All About ELL ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

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All AboutELLENGLISHLANGUAGELEARNERS
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ELL ESL LEP Its so confusing for us classroom
teachers.
We ELL teachers are here to help you! Lets get
started!
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It used to beESL (English as a Second
Language). Now it is called ELL (English
Language Learners). The students are still
described as LEP (Limited English Proficient).

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What exactly is an ELL student? I know that not
all students whose parents are from other
countries are in the ELL classes.
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Home Language Surveys are included in each
students enrollment packet.
An ELL student is someone who marked on the Home
Language Survey that a language OTHER than
English is spoken MORE OFTEN than English in the
home. When this is the case, we get permission
to test the student. If he/she qualifies, we
serve him/her in the ELL program.
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There are three ELL teachers in Edmond. We
travel to all of the schools and teach all of the
students in the district. We work with the ELL
students in your school anywhere from two to five
times per week, depending on the number of
students and their needs.
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We meet with our high school students 2 hrs./day
for English class (high school credit) and
content area support. Middle school and
elementary school are pull-out classes.
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Why is more time spent with older students?
They have fewer years left in school to learn
before they graduate.
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I give the IPT test to place ELL students. Their
scores fall in the following levels SPEAKING Non
English Speaker (NES) Limited English Speaker
(LES) Fluent English Speaker (FES) READING Non
English Reader (NER) Limited English Reader (LER)
Competent English Reader (CER) WRITING Non
English Writer (NEW) Limited English Writer
(LEW) Competent English Writer (CEW)
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ELL Teachers Memorial VerticalRoz Reiff
North VerticalSyretha LairSanta Fe
VerticalJill Coley
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ELL ConsultantsPatty FosterLanguage Arts
ConsultantSecondary ELL Consultant Debby
Dobbs Fifth Grade Spanish Teacher
Elementary ELL Consultant
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If I have an ELL student in class, how can I be
sure that something is being done to help him or
her?
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Talk to the counselor to see that the child
has been tested and (if appropriate) is being
served in the ELL class.Request that the
counselor set up a meeting with you and the ELL
teacher so that you can learn how to put the
results of the childs IPT test to use in your
classroom. This will teach you about his level
of English proficiency and what he can be
expected to do at that level. You must have
knowledge of what the student CAN DO before you
try to help him learn to DO something!
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Wouldnt it be easier just to talk to the ELL
teacher when I see her in the building? I hate
to bother the counselor
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Thats fine, if its a very quick question.
However, we travel to 3 schools each day, and
its very hard for us to answer questions on the
run without our test scores and records
available. Counselors have test scores with the
students records.
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If you want to ask us a question about a student,
you might want to email us. That way, we can
sit down and think about the answer with all of
our test scores and records available.
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Not always. Just email Patty Foster or Debby
Dobbs and they will forward it to us. They know
where we are.
OK. Do each of you have access to computers and
email?
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Patty Foster can probably take care of your email
more quickly than Debby, since Debby teaches 5th
grade Spanish, too.
Im Patty Foster. pfoster _at_edmond.k12.ok.us
Im Debby Dobbs. debradobbs _at_edmond.k12.ok.us
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Do we have very many ELL students in Edmond?
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EDMOND ELL STUDENTS1994-2003
2003 Over 300
1994 - Fewer than 100
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LD, gifted thats enough to deal withI dont
have time for these ELL kids!
If these people are in our country illegally, why
do we have to educate them?
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All students must live within the boundaries of
Edmond School District.
We educate them because they are children and we
are teachersand they are part of the future of
our community! Also its the law!
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What federal and/or state laws govern how we
educate ELL students?
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UNITED STATESOFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS1970 OCR
Memorandum Identification of Discrimination and
Denial of Services on the Basis of National
OriginStudents may not be excluded from
effective participation in school because of
their inability to speak and understand the
language of instruction.
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UNITED STATESOFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTSNational-ori
gin minority students may not be misassigned to
classes for the mentally retarded because of
their lack of English skills.
Some of them act like they are not very smart
they need to be tested for special ed.
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We are prohibited by law to test ELL students for
special education until we have ruled out the
possibility that lack of language proficiency is
a major factor. For this reason, we must give
the student 3 years in this country before we
consider testing for special education.
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UNITED STATES OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTSPrograms
for students whose English is less than
proficient must be designed to teach them English
as soon as possible these programs must not
operate as a dead-end track.
Why is it my problem how long it takes them to
learn English?

