.” Write, “short hair” under some people. Have students in the class continue with their own observations about each other. This preliminary language activity will expand their language base and give students confidence for the Mixed Plate activity.

The directions and preparation for the activity can also provide opportunities for language practice Mixed Plate, for example, requires one less chair than the number of participants, so students can learn numbers when they count chairs and participants. Instructing the students to form a circle with one less chair than the number of students in the class incorporates the language of mathematics. The students do not need to know that they are learning the language of subtraction when they are in the process of setting up a game. Here is where the teacher’s creativity and understanding of students’ proficiency levels come into play. The teacher will know what level of language the students can handle and what they need to gain. There are, therefore, two distinct opportunities for teaching language within TRIBES activities. First, students develop increased language competency when they participate actively in the exercise. Second, there are many opportunities to teach language skills while setting up the activity. The ESL teacher tailors these opportunities to focus language teaching on specific student-learning needs.

In a demonstration ESL class where the Mixed Plate activity was used, students exhibited a wide range of language proficiency. Some were perfectly comfortable with the extended prompt, “I like everyone with .....” and demonstrated a good vocabulary. Others limited their answers to simple physical attributes only—for example, “short hair.” Still others took on facilitative roles, encouraging action with imperatives like “Go!” or “Change your chair!” In a short time, all students were listening carefully for the prompt, often repeating it spontaneously, moving quickly, laughing, and carrying out the activity on their own. The social composition of the class and the socio-linguistic competence of the students were evident, and that gave the teacher a perfect opportunity to stand back, observe, listen, and learn. Who were the leaders, who were the helpers, who was reticent, who was talkative, who were the insiders, and who were the outsiders. The answers to those questions all became apparent during the ten-minute TRIBES activity. It elicited examples of natural language that teachers seldom see, providing a wealth of information from which to design next steps for each individual’s language acquisition.

A final and integral part of all TRIBES activities is the debriefing. During this portion of the class, the students reflect on what happened and how the activities will promote positive behaviors. After TRIBES Mixed Plate was demonstrated in an ESL class, there was a noticeable increase in spontaneous English language use by students. The students were caught up in their enjoyment of the activity and were eager to share their responses. Language that the teacher did not expect was used. For example, students used the word “teamwork” without prompting. However, there is a limit to how much language acquisition and use can reasonably be expected. When asked how they could apply the TRIBES lessons in their other classes, the students were silent. They might have had some ideas, but not the English proficiency to express them. An ESL teacher might consider role-playing or other non-verbal forms of communication as acceptable responses during debriefing sessions. Still, debriefing provides additional opportunities for the teacher to assess students’ fluency and determine next steps, one of which might be an activity related to raising students’ consciousness of their own language use. In other words, the debriefing and follow-up activities can develop students’ abilities to think about and examine their language use. Or, the information gleaned by the teacher from the activities and the debriefing session could be used to prepare for the next TRIBES activity.

Not only has TRIBES been successful at promoting positive attitudes and behaviors among students, it also provides a framework for both language-teaching and language-acquisition activities. It is the role and responsibility of the ESL teacher to facilitate students’ language use in the classroom. With a little adaptation, a teacher can turn an ESL class into a venue for developing the resiliency that students need to avoid many youth problems. Through activities designed to strengthen individual responsibility and resiliency, TRIBES offers students immediate access to teacher-directed language, as well as opportunities for language learning and acquisition in a playful, supportive, and low-anxiety environment.

Recommendations

1. Schools implementing Title IV and Title VII programs might consider integrating the TRIBES process. There is a natural fit between TRIBES, language-teaching projects under Title VII, and at-risk programs under Title IV. Schools may want to examine their current efforts under both Title IV and Title VII to see how existing programs may be integrated to maximize the achievement of school objectives.
   
   
2. Where integration seems possible, schools may wish to consider a team approach. Meeting Title IV and Title VII objectives should be a responsibility that is shared among all school staff members.
   
   
3. If a team approach is used, cross-training is advisable so that both programs can incorporate each others’ objectives. Program integration is a complex task, and schools will need to seek opportunities for staff development.

References
Chamot, A. U. & Kupper, L. (1989). Learning strategies in foreign language instruction. Foreign Language Annals, 22, 13-24.

Gibbs, J. (1994). TRIBES: A new way of learning and teaching. Santa Rosa, CA: Center Source Publications.

Hancock, C. (1994). Alternative assessment and second language study: What and why? ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 376695). [Online]. Available: http://ericae.net/db/edo/ED376695.htm [1998, May].

Kang, H. W. & Dutton, B. (1994, February). Becoming multicultural: Helping students develop intercultural competence. Paper presented at a meeting of the National Association for Multicultural Education, Detroit, MI.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986). Techniques and principles in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tharp, R. G. & Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning, and schooling in social context. New York: Cambridge University Press.

* Harvey Lee is a Program Specialist for Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (Title IV), and Tim Donahue is a Program Specialist for Bilingual Education (Title VII) at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning.