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US DOJ/DOE OCR Factsheet on Communicating with Parents

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US DOJ/DOE OCR Factsheet on Communicating with Parents

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ICMEE Learning Packets by Grade and Proficiency Level

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ICMEE Learning Packets by Grade and Proficiency Level

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Scroll down to find the 40 Learning Packets available for FREE download today! Check back for more soon! Learning Packets:

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Bricks, Mortar, and Buildings: A Metaphor for Understanding Academic Language

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Bricks, Mortar, and Buildings: A Metaphor for Understanding Academic Language

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Bricks, Mortar, and Buildings: A Metaphor for Understanding Academic Language

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Understanding how school discipline policies can contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline is essential for educators and families. Harsh punishments, automatic out-of-class time and police involvement for discipline can push young people out of classrooms and into the criminal legal system. But educators, parents and caregivers can help to change this harmful system by advocating for and implementing practices that prioritize mental health and well-being.

We offer this new resource page that highlights LFJ articles and content to open dialogue, shift practices and foster change to benefit all young people.

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Learning for Justice | Education Resources

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Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Supporting English Language Development When Children Have Little Experience With English

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Supporting English Language Development When Children Have Little Experience With English

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Specific Strategies to Support Dual Language Learners When Adults Do Not Speak Their Language

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Specific Strategies to Support Dual Language Learners When Adults Do Not Speak Their Language

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Find tips classroom staff and home visitors can use when they do not speak the languages of the children in their care:

Explore additional resources that support the Planned Language Approach and include strategies for working with DLLs:

" Go to Planned Language Approach

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Specific Strategies to Support Dual Language Learners (DLLs) When Adults Do Not Speak Their Language | ECLKC

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Find tips classroom staff and home visitors can use when they do not speak the languages of the children in their care.

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Information on the Rights of Unaccompanied Children to Enroll in School and Participate Meaningfully and Equally in Educational Programs 

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Information on the Rights of Unaccompanied Children to Enroll in School and Participate Meaningfully and Equally in Educational Programs 

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Envisioning TESOL through a Translanguaging Lens

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Envisioning TESOL through a Translanguaging Lens

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B-MEIS Webinar: Envisioning TESOL through a Translanguaging Lens

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Maine Educational Assessments: Operational Procedure Manual

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Maine Educational Assessments: Operational Procedure Manual

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Request for Change in English Learner Identification

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Request for Change in English Learner Identification

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If a student has been identified by a school in Maine as an English learner (EL) but a teacher, school administrator, parent/guardian, or the student himself/herself (over the age of 18) believes this identification to be incorrect, a request for change in identification may be made.

To initiate this request, a letter or email (in any language) must be submitted to the student's district superintendent. If the superintendent approves the request, the superintendent will complete a Request for Change in EL Identification.

A request for change in identification form must be submitted within 90 days of enrollment*. The final decision will be made by the EL identification review committee at the Maine Department of Education within two weeks of receipt of the request. The superintendent is responsible for informing the student's parent/guardian of the Department's final decision in the parent's/guardian's preferred language and format, written or oral. Oral notifications must be followed by written notice. The Department's decision may be appealed in light of additional evidence.

Please note that students who were properly identified as ELs and have not yet reached the Maine DOE's definition of English language proficiency (a composite proficiency level of 5.0 on ACCESS for ELLs) are not eligible for a change in EL identification.

*Note: All English learners are required to be identified within 30 days of enrollment from the beginning of the school year or within two weeks of enrollment during the school year. Requests made after the 90-day window has passed due to extenuating circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis. For SY 2017-18 only, requests for change in EL identification may be submitted regardless of time since enrollment.

If you have any questions regarding this notice, please contact April Perkins, ESOL Specialist, at april.perkins@maine.gov or (207)624-6627.

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New Protocol for Requesting a Change in English Learner Identification

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If a student has been identified by a school in Maine as an English learner (EL) but a teacher, school administrator, parent/guardian, or the student himself/herself (over the age of 18) believes this identification to be incorrect, a request for change in identification may be made.

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Getting it Right: Reference Guides for Registering Students with Non-English Names

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Getting it Right: Reference Guides for Registering Students with Non-English Names

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National Council on Measurement in Education Position Statement on Testing English Learners

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National Council on Measurement in Education Position Statement on Testing English Learners

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Count us In: Advancing Equity in Rural Schools & Communities

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Count us In: Advancing Equity in Rural Schools & Communities

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Sign Up to Consult for Low-Incidence Districts

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Sign Up to Consult for Low-Incidence Districts

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English Learners (HOME)How to use the Tableau Toolbar How to Export Dashboard Data

See Also

Integrity of Data Disseminated in an Electronic Medium

Disclaimer: Data Limitations

The Maine Department of Education (MDOE) has made a reasonable effort to ensure that the information in these dashboards are up-to-date, accurate, complete, and comprehensive at the time of disclosure. These records are a true and accurate representation of the data on file at the MDOE. Authenticated information is accurate only as of the time of validation and verification. The MDOE is not responsible for data that is misinterpreted or altered in any way. Derived conclusions and analyses generated from this data are not to be considered attributable to the MDOE.

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English Learners (HOME) How to use the Tableau Toolbar How to Export Dashboard Data Disclaimer: Data Limitations The Maine Department of Education (MDOE) has made a reasonable effort to ensure that the information in these dashboards are up-to-date, accurate, complete, and comprehensive at the time of disclosure.

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The Importance of ELL Strategies - Immersion (Moises in Math Class)

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The Importance of ELL Strategies - Immersion (Moises in Math Class)

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Immigrant Experience in Maine Schools: Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine Panel Discussion

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Immigrant Experience in Maine Schools: Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine Panel Discussion

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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The Coalition for English Learner Equity is a growing coalition of activists, leaders, and educators working to advance equity and justice for linguistically and culturally diverse students.

THE STATEMENT

WHY change is necessary now!

Deficit views of historically marginalized children, their families, and communities based on race, class, language, and culture . The COVID 19 pandemic brought this truth into sharp focus, having been preceded by another social evil: . The inhumane and unfair structures and policies in our systems are evident in police brutality, civil rights violations of peaceful demonstrators, unequal access to health care, and unfair educational policies.

THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

Nationally, the digital divide is greatest for students of color with 26% of Latinx students, 30% of Black students and 35% of Native American students lacking adequate internet or devices for learning at home.
Source 

CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

In the last 10 years, over 30 states and districts have been found to be in violation of the civil rights of ELs to a quality education.
Source 

Disparities in Graduation rates

ELs graduate at a rate of 67% compared to 85% for non-ELs, as of 2015-16
Source 

Communication Challenges

65% of Latino families feel that learning is more difficult for their children due to communication with teachers being more difficult while schooling on-line and from home.
Source 

The COVID 19 pandemic exposed long-standing inequities and laid bare the true degree to which school systems are currently ill-equipped to meet the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students in the classroom and in outreach to families. Educators have received little guidance or resources to ensure continuity of learning. With long-term implications of COVID 19 likely to last a generation, school systems must respond in this immediate moment. Moving forward, a sustained and strategic collaboration at all levels of the school system is needed to reimagine the way linguistically and culturally diverse students are served in schools.

There are promising trends of achievement when we look at performance of linguistically and culturally diverse students no longer classified as English Learners. There is now a robust research and practice base from which practitioners can draw from to improve the system. Yet, evidence-based practices have not yet reached the hearts and minds of educators in classrooms, schools, and districts. The conditions for linguistically and culturally diverse students to succeed and thrive in school are not yet in place.

CORE VALUES

We believe that ALL students, especially linguistically and culturally diverse students, must have:

access to an engaging, relevant, and humanizing education-a socio-cultural, human endeavor-which is a universal right, central among all civil rights,

an education that supports them to become knowledgeable, flexible, resourceful, and independent thinkers,

a coherent learning experience that empowers them to make sense of the world and to appreciate their power to reason, communicate, and create change,

access to curriculum and instruction that integrates and simultaneously develops content knowledge, disciplinary practices, and language and literacy skills that enable them to pursue academic and career pathways of their choice,

knowledgeable and caring teachers, schools, and districts that partner with families and caregivers as equals,

a learning environment that embraces and leverages the linguistic and cultural assets they contribute to their school communities, and

support networks that foster a positive identity so that they can make choices based on their interests and aspirations, and be prepared to be agents of change in society.

In an increasingly global society, and in a nation that is linguistically and culturally diverse, it behooves us to build on our linguistic capacities and to understand ways to optimize what immigrants and their children bring."

Educating Language Minority Students and Affirming Their Equal Rights: Research and Practical Perspectives, EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER, May 2011.

TAKE ACTION

The Coalition for English Learner Equity calls for all individuals and groups working to improve the education system for linguistically and culturally diverse students to join us in reimagining education and committing to the following based on their areas of expertise:

Take a stand against racist policies and practices, examine our unconscious biases, and acknowledge the smog of racism we are socialized to ignore. We do this by:

inspiring reflection on experiences, beliefs, actions, and habits,

sharing relevant stories that inform practice and deepen our understanding of the realities and histories of linguistically and culturally diverse communities,

forming coalitions with students, families, communities, and colleagues across all social, racial, and ethnic groups

Design curriculum and instruction with linguistically and culturally diverse students as priority users in mind and ensure their inclusion in a broad range of academic and career opportunities such as:

High school course pathways that consider students' interests, backgrounds, and choices

Recruiting linguistically and culturally diverse students into programs where they are under-represented such as STEM

Reimagine partnerships with families and caregivers of linguistically and culturally diverse students based on trust, respect and valuing their experiences and histories to create authentic and transparent two-way communication

Design content-focused, student-centered, instructionally relevant, and actionable professional learning experiences for all educators to serve linguistically and culturally diverse students and recruit leaders and educators who themselves are linguistically and culturally diverse

Showcase practices and strategies to serve students and their families that demonstrate excellence and value the linguistic and cultural assets they have in the classroom and beyond by:

Creating videos and other resources that show examples of high-impact curriculum and instructional practices

Using video in professional learning to demonstrate pedagogical strategies and content that create powerful learning environments for linguistically and culturally diverse students

Collaborate and tap into the rich expertise of this coalition to advocate, research, design, and implement policies and practices that advance equity and justice for linguistically and culturally diverse students

COALITION MEMBERS

Our members include organizations and individuals committed to ensuring that the educational rights of linguistically and culturally diverse students are protected. CELE brings together those who are working toward a shared vision on behalf of these students and their families. In addition to coalition members who have made a commitment to the actions below, we invite all others to express their support for this shared vision by signing on to the statement.

Other SIGNATORIES

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Coalition for English Learner Equity | Advancing Educational Equity for ELs

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The Coalition for English Learner Equity works to advance equity and justice for linguistically and culturally diverse students.

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Legal Rights of Students who are English Learners.mp4

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New Policy Regarding Students Who Use American Sign Language

In previous years the Maine Department of Education has considered American Sign Language (ASL) to be a primary/home language other than English for the purposes of identification of students who are English learners (ELs). However, in light of guidance published by the US Department of Education that has recently come to our attention, such students are no longer to be identified as ELs. Instead, they may be eligible for other types of support offered by their schools to aid them in improving their English language proficiency. Depending on each student's profile, he/she may potentially qualify for an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), a 504 Plan, Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS), or other supports.

To remove a student from EL status as a result of this change in policy, please submit a request for change in EL identification.

This change in policy affects only ASL users who do not have an additional primary/home language other than English. Note that sign language users who are deaf or hard of hearing, or children of deaf adults, who also have a primary/home language other than English (such as Arabic, French, Somali, etc.) may continue to qualify as students who are ELs if they are not yet proficient in English.

To assist districts in sharing information about this change in policy with families, the Department has prepared a letter (Word). (This letter is in English only, as families with other primary/home languages are not expected to be affected by this policy change. Translations into other languages are available upon request).

If you have any questions about this notice or would like any assistance, please contact April Perkins at april.perkins@maine.gov or (207)624-6627.

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PRIORITY NOTICE: New Policy Regarding Students Who Use American Sign Language

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New Policy Regarding Students Who Use American Sign Language In previous years the Maine Department of Education has considered American Sign Language (ASL) to be a primary/home language other than English for the purposes of identification of students who are English learners (ELs).

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classkick.com
Classkick is a free digital white board that you share with students. No personal information is required from the students to use it and as they are using it, you can monitor, write feedback on their boards, and share in a whole-group setting. Additionally, you can set the background on their boards to content you are working with. For example, you might use a place value table, a reading passage you want them to annotate, or a series of math problems you want them to solve.

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www.languagelizard.com
Language Lizard offers bilingual books, multicultural books and dual language audio books for kids and English language learners (ELL) of all ages.

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Illustrated Guiding Principles to 2020 WIDA Standards

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Illustrated Guiding Principles to 2020 WIDA Standards

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https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/Illustrated-Guiding-Principles.pdf

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Movement Videos that Practice Academic Skills (young learners and Newcomers, K-3)

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Movement Videos that Practice Academic Skills (young learners and Newcomers, K-3)

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1.Workout to the Letter Sounds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFa0b_IIRac

2. Months of the Year Syllable Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSl-SbVz2oA

3. Exercise, Rhyme, and Freeze-Rhyming Words for Kids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSPmGPIyykU

4. Usher’s ABC’s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWvBAQf7v8g

5. Days of the Week with Chica and Carly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRnnLPjRn84

6. Exercise and Count by Five

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amxVL9KUmq8

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The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) created the Refugee School Impact Grant (RSIG) in 1998 to provide support to local school systems that are affected ...