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1974 Lau v. Nichols U. S. Supreme Court upheld
1970 OCR Memorandum as a valid interpretation of
Title VI requirements.There is no equality of
treatment merely by providing students with the
same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and
curriculum for students who do not understand
English are effectively foreclosed from any
meaningful education.
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Sowe must make modifications for ELL students in
the regular classrooms?
Yes, all teachers must be trained in the needs of
ELL students. It is the law.
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No Child Left Behind(NCLB)holds states,
districts, and schools accountable for increases
in English proficiency and core academic content
knowledge of LEP children.LEP children must
show improvement each year through adequate
yearly progress (AYP).
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This progress will be measured for all students
by sorting test results for students who have
limited English proficiency. This is why we mark
the ELL bubble on the CRT and EOI tests for
students who are being served in ELL classes.
If the district or school continually fails to
make adequate progress toward the standards, then
they will be held accountable.
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What if all of the subgroups in the district make
adequate yearly progress except the ELL
students? Will the whole district be held
accountable for that?
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Yes! That is why this is so important to
understand. That is the whole point of NO CHILD
LEFT BEHIND! ELL students dont have to make
the SAME progress as other students, but they
have to make ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS or the
district will lose federal funds!
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Soall ELL students will be tested on CRTs and
EOIs. But will their scores affect the
districts API?
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This rule is the same for all students new to the
district.
All ELL students will be tested, but their scores
will not be counted on the API until they have
been in the district for a full academic year.
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Dont we have mostly Spanish-speaking ELL
students in our district?
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Over 40 languages are represented in our
districtAsian (Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese,
Korea, Taiwanese, Gujarati) Spanish Portuguese
Urdu, Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, African (Igbo,
Nigerian, Hauisa, Yaruba, Bengali, Ebu, Ghanian)
Pacific Islands (Filipino, Chuukese, Teluga)
European (Norwegian, Italian,Hungarian, Bosnian,
German, Russian, Albanian) Indo-European (Hindi,
Pakistani, Nepali, Farsi Persian, Tamil Sri
Lanka) and more.
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I know how babies learn to speak. But how does
second language acquisition take place once
children have started school?
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L.S. VygotskysTheory of Language Acquisition
describes theZone of Proximal
Development.It is the difference between a
childs capacity to solve problems on his own and
his capacity to solve them with assistance.
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This zone of proximal development is where
language learning occurs. Outside this zone,
learning does not take place because it is either
too easy or too difficult.
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For the ELL students in your class, if what you
are saying is too hard for them to understand,
they cant learn anything from it. It is
outside the zone of proximal development.
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Well, in my room we take turns reading the
textbook out loud. Then I give them a worksheet.
On Friday they take a test. If they keep their
eyes and ears open, they ought to learn
somethingIts not my fault if the ELL students
keep the window shut
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This is what teachers think I lecture for a
while, other students talk, we read our book I
know he doesnt understand all of it, but surely
a little gets through the open window
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But that is not true! If it is too hard
(outside of his zone of proximal development,)
NOTHING will get through. THE WINDOW IS CLOSED!

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Too hard!Too soft!Zone of proximal
development!
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Vygotsky says that language is more than just a
way to say what you know. There is a
fundamental correspondence between thought and
speech. Lack of language equals lack of
thought
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Therefore, ELL students who arent understanding
language and speaking language ALSO ARENT
THINKING!
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Their minds are getting rusty!
Their language development is regressing because
their thought development has been interrupted!
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Wait a minute, now. These ELL kids must
understand us! They always nod their heads up and
down when we ask, Do you understand?
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Yeah, I used to do that in French. I was too
embarrassed to admit I didnt understand. Also,
I was madly in love with Mlle. Threlkeld, my
French teacher.
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Who else is an expert on language acquisition?
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Look on the next slide at my cool hypothesis of
second language acquisition!
I am! Im Stephen Krashen, and my specialty is
second language acquisition. I am different than
Mr. Vygotsky in that I am still alive!
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The learner makes progress when he receives
second language input ( i ) that is one step
beyond (1) his current stage of linguistic
competence.i 1 learning
Everything outside of this zone is either too
easy or too difficult.
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Too easyno learning can take place.
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Too difficultno learning can take place.
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Too easy!Too difficult!i 1 learning!
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Uh huh Your i 1 learning hypothesis
sounds suspiciously like Vygotskys zone of
proximal development.
Im sure he copied it, the little plagiarizer.
