a team effort to develop a successful program for english language learners irene jiménez director...
TRANSCRIPT
A Team Effort To Develop A
Successful Program For
English Language Learners
Irene Jiménez
Director of Bilingual/ESL Programs
Hays CISD
District Profile
Hays CISD is in North Central Hays County/South of Austin
2007-2008: 13,000 students
17 campuses/2 High Schools, 2 Alternative Programs, 4 Middle Schools, 9 Elementary Schools
District Profile ELL Population: 1600 (2000-2001 364 ELLs)
Dual Language Programs:One Way Program K – 4 Two Way Program K – 4
Content Based ESL Instruction
District Profile SIOP Trained Secondary Teachers
Content Area Intervention Teachers
SIOP Trained Instructional Strategists
Newcomer Center
Challenges We Faced
Improve Attendance–ELL students were not showing up for school
Provide Support for Teachers-Our teachers could not communicate with their students
Help, they don’t speak English!
Challenges We Faced
To improve TAKS scores
To show growth in English reading proficiency as measured by the Reading Proficiency Test in English
Motivate students to attend school and graduate
What We Had Tried
Content Mastery
ESL Strategies/Content Area Teachers
Translations
Mexican textbooks
Looking For Solutions and Exploring Our Options
Leadership Team:
Director of Secondary Curriculum, Principals, Assistant Principals, Counselors, Communities in School, Bilingual/ESL Director, ESL Teachers, Math and Science teachers
Findings Increasing number of recent immigrants
Students and teachers could not communicate with each other
Students were not mastering the curriculum
Students were not participating in class
Findings Secondary teachers were unprepared to
instruct English Language Learners
Lack of appropriate resources or materials for ELLS for content area subjects
Unable to provide support for students with gaps in their education
No available assessment instrument in L1
Goals
To Assist ELL Students
To acquire social and academic English
To develop speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in English
To integrate with native English speakers
Goals
To improve attendance
To acquire credits toward graduation
To master TAKS
To increase their confidence to participate in class
New Arrival CenterCreated To Serve ELL Students
who were enrolled in grades 9-11
who are Non-English Speakers
who had been in the country for less than 1 year
Steps Taken
Superintendent approval Visited New Arrival Center in Galena
Park ISD Generated parent and student
interest/Bilingual Advisory Council
Steps Taken Board Approval Attended the Accelerated Learning
Training for New Arrival Centers- Phase I and Phase II
Bought the curriculum Decided to house program at Lehman
High School
Program Design/ First Year Half day program for 1 semester Class size was limited to 20 students Credits earned:
.5 ESL, .5 U.S. History,
.5 Public Speaking, .5 Reading (as a local credit)
Program Design/ First Year
Afternoon classes: Students with gaps in education:
Fine Arts, Physical Education, Computer
Students strong in L1:
Math, World Geography, Fine Arts or
Computer
Program Design Bilingual paraprofessional trailed
students in content area classes to provide support
Newcomer teacher provided intervention to students who had gaps in education in L1
The second semester students stayed at Lehman and were supported by the bilingual paraprofessional
Program Design
New Arrival Teacher met weekly with content area teachers.
Student grades were monitored every six weeks
Students invited to attend ESL summer school program
Program Evaluation
Provided: Orientation to school system and
community Individualized attention Support services: CIS counselors,
Health Clinic, Tutoring
Program Evaluation
Discovered: Second semester students were not
handling content area class well. Not enough time in that supportive
environment Needed more teacher training Additional resources were needed for
content area support
Program Evaluation
There was a need for new methods to help accelerate the second language acquisition process.
Educating second language learners at the secondary level required providing content area intervention.
Became aware that learning a second language is emotionally and psychologically draining
Making Changes Awarded LEP SSI Grant Partnered with ISLA- Institute for
Second Language Acquisition/ Texas A & M Corpus Christi
July 2005: Bilingual Advisory Council met to create an improvement plan to be funded by the LEP SSI Grant.
ISLA Support Conducted a Needs Assessment which
was created by ISLAhttp://ell.tamucc.edu/shelteredinstruction.html ISLA reviewed our Needs Assessment
and gave us feedback Provided technical support as we
designed an implementation plan
Findings Programs needed to be on all campuses not
just the New Arrival Center Administrators and faculty needed an
awareness of the process of second language acquisition
Faculty needed to be trained in sheltered instruction
Instructional Strategists were needed for new to profession teacher support
Findings Teacher support was needed for
content area teachers working with ELL students
Content area intervention was needed for ELL students
Supplemental content area resources appropriate for ELL students were needed
Plan Goes Into Action ISLA provided an ESL Academy which
was attended by elementary and secondary content area teachers and a few administrators (Second Language Acquisition)
Training was provided to campuses This training is very important and must be provided before any other training such as sheltered instruction
Plan Goes Into Action
ISLA provided SIOP and CALLA training. We sent selected teachers and academic deans
Provided training on Best Practices Resource manual on ISLA website District provided Instructional Strategists for
every campus with local funding Grant funds provided Content Area
Intervention Teachers on every secondary campus
SIOP Trained Teachers Principals required teachers to attend
SIOP training. Why ?? Scheduling!! Required does not work Next year principals identified teachers
who wanted to take on this role Students were hand scheduled into
these classrooms
Implementation Plan
The teachers who attended SIOP and CALLA training became our content intervention teachers and instructional strategists.
The instructional strategists took on the role of SIOP coaches, providing monthly training by content area, modeling lessons and helping with lesson plans
Our academic deans were better informed of what to look for in the classrooms
New Arrival Center Changes
From a semester program to a full year Changed credits/ dropped US History
credit; 1 ESOL, 1 Reading, 1/2 Public Speaking, 1/2 Communications
Modified curriculum/ Access Math, Access Science, Access History - Great Source
Second Year Changes
Content Area Intervention Hand scheduled into classrooms with
SIOP trained teachers After school tutoring Summer School ESL Program
Where We Are Now
Secondary campuses have SIOP trained teachers – not SIOP classrooms
Content Area Intervention Teachers are providing intervention, not tutoring
Have bought appropriate content area resources
Instructional Strategists provide monthly follow up training for sheltered instruction
Training Summer ESL Academies Summer SIOP Training/ 2 days CALLA Strategies/ 1 day Monthly Day for SIOP and planning
District Sustainability Commitment to continue Content
Intervention Teachers. SIOP Instructional Strategists and
Bilingual Instructional Strategist Title III funds will be used to continue
the tutoring that was being provided by grant funds.
SIOP training will continue to be provided by the instructional strategist