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Every semester as I prepare my classes, I ponder the same questions: Why does our academic English as a second language (ESL) program require so many reading and writing classes before students can enter transfer-level English classes? As reading instructors, why are we forced to choose from textbooks that often seem to exclude fiction and focus mainly on reading strategies and skills that include countless lists of vocabulary words which students have difficulty retaining? As writing instructors, why don't we integrate more reading, both fiction and nonfiction, to teach writing skills and improve reading comprehension skills simultaneously? I believe many teachers have concluded that they can make students become better writers by helping them find their own voices and by teaching them critical thinking strategies; likewise, they believe they can turn students into better readers by developing their patterns of comprehension and helping them identify a text's central purpose or concern, along with the strategies that develop those concerns. It is our underlying beliefs about how reading and writing should be taught and learned that dictate our pedagogies and textbook selection, which in turn define the courses we teach, our goals, our outcomes, and our instruction. In the process of maintaining these discrete skill strands in many ESL curricular programs, we have prevented students from moving forward in programs in a reasonable amount of time while simultaneously perpetuating the myth that reading and writing are separate and discrete skills that should be taught as such. Although the link between reading and writing seems obvious, reading has not always had a significant place in writing classes. It was not until the turn of the 20th century that Harvard and other universities decided that reading literature was essential to learning to write (Brereton, 1995).

Many professors who teach writing are concerned about the amount of time that may be needed for discussing readings as opposed to the amount of time that should be devoted to teaching writing. However, reading and writing need not be distinct course activities.

There are numerous academic benefits to the integration of reading and writing. Consider how reading can inform writing. Reading introduces students to a variety of texts, genres, and writing styles, expanding their knowledge of language. Reading also exposes students to much more content knowledge, inspiring new ideas and perspectives. Students are often faced with writer's block or comment on how they have little to say about a topic, and exposure to texts shows them how to elaborate ideas. It allows them to think critically and analytically, and even more so if the questions posed are designed to get at the higher-order cognitive level (Halpern, 2002). For example, critical thinking can be taught explicitly through reading activities. This could involve teaching students how to identify direct or implied main ideas and supporting points, distinguish fact from opinion, identify propaganda techniques, identify the author's tone, recognize the relationship between ideas, and recognize bias.

Reading also allows for the development of analytical skills, which results in a deeper, more mindful reading. These can include activities such as examining the evidence or arguments presented in a text, the effectiveness and reliability of the evidence itself, the interpretations made, the hidden agendas of the writer if any, and whether the evidence and argument support the conclusions. Finally, reading illustrates models of excellent writing, offering students writing instruction in organization, evidence, syntax, vocabulary, purpose, tone, voice, audience, rhetorical appeals, and language.
The question we now need to ask is, what can we do in our classrooms to ensure that reading and writing are working together effectively? Here are some suggestions.

Introduce reading materials that pair well with writing assignments to teach a particular writing form. For example, if you were teaching students how to write a summary, you might first introduce students to a specific article and read it together. Summary writing strategies including main idea recognition, implied main idea recognition, reporting verbs, language frames, and academic summary conventions would be taught. Finally, a sample summary of the article can be provided to students so they see an effective model in terms of content and form. One of my class activities involves dividing students into groups and assigning a portion of the reading to summarize. We then write all of their sentences on the board and turn this into an academic summary by using appropriate language, transitions, and summary conventions. Collaboratively creating written texts together emphasizes the qualities of good writing in your discipline.

Draw attention to text-specific features. For example, examine various rhetorical modes such as argument texts, but limit time on content of the text and focus on the features of the text, identifying and evaluating the claims that are made, how an argument is constructed, how appeals are used, what the writer does effectively, and so forth.

Provide students with mentor or exemplar texts that are well-written pieces, and take time in class to talk about what makes them strong or effective pieces of writing. The same can be done with models of bad writing so students learn what not to do. I like to do this both as a whole-class activity and as small-group work. Giving students an opportunity to talk about texts enhances their understanding of content, structure, and language.

Incorporate literature and tailor writing assignments around it, such as literary analysis that involves constructing an argument about an issue or theme in the text and supporting that with evidence from within the text and outside research. Be sure to teach effective researching skills and documentation of sources.

Use sentence starters to help students better understand the author's or text's purpose. For example, use sentences such as "The main message I'm getting from the first paragraph is " or "The author is trying to teach us that " and so on.

Have students work in groups, and provide them with rubrics to evaluate written texts and ask them to discuss their thoughts according to rubric standards. Rubrics also give students the language they need to analyze texts of varying quality so they learn to distinguish what makes a text exemplary.

Encourage students to write in the margins or ask questions when reading materials, as this is a much more active process and students engage with the text, which helps them to make meaning at a deeper level. This also serves as a reminder that texts are part of ongoing discussion and are not the last word on a given subject. Model this practice so they become familiar with how to interact with text effectively, which in turn also enhances their metacognitive skills.

Incorporate close-reading activities based on a text, asking questions about each paragraph as they work through the text. The questions can be designed to enhance comprehension; using Bloom's Taxonomy as a guide can be highly effective so that students have the opportunity to move beyond basic comprehension and are also required to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create in some way by what they are being asked. Questions can also focus on form and style so that students see why the author chose to express or write in a specific way.

Ask students to keep written journals that can be shared in class. Journaling about readings allows students to express in writing their own personal interests and insights and build on the skills they already intuitively possess: the ability to observe, to listen, to take notes, to reflect on their notes, and to ask questions that are born out of a sense of genuine curiosity. It can be an effective way to deepen understanding of course materials.

Encourage students to write short response papers to readings. Sometimes a prompt can be provided to emphasize attention to specific aspects. This can serve as the basis for class discussions and can enhance meaning and understanding of texts.

By integrating reading and writing, students are participating in their learning to a greater degree. They learn that academic writing must be structured, meticulous, and concise. They understand that they must provide a context for an audience that exists apart from the writer. In other words, their own writing must have purpose, have clarity, and fully engage the reader. The reading and writing activities working in tandem are intimately intertwined; reading stimulates writing just as much as writing stimulates reading. Finally, instruction in which reading and writing are explicitly interconnected develops the academic and literacy skills needed to succeed across disciplines. ESL programs must take an active role in transforming the way in which most curricular offerings are structured to ways that are more thoroughly grounded in theories of learning and literacy and the articulated assumptions about the teaching of reading and writing.

References
Brereton, J. C. (ed.). (1995). The Origins of Composition Studies in the American College, 1875-1925: A Documentary History. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Halpern, D. (2002). "Teaching for Critical Thinking: Helping college students develop the skills and dispositions of a critical thinker." New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1999(80), 69-74.

Meena Singhal, PhD ([email protected]) is a professor in the Department of ESL, Linguistics, and American Sign Language at Long Beach City College, California. She has authored several publications including the book Teaching Reading to Adult Second Language Learners: Theoretical Foundations, Pedagogical Applications, and Current Issues (Reading Matrix Inc., 2004), used in many ESL teaching methods courses.

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Connecting Reading with Writing - Language Magazine

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Every semester as I prepare my classes, I ponder the same questions: Why does our academic English as a second language (ESL) program require so many reading and writing classes before students can enter transfer-level English classes? As reading instructors, why are we forced to choose from textbooks that often seem to exclude fiction and focus [...]

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Addressing Unfinished Learning After Covid 19 School Closures:

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Addressing Unfinished Learning After Covid 19 School Closures:

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https://www.cgcs.org/cms/lib/DC00001581/Centricity/Domain/313/CGCS_Unfinished%20Learning.pdf

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Compilation of West Ed's continually updated Covid 19 external resources for educators, students and their families:

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Compilation of West Ed's continually updated Covid 19 external resources for educators, students and their families:

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https://selcenter.wested.org/resource/covid-19-resources/#

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Using Multilingual Resources to Support English Learners' Remote Learning

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Using Multilingual Resources to Support English Learners' Remote Learning

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https://www.elsuccessforum.org/resources/using-multilingual-resources-to-support-english-learners-remote-learning

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At-Home ELD Activities for Families in English and Spanish

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At-Home ELD Activities for Families in English and Spanish

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Family and Caregiver Activities

Learning together can be fun! These family and caregiver activities ( FCAs) are designed to provide simple, fun activities families and caregivers can use with young English learner children at home to strengthen language development in either the home language or English. The resources are based on the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide " Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School." They are available in nine languages.

Educator Resources

These resources support educators in helping families and caregivers make the most of the activities:

TOOL: Educators' Guide
Read the Educators' Guide to learn more about the activities as well as tips to help families and caregivers make the most out of the them.

VIDEO: Introductory Webinar
Watch a webinar that introduces the research behind the activities and provides suggestions for supporting families and caregivers as they use the FCA's with their children.

VIDEO: Activities in Action (Coming Soon)
See educators and families in action! View videos that connect classroom instruction with activities at home.

View Practice Guide
"I just want to enjoy being with my granddaughter at home. How can i make learning fun for her?" -Grandfather of a young English learner in California

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Supporting Young English Learners at Home - REL West

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Learning together can be fun! These family and caregiver activities ( FCAs) are designed to provide simple, fun activities families and caregivers can use with young English learner children at home to strengthen language development in either the home language or English.

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Multilingual Reading & Listening Resources

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This collection of free resources is for educators and families looking to provide children with opportunities to strengthen their reading and listening skills in multiple languages. Additional collection: Language Learning Apps for Kids https://wke.lt/w/s/Qgzbk8 Additional collection: Remote Learning for ELLs https://wke.lt/w/s/VLQK7m

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The Department of Education, Maine School Boards Association, Maine School Superintendents Association, Maine Administrators of Services for Children with Disabilities, Maine Education Association, Maine Principals Association, and Maine Curriculum Leaders Association enthusiastically affirm the right of every student to an equitable education. We proudly and steadfastly support the educators and districts in Maine who are taking on the work of understanding and dismantling racism and inequity in our schools and communities. We urge all Maine schools and educators to accept their role and responsibilities in examining and addressing the inequities that have long existed in our society and institutions.

We define educational equity as providing each student a legitimate opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive in school and beyond.

Equity depends on a deliberate and systematic abolition of the inequities that have been sewn into the fabric of American society. These persistent inequities have long disadvantaged students on the basis of race, sex, gender, gender expression, language, physical and intellectual ability, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, indigenous origin, religion, and all aspects of human identity that have been subjugated within our society.

We recognize that education is one of many systems that have had a role in perpetuating racial inequities, and that through close examination of our system, we can and must strive to attain diversity, equity, and inclusion of all voices and experiences. We believe this work is central to living up to our promises of providing an outstanding education for every Maine learner and continuing to be a public education system of excellence.

We recognize and commit to our role and duty as Maine public education leaders to actively partner with all schools in constructing a new educational paradigm, founded on the certainty that every student can and will be successful when:

School is a welcoming, safe place for all school community members to bring their whole identities with them

Social emotional and behavioral supports are understood as critical prerequisites to academic learning

Students' primary and home languages are recognized as assets, cultivated, and leveraged

Every educator in every role shares the responsibility for ensuring equity for every student and participates in equity education, both in teacher and administrator preparation programs and ongoing throughout their careers

Families are meaningfully engaged as partners in their children's education and welcomed into our schools

All academic and non-academic programming is culturally responsive and co-constructed with community members

Examining racism and inequity is difficult work. As each student of Maine is a future citizen of our global society, we believe this is work that needs to be engaged in respectfully and civilly by all the schools and communities in our state. Understanding and addressing racism and inequity will take many different forms, all of which are valid and needed. Already many educators, school districts, and organizations are exploring this work in some of the following ways:

Defining with school and community members what makes a safe and welcoming place for all and committing to the vision

Reviewing your SAU's Controversial Issues policy and best practices for engaging in discussions responsively and responsibly.

Engaging community members in discussions and actions to ensure that schools are a safe and welcoming place for all students

Engaging in equity audits to examine a variety of practices and programs

Expecting all school personnel to engage in professional learning about anti-racism and culturally responsive practices

Reviewing and revising curricula and materials to ensure they are well-rounded, decolonized, and representing all experiences

Adopting anti-racism instructional practices, programs, and policies

Establishing Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committees of stakeholders

Establishing expectations that every student will achieve and is challenged with rigorous curricula

Creating, supporting or amplifying student Civil Rights Teams within each school

We believe in the power and responsibilities that are bestowed on our educational institutions to provide a safe and equitable place in which all students can thrive, and where students are encouraged to examine their world, their beliefs and their role in society through multiple perspectives. We believe all students, all families, and all human beings deserve to be celebrated, included, and heard, and we are committed to supporting our schools and educators in taking on the challenge of examining and changing our practices..

We stand united in our commitment to this work and our support of the educators who are courageously stepping up and stepping into the learning, growing and changing that is needed. Our organizations will continue to provide resources, support and technical assistance as we all expand our own knowledge and capacity to engage in this critically important work on behalf of our students and our collective future.

