TwoWay Immersion Kindergarten and Partial Immersion Programs in Fairfax County Public Schools

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Two-Way Immersion Kindergarten and Partial
Immersion Programs in Fairfax County Public
Schools
National Chinese Conference April 18,
2008 Washington, D.C.

• Beatrix Preusse-Burr
• Foreign Language Specialist
• Beatrix.Preusse_at_fcps.edu
• 703-208-7725

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Immersion Programs

• TWO-WAY IMMERSION KINDERGARTEN PROGRAMS
• Spanish, at four Schools
• 50 Spanish native speakers, 50 English native
  speakers
• Half-day instruction in English, half-day
  instruction in Spanish
• Students acquire literacy skills in both
  languages
• PARTIAL IMMERSION PROGRAMS
• 13 programs French (2), German (1), Japanese
  (3), Spanish (7)
• Half-day instruction in English (Language Arts
  Social Studies) Half-day instruction in the
  target language (Mathematics, Science Health)
• Students acquire the target language through
  content area instruction target language is not
  taught as a separate subject

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Admission and Staffing

• Admission through lottery process
• Must be FCPS resident to apply
• Staffing
• Within FCPS ratios
• Bilingual elementary education certified teachers
  who receive additional training in foreign
  language methods
• Teachers are part of the grade level team

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Curriculum

• Immersion students follow FCPS Program of Studies
  for math, science and health
• Math, science and health units are translated
• Language objectives are integrated with content
  area objectives
• Supplementary materials designed by teachers
  during summer curriculum development

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Sample Health Worksheet Translation from FCPS
Curriculum

• Parte 1
• Usando la Informática del Tiempo (WeatherBug
  Achieve
• Materiales
• la computadora con conexión al Internet
•  
• Lápices rojos y azules
•   
• Instrucciones y Respuestas
• 1er Paso Entra al sitio de la Informática del
  Tiempo - http//achieve.weatherbug.com usando
  tu código postal, el nombre de tu escuela y el
  grado. Se te pedirá que escojas un lugar para la
  cámara. Pregúntale a tu maestro cuál lugar
  puedes escoger.
• 2do Paso Usa la página inicial del estudiante
  para buscar la siguiente información. Pasa tu
  ratón por los iconos del lado izquierdo de la
  ventana de El tiempo actual para cambiar la
  información presentada.
• .

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Mini-Book Created During Summer Curriculum
Development
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Language Structure Articulation
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Content Language Integration

• Morning Meeting
• Adapted from Responsive Classroom
• Focused on certain language objectives during
  different steps of the meeting
• Resources www.originsonline.org and
  www.responsiveclassroom.org
• Interactive Science Notebooks
• Adapted from History Alive
• Synthesizes a variety of recording methods such
  as charts, tables, graphs, written observations,
  labeled diagrams, technical drawings and
  vocabulary
• Naturally links reading, writing and content area
  strategies with second language acquisition
  strategies through controllable language
  structures.
• Resources www.teachtci.com/forum/isn.aspx

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Curriculum Language Integration

• Learning Centers
• Activities focused on certain aspects of language
  acquisition
• Transfer of FCPS Reading and Writing Methods to
  the Immersion Classroom
• Collaborative Reading Initiative strategies
• Writers Workshop - create math stories/science
  reflections content word walls daily journals
• Read alouds/interactive read alouds
• Immersion teachers attend all language arts
  training sessions at their schools
• Integration of Technology
• SmartBoard, voice recording (Audacity), PPT to
  improve language performance

