1. English Language Learners In Our Classrooms

2. The New Face of ESL ESL TEACHERS: Rebekkah Kemp Joyce Metallo Michelle Wesbrook

3. http://dww.ed.gov/priority_area/priority_landing.cfm?PA_ID=6 Information From the U.S. Department of Education

4. Information from the US Dept. of Education’s NCELA (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition) ► What do we know about ELLs?  There are more than 5 million ELLs in US public schools (10% of the school population) NCELA 2007 ► Who is teaching ELLs?  ESL teachers AND content area teachers

5. Definition of an ELL (English Language Learner) ► any student whose native language is not English or who comes from an environment where a language other than English is used AND ► is not proficient in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing English, and this impedes their success in school.

6. The majority of teachers will encounter an ELL in the course of their career

7. More than half of all content area teachers believe they need more training in working effectively with ELLs.

8. Where are OUR ELL Students? (as of September, 2009)

9. Languages in Bedford County ELL and Bilingual Students Arabic Arabic Chinese Chinese Dutch Dutch French French German German Hungarian Hungarian Italian Italian Japanese Japanese Korean Korean Kriol Laotian Romanian Russian Spanish Thai Tagalog Urdu Vietnamese

10. Adoption of WIDA ► Virginia has joined 20 other states in the WIDA consortium (World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment). ► VDOE adopted new ESL standards (SOLs) and procedures from WIDA. ► ESL instruction is now seen as more than teaching a social or foreign language. ► ESL teachers collaborate with classroom teachers for language learning of both social and core content areas.

11. Teaching Language through Content ► “The development of WIDA’s ELP Standards has been in response to recent educational change brought about through theory, research and legislation... the vision of language proficiency has expanded to encompass both social contexts associated with language acquisition and academic contexts tied to schooling in general, and particularly to standards, curriculum and instruction.” RG-6

12. Great! So that means… ??? …thanks

13. The Five WIDA ELP Standards ► Standard 1: ELLs communicate for SOCIAL AND INSTRUCTIONAL purposes within the school setting.

14. The Five WIDA ELP Standards ► Standard 2: ELLs communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of LANGUAGE ARTS. ► Standard 3: ELLs communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of MATHEMATICS.

15. The Five WIDA ELP Standards ► Standard 4: ELLs communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of SCIENCE. ► Standard 5: ELLs communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of SOCIAL STUDIES.

16. Assessment: ACCESS and SOL ► The US DOE and VDOE require year-end testing of ELLs in English language proficiency ► ACCESS (by WIDA) assesses:  students’ proficiency in academic language  students’ progression in learning English according to the four language domains (reading, writing, listening, and speaking)  in relation to the five WIDA standards

17. Post Assessment ► Students are placed into 1 of 6 categories that rank their proficiency in English. ► Reports are sent out to teachers and parents.  These reports give teachers standards-based results to help inform curriculum, instruction, and assessment for ELLs. ► Student Roster report: helps teachers look for patterns to plan differentiated instruction and scaffold English language development. ► School teams develop improvement plans for ELLs based upon the English proficiency SOLs.

18. As a Result: ► The WIDA model recognizes and involves the classroom teacher as a vital and integral part of ESL instruction. ► The ESL teacher is a foreign language instructor to ELLs and a mentor-coach to content teachers. ► “We suggest that all teachers and administrators who work with ELLs have opportunities to participate together as teams in sustained professional development activities. Educators with a mutual understanding of the expectations of ELLs are best able to serve the students’ individual and collective needs.” RG-39

19. So what ARE the roles of the ESL teacher and the general education teacher? Good question! Good question!

20. Role of the ESL Teacher ► The Main Objective is to teach an ESL curriculum which follows the SOLs for English Language Proficiency adopted by the VDOE. ESL instruction is done through pull-out classes and inclusion in general education classrooms.  Supporting classroom teachers by teaching content vocabulary in the ESL curriculum  Joining the general education classroom through inclusion  Coaching teachers as they work with ELLs in their classrooms.

21. Role of the Classroom Teacher ► The main objective is to teach an SOL- based curriculum in content area subjects.  Simplifying and breaking down content subjects through “scaffolding instruction” to ELLs  Collaborating with the ESL teacher in an inclusion classroom setting

22. Example: Math SOL 7.9 ► “The student will compare and contrast the following quadrilaterals: parallelogram, rectangle, square, rhombus, and trapezoid. Deductive reasoning and inference will be used to classify quadrilaterals.”

23. Math SOL 7.9 transformed: ► To scaffold your instruction:  Topic: All students are studying the same topic, comparing and contrasting quadrilaterals.  Language function: A student with ELP Level 1 may be able to “record and label” quadrilaterals but not “detail possible combinations” (level 4).  The Support: Level 1 ELLs may need realia whereas Level 4 students work much more independently

24. Practical ideas for teachers ► Use the “differentiating for ELLs” tips found in the margins of text books. ► Use the simplified reading passages from the CD accompanying the text book. ► Reduce amount of work required for ELL. ► Reduce multiple choice options from 4 to 2 ► Emphasize important vocabulary from lesson. ► Refer to accommodations listed in the ELLP.

25. As we adopt the WIDA standards and test model, we will transition towards greater collaboration with classroom teachers and other support staff as an effective way for our ELLs to acquire the English language. Rebekkah Kemp – rkemp@bedford.k12.va.us Joyce Metallo -- jmetallo@bedford.k12.va.us Michelle Wesbrook – mwesbrook@bedford.k12.va.us