Transcript Meeting English Language Learner Needs: What our teacher

English Language Learner Summer Institute 2008
May 12-13
Elke Schneider, Ph.D.
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“ As a society, we expect teachers to
education whoever shows up at the
schoolhouse, to provide their students
the language and literacy skills to survive
in school and later on in jobs, to teach
them all of the school subjects that they
will need to know about as adults, and to
prepare them in other ways for higher
education and for the workplace.”
(Fillmore & Snow, 2002, p. 42)
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Why is a focus on English Language Learners
(ELLs) in our pre-and inservice teacher
programs necessary?
Research on characteristics of effective
Faculty training
Components of Winthrop’s ELL grant: The
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Focus points for this institute
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Teaching Teachers WELL Grant
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South Carolina has second-highest increase
in English Language Learners (ELLs) in the
nation (128%)
Increase will continue and not go away.
10% of entire student population K-12 are
ELLs
Legislation places main responsibility on
the regular classroom teacher to
accommodate ELLs.
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South Carolina LEP growth
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ELLs missed more than 2 years of schooling
(Ruiz de Velasco & Fix, 2002):
◦ In High school, 20%
◦ In Middle School, 12%
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More than 33% of all 15-17-year-old Latino
students are enrolled below grade level
(Jamieson, Curry, Martinez, 2001)
Only 50% of immigrant and migrant
children complete high school (Ruiz de
Velasco et al., 2000)
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Significant shortage of TESOL certified
teachers in SC
ELLs in middle and high school are 3-4 years
behind their peers in academic skills
South Carolina offers only a TESOL add-on
certification (5 courses +6 credit hours of a
foreign language + Praxis II)
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Collaborative and individualized support for
faculty from experts
Collaborative work at faculty and
administrative level
Transformation at 3 levels:
◦ Personal
◦ Individual courses
◦ Program structure
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Progressing from small to more complex
changes during summer workshops and
through individual meetings (syllabi, field
experiences, internships)
Provide faculty with specifics on
◦ ELLs learning needs
◦ linguistic challenges of learning materials that
are native-speaker based
◦ Resources for syllabi and instruction (webbased, ELL library, language objectives)
◦ Models of best practices (speakers, videos,
observations in the field)
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Provide time for faculty to learn from
initial changes and receive support for
further improvement
Integrate mechanisms to sustain the
infusion of ELL-sensitive components
◦ Web-based resources
◦ Seminars with honorarium
◦ Resource library
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Over the course of 3 years (2008-2010):
3 faculty development workshops (2 days
each)
Individualized support for faculty to infuse
ELL-sensitive components into all courses
over 2 summers and 2 years.
2 cohorts (N 25-30) take 5 courses towards
TESOL certification
3 groups (N 25-30) take 1 course on basics
to work with English Language Learners
(ELLs)
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Voices from the field: What are the
challenges?
◦ teachers, pre-service teachers, students who
are non-native speakers
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Background information for faculty
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four hours of syllabus preparation time
in themed groups
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Legal and political background
Basics of Language Acquisition
Characteristics of ELLs in our schools
TESOL standards
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Involvement in after-school programs that serve
ELLs in early field visits
What language tasks and challenges are hiding
in the materials used to teaching ELLs?
Infuse language objectives into Lesson plan
format parallel to content objectives
◦ Explicit vocabulary instruction
◦ Work material adaptations
◦ Potentially culture-sensitive issues
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Highlight Conceptual Framework components
that address ELL-sensitive issues
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Aleamoni, L. (1997). Issues in linking
instructional improvement research to
faculty development in higher education.
Journal of Personnel Evaluation in
Education, 11, 31-37.
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Brisk, M (). INSERT BOOK
Costa, J., McPhail, G., Smith, J., & Brisk,
M. (2005). Faculty first: The challenge of
infusing the teacher education
curriculum with scholarship on English
language learners. Journal of Teacher
Education, 56, 104-118.
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Echevarria, J., Short, D., Vogt, M. (2008).
Implementing the SIOP model through
effective professional development and
coaching. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Fillmore, L, & Snow, C. (2002). What
teachers need to know about language.
In C. Adger, C. Snow, & Christian, D.
(Eds.), What teachers need to know about
language (pp. 7-54). McHenry, IL: Center
for Applied Linguistics.
Schleppegrell, M. (2004). The language
of schooling: A functional linguistics
perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
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Indicate if the following statements are true
(T) or false (F) according to recent research:
(1) __ Parents of English language learners
should foster the use of the mother tongue
at home.
(2) __ ELLs can be expected to perform at
native-language level in academics after 13 years.
(3) __ What ELLs can say orally, they can
also be expected to write.
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(4) __ Playground language in the new
language is established after 1-3 years.
(5) __ The more time students spend
immersed in the new language, the faster
they succeed academically.
(6) __ ELLs absorb proper social interaction
skills through exposure.
(7) __ The more developed the child’s first
language, the easier it is to learn the new
language.
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(8) __ The less the child is exposed to the
first language in context of academics the
better the results in the new language.
(9) __ Adolescent ELLs learn the new
language faster because their cognitive
skills are more developed that those of
younger students.
(10) __ Newcomers should be placed in
lower grade levels to ease the adaptation to
the new language and culture.
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1) T,
2) F, takes at least 5-7 years
3) F, oral and written language are learned
differently
4) T
5) F, explicit language instruction in context is
necessary for success in timely fashion
6) F, those must be taught to assure proper use
7) T, transfer from L1 to L2 occurs
8) F, would deprive child of accessing L1
knowledge
9) F, success depends on L1 background and
socio-emotional components leading to
immigration
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