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Example -Interactive Science Notebook First Grade
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Example -Interactive Science Notebook Second
Grade
Design your own food web.
Food Webs A food web is made up of many food
chains. For example, foxes eat rabbits, chickens,
hedgehogs, and other small animals. In food
webs, one living organism depends on another.
They meet their needs through interactions with
living and non-living parts of their
environments. A chicken is a consumer. It eats
grain. The grain is a producer. It provides
energy for the animal. The chicken may be
caught and eaten by a fox, a consumer. The fox
will die. The foxs body decays because of
bacteria (decomposers). The bacteria break down
the proteins and fats of the animal
tissues. This fertilizes and enriches the soil
and becomes energy for other animals, such as
earthworms. Without sun and plants no food web
would exist. SOL facts What does it mean to
need or depend on others to survive?
Food Web
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Example -Interactive Science Notebook Fourth
Grade
Engage Water Cycle
Link List four weather instruments you learned
about yesterday and what they are used for.
Water is continually recycling itself. Heat from
the sun causes evaporation from large bodies of
water such as ocean, lakes, rivers, and
streams. Also, plants (through transpiration) and
animals (through respiration) release water vapor
into the air. As the warm water vapor-laden air
rises, it cools and condenses forming clouds.
Eventually the condensed water vapor falls to the
Earth as a form of precipitation (rain, snow,
hail or sleet) This water may evaporate again, be
absorbed in the soil, be used by plants or
animals, or run into streams that flow downhill
towards the oceans. This continuous circular
pattern gives the water cycle its name.
Active Learning Draw a picture of the water
cycle. Make sure to use the following
terms Evaporation, transpiration, respiration,
condensation and precipitation.
Created by Amanda Taylor, Orange Hunt ES, 2005
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SmartBoard Activity
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Assessments

• ELLOPA
• For Kindergarten program
• Language Immersion Student Assessment (LISA)
• FCPS created performance assessment
• Measures students speaking and writing progress
  in grades 2, 4 and 6
• Mirrors assessments at the middle and high school
  level

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HOW DID LISA EVOLVE?

• Middle/High School uses Performance Assessment
  for Language Students (PALS) LISA designed to
  mirror those performance assessments
• 2002 6th graders took Jr. PALS (LISA) to
  provide base line data
• Outcome from Jr. PALS data
• Grades 4 6 will be able to handle a test
  mirroring PALS
• Grade 2 will need a version more aligned with the
  Simulated Oral Proficiency Assessment (SOPA)
  developed by CAL
• Rubrics need to fit immersion needs
• 2002/2003 committee of teachers developed LISA
  based on national standards by CAL (SOPA) and
  ACTFL (K-12 Performance Guidelines)
• May 2003 Pilot involving grades 2, 4 6
• June 2006 End of pilot study
• Outcomes
• FCPS Junior Performance Guidelines (one continuum
  for FLES and Immersion Program)
• Computer-based testing for grades 4 and 6
• 2nd grade exam that focuses on student
  performance

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LISA SPEAKING ASSESSMENT

• Level 1 Assessment PALS
• (Grades 7-12)
• POS Theme
• POS Topic
• Task Objective
• Task Description
• Suggestions
• Graphic Organizer for Directions

• LISA Assessment
• (Grade 6)
• Task Description
• Suggestions
• Graphic Organizer for Directions

LISA Assessment (Grade 4) Task
Description Suggestions Graphic
Organizer for Directions

• LISA Assessment
• (Grade 2)
• Interview format
• Task 1 Warm-up Naming and identifying a few
  items
• Task 2 Answering informal questions
• Task 3 Describing animals and talking about
  science concepts
• Task 4 Wind-down

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??? (2nd Grade Speaking Task)
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LISA 4th GRADE SPEAKING TASK SAMPLE

• Task Description
• Your parents are giving you permission to
  redecorate your room (10 feet by 12 feet) and are
  leaving all the decisions up to you. Talk about
  how you can figure out how much carpet you would
  need and what you would do to change your room.
• Suggestions
• You may wish to mention
• How you would figure out the square footage of
  your room.
• How you would change the layout.
• What color choices you would make.
• Directions
• You have
• 2 minutes to organize your thoughts
• 1 minute to talk
• Say as much as you can!!!
• You could use the chart below, a web or an
  outline to organize your thoughts

