I got this strategy from Maria G. Dove and Andrea Honigsfeld’s excellent book Co-Teaching for English Learners which I reviewed here.
This is a great strategy to use before you read a text with your EAL learners. It is always a good idea to investigate challenging vocabulary with your EAL learners before reading a text. In this way you can help to build their knowledge of the text and anticipate what they might read. I-SEE as a framework works like this:
A Word template for the I-SEE strategy is available to download at the bottom of this page but here is a screenshot of the strategy.
As you can see, first of all learners write the word and then they complete the various parts of the frame. This could be done individually or in pairs. It could be done using digital technology and it could also be done in a learners first language.
I have used this strategy to preview tricky vocabulary and have found it extremely beneficial to my learners.
Of course with all strategies it can be adapted to suit your needs but I do think that pre-teaching tricky vocabulary before reading a challenging text is essential for learners and I-SEE is one way that you can do that.
You can download the template by clicking on the link below.