11 December 2020

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PRIORITY NOTICE: Joint Statement of Commitment and Support for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Maine Schools

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The Department of Education, Maine School Boards Association, Maine School Superintendents Association, Maine Administrators of Services for Children with Disabilities, Maine Education Association, Maine Principals Association, and Maine Curriculum Leaders Association enthusiastically affirm the right of every student to an equitable education.

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These students don't fit into the conventional EL profile, that is, students who are adding English to another language spoken at home, and therefore can be harder to identify. Unlike other ELs, Native American ELs, such as those in Montana, do not necessarily speak their heritage language, but also haven't necessarily developed their academic English skills enough to support content learning. As with other ELs whose language is influenced by the immigrant background of their parents, Native American ELs have had their English acquisition framed by parents/grandparents, family members, or guardians who may have been ELs themselves. This present-day phenomenon is rooted in Native people's historical experience with English acquisition where, for over 100 years, discriminatory education practices and federal assimilation policies intended to strip Native communities of their language and culture.

Until 1978 when the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was passed by Congress, it was all-too-common to remove Native children from their homes and communities, and put them up for adoption or foster care with predominantly white families. Many children were also forced to attend boarding schools aimed at 'civilizing' native populations by forcing them to assimilate to the 'American' way of life. During this time, the official policy in educating Native American children in the US was to discourage the use of their home language, and withhold them from grade-level monolingual classrooms until they reached certain levels of English proficiency-a reality not too dissimilar from what ELs with an immigrant background experience today. Until the ICWA was passed, however, Native American parents did not have the legal right to object to their children's placement in off-reservation schools.

Though we now know that supporting the development of students' home language can help their acquisition of a second language, these often politically driven instruction decisions have had cross-generational effects as Native students were continuously denied the support they needed to allow them to fully acquire Standard English. The long-term neglect of education for Native people has led to the predominant use of non-standard English among Native communities, a pervasive reality that has been brought to light by Native educators, administrators, and organizations. Unfortunately, bridging EL services specifically designed for this population are virtually non-existent. Given the continual devaluation of native language and culture, and the lack of restorative investment in Native education, it should not come as a surprise that 99 percent of Native American languages spoken today are at risk of extinction.

All hope is not lost though as efforts to reinvigorate Native language education have sprouted across the country. The Native American and Alaska Native Children in School (NAM) program, for example, which incentivizes developing and enhancing capacity to provide effective instruction and support to Native American ELs, awarded roughly $2.2 million to seven grantees in 2018. The following year, Congress reauthorized the Esther Martinez Native American Languages program, which is specifically geared towards immersion programs that strengthen American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian languages.

In the classroom, Kaiapuni schools-a Hawaiian language immersion program in K-12-deliver instruction exclusively in the Hawaiian language with English introduced as its own subject in grade 5. These schools, which were launched in 1987 nearly 100 years after the Hawaiian language was banned, now span a network of 23 public schools (including six charters). On the academic side, the University of New Mexico recently launched the Lobo Language Acquisition Lab, a new research lab focused on how children acquire languages such as Spanish and other underrepresented Indigenous languages such as Navajo.

This year marked the 30th anniversary of the Native American Languages Act (NALA), the landmark legislation which formally overhauled federal policies that suppressed the use of Native American languages, and reaffirmed the right of Native American children to develop and be educated in their Native language. To commemorate the event, Senators from New Mexico and Alaska introduced the Durbin Feeling Native American Languages Act of 2020. This new bi-partisan Native American language bill directs the president to review federal compliance with NALA and improve inter-agency coordination between agencies responsible for preserving Native American languages. In its current form, the act would require the Health and Human Services Secretary to survey Native language use and language revitalization programs every five years. These surveys are intended to function as ' health checks ' that will allow Native communities and Congress to funnel federal resources to any unmet program needs identified through the survey.

This bi-partisan support for Native language development, especially during such a politically polarized climate, is a positive step forward in filling the void left behind by the historical oppression, and subjugation of Native people, culture, and languages.

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Ever-present, but unexpected: Native American English Learners

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These students don't fit into the conventional EL profile, that is, students who are adding English to another language spoken at home, and therefore can be harder to identify. Unlike other ELs, Native American ELs, such as those in Montana, do not necessarily speak their heritage language, but also haven't necessarily developed their academic English skills enough to support content learning.

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Tips for Families of Multilingual Learners around ways to support language in the home and the community-available in multiple languages

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Tips for Families of Multilingual Learners around ways to support language in the home and the community-available in multiple languages

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https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/language-home-families-eng.pdf

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Black students benefit if their teachers show a positive attitude towards Black culture (Pic: Getty ... [+]
getty

Black students who receive positive messages in school about Black people get better grades, according to a new study.

The findings suggest that Black students are more likely to be successful in school 'when they feel a positive sense of community,' according to researchers.

While there is no consensus on the causes of the achievement gap between White and Black students, the existence of the gap itself is uncontested.

Black students are less likely to do well on standardized tests, more likely to get lower grades, and less likely to go to college than their White peers, and on many measures the gap has hardly changed over the last 30 years.

At the same time, Black students are more likely to be suspended from school, while there are concerns that elements of zero tolerance or no excuses discipline policies could discriminate against Black students and school policies on acceptable hairstyles are used to target Black students.

But a new study has shown that Black students who receive positive messages about their racial group in school get better grades one or two years later.

Researchers followed sixth, eighth and tenth grade students in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. over three years, trying to uncover a link between their grades and whether they felt their teachers were providing positive messages about the students' racial group.

These might be through assignments requiring students to explore their family history, exploring communal history or discussing issues in the community.

Other approaches could include featuring African American authors or daily sessions where students talk about their lives outside school.

The researchers found that students who reported receiving more positive messages were found to have a greater sense of belonging to their ethnic group a year later, and achieved higher grades in school two years later, according to the study, published in Child Development, the journal of the Society for Research in Child Development.

'African American youth who received positive messages from educators and school personnel about their racial group had better grades up to one to two years later,' said Juan Del Toro, postdoctoral research scientist at the University of Pittsburgh and co-author of the study.

'Our results suggest that African American youth are more likely to be successful in school when they feel a positive sense of community and interdependence.'

While the study's authors acknowledge that the findings rely on self-reporting by students on the messages they receive, they argue that the statistically significant link with improved grades demonstrates the roles schools can play.

'By understanding that schools can act as agents of positive cultural socialization, we can better inform schools as to why and how they should engage in practices that promote African American pride, history and heritage,' said Min-Te Wang, professor at the University of Pittsburgh and the study's co-author.

The study comes as research into performance measures found that Black teachers are being unfairly penalized because they are more likely to teach academically disadvantaged students in schools in low-income neighbourhoods.

Researchers found that 89% of the difference in classroom observation scores between Black and White teachers could be explained by differences in the characteristics of the schools where they worked.

Classroom observations are used to determine teacher tenure and promotion decisions, but none of the gap between Black and White teachers could be explained by differences in their effectiveness at raising student achievement, according to the study of teachers in Chicago public schools, published by the American Educational Research Association.

... Read More

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If You Want Black Students To Do Well At School, It Helps If You're Positive About Black Students

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Black students who receive positive messages in school about Black people get better grades, according to a new study. The findings suggest that Black students are more likely to be successful in school 'when they feel a positive sense of community,' according to researchers.

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Shaping the Way We Teach English: Successful Practices Around the World

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We are now a month (or more) into another school year and that means it is time for the annual struggle to begin. There are many annual struggles in education, but the one I'm considering today is the one that I have been most involved in over the years: the struggle between the ESL teacher and the classroom teacher over accommodations for English language learners (ELLs). A big part of my job as an ESL teacher involves helping ELLs succeed in their content classes. I do this through various means such as finding alternate readings, pre-teaching vocabulary, working with students on projects, helping adjust tests, etc. But the real work ultimately falls on the classroom teacher, and classroom teachers are the busiest and hardest working people in education (except maybe school secretaries--they truly make the education world go round!). I completely understand the tendency towards just translating materials, getting bilingual paras to translate classroom discussions, and generally relying on a students' first language. It's easier on the teacher, it's easier on the student, the teacher is happier, the student is happier...what's the problem?

The problem is that while I agree, it is easier and it does (at least in the short-term) make everyone happier, it is not the best thing for the student in the long term. Students need to learn English. Yes, they also need to learn math, science, history, etc., but ultimately their greatest need is to learn English. Consider the big picture. This student has moved to our country and intends to live here for the rest of his/her life. In order to have a future, he/she will need to be able to speak English. Yes, he/she also needs to be able to read and write, do basic math, and understand science, etc., but he/she needs to be able to do all of this in English. When this student finishes high school and wants to go to college, he/she can take remedial math courses if needed, but those courses will be in English. If the student decides to go into a trade, he/she may be able to find an apprenticeship in his/her first language, but what kind of a customer base will he/she be able to establish without being able to speak English? If he/she goes into the military, what language will orders be given in? English. The most crucial educational need ELLs have is to learn English, everything else flows from that. Therefore, we need to do whatever it takes to help these students learn English, while also helping them take in as much of the content as possible.

As I've already acknowledged, an ESL teacher's job is to help content area teachers in this effort, but the bulk of the work is going to fall on general education teachers. I've also already acknowledged that general education teachers are extremely hardworking and lacking in one key resource: time. Knowing all of this, when I was asked to put together a professional development on ESL for teachers, I decided to focus on accommodations for the general education classroom. More specifically, I decided to focus on accommodations that I knew worked and did not take much time to implement. In fact, most of the accommodations in this post take less than five minutes (many of them less than 1 minute) to implement. (Attached to this post is a Google Slides version of the presentation I developed for professional development presentations. In it you'll find many helpful examples and illustrations of these accommodations.)

1. Slow Down
When learning a language it's not just the tongue that needs to be trained, the ears have to be trained as well. Our ears are attuned to specific sounds and speech patterns, any deviation and we have to work harder to understand what we're hearing. Think about when you speak to someone with a different accent than your own. I don't mean someone who is not a native speaker of English, I mean think about when you have to listen to another native speaker from a different region or country (see slide 2 of the presentation for examples). You can understand them, but it takes more work, doesn't it? You may even find yourself asking that person to slow down a little because the slower the speech the more time you have to process it.

2. Extend Wait Times
Another factor that we often fail to consider is how many times an ELL, especially a low proficiency ELL, has to process information. First he has to hear the information in English. Second, he has to search the English for words he knows. Third, he has to "translate" the information into his first language and determine what the question might be. Fourth, he has to search his brain for an answer/response in his first language. Fifth, he has to translate the response into English. Sixth, he has to communicate his response. All of this takes time. Do you know the average teacher wait time? One and a half seconds. Think back to your educational training, what is the minimal wait time for improved learning for all students? Three to five seconds. Try an experiment: start talking to a friend or family member, after finishing a sentence, stop and wait for four seconds (time it with your watch). I'm willing to be it will be longer than you expect and there's a better than decent chance the person you're talking to will start talking. Remember, this four seconds is for your average student, your ELLs need a minimum of ten seconds. Try to wait that long in a conversation and see what happens, I dare you! Make this easier on yourself and give students something to do while they wait. Tell them up front that you don't want anyone to raise a hand until you give a signal, and encourage students to write their responses on white boards or scrap paper to help them think.

3. Enunciate
Remember how we talked about our ears needing to be trained as well as our tongues? You can help your ELLs with this process by doing one simple thing: enunciate. Pronounce the complete word, don't slur your words together. This helps your ELLs to more easily hear vowel sounds, word breaks, and other finer points of language. Don't go overboard, you want to model good pronunciation and natural speech, but speak clearly. Think of an actor, they have to enunciate to make their speech clear for large audiences (see slide 3 for an example--President Reagan wasn't speaking slowly, but he was pronouncing every word deliberately and clearly). This same principal of pronouncing each word deliberately and clearly helps ELLs hear syllables, multiple letters, and other idiosyncrasies of the English language.

4. Visualize
Almost all teachers put the objective, or at least the topic for the day's lesson on the board. It's good teaching practice. Here's an example: Efni dagsins er veðrið. Ready to learn? No? Why not? The topic is right there, I even used first grade level vocabulary. What if I drew a picture of the sun peaking out from behind the clouds (see slide four)? Can you at least make a guess as to what we'll be talking about? With the addition of one picture (and an easy one that even a non-artist such as me can draw in seconds), you are at least able to figure out the topic of the lesson and start activating your prior knowledge. A simple rule of thumb: if you can add a picture (or clipart), do it. Pictures are key; it's not unusual for ELL to be completely lost with very easy vocabulary or concepts, but as soon as they see a picture her face lights up and she starts exclaiming in her first language a translation or explanation. Put pictures everywhere: on charts, posters, word walls, etc.

5. Subtitles
When you show a video, turn on the English subtitles. This not only helps when the speaking gets going to fast for your ELLs, it provides a visual support for the language helping them improve their reading and better segment sounds into individual words. It will also help your native English speaking students catch important information when background noise or music makes words indistinct or hard to hear. If you want to experience the difference this can make, look at slide five in the presentation for an example.

6. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat You know you're going to have to say it all again anyway, don't wait for that one student in the back to wake up and ask you what you just said, say it again now. Research has shown that it takes an average of ten separate meetings of a new word
in context for us to truly learn it and its usage. I'm going to say that again--IN CONTEXT. Yes, that means what you think it does, all those hours spent looking up words in dictionaries and copying the definitions truly were worthless. Rather than inflicting that same pointless torture on your students, spend the time explicitly teaching them strategies such as context clues and text features. Then expose them to vocabulary rich texts and environments. Also keep in mind that ten contextual exposures is a minimum for ELLs, and is increased for words that are challenging such as homonyms, idioms, and abstract terms that have changed meaning through the years. See slides six and seven of the presentation for examples of how I make this fun for my students. You can also look at my blog post Vocabulary Activities for examples of how I provide less context-rich exposure to vocabulary in an effort to speed up its acquisition.

7. Kinesthetic Learning
We already know that the more senses we involve, the greater the learning. This is magnified for ELLs because the auditory methods and written text (often the foundation of our visual methods after kindergarten) are all but useless for them, especially in the beginning. So what do we do? Active learning! Get them actively doing something; manipulating words, playing with language, and creating things that communicate. This is why math and science are generally an ELL's best subjects, we use a lot of manipulatives and do a lot of lab activities. Slides eight, nine, and ten of the presentation have several examples of this (and activities I like to use) on them. My blog (which you're already reading!) is also filled with games and other activities for playing with words and grammar (and even a few math an science activities).

8. Story Time series. There are lots of picture books out there for all subjects, and don't forget to read some just for the fun of it!
Read to them, all of them. I read picture books to my middle school students and they loved it. I read picture books to my college students and they love it. All ages like to be read to and all ages can benefit from it. Research tells us that ELLs need to be read to as much as six times more than native speakers! It helps them with their intonation, fluency, and pronunciation, among other things (including context-rich vocabulary exposure). Look into and invest in good picture books for your subject such as Scholastic's Grammar Tales , Magic School Bus books, or the Sir Cumference

9. Scaffold
This one is going to take a little longer, but it's something you have to do anyway. Prior knowledge is absolutely essential. The good news is that many ELLs have grade level knowledge, they just don't have it in English. If you can find a way to access that knowledge, it will help a lot. An ideal lesson should present a new concept or new vocabulary, never both (enlist the ESL teacher to help you pre-teach vocabulary by giving him/her a list and a couple weeks notice). If you must teach new vocabulary and new content simultaneously expect it to take two to three times longer, and know that neither may not actually be conveyed at this time.

10. Love Them
You love all your students, but love on your ELLs a little extra. Love translates to any language. I can't count the number of moms who speak absolutely zero English and have quite literally nothing in common with me, but they come to school and give me the biggest, tightest hugs ever. Why? They know I love their children. I can also tell you story after story of students who were terrors for every other teacher but were eager to learn with me; or students who sat in chairs shaking with teachers who were beloved by all, but clung to my hand and refused to leave my side even when I would discipline them and force them to do things they didn't want to do. Why? They knew I loved them. Not that their other teachers didn't, I just had the extra time to spend with them (because I'm not a general classroom teacher and didn't have 30 other little voices calling for my attention) and did. Love them, even when they are hard to love, and you will reap great dividends! But watch out, they just might steal your heart. ;)

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We are now a month (or more) into another school year and that means it is time for the annual struggle to begin. There are many annual struggles in education, but the one I'm considering today is the one that I have been most involved in over the years: the struggle between the ESL teacher and the classroom teacher over accommodations for English language learners (ELLs).

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Use this calendar of observances to increase your awareness and sensitivity about religious holidays, observances as well as ethnic and cultural festivities that may affect students, colleagues and neighbors in your community.

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Distinguished Service Award

Portland Empowered representatives speak to Portland school board after winning 2018 Maine School Board Association award for Distinguished Service to Public Education in Maine.

Pilot Parent Ambassador Cohort!

In October 2018, Portland Empowered parent trainers graduated their first class of 20 Parent Ambassadors!

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Youth Engagement Partners are working on ensuring that student government in Portland schools is accessible, accountable, representative of the students, and weighs in on meaningful decisions.

Portland Empowered champions student and parent voice with a specific focus on engaging those who have historically been under-represented. We reduce barriers and create opportunities for emerging youth and adult leaders so that youth in Portland public schools are successful in school and beyond.

REWRITING THE FUTURE
OF EDUCATION

Portland Empowered is made up of students, parents, alumni, teachers, administrators, and community members who organize to ensure that student and family voice is authentically incorporated into decision making in Portland's public high schools.

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We want to make sure schools reflect what and how students need and want to learn to thrive in a changing world. We want families to be recognized as true partners in students' education. Learn more about our Parent Engagement Partners and Youth Engagement Partners.

Recognizing the Diversity of our Community as an Asset

Parents and community members are critical partners in the education of students in our community. We believe that the diversity of our community - racial, socioeconomic, cultural, religious, linguistic - supports the mission of Portland Public Schools to ensure a challenging, relevant and joyful education that empowers every learner to make a difference in the world.

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Portland Empowered champions student and parent voice with a specific focus on engaging those who have historically been under-represented. We reduce barriers and create opportunities for emerging youth and adult leaders so that youth in Portland public schools are successful in school and beyond.

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Learn about WestEd’s services, research, and resources, all designed to improve education and other important outcomes for children, youth, and adults.

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HOME

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The EDUCATOR

Huda Essa is a TEDx Speaker and the Author of the culturally authentic and responsive children's books, and Common Threads: Adam's Day at the Market . Huda has positively influenced countless communities around the nation through her thought-provoking learning opportunities. She utilizes her extensive experience as a Cultural Competency Consultant, former Teacher and English Language Development Specialist to support organizations in successfully meeting their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. In her Keynote presentations and interactive learning opportunities, she works closely with teachers, school site leaders, school district officials and higher education professionals to help them develop practices and cultures that promote cultural competence, engagement, unity, and academic achievement. Huda also works with students, parents and community members in order to engage the entire village so as to reach maximum current and future growth and success. She is currently writing a book to support education professionals in overcoming the limitations of unconscious bias. This text is designed to provide the knowledge necessary to best allow for staff, students, and families to attain their greatest potential for success in our ever-changing world.

Furthermore, Huda's work extends to supporting professionals in businesses, corporations, and non-profit organizations. Her belief is that the learning needed to work towards social justice is a lifelong education that can be applied to virtually all ages, social identities, and careers. Her explorations include international travel to gain insight from communities around the globe in order to share and apply the learning with U.S. audiences. Huda is the recipient of the Faurecia North American Diversity & Inclusion Pacesetter Award as well as the Corp! Magazine's Best of Michigan Entrepreneurs Award.

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Speaker | United States | Culture Links, LLC

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The EDUCATOR Huda Essa is a TEDx Speaker and the Author of the culturally authentic and responsive children's books, and Common Threads: Adam's Day at the Market . Huda has positively influenced countless communities around the nation through her thought-provoking learning opportunities.

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This two-day workshop is designed to enhance participants' lesson planning processes. During the workshop, participants will examine seven essential elements that attend to the needs of multilingual learners. In particular, participants will focus on creating contexts for meaningful language use within settings that integrate content learning and academic language development.

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TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

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Promote equity and inclusivity for English language learners (ELLs) and other culturally and linguistically diverse students. We offer certificates and master's degrees for state ESL endorsement, initial ESL teacher certification, and for advanced education in TESOL. Learn more about TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages .

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The English Language Learning (ELL) Graduate Certificate is designed for practicing teachers interested in working with students who are non-native English speaking.

The 5-course series certificate will develop one's understanding of the theoretical basis and practical application of ELL instruction. The certificate program will assist the teachers in acquiring strategies for creating an inclusive classroom, conducive to proficiency-oriented and communicative language instruction designed to create a learning community. Completion of this Certificate requires the following five UMF courses:
Click here for all graduate course descriptions.
Please note: This is a graduate certificate that supports the coursework requirement for a Maine's Endorsement 660: English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement. Please check with the Maine Department of Education for additional requirements for a Maine's Endorsement 660: English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement.

Enroll in the Certificate in English Language Learning Program

Enroll now into the Certificate in English Language Learning. All courses are offered using a blended format, with a combination of face-to-face class meetings and online study.

Contact Us

Division of Graduate & Continuing Education
University of Maine at Farmington
Theo Kalikow Education Center
186 High Street
Farmington, Maine 04938

tel 207-778-7502
fax 207-778-8134
TDD/TYY 207-778-7000
gradstudies@maine.edu

Mailing address:
Division of Graduate & Continuing Education
University of Maine at Farmington
111 South Street
Farmington, Maine 04938

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Certificate in English Language Learning | Graduate Studies

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The 5-course series certificate will develop one's understanding of the theoretical basis and practical application of ELL instruction. The certificate program will assist the teachers in acquiring strategies for creating an inclusive classroom, conducive to proficiency-oriented and communicative language instruction designed to create a learning community.

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What is TESOL?

The Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) minor assists in the preparation to teach English to non-native speakers. You'll be introduced to topics in linguistics, grammar, theory and methods of language teaching, as well as curriculum development. You'll also develop a greater awareness of world languages and cultures. Combine this minor with studies in education or English teaching to pursue certification, or with other languages, social work or justice studies to pursue graduate studies or teaching positions in a variety of settings,either in the United States or around the world.

Why study TESOL at UNH?

The TESOL minor at UNH is a great fit if you're interested in teaching the English language at home or abroad. As a student of the linguistics program and the College of Liberal Arts, you'll have access to language and linguistics organizations, and outreach programs working in the surrounding communities.The college is home to the English as a Second Language Institute.

Potential career areas

Adult education

English language programs

Interpreting

Peace Corps

Private language tutoring

Social work

Teach for America

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The Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) minor assists in the preparation to teach English to non-native speakers. You'll be introduced to topics in linguistics, grammar, theory and methods of language teaching, as well as curriculum development. You'll also develop a greater awareness of world languages and cultures.

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Northern New England Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (NNETESOL), an affiliate of the global association of Teachers for Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL Inc.), serves Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. We serve all ESL professionals in the region working in private and public K-12 schools, post secondary schools, and adult education programs.

Purpose and Mission: NNETESOL is a not-for-profit association for those interested in and concerned with the education of English as a Second Language (ESL), English as a Foreign Language (EFL), and bilingual individuals with English as one language. The purpose of NNETESOL is to support ESL professionals in our region through professional development activities, promote communication and provide mutual support among people with these similar interests and concerns. NNETESOL also provides opportunities for professional growth, disseminates information on current research related to the field, as well as communicates and cooperates as appropriate with groups having similar concerns and interests. NNETESOL organizes conferences each year and maintains a website to meet the professional development needs of its members. The conferences also provide ESL professionals with the opportunity to network with colleagues and visit with publishers.

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Northern New England Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (NNETESOL), an affiliate of the global association of Teachers for Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL Inc.), serves Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

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The FLAME website offers resources and information for Maine's K-12 teachers of French, German, Latin, Spanish, ESL, and other languages. Mission Statement
The Foreign Language Association of Maine is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote and improve the teaching and study of languages and cultures of the world. It also strives to further the common interests of teachers, students and others for whom world languages play an important role.

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Dear FLAME members

I hope you are well with your classes and personal life this academic year.

More details coming up for the FLAME conference, however, I can't wait to share the good news with you, FLAME conference is going to be online this year and it's going to be FREE with a paid membership for 2020-2021. Make sure to renew your membership as soon as possible to access all the free monthly sessions, please click here to renew.

Another surprise for you!!!! We have 5 FLAME memberships to raffle, all you need to do is fill out the survey by October 11th and your name will be automatically entered. Raffle will take place in the facebook group Maine WL teachers live event on Oct. 12th at 6 pm, the names of the winners will be announced.

In order for us to serve you better, we need your input on what are the topics that you must need to be successful in your classrooms this year, please fill out this survey, the information is crucial to craft the program for this year.

With your FLAME membership you will get access to all the free monthly PD sessions that we are preparing, and also more opportunities to collaborate and share resources.

Here is the survey: FLAME PD survey 2020-2021

The first online PD session is "Instagram à la Mode: Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Communication for Hybrid, Virtual, and In-Person Environments", please save the date, October 14th at 4 pm, it is free and open to all world languages teachers, don't miss this opportunity and register here. The link for the zoom meeting will be shared with you by email. See the flier attached for more details.

A "Pear Deck for World languages" session is coming up in November and "What about the Grammar?" in December . The links for zooms will be shared with you once you renew your FLAME membership.

Thank you for your cooperation and support.

Eunice Kullick Loredo
FLAMEsummerinstitute@gmail.com

The NECTFL Review encourages articles of interest to instructors, researchers, and administrators at all educational levels on theory, research, and classroom practice in language teaching. Articles dealing with pedagogical strategies, materials and curriculum development, language teaching technology, the teaching of literature, assessment, community awareness projects, and international studies would be equally welcome; the foregoing list illustrates the range of concerns that might be addressed in submissions. We welcome manuscripts from teachers at all levels, pre-K through university, and from teacher educators.