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LISA WRITING ASSESSMENT

• Level 1 Assessment PALS
• (Grades 7-12)
• POS Theme
• POS Topic
• Task Objective
• Task Description
• Suggestions
• Graphic Organizer for Directions

• LISA Assessment
• (Grade 6)
• Task Description
• Suggestions
• Graphic Organizer for Directions

LISA Assessment (Grade 4) Task
Description Suggestions Graphic
Organizer for Directions

• LISA Assessment
• (Grade 2)
• Writing Assessment
• Task 1 Copy a sentence following a model.
• Task 2 Answer a personal question.
• Task 3 Write a few sentences about a familiar
  topic.

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LISA 6th GRADE WRITING TASK SAMPLE

• Task Description
• How to generate enough electrical energy to
  fulfill all of our demands has lead to a major
  discussion in the scientific community. Write an
  article for your school paper to inform other
  students about this discussion and why it is so
  important.
• Suggestions
• You may want to mention
• Different ways to generate electrical power
• Why electrical energy is important
• Pros and cons of different forms of electrical
  energy
• Environmental impact of certain forms of
  electrical energy
• Directions
• You have 40 minutes total.
• 10 minutes to organize your thoughts
• 20 minutes to complete your draft
• 10 minutes to write the final draft
• Write as much as you can! Show what you can do!

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LISA SCORING RUBRICS

• FCPS Jr. Performance Guidelines aligned with
  ACTFL and CAL to match cognitive levels of
  students

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LISA PERFORMANCE LEVELS
Almost meets expectations
Meets expectations
Exceeds expectations
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Speaking Benchmarks

• Speaking expectation by the end of sixth grade
• Communication Uses connected strings of
  sentences and a few complex sentences. May
  start to maintain a conversation by employing
  strategies like circumlocution to fill in for
  specific vocabulary.
• Comprehensibility/Pronunciation Message can be
  easily understood requiring minimal
  interpretation. More complex messages may still
  be lost.
• Fluency Speaks with occasional hesitations and
  some natural pauses. Some false starts.
• Vocabulary Uses vocabulary sufficient to
  communicate in most social and academic contexts
  with some varied and descriptive language.
• Accuracy Uses a variety of language structures
  with some inaccuracy in more complex forms.

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Writing Benchmarks

• Writing expectation by the end of sixth Grade for
  Roman-Script-Languages
• Level of Discourse Can create types of text
  using strings of text using strings of sentences
  with emerging evidence of paragraph organization
  on content area tasks.
• Comprehensibility Message is generally
  comprehensible.
• Vocabulary Uses varied vocabulary appropriate to
  the content task but may use false cognates and
  incorrectly apply terms.
• Language Control Generally uses a variety of
  language structures in the present tense and
  sometimes in the past and future with occasional
  errors. Uses fairly accurate spelling and
  mechanics.

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Staff Development

• Elementary Foreign Language In-services
• Twice a year with workshops focusing on areas of
  need (e.g., Interactive science notebooks,
  interview techniques, technology workshops and
  language specific workshops)
• Lead Teacher Meetings
• Four per year with turn around training for the
  immersion team
• Summer Curriculum Development Projects
• Focused specific curriculum needs
• Biannual Immersion Institute
• Focus group meetings throughout the year e.g.,
  Spanish Literacy Project for teachers at schools
  with Two-Way Immersion Program
• Other Staff Development opportunities offered
  through FCPS office of Professional Development
  and Training

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Resources

• Elementary Foreign Language Resources on FCPS
  Blackboard site that includes
• All translations and additional resource
  materials created during summer curriculum
  development
• Staff development opportunities with all workshop
  materials posted
• Grade-level virtual team area to easily share
  materials throughout the county
• Lead Teachers at each immersion school
• Relationships with schools from the target
  culture
• School partnerships
• Partnerships with universities abroad

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