Integrating Language and Science Instruction

Introduction
Integrating language skills with science instruction has become an alternative to traditional instruction. In the integrated approach, teachers held high expectations for their students and deliberately promote critical thinking skills which help them succeed in academic courses.

The science process skills-including observing, predicting, communicating, classifying, and analyzing-are similar to language learning skills-seeking information, comparing, ordering, synthesizing, and evaluating (Short, 1991). These skills are important keys to integrating science instruction with language acquisition. Motivating and engaging students to speak, ask questions, learn new vocabulary, and write down their thoughts comes easily when they are curious, exploring and engaged in science or science inquiry. Integrating literacy activities within teaching of science helps clarify science concept and can make science and more meaningful and interesting to the student.

Research suggests that increased student participation and peer interaction enhances the students' language better that teacher-directed activities (Ruddell, 2004). For instance, teacher can use cooperative learning jigsaws where students become experts on topics through texts that they read or listen to, take notes on, and teach to peers. Using cooperative learning method gives integrated teachers an opportunity to encourage interdependency among group members, assisting students to work together in small groups so that all participate in sharing data and in developing group reports.

Instructional Strategy
Unfortunately, today many classroom teachers who teach either science or language do not think science and language are interdependent (Short, 1991). Language teachers do not address the language needs of the students within the framework of the subject matter's objectives. They may think teaching content subject matter is not essential. Similarly, the content teachers may not understand language issues, nor be prepared to use English as a Second Language (ELL) methods for which they might have little or no experience.
Students can improve language proficiency through science instruction as either the background or theme of lessons. For example, once a science topic has been discussed and students have shared their knowledge of it, pertinent vocabulary may be taught. Reading and writing activities and content-area instruction can be integrated in one lesson or unit, or the approach can form the basis for an entire curriculum. An instructor takes first an objective from a content area curriculum, such as science, and determines the kind of language students need in order to be able to accomplish that objective. As a teacher helps students develop the science process skills of inquiry, language process skills or language learning strategies are simultaneously being developed. Two fundamental characteristics of the learning process, transfer and language dependence, frame our understanding of critical issues in teaching and assessing English learners in the science classroom (Short, 2002).

The integrated approach focuses on the fostering of thinking skills and the student-centered method of the instruction. Integrated teachers utilize a variety of teaching methods such as inquiry-based learning, cooperative learning, brainstorming, cooperative learning, hands-on, interactive activity etc.

By providing opportunities to use language in meaningful contexts, teachers can facilitate their students' transition into mainstream courses (Crandall and Peyton, 1993).
Integrated teachers need to pay attention to the science to be learned, the language skills required to learn it, and the reasoning abilities needed to be manipulated. Teachers should encourage students to conduct independent research, but provide support students solicit assistance from each other. Through this approach, science teachers become sensitive to language problems that exist in their current textbooks, supplementary materials and teacher talk, and recognize other potential problem that their students may experience. The approach also helps language teachers as well, through a variety of methods used to introduce authentic and relevant science into classroom (Short, 2002).

Integrated lesson planning skills
Each integrated lesson should have a language and science component and the goal for the teacher should be to develop academic achievement and language proficiency simultaneously. To prepare clear science and language outcomes, teachers should draw on a variety of resources that include standards of knowledge and skills in a science area, language proficiency standards, prior student performance assessments, and available course materials. For example, a science teacher would prepare an integrated science and language lesson by first examining the science standards to determine the concept and skill to be learned, then selecting learning objectives, tasks, and materials appropriate to the students as determined by assessments of student performance.

To address the practice of integrating reading, writing, listening, and speaking, teachers must identify and work with students on two sets of discourse skills-one specific to a subject area, the other more generalized. Observing and calculating the speed and acceleration describe science outcomes, whereas discussing and writing about the methods used to compare types of distance measurement describe language outcomes related to the science. Integrated teachers should consciously attempt to sort the descriptive verbs used in standards documents and course materials into separately identified language and content outcomes.

According to Sherris (2008), the integrated lesson plans have at least two key benefits. First, the teachers clarify for themselves the separate content and language objectives of the lesson, which can improve their delivery of the instruction. Second, if these objectives are both explicitly presented and subsequently reviewed within each lesson, students become aware of the separate content and language goals, which may help them direct and monitor their own learning.