The journal is published twice a year-in January and in September. There is no specified deadline for submission of articles. For complete submission guidelines and/or to submit an article, please visit our website.

Click here to get to World Languages In Maine: A Resource Bank

World Languages Graduation Standards
Based on the Maine Learning Results; ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century, ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and Standards for Classical Language Learning.

Please note that a (*) indicates that the standard or indicator may not be applicable to Classical Languages, depending on the instructional approach.

NOTE: the term "text" as used in this document refers to written, auditory as well as visual forms of communication.

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The FLAME website offers resources and information for Maine's K-12 teachers of French, German, Latin, Spanish, ESL, and other languages. Mission Statement The Foreign Language Association of Maine is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote and improve the teaching and study of languages and cultures of the world.

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NABE #thouhgtsfortuesday > Excerpt from Dr. Hsiaoping Wu presentation at the NABE SLOW Institute. Complete session at http://nabeweblive.org with colleagues Dr. Esther Garza & Dr. Myriam Jimena Guerra #bilingualeducation #Steam #stem #Stream

NABE #thouhgtsfortuesday > Excerpt from Dr. Hsiaoping Wu presentation at the NABE SLOW Institute. Complete session at http://nabeweblive.org with colleagues Dr. Esther Garza & Dr. Myriam Jimena Guerra #bilingualeducation #Steam #stem #Stream

#FlashbackFriday #FBF What's in the drawer? "Eric Estrada Speakes Out On Bilingual Education" by Carolyn Ebel / Excerpt from NABE NEWS March #1979 #bilingualeducation #ELL #DL Check details in the NABE IG account @NABEorg

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NABE #thouhgtsfortuesday > Excerpt from Dr. Hsiaoping Wu presentation at the NABE SLOW Institute. Complete session at http://nabeweblive.org with colleagues Dr. Esther Garza & Dr. Myriam Jimena Guerra #bilingualeducation #Steam #stem #Stream NABE #thouhgtsfortuesday > Excerpt from Dr. Hsiaoping Wu presentation at the NABE SLOW Institute.

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Retention based on language proficiency is not legal

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Colorín Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital, and receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association.

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Modifications vs Accommodations: Difference and Examples

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Online Zoom Video Tutorials for Multilingual Students

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Online Zoom Video Tutorials for Multilingual Students

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Amazingly Simple Graphic Design Software - Canva

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Amazingly Simple Graphic Design Software - Canva

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year. These glossaries may be downloaded, printed and disseminated to educators, parents and ELLs/MLLs.

Bilingual glossaries are an essential and expected test accommodation for ELLs/MLLs in the State of New York. The languages of these glossaries cover the top 10 languages at the state level, with new languages added based on changing language populations in the NY State student demographic data.

Schools should provide testing accommodations to ELLs/MLLs, as needed, on all NYS ELA and content-area assessments (i.e., Mathematics, Science and Social Studies). Districts/schools must make all necessary arrangements to make these accommodations available for ELLs/MLLs who need them. Please click here for the New York State Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages Webpage on "Assessment and Testing Accommodations".

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These glossaries are to provide permitted testing accommodations of ELL/MLL students. They should also be used for instruction during the school year. These glossaries may be downloaded, printed and disseminated to educators, parents and ELLs/MLLs. Bilingual glossaries are an essential and expected test accommodation for ELLs/MLLs in the State of New York.

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Art always flourishes when people are constrained by their environment. How do you act when the stage is a box on a computer screen, and when the audience is in other tiny boxes around the world? Remote theatre pushes the boundaries of theatrical performance and the results can be empowering, liberating and extremely moving.

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Paraprofessionals...The unsung heroes. Paraprofessional educators truly serve more than students. They serve the teachers on the campus as well. They have one of the most challenging jobs. If you are a paraprofessional educator reading this article, let me commend you. You do so much for so many people. If are a teacher reading this, thank your paraprofessionals. Give them some extra love. And pass this article along to them so they can grow in their craft. The intention of this piece is because as a presenter, teacher trainer and professional development specialist, I recognized that there is little out there written specifically for paraprofessional educators. The need is clear. So this is for you. Personally, I have worked with many paraprofessionals in my career. I have learned from each of them. And all have had their strengths. Many have either been certified teachers themselves who didn't want the extra responsibilities of a teacher and therefore took on the paraprofessional role, or were in the midst of becoming teacher certified. No matter their own educational experiences, they were each dedicated to the students and teachers. And that's what makes the difference.

​
The roles of paraprofessionals who work with English Learners are many. But here's a starting point for you. ​

1. Build relationships with the teachers you work with.
Get to know them personally and professionally. Personally meaning ask questions about their life. Do they have a spouse, kids, what do they do in their free time? Professionally meaning ask about their classroom management style. How do they prefer that students talk in the classroom, what are the expectations for classwork, restroom breaks, etc. ? Ask about your role in the room. Does the teacher want you to work with small groups during independent application time? Is there an area in the room where you can work with students without removing anyone from the classroom environment? Will there be a folder, binder, or spiral where the two of you can journal notes quickly back and forth to one another? Or will you collaborate online via google docs?

2. Know who the English learners are.
Get a list of the English learners that you will be working with. Find out any important information about their language level, background or academic history. These will not be the only students you work with, but they are your focus. We don't want to stigmatize the English learners. However it's important to identify them so that you can help to grow their language and academic success. You will also want to secure a list of accommodations that your students might benefit from. Knowing their language level and accommodations will help you support their language and academic success.

3. Get to know your students.
Beyond their permanent record folder, get to know them individually. Start by introducing yourself and letting them know that you are there to support them. Ask them questions about their hobbies and passions. This will help you to connect them with books that they might enjoy and writing topics that could help them advance in writing. Students learn more readily and at a faster rate from people who care about them. When our kids believe that we really care about who they are as people, they want to learn from us.

4. Implement strategies that support English learners.
When working with students who are learning a new language, it's helpful to give them support if they need it. For example, the use of visuals is highly powerful for all learners. If you know in advance the topic of instruction, you can prepare visuals that support learning. Visuals are also great for labeling and promote vocabulary development. Once the visuals are labeled, the labels can be used as work banks. Other supports include: gestures, modeling, sentence stems, and use of primary or native language. Each of these has its benefits for students who need them. The important thing to know is when a student needs the support and when to release the support. Some of the graphics below can give you tips and advice about working with English learners. But if you crave more knowledge, seek it! Read more from this blog or professional books on language acquisition. The more you learn, the better off your students will be too. Everyone benefits.

​When you notice something or think something is questionable, ask. Talk with your supervisor or the teacher you work with. If you think your English learner needs enrichment, gifted services, etc. or if you have questions, be a voice. Remember that you always have someone to talk with regarding the students and teachers you serve. 5. Be an advocate for your students.

6. Celebrate successes big and small.
When you witness growth or you see improvement, put a spotlight on it! Share with the students you serve that they are growing and that growth takes effort and time. Share with other educators the successes of the students. Shine the spotlight on English learners. These students do not need fixing, they are exceptional! They are future global leaders. They will hopefully be bilingual adults and that's bonus in my book! ​

Well, I know that is not everything. Certainly there is much more. If you are a paraprofessional reading this, please comment and share your thoughts. And if you're a teacher who works with paraprofessionals, what would you add?

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Supporting English Learners as a Paraprofessional

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Paraprofessionals...The unsung heroes. Paraprofessional educators truly serve more than students. They serve the teachers on the campus as well. They have one of the most challenging jobs. If you are a paraprofessional educator reading this article, let me commend you. You do so much for so many people.

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English news and easy articles for students of English

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News in Levels « World News for Students of English

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We write news in three different levels of English. We want to help you understand English more. Now all students can enjoy reading and listening to news.

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English news from the Voice of America. VOA provides complete coverage of the U.S, Asia, Africa and the Mideast.

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The International High School is a New York City public school dedicated to serving newly arrived immigrant teenagers, with more than 300 students speaking two-dozen languages from 50 countries. The students strive to master English, adapt to families they haven't seen in years, confront the universal trials of adolescence, and search for a future they can claim as their own.

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More than 20% of children in the U.S. are bilingual, a number that continues to rise year over year (Kids Count Data Center, 2018). According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), there is a common misconception that being bilingual contributes to speech or language delays in c…

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In our work with educators of English language learners (ELLs), we often find that there is a lack of resources in our field about how to equitably grade ELLs. This blog post offers some insights and ideas that we hope will spur further discussion.

First, we'll share the reason behind our focus on this topic, as well as a summary of challenges related to grading ELLs. Next, we'll give you a brief overview of related research before sharing our own recommendations developed in response to our research, which we call the Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. (You can find a related infographic on the SupportEd website.) We'll end the post by providing a space for you to share your thoughts, add some additional resources, and share some references with you.

Resources from Larry Ferlazzo

This post complements the following from Larry Ferlazzo:

We also produced a webinar with Larry, available on the SupportEd website (scroll down to "The Five Pillars of Grading ELs Equitably).

COVID-19 updates

For more information on grading equitably during COVID-19, see the following:

Why this topic?

As part of developing a blended ELL assessment professional development course for the Mid-State Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network in Central New York State, we were asked to create a component on grading ELLs. We thought our task would be straightforward enough, but once we started researching the topic, we found very limited resources specifically for ELLs.

In an effort to gather more information, we reached out to our online professional learning network. Diane posted the following questions on the Colorín Colorado Facebook page, the Advocating for ELLs Facebook page, and Twitter in early January 2018:
We're doing a little research on grading ELs at SupportEd. Could you please share your answers to these questions? 1. What are the challenges that you and your colleagues may have in grading ELs? 2. What are some strategies or tools that you find particularly helpful in grading ELs? 3. Do you have any exemplary EL-friendly report card samples you can share?
The responses were numerous and came quickly. Many of our online colleagues shared that they were also looking for guidance around this topic. We also took part in a Twitter #ELLCHAT on January 8 on the same topic with a similar response from colleagues around the country. (You can see a transcript from that Twitter chat by registering for a free account from Participate.com.) We'll summarize the top three challenges that we read about next. Please note we don't share answers to questions 2 and 3 since we incorporate some resources to address these questions in our Five Pillars.

Challenges from the Field

The challenges we saw most often were:

1. Issues with the structure and content of report cards: Teachers mentioned not having an ELL-specific report card, and they also mentioned not being able to adapt their curriculum or school report card so that the ELA skills graded are "on level". (Example: 4th grade beginner student failing ELA because she does not meet grade four ELA standards and is performing at a grade two level.)

2. Lack of validity in grading content: One comment was, "Sometimes a child's grades are just a reflection of how well the teacher taught to their learning style, rather than a true representation of what the child knows." Another colleague wrote, "Separating ELD from content knowledge! So integral to each other - how to assess accurately??" She noted these are listed separately on report card, but there is no tool to assess them.

3. Challenges with school or district policy: Often, educators commented that existing policies at the school and district level don't address the unique considerations inherent in grading ELLs, such as inflexible time limits for exemption from letter grades regardless of the students' language proficiency and educational backgrounds.

Synthesis of Research on Grading Challenges for Teachers of ELLs

The challenges our colleagues reported on social media are in line with what the research tells us, namely that there are many obstacles that may prevent ELLs from benefiting from equitable grading practices. Here we summarize some of findings from relevant research. Please note that this is not an exhaustive literature review!

Research shows that grading, even among teachers at schools with clear grading policies, is often inconsistent (Reeves, 2008; Seeley, 1994). This inconsistency can lead to inequitable grading practices and even failure for certain groups of students, such as ELLs (Waldsburger, 2012). Many teachers believe that report card grades should be based solely on students' mastery of grade-level content standards, which can be challenging for some students. Jung and Guskey (2012) note that while an ESOL teacher may complete a supplemental progress report for ELLs, that piece of assessment information does not often support the general education teacher in assigning grades.

Another obstacle in grading in general is that many classroom teachers feel uncertain about how to hold all students to the same expectations for performance as other students (Guskey, 2011). Teachers can find it challenging to differentiate instruction and grading for ELLs while trying to meet the needs of the other students in their classroom (Pawan & Craig, 2011). Even those teachers who are able to differentiate instruction may find it difficult to score learning tasks and assign grades based on differentiated student work.

Still another challenge that stands in the way of equitable grading for all students is the belief that grades should be used to identify and maximize differences among students (Guskey, 2011). Many teachers feel that there should be students who perform well and students who perform poorly, such as with a normal bell-shaped curve. Jung and Guskey (2012) share that teachers often grapple with questions of fairness, such as giving a passing grade to an ELL who did not meet grade-level content standards. However, Guskey (2011) notes that when teachers identify what they want students to learn and be able to do and when they do all they can to support students in meeting these goals, it is possible for all students to obtain high scores on academic tasks and thereby receive high grades.

The literature we reviewed notes several recommendations for improving ELL grading systems as a whole (e.g., Waldsburger, 2012). For example, one recommendation is not giving letter grades to newly arrived ELLs who are beginning to learn English. Another option is to provide narrative assessments only or use a system of pass, fail, and high pass that measures effort, language growth, and content standard mastery based on students' levels of language proficiency. Tomlinson (2001) suggests providing two grades for all students. The first would be a traditional, standards-based grade, and the second would be a grade based on an individual student's progress towards language and content learning goals. Similarly, several authors (e.g., Jung & Guskey, 2010; Tomlinson, Moon, & Imbeau, 2015) recommend three grades for differentiated classrooms based on a student's product (mastery of content), process (effort, motivation, and participation), and progress (improvement over time).

