Their Cultures

Resources for Learning about Culture  Cultural Orientation Center Cultural Orientation Center  Culture Crossing Culture Crossing  CultureGrams CultureGrams

KCAS Connection

Kids and Culture International Night at an Elementary School

Four Corners Official English promotes unity. Our national motto is E pluribus unum-out of many, one. Immigrants of many nationalities built our nation, but the "melting pot" melded us into one people. This long tradition of assimilation has always included the adoption of English as the common means of communication. Unfortunately, the proliferation of multilingual government sends the opposite message to non-English speakers: it is not necessary to learn English because the government will accommodate them in other languages. A study published by the U.S. Department of Labor found that immigrants are slower to learn English when they receive a lot of native language support. (Monthly Labor Review, December 1992.) Thus, multilingual government services actually encourage the growth of linguistic enclaves. This division of the United States into separate language groups contributes to racial and ethnic conflicts. Designating English as the official language will help reverse this harmful process. multilingual government services

What is a Lau Plan? What is a Lau Plan? A Lau Plan, named after the landmark Lau vs. Nichols U.S. Supreme Court Decision of 1974, is an equal access plan that protects English Learners (ELs). The plan describes what a School Administrative Unit (SAU) will do to:Lau vs. Nichols U.S. Supreme Court Decision of 1974  Identify and place its ELs  design an effective program to meet EL needs, including a Language Acquisition Committee (LAC) and Individual Language Acquisition Plans (ILAP);  employ appropriate English-as-a-second-language or bilingual personnel (or both);  align the instruction of ELs to state content standards; and  provide ongoing authentic assessments to ascertain their growth in English language proficiency

Lau Plan: Create a service delivery plan for English language learners.  Program accommodates students ’ English language level needs  Must be aligned to state and local standards  ESL Program Description

Lau Plan: Establish criteria for reclassification, transfer, and exit from the support system.  Document results of all assessments used to determine student exit from ESL program.  This determination is made by a language assessment committee, not a single individual.

Lau Plan: Engage qualified personnel.  ESL staff must be qualified with academic preparation in English-as-a-second-language.  ESL support services that do not supplant the standard curriculum may be provided by an education aide who is supervised by an ESL teacher in collaboration with the student ’ s regular classroom teacher.  Bilingual Associate Instructors

Program Models in Kentucky  English as a Second Language (ESL)  English as a New Language (ENL)  English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)  ESL models, although less effective with CLD students than certain bilingual education programs (e.g. two-way bilingual), often arise as a result of complicating variables including geographic and sociopolitical variables (Herrera & Murry, p. 118).  Lack of qualified bilingual teachers  Lack of bilingual education endorsement programs  Number of different languages spoken by students  Lack of public support due to cost, English proficiency outcomes, beliefs about language

ESL Program Models

Sheltered Instruction “Effective models of ESL programming (e.g., CALLA [Chamot & O’Malley, 1994]) typically emphasize frequent opportunities for language interaction, the scaffolding of instruction, and constructivist activities focused on the derivation of meaning from context, language, and support structures (Echevarria & Graves, 2003; Linquanti, 1999; Ovando, Combs, & Collier, 2006).”

Sheltered Instruction “A focus on language interactions typically involves frequent and sometimes extended opportunities for teacher-student and student-student communication at all literacy levels: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.”

CALLA  Review the Chamot & O’Malley article using Shaping Up summarizing strategy.Shaping Up  Developed to help English learners (ELs) prepare to participate in content-area instruction in the mainstream classroom  3 components  Curriculum correlated with mainstream content subjects  Academic language development activities  Learning strategy instruction

CALLA  English learners were performing well on English proficiency assessments, but they were having severe difficulties when mainstreamed into the regular classroom.  Assessments weren’t measuring academic English attainment.  Academic language skills lag behind the development of social skills by 5-7 years.  CALLA was designed to be a bridge to the mainstream, taught by ESL professionals.