Students also develop the ability to carry out other content related tasks, such as lab experiments, creative scientific calculations, and historical inquiry. Integrated Lesson Plan
Lesson planning is critical to both a student's and a teacher's success. For maximum learning to occur, planning must produce lessons that enable students to make connections between their own knowledge and experiences, and the new information being taught (Rummelhart, 1995). In effective instruction, concrete content objectives that identify what students should know and be able to do must guide teaching and learning. As with content objectives, language objectives should be stated clearly and simply, and students should be informed of them, both orally and in writing.

The integrated science lesson plan guidelines ( see attached table) describes the teaching phases in integrated lesson plans and the most effective science lessons for ELL are those have language and content objectives. As students gain both science process and English language skills, they will be able to examine independently scientific explanations and use logical reasoning to communicate. Higher-order thinking skills, such as articulating predictions or hypotheses, stating conclusions, summarizing information, and making comparisons, can be tied to language objectives.

Writing and Speaking - Essential Elements in Language Arts Lesson Plans

When you plan your lesson for your Language Arts classes, you need to have your curriculum guide by your side. Contrary to what most people think, you should never let the textbook be your guide. Let's take a look at a common objective in Language Arts:
"Students will make personal connections to the text and share their ideas in a variety of ways."
This objective leaves the door wide open for a whole host of possibilities. You might have three Grade 1 or Grade 5 classes in the same school and the objective is the same. The expectations are different for each grade level and the three teachers can teach completely different lessons and still achieve that objective.

What part does writing and speaking play in achieving this objective? Students are expected to communicate in various ways - through role-play, thinking out loud, small and large group discussion and by writing. Connecting with the text invites the students to give their own interpretation of what they read. They can use small group discussions and speak their minds by discussing the text with a group of classmates. This is often the strategy most teachers use in the higher grades where you have students that tend to be too shy to speak out in class.
Although discussion is common in the Primary classroom, quite often the teacher has to draw out the student responses by asking questions, such as:
This type of questioning helps to invite the children to speak out in class. The teacher accepts all answers and often records them on the board or chart paper. While young children cannot do a lot of writing, they can still express their opinions by drawing a picture related to the text and write a sentence explaining the picture.

Open-ended questions are the norm in elementary, junior high and high school classes, as the types of writing and speaking take on a more formal mode. The types of expectations are also varied, so a formal connection does not have to take place with every text. Speaking can take the form of just stating an opinion, class discussion or a formal debate.
Using these techniques you can use literature to teach proper conventions in writing and speaking without the drill and practice techniques often used in schools.

A Simple Guide to Writing (and Giving) a Speech
Nearly as dreaded as snakes and spiders, public speaking ranks high in causing fear in many of us.
Your Topic: is this speech about something already know? Put them randomly around the page with circles or boxes drawn around each thought. Then draw lines to link the thoughts together in a meaningful way. An excellent website for this type of brainstorming can be found at www.mindmap.com.

Once you’ve exhausted your inner knowledge or, if this is a topic you don’t know much about, do a google search (www.google.com) on the topic. Visit the sites that seem to speak to the topic and again write down individual thoughts or ideas on a blank sheet of paper.

Your Introduction: Now take your sheet of ideas and write a 3-sentence introduction. A key to giving a speech is a conversational tone. In the introduction tell your audience what you’re about to say.

Make each section about 2 or 3 paragraphs long. Keep referring back to your brainstorm page.
In the body, you told them again in detail. Make the conclusion about 2 times as long as your introduction.
A speech is made to inform, to persuade, or to move to action. Finish off your speech with a statement that meets one of those purposes.
As a rule of thumb, a single-spaced, typed page should take 3 to 4 minutes to read through at the correct pace. If it takes less, you’re going too fast.
Practice, practice, practice - do NOT read your speech to your audience; either from 5X8 cards or from a typed sheet. To give a good speech you must sound familiar with the material; to become familiar with the material requires repetition. Repetition means reading the material aloud up to 50 times if necessary until you are totally familiar with it.

A good speech also involves feedback. During practice sessions you must recruit family or friends or coworkers to listen to you. Don’t ask them if it’s “good” or not; rather ask if it sounds conversational. Rewrite as needed to make your sentences sound like a normal conversation.

Fear: Since speech making often causes fear it must be dealt with beforehand. First, familiarity with your content will reduce fear. Repetition causes familiarity so practice, practice, practice. Ultimately, if you need notes for fear you’ll forget, you are not familiar enough with the material. If you MUST use notes, keep them to a minimum - perhaps your outline points (introduction, ABC, conclusion).