Our Recommendations: The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs

We drew from our colleagues' responses, the research we synthesized on grading ELLs, our review of best practices in ELL grading, as well as our own expertise in the field to create five recommendations for equitably grading ELLs. We call them the Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs. For each pillar, we provide a few steps to incorporate that pillar. In defining and describing the five pillars, we fully realize how intertwined effective instruction and equitable grading are. You simply can't fairly grade ELLs if you haven't already positioned them to access the instruction of content.

Pillar 1: Identify the content and language standard(s).

In setting up a system in which ELLs can be graded fairly, teachers first need to define which content as well as language standards they would like their students to meet. Hand in hand with these two sets of standards go content and language learning objectives for ELLs based on these standards. We recommend that teachers share these content and language learning objectives with ELLs using "student-friendly" versions to the degree possible. Also, we recommend that teachers identify success criteria for ELLs in meeting the objectives, and share models of strong work samples with ELLs so that students are aware of teachers' expectations. Model work samples should also include models produced by ELLs at different levels of proficiency so ELLs can see themselves reflected in exemplary student work.

Pillar 2: Incorporate scaffolding to support ELLs in achieving the standards.

Depending on their level of English proficiency, most ELLs will not be able to access grade-level content standards without appropriate scaffolding. We recommend using three types of scaffolds in the areas of materials, instruction, and strategic grouping of students to work toward removing linguistic barriers for ELLs. In implementing scaffolds, we recommend you do so based on ELLs' English language proficiency level as well as individual ELL strengths and needs and also the demands of the particular lesson (Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017). In addition, we recommend that teachers set expectations with students for the gradual removal of scaffolding, as appropriate. ELLs should be aware that scaffolds are temporary and will be removed as they gain language proficiency and content knowledge and skills. Further, we stress that it's crucial for ESOL and content teachers to collaborate to determine appropriate scaffolds for their ELLs to meaningfully access content.

Pillar 3: Support ELLs' progress toward mastery.

We believe that grades should not be used punitively for any students, and especially not for ELLs who are already more inclined to drop out of school than non-ELLs. Therefore, we suggest providing ELLs sufficient time and opportunities for learning, such as offering " lunch bunch" and after-school opportunities to do schoolwork with guidance from teachers, tutors, or peers. In addition, we recommend focusing on ELLs' progress towards mastery as well as their achievement. It is important to underscore that we are evaluating ELLs' progress towards mastery, not just whether they have mastered the objective or not. In spite of careful scaffolding, all grade-level standards may not always be 100% achievable for certain ELLs. It may be more motivating for an ELL to recognize his or her progress than to see an achievement score alone.

Also, since many ELLs have responsibilities such as work and taking care of siblings outside of school, they may not be able to complete all assignments on time. Therefore, we recommend allowing ELLs to turn in some work late without penalty if they are in communication with the teacher about the unique circumstances. Moreover, late work may be a sign that an ELL is needing more support to be able to access the content, understand the directions, and/or complete the task. Finally, if homework is given, we recommend using it as an opportunity for non-graded practice.

Pillar 4: Assess ELLs' progress equitably.

In order to equitably assess ELLs, teachers need to design assessments and supports that allow ELLs to access and demonstrate mastery of content and/or language objectives. To equitably assess ELLs' progress, it is critical to also scaffold assessments (not just instruction) for ELLs based on individual ELL strengths and needs. For example, depending on an ELL's level of English proficiency, that student could be provided sentence frames, images, or a word bank to lighten the "linguistic load" of the assessment to be able to provide a more valid picture of what that student knows and can do in a particular content area. During instruction, ELLs should have ample classroom opportunity to practice with any scaffold that will also be provided during an assessment. Another aspect of equitably assessing ELLs' progress comes in the form of group work. While we recommend strategically grouping ELLs as a form of scaffolding instruction, for grading group work we recommend assigning individual scores instead of a group grade to students, including ELLs. In this way, individual students aren't penalized if all students aren't contributing equally to a particular group project.

Pillar 5: Involve ELLs, families, & colleagues.

We have often found that ELLs and their families do not have a full understanding of grade-level expectations, how grades are given, and what each section of a report card means. We advocate for explaining grade level expectations, the grading process, and report cards to ELLs in their home language whenever possible. In addition, ELLs and their families should be involved in the entire grading process, beginning the school year or their enrollment in school with an overview of what the grading expectations and processes look like. Such meetings are also a good time for ELLs and their families to set goals for their learning. Finally, while collaboration and co-teaching have been on many teachers' radar for some time now, co-grading may not be. We strongly recommend that ESOL and content teachers co-grade, collaborating to assign grades to ELLs on formative and summative assessments as well as discuss final grades on report cards. In that way, the level of collaboration will strengthen, and all teachers can leverage their expertise when it comes to ELLs.

Your Thoughts

While we offer our ideas on guidance around equitably grading ELLs, we also encourage you to share your thoughts here. If you have any samples of ELL-friendly report cards, grading policies, success stories, or additional considerations, please share them in the blog post comments!

Additional Resources

References

Guskey, T. (2011). Five obstacles to grading reform. Educational Leadership, 69(3), 16-21.

Jung, L. A., & Guskey, T. R. (2010). Grading exceptional learners. Educational Leadership, 67(5), 31-35.

Jung, L.A. & Guskey, T. R. (2012). Grading exceptional and struggling learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Pawan, F. & Craig, D. (2011). ESL and content area teacher responses to discussions on English language learner instruction. TESOL Journal, 2(3), 293-311.

Reeves, D. (2008). Leading to change: Effective grading practices. Educational Leadership, 65(5), 85-87.

Seeley, M.M. (1994). The Mismatch Between Assessment and Grading. National Education Association. National Education Association. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/teachexperience/ ask040326.html.

Staehr Fenner, D., & Snyder, S. (2017). Unlocking English learners' potential: Strategies for making content accessible. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). Grading for success. Educational Leadership, 58(6), 12-15.

Tomlinson, C.A., Moon, T. and Imbeau, M.B. (2015). Assessment and student success in a differentiated classroom, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/assessment-and-di-whitepaper.pdf

Waldspurger, T. (2012, March). A? B? C? Assigning meaningful grades for ELLs. Presented at the TESOL Convention, Philadelphia, PA.

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The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELLs

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How can teachers equitably grade ELLs? Learn more about challenges, related research and resources, and recommendations developed by the Diane Staehr Fenner, Jill Kester, and Sydney Snyder.

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The film, Reflecting on Anti-bias Education in Action: The Early Years (48 minutes), produced by Debbie LeeKeenan and John Nimmo, features vignettes of anti-bias strategies in early childhood classrooms interspersed with teachers reflecting on their practice. Debbie and John partnered with filmmaker Filiz Efe McKinney of Brave Sprout Productions to create a film that shifts the focus away from the talking heads of experts and on to the voices of teachers committed to equity on a daily basis. By taking viewers into diverse early childhood classrooms, the film seeks to demonstrate the importance of teacher reflection on identity, context, and practice in anti-bias education and provides a much-needed resource for teacher education and professional development.

The film has received numerous awards including the Silver Prize for Documentary Feature (2021) in the Social Justice Film Festival and a nomination for Northwest Regional Emmy® (2022) in the category of diversity, equity, and inclusion - long form content.

The film can be streamed at the screen image above at no charge for professional development and educational purposes. Please review information about the use of the film. The film has closed captions in English, Spanish, and Chinese (simplified characters) which can be turned on by clicking on the CC button to the bottom right of the screen. A Guidebook (available in Spanish and English) provides additional background and resources, and poses provocations and questions for reflection about each vignette in the film. The Official Trailer (3 minutes) is available for promotional purposes.

There is no "one way" to implement anti-bias education. The four anti-bias goals help guide the work. This approach involves critical thinking and a deep understanding of the complexity of the issues and the context of your community. The film is a provocation to generate dialogue about how to bring this approach into your practice.

Louise Derman-Sparks is the film's senior advisor. The film's theoretical and research framework is based on her co-authored books, Anti-Bias Education for Our Children and Ourselves (with Julie Olsen-Edwards and Catherin Goins ) and Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs: A Guide for Change (with Debbie LeeKeenan and John Nimmo).

Read the latest news about the film
See Awards and Festivals

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Reflecting on Anti-bias Education in Action: The Early Years

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The Film: Reflecting on Anti-bias Education in Action: The Early Years

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"Punita, you're Indian, can you tell the rest of the class a little about Diwali?"

I wasn't sure how to respond to my teacher's question. I was in 7th grade, and I didn't have a speech memorized on the significance of Diwali (a holiday celebrated throughout India but observed differently across regions and religions).

It wasn't a heartbreaking experience, but I remember still that I felt like I was somehow a bad Indian for not being able to teach everyone else about the holiday. At the time, I didn't think to be offended, but I was embarrassed. I remember feeling like I had let my teacher and classmates down.

I don't believe my teacher was trying to make me uncomfortable, but she should not have put me in that position. As a 12-year-old South Asian American kid, I shouldn't have had to feel guilty for not being a scholar on Indian history or holidays.

In asking me to speak as a representative for all Indian Americans, my teacher wasn't just showing a lapse in judgment, or even just a lack of cultural literacy. She was engaging in a kind of microaggression, and she was asking me to assume the role of teacher, rather than learner-a role I shouldn't have had to take on.

Othering Students

My experience is far from unique. My own research on the K-12 experiences of South Asian Americans, conducted as part of my doctoral dissertation with the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, finds that many South Asian American students face discrimination and negative interactions in schools. Teachers expect them to serve as ambassadors for their race or culture, regardless of how little they might know or be reasonably expected to know.

This creates unreasonable pressure. There are doubtless some 10- or 12-year-old kids who know a great deal about the cultural significance of any number of holidays, but for the most part, they are not subject matter experts. As one of the participants in my study shared:

There were a few times I wondered what they [teachers] were thinking. My 5th grade teacher [name omitted] in particular stands out because we studied India in class and she was asking me if I thought the books were accurate; she seemed to think my ethnicity made me an expert on India, nevermind I was 10 years old.

Similarly, another participant in my research described how his teachers would ask him "a million questions when we were studying ancient India" (adding, "like I knew anything").

These kinds of exchanges also single the student out, and are a kind of microaggression. Microaggressions are those little, day-to-day manifestations of racism that people of color continue to experience regularly, and which are often normalized and overlooked as innocuous or insignificant. Asking students to be spokespersons for their culture in school communicates that the teacher sees the student as not American, as a foreigner.

Though we need more research on the challenges South Asian American students face in schools, plenty of past research has documented the harmful impacts of microaggressions, including for Asian American groups.

In her 2009 work on microaggressions, researcher Janice McCabe found that it is common for students of color to be expected to speak for all people from their race or cultural background, and even to feel an ongoing "daily pressure" to be a "spokesperson" for their race. Likewise, a participant in my own work described how his teachers singled him out for his background:

[They] treated me like any of the other kids, except for when the topic India is brought up. Then they'd assume I was an expert on Indian culture and ask me very general or stereotypical questions about Indian attitudes on subjects such as marriage or grades or jobs ... . [I]t was annoying to be singled out during class.

Academic Disadvantage

Expecting students to serve as cultural ambassadors or spokespeople doesn't just reflect a lack of basic cultural competence, it can even serve to inhibit a student's own academic growth.

One participant in my study described how her teachers always assigned her topics related to India or pressured her to represent India in school, at the expense of her own learning:

I was always assigned to the India group and was expected to bring items from my house to enrich the class with diverse experiences, while learning nothing myself ... . They [teachers] also assumed I needed no learning assistance and used me to help other students. Instead of challenging me, they would have me tutor other students, even talking them through test questions and helping them take school tests.

This participant's teachers may have had good intentions in asking her to share about India. They might have been hoping to enrich other students' knowledge or celebrate diverse backgrounds in their classroom. But in doing so, these teachers positioned this student to serve her peers at the cost of her own learning and growth.

This is not to say teachers should never ask about students' backgrounds or invite them to share their heritages with their classes. But there is a fine line between inviting them to share, and pressuring or positioning them to speak as representatives of their culture.

How can teachers know what kind of questions are appropriate, and what might make a student uncomfortable?

First, treat every student as an individual. If you know your student well, you might already have a sense of how knowledgeable she is about her family's background-or whether she's even the kind of kid who would want to share.

Next, and perhaps more importantly, teachers should avoid putting a student on the spot. If you think students might want to share their personal experiences as part of a lesson, engage them ahead of time to check. This also gives you the opportunity to vet what they're sharing and determine how to frame it in a broader context.

Finally, teachers should be self-reflective. Ask yourself: Are you inviting all students to share elements of their backgrounds and what matters to them (culture and heritage included), so that you are not singling out students of color?

When we invite our students to share their backgrounds and values-all of our students-then we foster inclusion and respect for diversity. But when teachers position students of color to serve as spokespersons for their culture, we risk making them feel othered and we detract from their own opportunities for enrichment, learning, and growth.

