The "Executive Summary" For IEP Student Orientation

By Michael Q. Larson – Center Director for ELS Language Centers/Santa Barbara

Orientation Timeline 08:00 – 09:00 Coffee and snacks,

photocopying of immigration documents, insurance

09:00 – 10:30 Placement testing and Interviews

10:30 – 12:00 Photographing of Students, tour of downtown Santa Barbara

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch at a local restaurant

Orientation Timeline 13:00 – 14:30 Orientation:

Introduction to Orientation BagAcademic OrientationImmigration and Safety OrientationActivity Calendar and Weekend Trip Orientation

Orientation Quiz for prizes 14:30 – 15:00 Students divided for

Homestay and Student Residence Orientations

ELS/Santa Barbara Orientation Bag

ELS/Santa Barbara Student Handbook

Santa Barbara Car-Free Map

Santa Barbara Services List

Student Photos We photograph all new students individually

and in groups. We send the photographs with our safe arrival

emails to counseling agents and to families of the student.

We also make these photos, and all photos we take, available on our Picassa Photo Gallery (we obtain a release waiver from all students).

The student can share these photos with friends and family through this public website.

Student Photos

Tour of Santa Barbara

Tour of Santa Barbara

Highlights of Orientation Students are usually exhausted by the

time they arrive in Orientation, so we try to make orientation as fun and interactive as possible. It is important to use sheltered speech and to gauge students’ comprehension through non-verbal cues.

If we notice students seem tired, we get them out of their chairs to stretch, which always elicits a smile.

Highlights of Orientation Even though our handbook is only four pages

long, we do not try to cover everything – just the critical information we wish to impart.

Each administrator covers his or her domain: The Academic Director talks about study skills,

academic honesty, the curriculum and grading scale.

The Student Advisor talks about activities, safety and immigration rules.

The Resident Advisor and Homestay Coordinator cover their respective housing rules and expectations separately.

Highlights of Orientation We convert all long website URLs into

tinyurl.com addresses so they can remember them easily (tinyurl.com/elssb) and write them on the whiteboard.

We always introduce helpful activity calendars: Edhat.com (Santa Barbara Blog) Meetup.com (A curated and categorized list

of local events that are open to the public)

Highlights of Orientation We heavily emphasize safety, and make

sure everyone understands what an “emergency” is, and how to call 911. We make them repeat “911” and cover it in the quiz section.

After everything is covered, we conduct an oral quiz and give out small prizes such as candy. This gives students an opportunity to revisit content, further cementing it.

Personal Class Schedule

For Late-comers Not all of our students arrive for our

monthly start dates. In this case, we give the student an

abbreviated one-on-one orientation and tour that takes about 30 minutes.

For Late-comers We give the student the Orientation Bag

and explain the most important academic, safety and immigration rules.

If the student has a car, we show him or her the parking lot. If he or she is on-foot, walk him to the bus station.

For Late-comers If the student needs a mobile phone or

a bank account, we hand them pre-printed Google Maps accordingly.

The student later receives housing and activity orientation during weekly-designated times.

Walkthrough: The Tour

Walkthrough: Orientation

Small Group Discussion In groups of three (including one scribe),

discuss: What do you emphasize in your orientation? How do you overcome jet-lag and information

overload? What are some school- or location-specific quirks

you “orient” around? Any funny anecdotes that have altered your

orientation procedure?

Closing and Questions Check out our photo gallery at:tinyurl.com/ELSSB Check out our Center Video at:Tinyurl.com/ELSSBcv This presentation is available at:tinyurl.com/ELSSBorientation