Dear Elementary School Parents,
Over 50 parents came to hear four
of our English as an Additional Language (EAL) Teachers present at Wednesday’s Parent Coffee with the ES
Administration. Thank you to the parents who came, and of course, thank you
to our EAL teachers, Ms Karen, Ms Morris, Ms Salome and Ms Dee.
During the meeting, the teachers
discussed recent changes to our EAL program, shared ideas about how parents can
help children at home and discussed recent research in language acquisition.
Parents were also given a task to complete in collaboration with other parents
sitting at their table. Parents had to decide if the questions below were true
or false. For those of you who were not at the meeting, I have in
included the questions below. The answers can be found at the end of this blog.
1.
Teachers should have a different set of learning expectations and
standards for language learners.
2.
Teachers of English or other subjects in English need to be native
speakers of English.
3.
The use of students’ home languages will hurt their success in
English.
4.
The following factors make a difference in the success of learning
another language:
5.
How well one
reads and writes in their home language
·
Age
·
Motivation
·
Personality
·
How comfortable one feels in the English language classroom
6.
There should be a separate program for EAL students to prepare
them for mainstream classes.
7.
It may take two years to reach an academic level of language
proficiency; in other words, two years for English learners to be
peer-competitive with native speaking students in school.
8.
The presence of too many English language learners lower the
standards of classrooms and schools since teaching them in homeroom classes
slows down the learning of the other students.
The 3rd and 5th grade students and teachers are very
excited about our co-teaching/inclusion model. Recently, students were asked to
write an answer to this question: “How do you feel as a learner having the
whole class together for Language Arts, with nobody pulled out?” Here are some
of the responses:
“I feel fine. I like the way that we can hear
different ideas from everybody in the class. We can hear different ideas from
beginners and better English speakers.”
“I actually think that having EAL students in
the class is good because I feel that being in another class is kind of, well,
not so friendly because the EAL students will feel very left out and sad.”
“I feel good about it because all of us can
learn the same things together and it might make the other students feel more
comfortable to work with everyone else.”
“I feel happy because there are more people in
the class and we can get more ideas about what we are working on. EAL students
can learn from us, too.”
“It is lovely being with all kids. It is also
brilliant to see what EAL students think about.”
UN Day
The elementary school is going to
kick-off UN Day with a short assembly the afternoon of October 23rd (more details to follow next week).
UN Day will be celebrated on
Wednesday, October 24th. This year, all students will participate in
the Parade of Flags. Shortly after arriving to school, all elementary school
students will assemble in the cafeteria and will be grouped according to the
country each will represent. The Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students
will lead the procession, waving their home country’s flag as they make their
way along the parade route. We believe our youngest students will be more
comfortable walking with their classmates, teachers and teacher assistants.
While teachers are organizing students for the parade, we ask that parents make
their way to the gym, where they will have the opportunity to view the parade
and to take pictures. When the parade is over, students will return to their
classrooms for a snack break. At this point, the PTA will be setting up country
pavilions in the gym which all students will visit at various times during the
day. Since we have many students from across the school to move through the
pavilions, we ask that only those parents who are volunteering their time to
work at a pavilion be in the gym. We do thank you for your cooperation.
Answers to Questions: (source of information: Dr Virginia Rojas)
1.
False. It is not necessary to be a native speaker of
a language, though one must be proficient. Similarly, it is not necessary for
ESL teachers to speak a language other than English though it can be very
helpful! The globalization of English cries out with the need to come to terms
with the ‘internationalness’ of English. Exposure to and acceptance of a
variety of world Englishes is critical since that is the medium that most
students will end up using in their futures.
2.
False. It is not necessary to be a native speaker of
a language, though one must be proficient. Similarly, it is not necessary for
ESL teachers to speak a language other than English though it can be very
helpful! The globalization of English cries out with the need to come to terms
with the ‘internationalness’ of English. Exposure to and acceptance of a
variety of world Englishes is critical since that is the medium that most
students will end up using in their futures.
3.
False. A major problem facing English learners is
often articulated as one of not knowing English, though in reality the real
problem may be what can only be labeled as an “obsession with speaking English”
since the general perception is that the more students use English, the faster
they will acquire it. The way in which teachers and schools view students’
languages and language-usage patterns may have an even greater influence on
their achievement. A shift in thinking is necessary to move away from such a
perspective: all teachers need to understand how languages are acquired, how to
develop an additive perspective concerning bilingualism, and how to consciously
foster dual-language literacy. International schools need to move beyond what
may be a monolingual paralysis: the goal of second language acquisition in international-school
settings is the making of English-knowing balanced bilinguals – a concept
inherently supported by the IB program (not English monolinguals or
ambi-bilinguals who are bilinguals that are perfect in both languages). The
reality is that English will most likely always be an additional of English
language learners and not a ‘native language’ – just by definition.
4.
True
5.
False. A traditional approach to
servicing English language learners has been one whereby they were to learn
enough English to be able to enter mainstream classrooms (i.e. a sequential
model of language acquisition and then academic achievement). Since research
showed that this approach led to students falling behind academically, a
current approach focuses on supporting English language learners to acquire
language and achieve academically at the same time (i.e. a simultaneous model).
6.
False. Collier (1979) and Cummins (1984) found that
when students are schooled in two languages, they usually
take from 4 to 7 years to reach norms on standardized achievement tests.
Younger students with no schooling in their own language may take as long as
ten years to reach the norms. Calderon (2007) recently released research which
found that it may take up to five to seven years when the pacing of instruction
is too relaxed and not challenging enough in EAL programs.
7.
False. This statement implies a perception that
linguistic and cultural diversity is a deficit rather than a resource. Schools
which have a majority of English language learners and display exemplary reform
efforts share the following common characteristics: a school-wide vision of
excellence that incorporates English language learners and creates a community
of learners engaged in active inquiry, programs which develop English
proficiency and cultivate primary-language skills, and a conscious effort to
recruit and hire multilingual staff who are trained to support linguistically-
and culturally-diverse students. Fortunately, the criteria for providing
responsive learning environments for English language learners are similar to
many of those for all students, including those for the gifted. Much of the
academic literature today speaks to teachers about the need to create
inquiry-based and learning-centered environments. These include: the
articulation of what students should know and be able to do (i.e. standards or
outcomes), the determination of acceptable evidence for this knowledge and
behavior (i.e. evidence-based assessment), the planning of learning experiences
to develop students’ conceptual understandings, the utilization of process
literacy strategies (i.e. reading and writing processes, open-ended and
interpretational questioning techniques), and the use of instructional
frameworks for diverse learners (i.e. backwards design of learning experiences,
differentiation, cooperative learning, collaboration between classroom and
learning-support teachers). Avoiding the twin sins of classrooms also
contributes to an inquiry-based and learning-centered environment; namely, the
use of topics and activities in elementary school not grounded in standards or
outcomes and the issues of curriculum coverage and transmission of information
in upper school.
Have a great weekend,
Kevin Hall
Elementary School Principal