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Teachers: Don't Force Students to Speak for an Entire Culture (Opinion)

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"Punita, you're Indian, can you tell the rest of the class a little about Diwali?" I wasn't sure how to respond to my teacher's question. I was in 7th grade, and I didn't have a speech memorized on the significance of Diwali (a holiday celebrated throughout India but observed differently across regions and religions).

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Self-advocacy is an essential skill that must be fostered in our emergent bilingual families. Professional interpreters/translators in education support families with communication to ensure that families can protect their own rights and lift their own voices. The documents below (available in 13 languages) describe the basic knowledge and skills that families should expect from professional interpreters/translators in education, and a list of useful phrases that families can use during a meeting involving an interpreter.

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Self-advocacy is an essential skill that must be fostered in our emergent bilingual families. Professional interpreters/translators in education support families with communication to ensure that families can protect their own rights and lift their own voices.

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In 2014, the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York City, Tamir Rice in Cleveland and too many others caused waves of nationwide protest and appeals for stronger protections against police brutality.

These events-along with the lack of accountability for the police officers who shot and killed these unarmed victims-also prompted educators to seek resources on how to address these subjects in the classroom.

The resources below can help spur much-needed discussion around implicit bias and systemic racism, but they can also empower your students to enact the changes that will create a more just society.

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Teaching About Race, Racism and Police Violence

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In 2014, the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York City, Tamir Rice in Cleveland and too many others caused waves of nationwide protest and appeals for stronger protections against police brutality.

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To download a free PDF of Realizing the Vision of Two-Way Immersion: Fostering Effective Programs and Classroom, please complete the form below.

© 2007 by the Center for Applied Linguistics. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. All inquiries should be addressed to permissions@cal.org or to Permissions, Center for Applied Linguistics, 4646 40th Street NW, Washington, DC 20016-1859.
Recommended reference citation:
Howard, E. R., & Sugarman, J. (2007). Realizing the Vision of Two-Way Immersion: Fostering Effective Programs and Classrooms. Center for Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems, Co.

By downloading this PDF, you acknowledge and agree to the following:

The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) holds the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute this publication.

CAL grants you permission to download and store a PDF copy of Realizing the Vision of Two-Way Immersion.

CAL further grants you permission to print a copy of the document for your own use. If at any time your copy becomes unusable, you may print a replacement copy.

You may NOT print or distribute additional hard copies.

You may NOT forward or otherwise distribute the PDF.

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Realizing the Vision of Two-Way Immersion: Fostering Effective Programs and Classrooms

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To download a free PDF of Realizing the Vision of Two-Way Immersion: Fostering Effective Programs and Classroom, please complete the form below. © 2007 by the Center for Applied Linguistics. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

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Achieve the Core: Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Classrooms

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Achieve the Core: Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Classrooms

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For this Coffee and Conversation, our guest Dani Wadlington talked about what it looks like to dismantle racism in mathematics classrooms. Dani spoke about her perspective as a classroom teacher and one of the authors of "Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction," Stride 1 of the Math Equity Toolkit.

Dani Wadlington is a Black educator organizer currently serving as a high school math teacher in the Bay Area and as Director of Math Education at Quetzal Education Consulting. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago allowed her to experience a world full of cultural wealth which she dutifully incorporates into her pedagogy. Dani had a transformative schooling experience from a very young age. South Shore Preschool was one place she learned to love her Blackness and her community. Ever since she has been on a journey of co-creating spaces for youth to spark self-actualization and social change. Dani is a mathematics education expert who has earned an MA in Education, an MA in Educational Leadership, and a teaching and administration credential. Her proudest moments as an educator have been unionizing with her colleagues and supporting young people in critical thinking skills that lead to student-led direct action. Dani holds a level of wisdom that is inherent and spiritual; she is a believer in ancestral intuition and holds a high standard for every detail that goes into her work.

Interested in opportunities to learn from other educators? Take the Core Advocate survey to learn about upcoming Coffee and Conversations and other free events. Have a topic in mind for further discussion or feedback about the event? We want to hear from you! Please reach out to Joy Delizo-Osborne.
Send Feedback

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Coffee and Conversations: Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Classrooms

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For this Coffee and Conversation, our guest Dani Wadlington talked about what it looks like to dismantle racism in mathematics classrooms. Dani spoke about her perspective as a classroom teacher and one of the authors of "Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction," Stride 1 of the Math Equity Toolkit .

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The parents of English learners need to be involved in decisions about accessibility features for their children. The Improving Instruction project has created several concise briefs to guide parents through this process. Print and audio versions of these briefs will soon be available in Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Arabic.

Additional briefs for teachers and principals provide advice on how to make sure parents are included and listened to.

For Parents

Each of the parent resources below is available as a PDF and audio in multiple languages (English, Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese)

For Teachers

For Principals

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Improving Instruction for English Learners Through Accessibility Decision Making (Improving Instruction): Parent-Educator Toolkit

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The parents of English learners need to be involved in decisions about accessibility features for their children. The Improving Instruction project has created several concise briefs to guide parents through this process. Print and audio versions of these briefs will soon be available in Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Arabic.

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Abstract

This article describes a functional approach to language development. This approach draws on functional linguistic perspectives to offer ways for teachers to identify language patterns to help dual language learners (DLLs) see how language works and engage them in exploring meaning in texts as they develop their linguistic repertories in more than one language. The authors contextualize the approach as part of the new WIDA Standards and present a case study to showcase how the functional approach can be used in dual language classrooms, with annotated science texts in English and Spanish.

Recommended Citation

de Oliveira, L. C., & Westerlund, R. (2021). A Functional Approach to Language Development for Dual Language Learners. Journal of English Learner Education. (12) 1.

Retrieved from https://stars.library.ucf.edu/jele/vol12/iss1/2

DOWNLOADS

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functional approach to language development

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A Functional Approach to Language Development for Dual Language Learners

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This article describes a functional approach to language development. This approach draws on functional linguistic perspectives to offer ways for teachers to identify language patterns to help dual language learners (DLLs) see how language works and engage them in exploring meaning in texts as they develop their linguistic repertories in more than one language.

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Puente de Cuentos: Building a Bridge Between Languages - Positive Parenting Newsfeed

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Expert says even if parents are not proficient in English, they can still use oral storytelling in their native language to build up their child's language skills.

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Coming soon in other languages. Em breve em português. Man aj ta chik Kʼicheʼ. Ch'ixk'a toj mam. Maluhali lidan garífuna.
Paparating sa Tagalog Halimbawa. ਜਲਦੀ ਹੀ ਆ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ سيتوفر قريبًا في

Access to public education is a right afforded to all children, regardless of a child's or guardian's citizenship, immigration status, or English language proficiency. These rights were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark 1982 decision in  Plyler v. Doe.

Here you will find resources that can be used by families, advocates, educators and school administrators to understand the responsibilities their schools and districts have to families. These resources can help you advocate for students facing language access or enrollment barriers in public elementary or secondary schools.

Please take a look at our comprehensive guide and our multilingual pamphlet for detailed information:

Learn More
Check out these additional resources, with tools specific to your needs.

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Protecting immigrant students' rights to a public education

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Access to public education is a right afforded to all children, regardless of a child's or guardian's citizenship, immigration status, or English language proficiency. These rights were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark 1982 decision in  Plyler v. Doe.

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subscribe to Short Wave podcast

subscribe to Short Wave podcast

Becoming fluent in a second language is difficult. But for adults, is it impossible?

Science says no.

Short Wave hosts Maddie Sofia and Emily Kwong dissect the "critical period hypothesis," a theory which linguists have been debating for decades - with the help of Sarah Frances Phillips, a Ph.D. student in the linguistics department at New York University. We explore where the theory comes from, how it applies to second-language acquisition, and what it means for Emily's efforts to learn Mandarin Chinese as an adult.

We are publishing a special episode in the Short Wave feed on Sunday, June 20th - all about Emily's journey to reclaim her heritage language at age 30 and unpack why she never learned Mandarin Chinese in the first place.

This upcoming episode is part of the Where We Come From series, featuring stories from immigrant communities of color across generations, in honor of Immigrant Heritage Month. Find more stories here.
Special thanks to sociolinguist Amelia Tseng, Fluent City, Dennis Yeuh-Ye Li, Megan Arias, and the Kwong family, especially Christopher Kwong, Timothy Kwong, Linda Kwong, and Amanda Kwong. The team at Where We Come From is Anjuli Sastry, Michael Zamora, Julia Furlan, Diba Mohtasham, Nicole Werbeck, and Yolanda Sangweni. This episode was produced by Thomas Lu, edited by Viet Le and fact-checked by Indi Khera. Alex Drewenskus was the audio engineer.

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'I'm Willing To Fight For It': Learning A Second Language As An Adult : Short Wave

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Becoming fluent in a second language is difficult. But for adults, is it impossible? Short Wave hosts Maddie Sofia and Emily Kwong dissect the "critical period hypothesis," a theory which linguists have been debating for decades - with the help of Sarah Frances Phillips, a Ph.D.

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Welcoming Immigrants | Capital Area New Mainers Project | Augusta

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The Capital Area New Mainers Project welcomes immigrants and works to build a thriving, integrated community in central Maine.

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Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition - HOME

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Enhancing Immigrant Lives for a Stronger Maine Take Action With MIRC COVID-19 Resources for New Mainers - Multi-Languages COVID-19 Vaccine Educational Resources - Multi-Languages COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Asylum Seeker Working Group: New Arrivals Needs Assessment ADVOCATE MIRC is advancing systemic change and equity in Maine through collaborative advocacy for policy development at state ...

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The mission of Immigrant Resource Center Of Maine is to support refugee and immigrant communities by offering culturally and linguistically sensitive services to promote a healthy and equitable...

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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The new question-of-the-week is:
What is the single most effective instructional strategy you have used to teach English-language learners?
This series is part of a longer series of questions and answers inviting educators from various disciplines to share their "single most effective instructional strategy."

There are many more to come!

Today, Valentina Gonzalez, Denita Harris, Cindy Garcia, and Deedy Camarena offer their responses.

Before we get to today's guest, I'd like to share my own answer.

Two that contributors to this series don't mention and are ones I like to use often are the Language Experience Approach (LEA) and Total Physical Response (TPR).

Two particularly useful posts that have not yet made it into that summary collection (I update them every summer) are Thirteen Instructional Strategies for Supporting ELL Newcomers and Ten Strategies for Teaching English-Language Learners Online.

Now, to responses from today's guests:

Picture Word Inductive Model
Valentina Gonzalez is a former classroom teacher with over 20 years in education serving also as a district facilitator for English-learners, a professional-development specialist for ELs, and as an educational consultant. Valentina delivers professional development and coaches teachers on sheltered instruction strategies. Her work can be found on Seidlitz Education and on MiddleWeb. You can reach her through her website or on Twitter @ValentinaESL:
Shifting the way we approach teaching English-learners can have a positive effect on their success in our schools. When we see our English-learners' assets first, we recognize everything they come with and value not only their culture but also the content and literacy they bring to the table.

I've found the Picture Word Inductive Model (Calhoun, 1998) to be one of the most effective instructional techniques in my experience teaching ELs. The benefits of using PWIM with English-learners are many. This literacy technique is quite flexible and can be used cross-curricularly no matter the grade level, language level, or content. PWIM leverages students' funds of knowledge and builds upon them. Through the PWIM, ELs are engaged in thinking and in all language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing with scaffolds and supports such as visuals and sentence stems or frames. This method can be used in all grade levels and cross-curricularly.

These are the steps I use to implement an adapted version of PWIM with English-learners and how each step benefits ELs:

This engaging instructional strategy helps to lower students' anxiety levels, which increases participation. After using the PWIM with numerous student groups, these are some tips I can offer to educators who haven't tried it before:

Carefully select images that are compelling to your age group of students.

Try color coding or chunking labeled words (ex.: all verbs in orange, adjectives in blue, etc.).

Keep in mind students' language-proficiency levels when creating sentence stems and frames. Students with advanced English proficiency will benefit from more sophisticated sentence structures.

Don't stress about doing it all in one day. Gage your students and make adjustments as needed.

On a subsequent day, use the generated words as a sorting activity. Ask students to work with a partner to put the words in groups and label the groups.

Co-create a sentence-patterning chart with the class. Some groups of students may need this level of support during Step 7.

Below is an example of a PWIM and sentence-patterning chart mash up. Combining these two techniques enhances ELs' listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English.

Sentence Frames
Denita Harris is a curriculum coordinator for the MSD of Wayne Township, Indianapolis. She has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, assistant principal, and district-level administrator. Harris is the recipient of the 2019 INTESOL (Indiana Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Best of the Best in K-12 Education, and the 2017 and 2020 African American Excellence in Education Award. Find her on Twitter @HarrisLeads:
The single most effective strategy I have used and would highly recommend when teaching English-language learners is the use of sentence frames for writing and speaking, the productive skills, accompanied with a word bank, word phrases, and/or pictures.

