Shark News 12 is an innovative program designed by ESL instructors Kaia Karmyn and Veronica O’Brien. Students in the ESL program are brought aboard the cast of “Shark News 12” and given a job of either news “anchor” or news “correspondent”. Students get to research different types of news segments and events that occur throughout their school. Students work in teams to create news stories for a school-wide (possibly district-wide/internet-wide) television broadcast. The program designed is student created and driven. Students brainstorm ideas for the show, interview classmates and teachers for lead stories, create the news report script, select photos/videos to go along with their stories, create the show’s wardrobe, edit one another’s written stories, fact find, role play and help one another rehearse their lines. The ESL instructors who developed this program are guiding students through the first year of this program. Here is a list of the skills being developed while students create their own news show:

1. Fluency- Students are not only writing their own scripts but rehearsing them. They get a natural feel for the English language and learn to articulate words appropriately. They learn how to adjust their rate of speech, modulate their voices, increase the accuracy of words read and find a proper expression with which to speak. Students learn to remain consistent with 1st, 2nd or 3rd person writing/speaking, tense and sentence agreement. 2. Linking Prior Knowledge- Students are charged with recalling and conducting research on events and activities that have taken place throughout the school year report on them to the larger school community. Students are expected to understand their audience and be able to express themselves, their thoughts, their ideas and how the events and activities are connected to everyday learning. As students report on a topic, they must present it in an organized manner and be able to produce narratives with elaborate details. As students create segments based on a real news format, they must be able to categorize and link events and learning activities.

3. Sequencing- Students are charged with sequencing events in the news broadcast. Students actually would watch media at home and have class discussions as to why certain segments are in the beginning, middle and end of a program. 4. Differentiate language discourse- ESL students are learning the difference between formal language and informal discourse between classmates and peers. Putting together a news segment allows students to discern if something is proper/formal speech or if it is slang and informal communication. 5. Collaboration- As students engage in the creative processes of Shark News 12, they quickly learn how valuable it is to collaborate with one another. They experience how the final project becomes something more precious than just the sum of its parts.

When students enter into the ESL program here at Shepard school, they are limited in their English language proficiency. Not only must students learn to speak the English language fluently, they often must learn conversational skill and cultural norms. Often students struggle to adjust to school culture and social expectations. When students lack the ability to communicate effectively in the language of their peers, their social and emotional needs often go unmet. This project is designed to meet the social, emotional and academic needs of all ESL learners. This is a project whereby students are excited to engage in their own learning all while developing major academic and social skill sets. The project is student run and student directed. It allows them to take ownership of their learning, work cooperatively with others and develop complex language skills with speed and accuracy.

As students report on various activities that take place throughout the school year, they are also learning cultural norms, customs, holidays, celebrations, local customs and school-wide expectations. As students report upon the various service learning projects, they learn about the organizations and the service they provide. When students report upon the character education initiatives, they learn about the values the school has adopted and help report how students are demonstrating those values in real-life applications. ESL students learn about food and clothing customs through their cooking and fashion segments. They learn about pop culture as they give their “entertainment” reports and book reviews. ESL students get a taste of STEM and career and college readiness skills as they sink into the roles of meteorologists and chief medical correspondent for the Shark News 12 broadcast.

ESL students are becoming school leaders thanks to this program ESL students are becoming school leaders thanks to this program. They are encouraging their families to become more engaged in their education as their news broadcasts help their family members learn what activities take place here at school. As students produce segments, they practice conversational skills and interviewing students and grown-ups alike. Their confidence is bolstered and they are excited to tackle the writing assignments with which they have been charged. They enjoy helping one another and are impressed at the ideas that are created as they bounce ideas off one another. They learn how dynamic the English language can be and how important it is to communicate effectively.