Some tricks - if you wear glasses, take them off. You’ll be less nervous if you can’t see the audience so clearly. If you have notes you’ll be looking down and just make it more obvious how uncomfortable you are - especially if you lose your place and have to stop. Instead of making eye contact, look at each individual’s forehead. To your audience it looks as if you are making eye contact without actually having to.

Make your speech about half as fast as you feel the urge to. When giving a speech we often speed up making ourselves sound silly and making it difficult for the audience to get your points.

Speech making comes to most of us sooner or later. If you’ll think out and organize what you want to say, if you’ll practice until you sound conversational, and if you’ll deal with fear up front, then you’re speech will be well received.

As a final incentive, remember that your audience is not out there to ridicule or belittle you. Good presenters are worth their weight in gold. Just think for a moment about all the poor speeches you’ve endured. Now think about someone who made a memorable speech. If you have questions about making a presentation, write me at the email address below.

A Few Bugs in English Writing

I plainly replied "A". My friend cynically responded, "Don't ask me about that. It's lame. I'm poor at grammar while the lecturer, you know, gets crazy about it."
This situation typically happens in academic settings when students are expected to be able to write standard and legible English essays in order to pass a particular course or even degree. Students oftentimes feel stuck with writing because they are terrible with grammar. They think of English grammar as 'a bug'. They often claim that grammar always ruins their fluency. They further argue that what is apparently needed in real-life communication is not grammar. Well, irrespective of whether or not grammar is a necessity in communication, what strikes the students when writing or speaking in English is a few (not to mention some or in fact many) seemingly unavoidable errors. Like an earthquake in Jogjakarta or Tsunami in Aceh (Indonesia), those errors can be typified as 'a national emergency' because they seem to have been fossilized or ingrained by most English students in Indonesia. Let's suppose so truthfully. What's more, a linguist in Indonesia once reveals that the errors are becoming typical characteristics of a possibly new emerging English variety i.e. IndoEnglish. A variety that is characterized by 'commonly accepted errors'. Erroneous, right?

Anyhow, the concept of error is a fuzzy one. It most probably necessitates a more technical explanation from linguistics point of view. Too delicate. Forget it. What concerns me at present is any deviations from the internationally accepted standard use of English particularly in English writing. Let me list a few identifiable errors that frequently bug my students especially when they write a research paper.

1. Combining singular and plural forms in the same sentence.
Right: Each respondent was asked about his and her opinions.

2. Using an unnecessary comma.
e.g. The data are collected, and then analyzed.
Right: The data are collected and then analyzed.'

3. Writing fragmented sentence.
e.g. For days interviewed the subjects.
Right: For days I interviewed the subjects.

4. Confusing the use of "its" and "it's".
e.g. It's aim is to describe the classroom interaction.
Right: Its aim is to describe the classroom interaction.

5. Using an apostrophe to indicate a plural form of a word.
e.g. The subject's of the research were observed for several days.
Right: The subjects of the research were observed for several days.

6. Using "he" or "she" when referring to both sexes (men and women)
Right: Before interviewing the subject, the researcher asked him or her to complete a questionnaire.
Right: Before interviewing the subject, the researcher administered a questionnaire.
Ups. I hope that's not exhaustive. Though I have yet to conduct particular research on this matter, the above list of errors is worth considering. Beware of the bugs!

Writing and Speaking English Can Be Confusing
If you are learning English as a foreign language you are almost certain to have come across the problem of finding an answer to a straightforward grammar question. Is it 'it's', or 'its'? The first way to deal with this is to keep an English grammar notebook and record every new rule you learn so that you can find it quickly. It will save lots of time.

Where spelling is concerned, it is very difficult to use a dictionary if you can't spell a word to start with. Record the rules of spelling and the meanings of words that are new to you, or that you find particularly difficult.

Don't be put off learning English by all the exceptions to the rules you have already learnt, or by words that seem to have two alternative spellings, like 'mediaeval' and 'medieval', or even three options like 'yogurt', 'yoghurt', or 'yoghourt'.