English-languagelearners possess a wealth of knowledge, and it is our obligation, as educators, to tap into their knowledge and continue to build upon what our students already know and can do. We must remember our students are in the process of learning a new language and are not in the process of learning a language; therefore, we can provide the words and the grammatical structures of the new language to help guide them in speaking and writing.

Here is an analogy to consider. English-language learners have the tools (vocabulary in their native language). They come to us with these tools; however, while learning English, they may not yet know the names of all the tools or how to use them properly to accomplish a task completely (speaking or writing in English). Our responsibility is to provide our students with the names of each tool (vocabulary in English) and demonstrate to them, through sentence frames, how they might utilize these tools to accomplish a complete task (express a complete thought or sentence in English). A sentence frame can be made up of only one sentence or several sentences to assist students in structuring paragraphs.

The use of sentence frames for writing and speaking not only give English-language learners a framework to communicate through both oral and written language, sentence frames also help build students' self-efficacy. When students have the language to contribute to classroom discussions and are able to express their thoughts on paper, they begin to feel a part of the classroom community, and that makes all the difference.

Comprehensible Input
Cindy Garcia has been a bilingual educator for 14 years and is currently a district instructional specialist for PK-6 bilingual/ESL mathematics. She is active onTwitter @CindyGarciaTX and on her blog:
The single most effective strategy that I used to teach English-language learners is comprehensible input. Comprehensible input means that the teacher speaks in such a way that students are able to understand what is being said even when they do not know or understand all of the words being stated. Below are some strategies to make input comprehensible:

Slow down rate of speech and enunciate clearly. As students are listening, they are also working to process what is being said and how that fits with what they already know. At the same time, ELLs are translanguaging and making sense of teachers' academic language. ELLs are developing their English language, and it is very important that they hear those initial and ending sounds of words in order to add them to their vocabulary. Sometimes when we speak too quickly, we drop important sounds such as "ing".

Avoid figurative language and idioms. While these phrases might make sense to you and emphasize a point, to ELLs they might break down their comprehension. Students will probably end up with a literal translation that makes no sense. For example, saying it was a piece of cake will be translated to it was a portion of a dessert, not it was easy! Not only that, but ELLs might stop listening as they try to figure what that idiom means.

Use gestures and total physical response (TPR). Language can sometimes be abstract and not precise. There can also be words that exist in English that do not exist in other languages. For example, toes do not have a Spanish equivalent. In Spanish, we have hand fingers and feet fingers. Using exaggerated gestures can help make the meaning of new vocabulary more clear to students. Using TPR, students also learn to associate a movement with a word, and that will make it more likely that they internalize that new vocabulary.

Collaborative Summarizing
Deedy Camarena is the coordinator for English-language development (ELD), dual and world languages, at the Santa Clara County Office of Education in California:
Second, students find one partner to dialogue with and " create a negotiated list that reflects their combined agreement on the three to six most important ideas." Once students have discussed the most important ideas, they turn them into one, collaborative 15-word summary. Teachers can strategically pair up students, or students can choose. Students must first determine the negotiating rules they will follow. For example, act respectively, cite evidence to prove your opinion, or use academic-language sentence frames, such as Kate Kinsella's, for discussing and collaboration. Students use these sentence frames to support the function of negotiating and intentionally use academically language correctly. The purpose of negotiating with their partner is to "identify who or what is the most important in the section, [and] identify what the subject is doing,"( English Learner Toolkit of Strategies).

Third, have each pair meet with another pair. One student from each pair reads their summary. Then, they dive in and renegotiate a common summary for their new group of four and add it to their graphic organizer.

Fourth, each group of four chooses another group of four to repeat the renegotiating process. Once again, the group will add this new summary to their graphic organizer.

Fifth, ask groups to edit their summaries for meaning, language, and word choice. As the focus of Collaborative Summarizing is utilizing purposeful dialogue to practice oracy, this could be an optional step.

Sixth, chose one student from the group to present the summary to the class. As ELLs have varying comfort levels of reading in front of a class, give the students time to practice in their group. Once a sufficient amount of time has passed, bring the class together to listen to the summaries.

Thanks to Valentina, Denita, Cindy, and Deedy for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email (The RSS feed for this blog, and for all Ed Week articles, has been changed by the new redesign-new ones are not yet available). And if you missed any of the highlights from the first nine years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.

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The Six Most Effective Instructional Strategies for ELLs-According to Teachers (Opinion)

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Teachers share their "go-to" strategies for teaching English-language learners, including sentence starters and Total Physical Response.

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Academic English Resources - Academic English learners

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Workshop Resources ﻿﻿ Workshop Presentation PDF Unit/ Lesson Differentiation Template Components of MPIs: Template for creating your own ​ Secondary student example Visible Thinking Exercises:...

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ACCESS Speaking and Writing Practice vol.1 - Listed on TpT - Do Not Delete

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ACCESS Speaking and Writing Practice vol.2 - Listed on TpT - Do Not Delete

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Hello, and welcome to MinneSLIFE, a standing committee within MinneTESOL. MinneSLIFE is dedicated to serving students with limited or interrupted formal education by bringing together teachers, researchers and concerned community members. Please check back often for the most current updates.

Dr. Patsy Egan will present a workshop titled Strategies to Foster Basic Print Literacy Skills with Adult English Learners. February 10, 2018. University International Center. UMN. See the MinneSLIFE Events page for more information.

SPRING FLING Call for Proposals - Due February 2, 2018!!!

MinneSLIFE's annual Spring Fling brings together educators, scholars, parents, policy makers, and community members to focus on the social, cultural and political work of educating SLIFE students. This year, we invite proposals on a wide range of topics, all with a focus on SLIFE.

MinneSLIFE Statement of Support

posted Apr 25, 2015, 7:23 AM by Aaron Cuthbert

The Spring Fling conference, hosted by MinneSLIFE in collaboration with the Secondary Interest Section of MinneTESOL, is just a few hours away! Clear your calendar and make the trek to Hamline University on Saturday, April 25th to meet with teachers, researchers and others concerned for SLIFE in Minnesota

The event will be held at Hamline University from 1-5 pm in Giddens Alumni Center. The event is (of course) free and open to the public.

Registration: 12:30 - 1:00

Wrap up and CEUs: 4:10 - 4:30

Giddens Alumni Learning Center 100E-103E

Giddens Alumni Learning Center

posted Jun 8, 2014, 9:19 AM by Aaron Cuthbert

Recent educational policy legislation has increased the profile of SLIFE at the statewide level. Although this expansion is not as broad as one would hope it nevertheless marks an important growth of awareness within state government of unique SLIFE issues. See below for the relevant sections of legislation as per MDE:

MN SLIFE definition and laws

posted May 3, 2014, 4:54 PM by MinneTESOL MinneSLIFE

Thanks, thanks, thanks again to all who attended, presented and generally made our spring conference a success. It is important to us as an organization to share materials, as finding information on SLIFE can be challenging. We have posted up the conference materials that are currently available to us on our resources page. Please browse the materials.

If you attended but do not see something let us know and we will do our best to make it available to you!

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Hello, and welcome to MinneSLIFE, a standing committee within MinneTESOL. MinneSLIFE is dedicated to serving students with limited or interrupted formal education by bringing together teachers, researchers and concerned community members. Please check back often for the most current updates. Dr. Patsy Egan will present a workshop titled Strategies to Foster Basic Print Literacy Skills with Adult English Learners.

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Students with limited interrupted formal education (SLIFE) make up an important subset of English learners. The Minnesota Learning English for Academic Proficiency and Success (LEAPS) Act defines SLIFE as an English learner with an interrupted formal education who meets three of the following five requirements:

1. Comes from a home where the language usually spoken is other than English, or who usually speaks a language other than English.

2. Enters school in the United States after grade 6.

3. Has at least two years less schooling than the English learner's peers.

4. Functions at least two years below expected grade level in reading and mathematics.

5. May be preliterate in the English learner's native language.

( Minn. Stat. § 124D.59, Subd. 2a)

Districts and charters identify SLIFE on an annual basis via the Student Support Data Collection (SSDC) . The Commissioner of Education is required, under the LEAPS Act, to report the academic and linguistic growth of SLIFE.

SLIFE Learning Modules
Educating SLIFE offers unique opportunities. In order for schools to support and foster the abilities and talents of SLIFE, the Minnesota Department of Education has prepared the following learning modules for educators and educational leaders. Additional modules will be posted as they are completed.

Student Support Data Collection (SSDC) User Guide - 12/6/21
The purpose of the Student Support Data Collection (SSDC) is to report the required student identification information to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE).

SLIFE Identification Checklist - 4/21/16
"Meeting the Needs of Students with Limited or Interrupted Schooling" by DeCapua, Smathers & Tang. Copyright University of Michigan 2009. Used with permission.

Sample Student Interview Questions - 4/20/16
"Meeting the Needs of Students with Limited or Interrupted Schooling" by DeCapua, Smathers & Tang. Copyright University of Michigan 2009. Used with permission.

Sample Parent Interview Questions - 4/20/16
"Meeting the Needs of Students with Limited or Interrupted Schooling" by DeCapua, Smathers & Tang. Copyright University of Michigan 2009. Used with permission.

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Students with limited interrupted formal education (SLIFE) make up an important subset of English learners. The Minnesota Learning English for Academic Proficiency and Success (LEAPS) Act defines SLIFE as an English learner with an interrupted formal education who meets three of the following five requirements: Comes from a home where the language usually spoken is other than English, or who usually speaks a language other than English.

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Sahan Journal tells the stories of Minnesota's immigrants and communities of color that no one else is telling. To receive a weekly email with a roundup of our stories, sign up for our free newsletter.

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When Farhiya Del arrived in the United States nearly 30 years ago, she felt the pressure to fit in. Beyond learning about a new country, she also struggled to adapt to a new culture and especially a new language.

Farhiya, who was a teenager at the time, had a lot of work ahead of her to strengthen her grasp of the English language. She only understood basic greetings in English.

"I was like a deaf person sitting in a classroom," Farhiya said.

To fit in, Farhiya did her best to start speaking English as much as possible, including when she came home from work. However, she says, in her rush to learn English, she was also starting to forget something else: Somali.

"I realized, 'Oh my God. I need my Somali,' and I realized I was using more English than Somali, and I couldn't even explain simple things in Somali," she said. "That's when I stopped."

After taking a job that required her to speak Somali, Farhiya ramped up her efforts to remember her native language.

While Farhiya felt compelled to leave Somali behind, she hopes that won't be the case for other new immigrants from Somalia, especially for the 4,000 children at Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) who self-identify Somali. To support these students, MPS will launch a Somali Heritage Language Program in select schools Aug. 6.

Organizers of the program were helped by Ayumi Stockman, World Languages Education specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education. Stockman helped write the curriculum and train the teachers. Farhiya, who started working in MPS as a second-grade teacher in 2006, also helped write the curriculum and lesson plans for the project, and will be one of the teachers.*

The course will be taught multiple times a week, and will include greetings and conversational phrases that students can use in their daily life. The program is meant to follow along with the content students are learning in English. There will also be bilingual sessions once a month where faculty will read stories in Somali to all students, regardless of their background.

Want more? Get news and stories that illuminate the lives and experiences of Minnesota's immigrants and communities of color.

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The program, steered by the Multilingual Department follows a similar, older program aimed at Hmong students in Minneapolis. While the Multilingual Department is initially funding the program, participating schools will absorb the costs after the first three years. According to Muhidin Warfa, the executive director for English learners and global education for the Multilingual Department in MPS, there could be more than the 4,000 students with Somali heritage who chose not to identify themselves.

Because of the limitation on schools, around 10% of Somali students will end up having access to the program, she said. The Multilingual Department considered many factors when choosing schools, including the mission and the existing language programs and options at the schools.

At this point four schools will be involved with the program, all of which have at least 20% Somali students, according to Deqa Muhidin, who works in the Multilingual Department, and has been working to design the curriculum over the past year.

One of those schools is Lyndale Community School, where Farhiya works. High school students in South High School and Heritage Academy will be able to take the course as an elective. Elementary school students who have identified themselves as Somali will be automatically enrolled in the program, and can opt out.

"We wanted to provide an opportunity for them to have to learn their heritage language as a course," Deqa said. "Parents have been asking for a program that basically allows for them to learn their heritage language."

According to Farhyia, one benefit of the program is that it will encourage students to use their native languages at schools - something which she says is usually discouraged when teachers do not understand what students are saying.

"A lot of times kids will feel uncomfortable bringing their culture with them, because in schools, you only speak English," Farhiya said.

Since the program will include all students in some way, both Somali and non-Somali parents alike are excited about the program, according to Farhiya.

"I didn't fit when I came to this country, and I think a lot of kids when they come to school ... They run away from Somali or speaking their home language because they want to catch up with English," Farhiya said. "They don't know how important and rich their culture and language is."
*This story has been updated to provide additional information about who helped write the curriculum and train teachers for the program.
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Minneapolis schools launch Somali Heritage Language Program

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English Language Learners in Special Education: How to Partner With Your Students' Families Introduction: Strategies for Engaging ELL Families 

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English Language Learners in Special Education: How to Partner With Your Students' Families Introduction: Strategies for Engaging ELL Families 

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https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/english-language-learners-special-education-how-partner-your-students-families