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Quick Tips Greetings Teachers and ELL Coordinators! Explicitly teaching academic vocabulary is a key component in assuring the academic success of students per the research (for ELLs as well as all students). So just HOW can a classroom teacher fill that very tall order, i.e. assuring academic success? Try some of these tools to explore some possibilities:
7/30/2010
The following information is NEW and applies to ALL districts enrolling students beginning the 2010 SY whose native tongue is a language other than English OR students who have a language other than English spoken in the student's home or environment. A new screening assessment, the W-APT, is required at enrollment time for BOTH CURRENT and NEW ELL students beginning the 2010 SY . . . are you prepared to meet this mandate? This mandate is for BOTH CURRENT and NEW ELL students beginning the 2010 SY and/or anytime a new student enrolls who meets this criteria. The following W-APT trainings (full day) are scheduled through the MWSU RPDC and sign-up is through My Learning Plan: August 5 (location: Northland, classroom #2) This one-day workshop will provide an overview of the WIDA consortium, including a brief introduction to the following WIDA resources: the Performance Definitions for Levels of English Proficiency, the CAN-Do Descriptors, and the English Language Proficiency Standards. The major focus of the workshop will be on administering the WIDA ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT), also known as "the screener." Districts must use the W-APT to determine the English language proficiency of language minority students or those whose first language is not English. Results of the W-APT will be used to determine eligibility for language instruction educational programs. During the coming school year, districts will also be required to administer the W-APT to all ELLs. This will be necessary because the annual English language proficiency test – the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs – is a tiered test. The English language proficiency level derived from the W-APT will be used to determine the appropriate tier for each student. The workshop will also include an explanation of the certification process to qualify to administer the W-APT. It is recommended that participants bring their login/password information (provided by their district test coordinator) and a laptop with wireless capabilities to the training session in order to log on.
Hello, ELL Coordinators! Below please find "Quick Tips" I hope will help you in your teaching responsibilities. Please feel free to share your ideas and links with us as we build our MELL PLC. See what you think! Regards, Dr. Deborah Taylor I came across an Open Source link with great potential to support ELLs (and other learners too). The downloads (mostly at no cost) are software projects (VERY cool tools) which support learner needs such as converting text to speech from the web, printed material, and the addition of caption/subtitles to video formats. The resources combine "best practice" of presenting learners with information using multiple modalities including visual and aural. These resources may also provide fresh, research-supported approaches to learning so have fun exploring the possibilities because students are never far from the thoughts of teachers and administrators. (A copy of this email is archived on the MELL website for future reference in the Quick Tips section.) All the best for a well-deserved break from the routine of the past nine months. 5/24/2010
Do you know the implications of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and your ELL students?
4/19/2010
McREL has a helpful guide available online to help rural school districts with a low incidence of English language learners (ELLs) at http://www.mcrel.org/PDF/Diversity/5051TG_ELLguide.pdf The guide seeks to develop the capacity to build and implement a comprehensive program that meets both the academic and language proficiency needs of ELLs and provides foundational information in support of a creative means for delivering services to these students. This guide will assist administrators and teachers in such districts. 04/14/2010 Most like Parent/Teacher Conferences are on the horizon in your idstrict and on the agenda of your PLC Collaboration Time. It goes without saying that effective parent communication with ALL parents is imperative to support student learning, even though all parents do not necessarily speak English. Just what can you do in your distrcit, with limited resources, to communicate with parents? Check out some of the following links for some ideas. http://www.peopleforeducation.com/parent-teacher This site contains, "Three easy steps for great parent-teacher interviews!" In thirteen languages! http://www.peopleforeducation.com/resources/tips.html This site has other translated supports available in Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, English, Farsi, Filpino, French, Hini, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Punjabi, Rusiian, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, Tigrinya, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
It is that time ofyear, with the advent of Spring Break, that you or your colleagues may be thinking about the end of the school year. As a suggestion, you may want to be sure and schedule into your PLC Collaboration time, discussions centering on how to sustain learning over the summer months when shcool is not in session. And for your ELL students, time spent reading over the summer months is especially important. Please take a moment to access the link below for some parent tip sheets on reading. http://www.colorincolorado.org/guides/readingtips This link contains parent tip sheets for reading with children (PK-grade 3) in many languages including Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Korean, Navajo, Russian, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Spanish, and English. Reading tips are available to parents of babies and toddlers in English and Spanish. Be sure and scroll to the bottom of the page! And, should you have some favorite sites to share, please forward those as we build our MELL PLC!
What are you celebrating today in your school? Has your PLC considered how you may want to integrate any celebrations into your school culture as you teach respecting, valuing, and honoring other cultures in our American schools? For details to jumpstart the discussion on the world-wide calendar of celebrations, go to http://www.earthcalendar.net/index.php This is but one tool to use as you collaborate in your PLCs and plan celebrations in the days and months ahead and potential considerations in planning.
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