A New Year Begins!

To those of you starting to be plagued by those first day of school bad dreams, starting to plan bulletin boards, consider changing classroom layouts, or simply trying to remember where you put that list of "ideas to try next school year..."

THANK YOU for teaching and for all that you do in the trenches every day. Thank you for caring enough for all of your students, and for pausing to consider the needs of your specific populations, such as English Learners, by coming to take a look here "in your free time." I know, I know. Hey, a sense of humor is important when you are a teacher. Am I right?

But seriously, I just wanted to make sure it was said BEFORE things got so frantic, your classrooms so noisy and your to-do lists so saturated that the message would not get through. So, go set up your classrooms.

I'll be here with more material when you are done.

...and where have I been?

Seems that only recently I realized it was actually the middle of summer! (Not that you can tell very much from the weather here in the Bay Area.) So I took a little leave of absence.

And now, it's time to return to work.

The Back-To-School Sales are in full swing, state budgets are still one month away from realization, CELDT testing for kindergartners is taking place, teachers are being hired and re-hired and so on.

And I continue with all things ELL and look forward soon to a new school year full of promise, challenges, opportunity and learning for all of us- administrators, teachers, counselors, paraeducators and of course, our students.

As a new year arrives, let's remember that ALL that is discussed here, all that pertains to English Learners, is relevant and applicable to all students. If we ALL learn this simple yet powerful maxim, EVERY school year would be successful for ALL of our students!

Stay tuned to resume our conversation

So Where Are We in Our Understanding of ELL needs?

Monday already.
And there was a lot to digest last week in terms of second language acquisition.
So just a quick review:

A Recap

ELLs bring...
- language that can be used as a bridge toward English
- culture and traditions that need to be acknowledged
- prior knowledge from previous schooling/ experiences that can be applied in the school context

ELLs flourish when...
- the affective filter is low
- multiple means of making input comprehensible are used
> graphic organizers
> realia
> real objects
> multi-media: videos, digital cameras, recordings, etc.
- time is set aside to be explicitly taught features of their language that can transfer
- time is set aside to be taught the forms and functions of the English Language
- time is set aside to practice these forms and develop their fluency

So where are we at?
- Different districts are in different places in their work on ELLs. Some are just starting to acknowledge that ELLs are part of their student population, others require ELD instruction and have implemented systematic, enforced ELL monitoring and compliance procedures and practices and others are somewhere in between

No matter where your district is in its understanding and implementation, it behooves us as educators responsible for these children to be able to develop their English proficiency and for us a society to stop failing them.

Okay. We'll leave it here for now...it's too early in the week- and late at night- to be climbing a soapbox.

- W

The Basics- Part 3

On instruction for ELLs

We have been learning of course that the previous research was only part of the picture, an important part though.

1. There is also a need to explicitly teach the ELL in the forms and functions of the language they are learning.

- For example, a student is taught the form "I have ____'s _____." in order to convey the function of possession.
- And no, for many, many years this has not been the case
- This is what makes up ELD- English Language Development in a nutshell. ELD is its own subject matter, essentially the teaching of the forms and functions of the English language

2. To complete the picture, ELLs need opportunities to apply their ELD learning, in order to improve their fluency in the language.
- This is what makes up the bulk of ELD class (no less than 50% of the alloted time!)

So, together, these 3 parts represent a synopsis-compilation of the "good parts" of what we have learned over the last four decades that will facilitate learning for our ELLs. Of course, I left out many parts and I may touch upon them later on, or feel free to bring them up in comments.

- W

The Basics of the Basics- Part 2

On what ELLs bring with them to help their own learning

1. ELLs learn best when the affective filter (their receptiveness to learning vis-a-vis the classroom climate, e.g. how the teacher encourages risk taking) is low. If the teacher discourages risk-taking by scolding the student for an "incorrect" response, the affective filter will be high and learning will be hindered.

2. ELLs learn best when their cultural backgrounds are used as much as possible.

3. ELLs (except for brand new students) have learned some things all ready. Even new students bring in some knowledge. The point is that we must use and build upon a students prior knowledge to connect to new concepts

Next...what research says about what we should be doing in the classroom instructionally to optimize learning the 2nd language

The Barest Basics of 2nd Language Learning- Part 1

The Basics to Acquiring a Second Language

1. It takes 1-3 years to absorb a new language and speak it at a level that will allow for every day communicative competence "playground English" also known as "BICS" but

2. It takes 5-7 years to learn a new language and be able to utilize it in an academic context and apply it in higher order thinking strategies. ("CALPS")

3. Since the 1970s we have learned from Stephen Krashen that the key to learning a second language is comprehensible input- ensuring that the concept being taught in the 2nd language is understandable to the student. This means providing visuals when explaining a difficult concept, bringing in real objects or even props that are representative of or illustrate the concept, using multi-media, or using graphic organizers to record and display information, among many others.

- I know, this sounds like common sense and many of you are probably even thinking, "Umm, isn't that what teachers should be doing anyway...?" Well, believe it or not, many teachers get fooled by the students apparent progress in speaking English and let their guard down, or sadly in some cases, use that as a justification for not doing any more of #3.

More on what research says about what ELLs bring to the table to help their own learning...

"Stuck"

Seems that word struck a cord in me.

It is the reality that many, many, MANY of our English Learners get stuck upon reaching the intermediate proficiency level- the Level 3 "ceiling."

Why do they "get stuck?"
Most teachers greet ELLs in the Beginning stage with a mixed sense of fear, excitement and dread. And yet, students at this stage, despite exhibiting an equal mix of these, also manage to follow the steps uncovered by research in second language acquisition. (I promise I'll address this more in future entries.) For now, ELLs go through a predicted "silent period," followed by a greater sense of comfort and initial absorption of simple English constructions. So students learn "playground English" and are chattering away with friends and seem to be progressing just fine...all the way to level 3.
But, the ELL is still on the second language learning journey. And it turns out- it's a long one. A 5-7 year one to be a little more exact.

So what happens?
Well, reality hits- for the student. Playground English takes the student only so far. Reality hits- for the teacher as well. The "good" teacher recognizes that Academic English needs to be taught. Unfortunately, in most places, until relatively recently, there has been little attention paid to curriculum that addresses the needs of these students so that they can access Academic English. The less aware teacher may think the student is actually progressing, and either: increase the load/complexity of English, losing the student or simply meet the student at the level he/she seems to be operating...and not exposing the student to a good model of Academic English at all.

The result?
The vast majority of our ELLs are stuck in an intermediate stage. They move up the grades without explicit instruction in the nuances, forms and functions of the language. And they stay stuck all the way through high school.

And then society attributes this "lack of wanting to learn" or "cultural disinclination for schooling" or what-have-you to these students, and not to what we've done to fail them. Or to put it a different way, what we have NOT done to pry them out of the Level 3 quicksand trap.

But before we go there, I think we need to understand a little about second language acquisition, English Language Development, and other fun things!
Stay tuned...