Words that sound the same but are spelt differently are confusing too. Take for example, 'bear' and 'bare', or 'their', 'there', and 'they're'.
You will also find that some of these words actually have slightly different sounds when you hear a native English speaker using them. You can't learn that from a self study course.
Self study will help you to learn the basics of English grammar and you should be able to teach yourself to form simple phrases and sentences but if you want to speak English fluently you will certainly need some conversation training. Ideally you should use English in conversation every day and if you have no one to practise with the services of a tutor will help immensely.
Don't practise with a tutor for too long or you will get tired and stop learning. If you can find a tutor who will allow you to buy blocks of time and then use them as you wish for short conversation classes, or longer more intensive learning sessions, that's the best way to do it.

If you have fun learning it will be much easier and you will come to love the English language as much as your lessons.

9 Tips for Stronger Writing

Communicate to motivate!
Table of Contents
The Importance of Good Writing
TIP #1: Be Active, Not Passive
TIP #2: Skip the Big Words. Your Reader is Not Impressed
TIP #3: Shorter is Usually Sweeter
TIP #4: Structure Your Paragraphs Logically
TIP #5: Are You Sure That's the Right Word?
TIP #6: Have a Conversation
TIP #7: Say What?
TIP #8: Avoid Qualifiers
TIP #9: Get Rid of Repetitive Redundancies

If not, you don’t need this article. However, if you’re occasionally called on to write a letter to a customer, instructions for a subordinate, details on the operation of a process, a training manual, an annual report, an article for the company newsletter, or even an email to a co-worker, you’ll develop a reputation as a writer.

Will people enjoy reading your work – or cringe when they get something from you? Most of the time, that will depend on your writing style. People like to read things that are easy to understand, are written in plain English, and follow a logical progression of thought. Misspelled words, grammatical errors, and poor sentence structure are all distracting to your message. This booklet is not intended to be a primer on spelling or grammar, but you can greatly improve your writing just by following 9 simple tips.

TIP #1: Be Active, Not Passive
A common error is writing in the passive voice when active voice will sound better and make more sense. Active voice is usually preferred because it makes the sentence clearer and shorter.
Instead of this: The man was bitten by the dog.
Try this: The dog bit the man.
Instead of this: A rude noise was made by the student, and the principal was called by the teacher.
Try this: The student made a rude noise, and the teacher called the principal.
Your writing shouldn’t cause your reader to scratch his head and say, “Huh?”.
Instead of this: If the Internal Revenue Service finds that an individual has received a payment to which the individual was not entitled, whether or not the payment was due to the individual's fault or misrepresentation, and whether or not the payment was due to a miscalculation by the Service, or some other type of error, nevertheless, the individual shall be liable to repay to the Department of the Treasury, the total sum of the payment to which the individual was not entitled.
Some writers seem to enjoy long sentences. In reality, it takes more talent to be concise.
ABC Software has a strong history of providing customers with solutions adaptable to unique business needs through award winning customization tools. VSA provides important capabilities that will enable ABC Software to take customization flexibility to more advanced levels in its next generation products.
Try this: ABC Software is one of the first to adopt Microsoft’s new Visual Studio Applications (VSA) technology. ABC has a history of providing customization tools that are adaptable to a wide variety of business needs. Using VSA will enable ABC to create even more advanced versions of its software.

TIP #2: Skip the Big Words. Your Reader is Not Impressed.
Some writers believe that they’ll be more highly respected or appear to be smarter if they use big words. additional - extra
advise - tell
attempt - try
commence - start
forward - send
individual - man or woman
initial - first
in the event of - if
numerous - many
on request - if you ask
particulars - details
persons - people
referred to as - called
sufficient - enough
terminate - end

TIP #3: Shorter is Usually Sweeter
A good rule of thumb is to let each sentence accomplish just one thing. Too many ideas in one sentence make it confusing. Instead of stringing several ideas together, simply put each one into a separate, shorter sentence.
Instead of this: The government and financial community in The Bahamas appreciates the need for companies to operate under the laws of a jurisdiction which minimizes taxation, reporting requirements and bureaucratic intervention while providing flexibility for operation in a liberal and concessionary environment.
Try this: The government and banking community in The Bahamas recognizes that companies want to pay less taxes. Those same companies want to be free of onerous reporting requirements and bureaucratic interference. The Bahamas allows businesses to operate freely and will even provide concessions to attract them to the islands.

TIP #4: Structure Your Paragraphs Logically
It’s very confusing to the reader if your thoughts jump back and forth instead of following a logical progression. From reading magazines and newspaper articles, most of your readers will expect you to start with a generality, and then continue with more detail and specific examples.
You pass a friend in the hall at work who asks what you did the night before. You stop and tell her that you went to a great new restaurant where the food and service were outstanding. By that point in the conversation, it’s time to get back to work.
You mention who you were eating with, gossip about who else you saw there, list every item on the extensive dessert menu, and describe the ambience of the place in intricate detail.

