Teaching ESL Students in Mainstream Classrooms

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Teaching ESL Students in Mainstream Classrooms

• Building Capacity
• Leaders Mini-course
• 13th September 2007

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Presentation Overview

• Teacher Capacity
• Participant rubric and evaluation
• Accredited learning
• --------------------------------------------------
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• School Capacity
• Participant rubric and evaluation
• Links to external projects and site planning
• Linking with a district service provider
• Site based courses and tutors

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TESMC

• Building Teacher Capacity

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Data

• Summary of pre-course and post-course self
  assessments from participants who completed site
  based courses in one of four schools
• 2 metropolitan primary schools
• 1 metropolitan secondary
• 1 regional high school

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Participant Course Evaluation

• enlightening and thought provoking
• I have enjoyed the content and the depth to
  which it was presented
• lots of beneficial ideas I have used and will
  use from each module will really help my
  teaching and my students
• I really found some of the units a fantastic
  insight in to my role

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Links to Accredited Learning

• ESL PD courses, including TESMC, delivered by the
  ESL Program have tertiary Recognised Prior
  Learning (RPL) status.
• Successful completion of TESMC is equivalent to
  25 of a Graduate Certificate in TESOL

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Course Activities
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TESMC

• Building Whole School Capacity

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Participant Course Evaluation

• What follow up would you like to see put in
  place?
• See my school take it up as a priority to share
  learnings with colleagues and discover things
  from them
• Whole school plan and activities to support
  their Language learning development

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The early indications are that TESMC will become
as successful as ESL in the Mainstream.
However, this courses real potential went
largely unfulfilled because it was often
undertaken by individual participants who were
unable to sustain their new learning much beyond
the final workshop. It often did not bring about
long term change in pedagogy or improvement in
student outcomes. Will TESMC be included in whole
school planning to bring about sustained and
measurable improvements for your ESL students?
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Links to ESL Innovative Schools Initiative

• This initiative supports schools to develop
  quality ideas and practices for ESL learners and
  ESL pedagogy
• About 20 schools involved 2007-2008
• It is intended to assist a focus teacher in
  leading innovation linked to whole school
  planning with an identified group of teachers of
  ESL learners
• More information at www.decs.sa.gov.au/curric/page
  s/ESL

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Foci for ESL Innovative Schools
professional development

• Improving outcomes for ESL learners in mainstream
  contexts -Teaching ESL students in Mainstream
  Classrooms language in learning across the
  curriculum
• Deeper understanding of ESL pedagogy and language
  development for ESL learners - Language and
  Literacy classroom applications of functional
  grammar
• English language development and pedagogy for ESL
  learners in the early years - ESL in the
  Mainstream for the Early Learner
• Deepening engagement with the ESL Scope and
  Scales for teaching, learning and assessment. -
  ESL Scope and Scales professional development.

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Role of ESL Innovative Schools focus
teachers and leadership

• To increase level of expertise in ESL pedagogy
  and language development by
• supporting professional development for school
  staff
• collecting data to inform the schools ESL
  teaching and learning program

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Links to ESL Innovative Schools Initiative

• Three 2006-2007 schools undertook TESMC as the PD
  focus for their initiatives
• In 2007-2008 seven courses will run at six
  schools as the PD focus for their initiatives

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Pasadena High School ESL INNOVATIVE SCHOOL PLAN
AND ACCOUNTABILITY FRAMEWORK 2007-2008 Objective
to improve learning outcomes for ESL learners
by enhancing the capabilities of an identified
group of teachers of ESL learners by facilitating
their participation in the course Teaching ESL
students in mainstream classrooms language in
learning across the curriculum and to involve
the group in the ESL Scaling process.
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ESL Innovative Schools2006-2007

• Parafield Gardens High School

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PGHS 2007 Strategies

• Maintain and refine previous strategies
• Train 16 staff from various faculty areas in
  TESMC once a fortnight
• Include TESMC teachers in literacy audit

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PGHS Outcomes

• Reinforced each others good practice
  methodologies
• Enabled all faculty areas to employ these
  strategies more effectively
• Formed Literacy and Numeracy Committee to develop
  whole school policy and approach

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PGHS Future directions

• Literacy Committee to work on whole school
  recommendations
• TESMC course for more teachers
• Investigate Language Literacy course
• Ensure all teachers understand ESL Scope Scales

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Links to New Arrivals Program exit students

• High levels of migration to South Australia are
  continuing to impact upon schools
• 4400 overseas students enrolled in DECS schools
  in 2006
• 1600 of these enrolled in NAP
• NAP is increasing at 30 per annum
• The vast majority of these NAP students and those
  that follow will make their transition into
  mainstream schools
• 320 NAP eligible students went straight into
  mainstream schools in 2007

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Links to NAP exit students

• 3 schools (Woodville High School, William Light
  R-12, Pasadena High School) have each undertaken
  a case study about how their school responds to
  any challenges posed by NAP exit students
• The case studies use data about students,
  teachers and school processes to inform support
  for transition

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Links to NAP exit students

• The ESL Program endorses pedagogy which is
  informed by functional grammar and a language
  explicit teaching and learning cycle and is
  responsive to students and curriculum demands
• Therefore pedagogy itself is a tool to support
  transition
• Therefore teachers at each school are undertaking
  TESMC as one of the intervention strategies

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Links to your ESL District Service Provider (DSP)

• Some DSPs are TESMC tutors
• DSPs can deliver follow up PD based upon pre and
  post-course rubrics (e.g. ESL Scope and Scales,
  functional grammar, whole school rubrics, LaN,
  Count Me In!)
• DSPs can facilitate follow up PD (e.g. cultural
  awareness)
• Some DSPs are also Language and Literacy tutors
• Some DSPs have had experience of supporting
  schools with whole school planning around TESMC
  or similar

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Site-based Courses

• Between start Term 4 2006 to end Term 4 2007
  twenty three courses will run
• 20 site based and 3 at EDC
• 12 secondary, 3 senior secondary, 4 primary and 1
  R-12
• 18 metropolitan, 2 regional
• Process for organising site based courses at
  www.decs.sa.gov.au/curric/pages/ESL

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Links to site planning

• Establish cohort (e.g. NAP exit students, a class
  or year level)
• Gather baseline data (e.g. LaN, ESL Scale,
  Achievement of SACSA outcomes, attendance)
• Plan intervention (e.g. TESMC and follow up PD
  leading to more explicit teaching of language)
• Gather comparative data and analyse
• Set goals and plan ongoing intervention (e.g.
  genre mapping, TESMC for new group of teachers,
  Language and Literacy for initial group)

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Links to DECS Improvement and Accountability
Framework

• Focus on Learning
• Indicators of Embedded (highest level in rubric)
• High quality PD provides for continuous growth
  and improvement in practices
• High quality teaching and learning practices
  operate in all classes

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Links to DECS Improvement and Accountability
Framework

• Attend to Culture
• Indicators of Embedded
• Professional development strategically links
  site and individual priorities to build
  commitment to directions and extend knowledge and
  practice
• Diversity is valued with regular opportunities
  to build understandings and celebrate diversity
  across the community