The History of SIOP

TESOL Trainers and John Kongsvik provide professional development on SIOP
SIOP engages students with the content and the language.
It used to be a mystery how to help English language learners succeed in the content area classroom.  Few K-12 instructors had adequate training in how best to work with ELs in the content area classroom.  Thus, educators began researching what teaching practices were best in working with non-native English speakers.

When SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) was originally designed, it was created as a tool for observing how teachers in their classrooms supported ELs through ‘sheltered instruction’.  As the researchers (Jana Echevarria and Mary Ellen Vogt, from California State University, Long Beach) were developing this observation tool, they discovered how beneficial SIOP could be as an instructional model.

Presently, the SIOP framework is used in all K-12 settings as a means of supporting English learners and English speaking students alike. 

The SIOP Trainer blog has more on the history of Sheltered Instruction.  You can also find out more about the SIOP Framework here and SIOP training here.

SIOP Overview

SIOP Components and FeaturesSheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
SIOP is broken down into 8 categories for teachers to consider when planning and teaching a lesson.    Each one of these components captures a critical component of teaching. 

Each of these 8 SIOP components is broken down into features (30 in all) that serve to further define its purpose.

For example, within the SIOP component Lesson Preparation, you will find features like creating content and language objectives.  Engaging students 90-100% of the time is a feature that is found under the Lesson Delivery component. 

The complete list of SIOP's components and features is here.

From Lesson Preparation through Lesson Delivery to Review and Evaluation, SIOP provides teachers with a simple, yet powerful framework for planning and teaching lessons.

Contact John Kongsvik now to talk about SIOP Professional Development:

Whether you teach in a remote learning environment, a hybrid format, or in a traditional setting, TESOL Trainers will transform how teaching & learning occur in your school.  We provide experiential professional development that engages and empowers every participant.  Watch John Kongsvik talk about it here.

What are the benefits of using SIOP to guide our planning and teaching?

  • SIOP encourages teachers to design and deliver student-centered lessons that connect them to the language, content, and one another.
  • SIOP maximizes opportunities to interact with the language, the content, and their peers in meaningful ways.  
  • SIOP asks that teachers plan activities that incorporate all four-language domains:  speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
  • SIOP challenges teachers to engage their students 90-100% of the time in a variety of ways.
  • SIOP reminds teachers to put an equal emphasis on language as they do on content in both planning and teaching.
  • SIOP helps teachers remember that at every moment in the lesson their students must be doing something with the content and the language.
  • SIOP pushes teachers expect more from their students and to scaffold more to support them.
  • SIOP encourages teachers to be more aware when planning and when teaching to make content comprehensible.
  • SIOP helps all students succeed, regardless of their native language.  SIOP gives teachers tools to design and deliver effective lessons.
TESOL Trainers K-12 PD on SIOP
Learn how to engage students with TESOL Trainers

How can TESOL Trainers, Inc. help?
TESOL Trainers is the #1 provider of experiential K-12 professional development on SIOP.  We offer one-of-a-kind remote PD that will change how your teachers and students approach online learning.

Our professional development style is so unique, your teachers will thank you for hosting this interactive and inspiring K12 workshop.  

Our K-12 professional development is engaging, and participants leaving feeling empowered to use SIOP in their contexts.  Because of TESOL Trainers' approach to SIOP training, teachers leave ready (plan in hand) to implement the strategies in their classrooms.

TESOL Trainers can work with you and design a SIOP professional development program that meets your needs.  Contact us today!

Are you looking for online PD on SIOP?

TESOL Trainers is the #1 provider of experiential professional development.  Our remote workshops are unique:  They are very interactive; they are quick-paced; they are packed with innovative ideas, solid strategies, and tempting techniques that teachers will want to do.  Here are some of the things your educators will get from our remote training sessions:
  1. A PD that shows (rather than tells) teachers what SIOP is all about.
  2. A PD that builds teacher confidence that they too can implement the strategies and techniques the workshop highlights.
  3. A PD that cultivates competence by creating opportunities for teachers to try out the techniques, discuss how they'll look in their contexts, and share ideas.
  4. A PD that leaves teachers wanting to learn more, teach better, and try harder.

SIOP Resources

John Kongsvik TESOL Trainers Director
John Kongsvik, the director of TESOL Trainers
SIOP can be a fabulous tool that K12 teachers can use to support them as the plan lessons, while they teach them, and when they reflect upon them.  Keeping the SIOP framework in mind can remind teachers of what they can do to set all of their students up for success.  A complete list of this framework is here: SIOP Components and Features.  

TESOL Trainers can help teachers make sense of SIOP and how to use it as a means of supporting teaching and learning.  We offer traditional and remote professional development to K-12 educators.  Our teacher training workshops on SIOP can give educators an overview of the framework and how it can be used to boost student achievement.  We also offer an in-depth look at each SIOP component and their individual features.  

​Contact John Kongsvik to learn more about how we can help you transform teaching and learning at your institution.
  • Vogt, M. E., Echevarría, J., & Short, D. (2010). The SIOP model for teaching English-language arts to English learners. Boston: Pearson.