TIP #5: Are You Sure That’s the Right Word?
Much has been written about how confusing the English language is for those who are trying to learn it for the first time. Here are 55 sets of words that writers frequently confuse – and a quick review of their proper usage:
Affect – to influence;

Effect – result
All ready – prepared;

Already – at this time
All right – satisfactory;

Alright – incorrect usage
Allude – to refer to;

Elude – to evade
Any way – by any method;

Anyway – in any case;

Anyways – incorrect usage
Appraise – to estimate a value;

Apprise – to tell
Ascent – upward movement;

Assent – to agree
Assistance – help;

Assistants – helpers
Bare – naked;

Bear – carry;

Bear – animal
Born – brought into existence;

Borne – carried
Brake – stop;

Break – shatter
Buy – purchase;

Bye – goodbye;

By – next to
Capital – the seat of government;

Capitol – a building where a legislature meets
Compliment – praise;

Complement – to enhance or complete
Connote – to imply;

Denote – to indicate
Continual – occurs regularly;

Continuous – never stops
Correspondence – written communications;

Correspondents – people who write the communications
Desert – leave behind;

Desert – an arid land;

Dessert – after dinner course
Device – invention;

Devise – to invent
Discreet – prudent, circumspect;

Discrete – separate, distinct
Disinterested – unbiased;

Uninterested – indifferent
Elicit – to bring out;

Illicit – illegal
Fair – average;

Fair – beautiful;

Fair – just;

Fare – fee for transportation
Farther – literal distance;

Further – to a greater extent
Forward – toward the front;

Foreword – introductory note
Gorilla – a large primate;

Guerrilla – non-conventional warfare
Hanged – past tense of hang (execution of a criminal);

Hung – past tense of hang (as with a picture on the wall)
Heard – past tense of “hear”;

Herd – group of animals
Illusion – misperception;

Allusion – indirect reference
It’s – contraction of “it is”;

Its – possessive of “it”
Lead – to be out in front;

Lead – heavy metal;

Led – past tense of being out in front
Lessen – to make less;

Lesson – something learned
Overdo – to carry too far;

Overdue – past due
Passed – past tense of “pass”;

Past – a time gone by
Patience – forbearance;

Patients – clients of a doctor
Peace – absence of war;

Piece – part of something
Presence – being somewhere;

Presents – gifts
Principal – head of a school;

Principal – holder of a high position in a business;

Principal – sum of money that earns interest;

Principle – a rule or standard
Raise – to lift up;

Raze – to tear down
Residence – a house;

Residents – people who live in a house
Respectfully – courteously;

Respectively – in the order mentioned
Right – correct;

Rite – religious ceremony
Sight – something seen;

Site – a place;

Cite – quote an authority
Some time – a period of time;

Sometime – at an unspecified point in time
Stationary – not moving;

Stationery – writing paper
Straight – not bent;

Strait – passageway through water
Tenant – a renter;

Tenet – strongly held belief
Waiver – give up a right;

Waver – to be indecisive
Who’s – contraction of “who” and “is”;

Whose – possessive of “who”
Your – possessive of “you”;

You’re – contraction of “you” and “are”

TIP #6: Have a Conversation
For most things that you write, an informal tone is not only appropriate, but easier to read. Unless you’re writing a scholarly paper on some rare disease for your next medical convention, you should avoid the use of jargon.
Don’t think of your readers first as engineers or bankers or lawyers or business executives or co-workers. Good communication involves more than speaking and listening, or writing and reading. It involves clarity on the part of the writer, and understanding on the part of the reader. Your writing should be as easy to read and understand as your conversation around the water cooler. And especially avoid whatever buzzwords, business jargon, and clichés are currently in vogue.
Just imagine if people talked the way some of them write. You might get a voice mail like this:
"Hey George, let’s think outside the box, examine our core competencies, interface with our strategic alliances, and see if we’re on the same page. I figure it’s a win-win and a no-brainer. We should just touch base, and then hit the ground running. I figure if we’re proactive, we’ll find some great synergy. Bottom line, it’s all about positioning. And remember we need to walk the walk. "Hey George. Let’s invite a couple of girls out for a date. Call me back when you get a chance, okay?"

