Tammy Bullis
EESL 501
SITE VISIT / PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
INTRODUCTION
This paper begins my sojourn into the world of teaching ESL. After twenty years of various corporate jobs and bartending, I live for the day when I work in a worthy profession where I am able to feel as if I am making a difference and doing something in life for which I have a passion. My focus, in particular, would be to work with teen-agers; especially the ones from challenged and/or gang-related backgrounds. I am somewhat bilingual and slightly obsessed with the Spanish language, but I am a native English speaker. My hope is to be able to help nonnative speakers learn to write great essays, college-entrance exams, etc., and have the full advantages of being a bilingual citizen.
THE PROGRAM
The program I targeted to explore is one that is used in the Ontario/Montclair School District at Vernon Middle School. The teacher I interviewed is Mrs. Janine Dole, who has been a teacher for thirty-three years and for the past ten years has specialized in being a teachers’ teacher. I chose Mrs. Dole not just because of all of her teaching experience, but because she has recently studied under Kate Kinsella, the co-author of Scholastic's READ 180 intensive intervention program for 4th-12th graders that includes an English language development companion, the LBook She was also editor of the CATESOL Journal from 2000 to 2005 and served on the editorial board of the international TESOL Journal from 1999 to 2003. (www.http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/authors/kinsella.htm.) Kate has done a tremendous amount of work and recently trained Janine for teaching ELD.
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT LEVELS OF STUDENTS
As students are enrolled in school they all fill out a language survey which asks what the primary language is in the home, and what language each parent speaks. If any other language besides English is listed that automatically places the student as an English Language Learner. They then take the CELDT test (California English Language Development Test), and the CST (California Standards Test). These tests, coupled with teacher observation, determine how they will be placed in their ELD class.
There are five levels that students can fit into. Beginners are at Level 1 and these are students without any proficiency in English. Level 2 are considered “Early Intermediate and Level 3 are classified as “Intermediate.” Levels 4 and 5 are “Early Advanced,” and “Advanced.” These students (Levels 4 &5) are usually involved in the regular curriculum.
FROM PLACEMENT TO INSTRUCTION
The levels explained above are the first steps in a teacher’s plan to properly educate their students. If a student is a Level 1, beginner, they are in a newcomer’s class and assigned to a teacher that is bilingual and can teach all Language Arts classes in Spanish, with a focus on learning English as well. If the student is a Level 2 or Level 3, the law says they must have thirty minutes of ELD a day which is required to be taught away from English-only students. This is difficult for the teacher, so in this school district they have an entirely separate class now, for two hours a day, with one of those hours focusing on ELD. This class counts as their elective classes so they are not able to take any other elective courses.
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
The textbook used is the Pearson Language Arts, ELD Component, Language Central. This is supplemented by worksheets and lesson plans created mostly by Dr. Kinsella. The key component to these worksheets is the use of “framing,” and “scaffolding.” Dr. Kinsella, along with co-researchers, have created a list of the top 500 academic words. There are “academic” words, words that are used in everyday speech and are versatile. Then there are “content” words; words that are more specific in description. Some examples of academic words are: finally, explorers, reports, and authentic.
Mrs. Dole states that the most important part of being an ELD teacher is to let the kids do most of the talking. Repetition is also key in this environment. She will give them an academic word, and then each side of the room, or each group, will repeat it several times. She then taps out the syllables with her hand on a desk and has the students do the same. After introducing the word, she also gives them the cognate. They begin with a simple sentence frame, and only have to fill in the correct use of the word. They are then partnered and repeat the sentences to their partners. The next sentence is one where there is less framing provided and they come up with their own idea. As they are working on these, Mrs. Dole walks around the class looking to see what they are writing and also looking for some good sentences that can be read out loud to the class. The final sentence they write on their own and this is the one that gets graded. They have time to write their sentences, practice them, and then she randomly calls on students to read to the class. One thing I love that she teaches them is what she calls “Be Loud Be Proud.” Mrs. Dole states that many ELL’s are shy and intimidated (of course!) and that they often, like many native English speakers do as well, lower their voices as they continue through their dialogue. So she is constantly encouraging them to “Be Loud & Proud!” She has had some great results with this.
PROGRAM CRITIQUE
I think, overall, that this program works well for this school. I attribute this mostly because they have the advantage of having Dr. Kinsella as their mentor and advisor. I think other schools would greatly benefit from having someone like her to work on their ELD instruction.
My only critique of the program is that the Level 1, 2, and 3 students do not get to take part in fun elective classes because they have to take their ELD as an elective. There should be a way around this. I also think that some more current events/issues with the stories used for teaching would be far more interesting for the students than some of the ones I saw in the textbook.
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