Translating the ESL Textbook

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Translating the ESL Textbook

• Curriculum Choices and Case Management for
• Low-Density ELL Populations
• Laura Wittmann, Bangor, Maine

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Introduction

• Who is sitting next to you?
• What is their connection to ESL?
• What kind of experience do they have?
• What do you hope to learn today?

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• Why this workshop?
• ESL Texts and Methods classes aimed at ESL
  classes
• Not always applicable to Maines ESL population
• Relevancy to Maine ESL Population (2004)

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Overview

• Administrative Level
• Lau Plan
• Teacher Level
• Student Needs
• Curriculum Choices
• Methods
• Lesson Ideas
• Case Management
• Big Picture
• Communication
• Cultural and family support

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Your Districts Lau Plan
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Identification

• Home Language Survey
• Routine Screening (kindergarten)
• Observation
• Prior school records
• ACCESS screener

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ACCESS 101

• Measures English Language proficiency via content
• Required under NCLB
• Secure and non-secure screener
• Screener also called W-APT
• Levels 1-6 1 is no English, 6 is perfect
  academic English
• Compare to TESOL language building blocks
• Usually students move through Levels 1-3 quickly
  Levels 4-6 take 3-6 years to complete

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EX Bangors Identification Method
ESL coordinator, teachers, staff ACCESS screener,
Kindergarten screening, prior records, home
language survey
Who What When How Why
Within first four weeks of enrollment
Using a Language Assessment Committee (LAC)
meeting to formalize ESL services
To ensure appropriate services for eligible ELLs
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Instructional Support Options

• WHO tutor, mainstream teacher, ESL teacher
• WHAT pullout or inclusion or combo?
• WHEN frequency of service
• HOW ESL only, Sheltered English/ Content-based
  instruction reevaluation
• WHY? Which combination works for your district
  and why?

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Example Bangors Tutor System
Who What When How Why
ESL-certified part-time tutors Both pull-out and
inclusion, depending on students ESL level,
age
ESL only, Sheltered English/ Content-based ESL
re-evaluation with team decision
annually Students seen every day District
doesnt pay benefits
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Re-evaluation Criteria

• Data to use (ACCESS, MEA, SRI etc.)
• Time frame
• Teacher input/ observation
• Testing considerations

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EX Bangors Re-evaluation Criteria
ESL coordinator, teachers, staff ACCESS results,
MEA, Metropolitans, SRI, teacher observation
Who What When
Annually, usually in the spring to go over test
results and prepare for the next year
Language Assessment Committee meeting
How Why
To ensure appropriate services for eligible ELLs
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Program Evaluation

• Maine Law, for Title III districts only,
  currently states
• At least 90 of ESL students grades K-8 will
  advance from Levels 1,2, and 3 to the next level
  each year
• At least 90 of ESL students grades K-8 will
  advance within Levels 4 and 5 each year.
• At least 80 of ESL students grades 9-12 will
  advance from Levels 1,2 and 3 to the next level
  each year
• At least 80 of ESL students grades 9-12 will
  advance within Levels 4 and 5 each year.

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Activity Your Districts Lau Plan (Think/ Pair/
Share)
Who teaches ESL? What kind of instruction does
your district use? When are the students seen?
What is the frequency? How do you re-evaluate a
student? Why does or does not this plan work
for your district?
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Teacher level

• Student Needs
• Curriculum Choices (materials)
• Methods (ESL versus Sheltered English)
• Lesson Ideas for ESL Professionals
• Mainstream Tips
• Case Management

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Teacher Level I have a new ESL student!

• What are the students needs?
• ACCESS screener
• Prior Education
• Family History
• Observation
• Reading Level

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Student Needs

• Family History - adoption, bilingual schooling,
  home language(s)
• Prior Education - Literacy in L1, L2 interrupted
  schooling
• Observation - typical ESL errors in speech and
  writing
• Reading Level- SRI

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ACTIVITY Student Needs It is Meimeis second
year in the US. She has just transferred here
from another district and she received ESL
services there, but no paperwork has arrived yet.
You are her ESL teacher. What do you do? What is
the best sequence of events?
Think About Reading Level Speaking /
Listening Level Writing Sequence of events
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Curriculum ChoicesThe main question

• Will this student do ESL (English language
  learning) work OR adapted mainstream work
  (Sheltered English)? Or a mixture of both?