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Youre getting the picture! All language
acquisition experts say the same thing Unless
you use classroom teaching strategies that help
ELL students, you are wasting your time and
theirs.
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Is it a whole new set of instructional
strategies? Im usually pretty positive, but
that sounds like a lot of work
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No, in fact, in a workshop we learned that the
same strategies used in regular classrooms
anticipation guides, KWL charts, role playing,
the use of pictures, cooperative learning groups
work with ELL students.
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You dont need an IEP for ELL students, but you
do need to know their level of English
proficiency. Again, you need to get that
information from the counselor or the ELL
teacher. That will help you to figure out what
you can reasonably expect the student to be able
to do.
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What if I cant ever find the ELL teacher and the
counselor is too busy to help me?
Dont ever feel deserted. You can always email
me -- Patty Foster (pfoster_at_edmond.k12.ok.us). I
will be happy to help you find what you need.
Email me, too. Im Debby Dobbs
(debradobbs_at_edmond.k12.ok.us). Patty and I will
try to help you find an answer.
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How do we grade them?
First, find out their level of English
proficiency. Determine what they CAN be expected
to do. Then, set up reasonable goals for them.
Then, grade them accordingly.
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Some of my ELL students speak English
beautifully, but they just refuse to do their
reading and writing. Why?
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Second language learners learn to speak first!
It takes another 6-8 years to learn the
language well enough to be able to function
academically! Your kids just cant read and
write as well as they can speak. That frustrates
them.
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It takes eight years to learn a language!
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FIRST YEARLearn to listenListen to commands,
understand them, respond to themLearn some
vocabulary about own daily lifeLearn some
culture
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SECOND YEAR(This is when many teachers
mistakenly think ELL students are fluent in
English.)Learn to speakLearn to ask for what
you needLearn to ask for helpLearn to tell
about yourself/ask about othersLearn culture
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It is typically during the students 2nd
year that teachers mistakenly say,He
understands a lot more than he pretends to
understand.Dont let her fool you.She
speaks English as well as I do. He is just
being stubborn.
You dont fool me!
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This kind of talk can be very destructive.
Students who test gifted are gifted. Students
who test LD are LD. Students who test LEP
(Limited English Proficient) are LEP. Let the
test results guide your expectations for the
student.
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Sometimes ELL students will pretend not to know
something because they fear embarrassment.
Also, in some cultures, the adolescent values
the macho I dont care image over the
struggling student image, and this manifests
when he is unsure of himself. The great
majority of the time, though, ELL students WANT
to know the answer.
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THIRD YEARLearn to read and write.Know words
about daily life and social conversation so now
you can understand when you read those wordsAble
to spell words, compose sentences, and write to
others
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FOURTH YEARLearn more words, more expressions,
more advanced skills in listening, speaking,
reading and writing.Learn more about
geography, history, literature, art, music,
culture.
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YEARS 5, 6, 7, 8Continue learning, like the
4th year, in progressively more advanced
lessons.
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NINTH YEARYou are on the approximate level of a
native!
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Miss PointersList of Public School Civil
Rights Dos and Donts
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Dont 1Dont do it.Its against the law!
I dont think you need to be in special ed.
Youre just a little bit lazy, arent you! You
dont need to go to lab today. Lets just stay
in at recess and finish our work, Mr. Slowpoke.
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Dont 2Dont do it. Its against the law!
Yes, I know you tested gifted, but smart children
can sit still better than you. Youre just a
little bit of a know it all, arent you! You
dont need to go to enrichment today. Lets just
get busy, Mr. Smarty-pants.
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Dont 3Dont do it. Federal law prohibits it!
Your English is good enough for you to talk to
your friends, so its good enough for you to do
regular class work, isnt it! Im not fooled by
that blank, innocent look, Mr. I Dont Understand
You. You dont need to go to ELL today.
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Dont 4Its a federal Civil Rights
violation.Its against the law!
I have 140 other American students who also need
my help. I am not going to modify my
expectations for you! You can do the same work
they do!
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Learn your ELL students English proficiency
level to find out what they CAN do. Set
realistic expectations grade accordingly. Use
instructional strategies that work well for all
students. Expect EVERYONE to learn.
DO!
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DO!
Try to help your ELL students learn as much
academic content as they can while they are
struggling to learn English. They must show
progress in both areas.
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DO! Contact Patty Foster and Debby Dobbs if you
have questions.pfoster_at_edmond.k12.ok.usdebrad
obbs_at_edmond.k12.ok.us