TIP #7: Say What?
Read what you’ve written out loud! Sometimes the problem comes from moving your subject and verb too far apart in the sentence.
Instead of this: President Bush wrote his State of the Union address while traveling from Washington to Omaha on the back of a menu.
Try this: President Bush wrote his State of the Union address on the back of a menu while traveling from Washington to Omaha.
Instead of this: Dr. Smith has been writing a treatise on the history of diabetes research since the early 1900s.
It discusses the history of diabetes since the early 1900s.

TIP #8: Avoid Qualifiers
Your writing will typically be stronger if you avoid certain qualifiers. Your writing is stronger when you avoid certain qualifiers. Do you see the difference when the word “typically” is removed from the previous sentence?
"Typically" is one of dozens of qualifiers that people use both in their writing and speaking.

TIP #9: Get rid of repetitive redundancies
A redundancy is unnecessarily using two or more words that mean the same thing - like repetitive redundancies. The second word is excessive and superfluous. Here are some examples of redundancies to avoid:
• small in size
• I thought to myself
• all-time record
• money-saving coupon
• join together
• merge together
• young child
• unexpected surprise
• hollow tube
• academic scholar
• past history
• honest truth
• close proximity
• previously recorded
• mental telepathy
• refer back
• added bonus
• bare naked
• consensus of opinion
• hot water heater
• passing fad
• surrounded on all sides
• unsolved mystery
• puppy dog

These few tips probably won’t win you a Pulitzer Prize or get you elected President, but hopefully you’ve learned enough to make your next writing assignment easier and more enjoyable…for you AND the reader!

How To Learn To Speak Spanish

Spanish is a great language to learn - easy and widely used in the world and hence, knowing it would definitely be an advantage for you. The best way to learn to speak Spanish is to speak Spanish. Actually, the very effort of trying to speak Spanish would force you to look for the relevant words - and this is the way you would remember them as well.
Of course, you would need to have a structured teaching plan to study the language as well. At the same time, right from the beginning you should speak the language. As you would struggle to find the right words you would identify these words and remember these words – hence, you would advance much faster in your mastery over the language. Usually, people who are learning a new language limit themselves to the exercises that the course provides and then forget about it.

Speaking Is Learning
This course would teach you step by step grammar, vocabulary and Spanish expressions so you could be able to converse fluently in the time span of the course.
However, when you try to speak you would double the efforts in finding the right words and expressions halving the time you would need to master the language.

How Do You Use The Speaking Method
How do you use the speaking method? With whom should you speak the language as you are learning it? Find a person who knows Spanish – this could be a friend, your tutor, or Spanish friends online. You would need to identify such a person or persons who could speak (speak not chat) with you daily. While you dialogue you would be able to listen to vocalization of expressions, pick up the right accent and catch new words. At the same time, you would be forced to search for the right words to converse.
The rule should be that no English words should be used. You would also have the opportunity of learning on your feet because you would be corrected while you speak.

Speak And Write Spanish
As you learn to speak Spanish use the same friends to correspond in writing. When you feel that you have learnt just enough to verbalize your thoughts into Spanish, apply it to writing. This is another great way of upgrading your vocabulary and mastery over the language.
Apply this method and you would find that learning to speak Spanish is not as difficult as you would have thought. Have fun!

If you paid someone to care for a child so you could work, you may be able claim a tax credit for child and dependent care expenses on your federal income tax return. This credit is available to people who, in order to work or to look for work, have to pay for child care services for dependents under age 13.
The credit is a percentage, based on your adjusted gross income, of the amount of work-related child and dependent care expenses you paid to a care provider. The credit can range from 20 to 35 percent of your qualifying expenses, depending upon your income.

To claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses, you must meet the following conditions:
1. You must have earned income from wages, salaries, tips or other taxable employee compensation, or net earnings from self-employment. If you are married, both you and your spouse must have earned income, unless one spouse was either a full-time student or was physically or mentally incapable of self-care.
2. The payments for care cannot be paid to someone you can claim as a dependent or to your child who is under age 19.
3. Your filing status must be single, head of household, qualifying widow(er) with a dependent child, or married filing jointly.
4. Your children must reside with you.

What is a “qualifying” child? The child must have been under age 13 when care was provided and you must be able to claim the child as an exemption on your tax return. A spouse who is mentally or physically unable to care for himself or herself also qualifies.
You should read IRS publication 503 or speak with a tax professional to learn more.