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Curriculum Choices

• If ESL only because of low English, then usually
  a mixture of ESL Textbooks and trade books
• If Sheltered English, then can use the mainstream
  text with adaptations or an ESL text

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Curriculum ChoicesESL Curriculum

• Elementary ESL New Parade, Steck-Vaughan
  Spelling, Vocabulary Connections, leveled readers
• Middle / High School ESL Side by Side, Americas
  Story, CALLA, leveled readers
• Special Ed/ Reading teachers/ Title I

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ACTIVITY Curriculum Choices (text)
Look at the books available in small groups.
Which texts would you use for your students and
why? What other texts would you use? Why?
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Methods ESL Classes (ESL only)

• Basis for most ESL textbooks
• Frequency in Maine
• Setting pullout or inclusion?
• Frequency weekly or daily?
• Group composition (ability levels, ages)
• Connection to mainstream classroom content

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MethodsAdapted Mainstream Work
(Sheltered English Sheltered Content)

• May be appropriate for ACCESS levels 3-6
• Communication with mainstream teacher
• What are the essential components that the
  student needs to know?
• Consider
• Length of assignment
• Reading level (alternate text?)
• Testing adaptations
• ESL Professionals role (pullout, inclusion,
  mixture)

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Methods HOW to Shelter English

• Use Multiple Modalities
• Paraphrase
• Check Comprehension
• Explicitly teach pronunciation, phrasing
• Reinforce Phonemic Awareness

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Lessons Both ESL and Content

• 10-minute targeted Mini-Lesson
• Reading Comprehension Ideas
• Mainstream Support

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Lessons 10 Minute Plan

• 10 Minute Plan can be
• Textbook Based
• Grammar focus
• Writing focus
• Vocabulary Focus
• On-the Fly
• Literature-based
• Grammar Focus
• Writing Focus
• Vocabulary Focus

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Example 10 Min Lit-Based Mini
LessonComponents
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ACTIVITY Both ESL and Content

• Plan two 10-minute Activities that incorporate
  both ESL and Content.
• The first should be a text-based activity. Which
  book would you select for your student(s) and
  why? What would you do to integrate the activity
  into their content learning?
• 2. Next, design a 10-minute Literature-based
  Activity. If you are using student work, give a
  made-up example from where you are starting. If
  you are using a text, why did you pick that
  selection? What activity will you create? Will it
  be vocabulary, grammar, comprehension?
• Present your ideas to the group.

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Mainstream Tips

• Buddy system
• Alternate books - writing and pictures
• Read-aloud to each other
• Manipulatives hands-on for science and math
• Include ELLs in mainstream class
• Mainstream teacher training

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Case ManagementReading Comprehension

• Essential for intermediate and advanced ELLs
• Appropriate reading level
• Phonemic Awareness
• SDTS (Someone Did Then So) Summaries
• Cloze vocabulary
• Visual representations of abstract concepts

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Case Management
My ELL isnt learning English very fast - is
something wrong?

• BICS versus CALP language learning
• Receptive versus expressive language
• Language proficiency versus language processing
• ACCESS scores as data
• BVAT as alternate test

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Case ManagementESL and Special ED

• ELLs can be Special Ed students
• Diagnosis isnt easy
• Processing Time
• L1 versus L2 abilities
• Receptive/ Expressive Disorder

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Teacher level Review

• Make sure curriculum choices (materials, ESL
  program) matches student needs
• Adapting mainstream materials/ classes needs full
  cooperation of mainstream teacher
• Sneaking ESL into content work
• Case manage intermediate level students

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The Big Picture
Communication
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ESL Links the Family and the School Together

• Often, ESL professional are the main advocates
  for this student or this family.
• Link the family to ESL classes, social service
  providers, translation services

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Family Support / Translators

• Family Support includes
• Translators for school meetings, if necessary
• Cultural awareness for mainstream teachers
  (generalizations about foreign cultural norms)
• US Cultural support (Testing expectations)
• Family Support could include
• Economic support (explanation/ translation of
  bills)
• Legal support (guardianship issues)

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Coordination andCommunication

• Monitor and follow each student
• Monitor academic progress
• Monitor test (ACCESS) results
• Monitor family support, if necessary
• Smooth transitions between each school year and
  between mainstream and ESL professionals

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Activity Family Issue Awareness
What would you do If an ESL student ran
away? If you suspect that an ESL student has
medical issues? If you find out that an ESL
elementary student is left home alone
unsupervised after school? If your ESL student
tells you that the parents has returned to the
home country and the student is now living with a
relative?
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Key Points

• Check on your districts Lau Plan
• How does your district assess ESL student needs?
• ESL Only versus Sheltered English
• 10 Minute Plan
• Support for mainstream teachers
• Be an advocate for ELLs and their families