1. SHHHH…..ISTEP TESTING TAKING PLACE!!!!
YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THIS PORTION OF THE TEST

2. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEANERS
Helping you get informed!

3. What’s the difference between ESL, ELL, & ENL?
ESL (English as a 2nd Language)
ELL (English Language Learner)
ENL (English as a New Language)

4. Who are Our EllS?
According to the IDOE, “English Language Learners are students who may or may not be in the ENL (English as a New Language) program, but are those who are still trying to acquire the English language”
Myths and Realities states, “As of 2000 nearly ¾ of school aged immigrants were born in the U.S.” (Samway & Mckeon, 2007, p.2).

5. What does teaching ell students look like in our schools?
Bilingual/bicultural Programs: A program which utilizes the student’s native language and cultural factors in instructing, maintaining, and further developing all the necessary skills in the student’s native language and culture while introducing, maintaining, and developing all the necessary skills in the second language and culture.
Fully Inclusive ENL Program: A program in which ELL students are in the mainstream classroom as much as possible. They are in the least restrictive environment. They can receive push in and pull out ENL services if deemed eligible by the state.

6. Why is it important for mainstream teachers to be trained on how to reach our ELL students?
In most schools there is only 1 teacher who has been trained and hired on as the ENL specialist.
In schools who don’t receive funding from the state, your ENL specialist may not have actually been trained in ENL or received an ENL/ESL license.
YOU (the mainstream teacher) spends the most amount of time with your ELL students.
The training you receive will benefit all students in your class, especially at the elementary level.

7. WHAT It’s really about! Language Acquisition
1. What does the word “acquisition” mean?
- According to dictionary.com the word acquisition means, “to gain overtime.”
2. 1st Language Acquisition: In the first year of speaking and/or attempting to speak they learn to handle “one word utterances” (Ortega, 2009, p.3).
- Why do we expect ELLs to make big jumps in their first year of learning the language?
3. Being informed about how, what, and why as to how to educate ELLs will ensure that these students aren’t being flagged as slow, special education, and/or defiant in trying to learn.

8. AND BREAK!
Look at the top of your paper, there should be a number. We are going to break up into groups according to the numbers on your paper.
Cody (WIDA)- 1’s
Kate (Myths and Realities)- 2’s
Lauren (The Framework)- 3’s
Ashley (Assessment) - 4’s

9. Words of wisdom!
***DO WHAT WORKS AND KEEP TRYING UNTIL YOU FIND OUT WHAT THAT IS!!!
Visuals: Use a lot of pictures, read along video books
Repetition throughout curriculum: Use vocabulary words throughout the curriculum to build context. (This is great for all of our students)
Focus on the topic at hand: Assess students on the learned topic at hand. If you are assessing them on their math skills, don’t mark them off for spelling in a word problem.
Allow for conversation: Allow all students in your class time for conversation. Students learn by making connections. According to the book Teaching Transformed, “Language development is best fostered through meaningful use and through purposive conversation between teacher and students, rather than through drill and decontextualized rules” (Tharp, 2000, p.24).

10. Let us leave you with this…
The biggest things you can do is get to know your students and use their prior knowledge. Build a community in your classroom where all students feel like valued members and assets. Teach all of your students that learning is a process and that it is okay to be wrong or give a wrong answer as long as you keep searching for a better one!