Teaching Science to Language Minority Students (The author of this book is a Kean U professor!)

Teaching Science to Language Minority Students by Judith W. Rosenthal (who, coincidentally, was my Genetics professor at Kean in Fall 2006), although written with college-level science professors in mind, contains information and concepts applicable all teachers of ELL students, especially those at secondary grade levels. The book is written from the perspective of a college professor at Kean University (Dr. Rosenthal teaches both 'regular' science courses and the Spanish-speaking sections of Biology 1000), and therefore presents a relevant and accurate view of the diverse population of Kean students (and of students of much of Union County). It is not necessary to read the book from cover to cover, although it is a quick read at approximately 200 pages; it is also effective as a reference book. Chapter topics include 'Defining the Issues', 'Second Language Acquisition Theory and its Application to Undergraduate Science Teaching', 'The Many Cultures of the Science Classroom, Learning Styles, Science Instruction, and Ethnicity', 'How Instructors Can Help Limited English Proficient Students in Traditional Science Courses', "Issues Related to Rhetoric, Writing and Reading', 'The Theoretical Basis for Linguistically Modified Science Instruction', along with two sections of Case Studies. Although published eleven years ago, in 1996, the theories and studies cited in the book are pertinent to today's lesson planning for ELL students.
Discussions range from the implications of learning style diversity between teacher and student, to classroom culture, to conversational versus academic English proficiency, to studies on how "wait times" effect student responses. (Wait-time is defined as the amount of time, in seconds, that a teacher waits for a student to respond to a question. Typical teacher wait-times were noted to be less than one second, increasing that time to just three to five seconds resulted in marked improvement in responses in controlled studies.)
The book is available for loan through Kean University's library, and is well worth looking at.