Part 1: Trends & Myths
Delia Pompa: How
can schools help close the achievement gap for English language
learners and what can we do to increase college readiness for these
students? Please join me for the four-part AdLit.org webcast.
How
can schools help close the achievement gap for English language learners
and what can we do to increase college readiness for these students?
Please join me for the four part AdLit.org webcast, English language
learners.
Delia Pompa: Hello, I'm Delia Pompa,
welcome to the AdLit.org webcast, English language learners. In this
segment of our four part series, we'll be discussing trends among
English language learners, or ELL's. Joining me are three experts,
Kathleen Leos. Kathleen is the president of the Global Institute for
Language and Literacy Development.
Kathleen previously served as
the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of English Language
Acquisition in the Department of Education, that's a very long title.
Deborah Santiago, is the vice president of Excelencia in Education,
where her research is focused on state and federal policy as well as
Latino and ELL success in higher education.
And finally, Susan
Lafond creates and leads professional development programs for the New
York State Teachers Union and serves on the American Federation of
Teachers English Language Learning advisory cadre. She was a classroom
teacher for 20 years including 10 years as an ELL instructor. Thank you
all for joining us.
Kathleen, let's begin with you. Tell us a bit
about ELL's, who are these students and how large is the population in
our US schools?
Kathleen Leos: Well we have lots
of recent statistics and we know that there are five and a half million
English language learners or what used to be called students who were
limited English proficient. And they're in our K-12 classrooms
throughout the country. The majority of the students of our ELL's are
Spanish speakers, about 76 percent speak Spanish, that's their first
language and the language spoken at home.
And the rest of the
students in the smaller percentage category, speak really a variety of
languages, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Thai, Navajo, but, but a much
smaller percentage. The other thing that we, we know about our ELL's is
they're all over the country and what was typically thought of an ELL,
either being in the high populated states of New York, Florida, Texas or
California, now ELL's everywhere.
We know that they're through
the Southeast, in North Carolina, Tennessee, et cetera, et cetera. So
and a really fast growing population, 10 percent annual growth.
Delia Pompa: Deborah, what states are we seeing the highest growth rate in for English language learners?
Deborah Santiago: Well
we're seeing a lot of that growth in the South, so in California about
11 percent of their students are English language learners. In Texas,
about 10 percent; Arizona, nine percent; New Mexico, seven percent. So
we're seeing a lot of that range in the South, we're seeing that large
population.
I did want to add though, you know, that Kathleen, no,
we get, there's a perception that the majority of Latino students are
English language learners. And I wanted to make clear that the data show
that us that 18 percent of Hispanic kids in K-12, speak a language
other then English at home.
It's sixteen percent for Asian
students. So while 75 percent of those who are ELL are speaking Spanish,
it's not the majority of Latino students, so we don't necessarily
equate the two.
Delia Pompa: Kathleen, I bet in
your years of work with English language learners, you've heard a lot of
myths, what are the most common misunderstandings about these students?
Kathleen Leos: I
think the greatest myth that we have about English language learners is
that all of them are immigrant students, that they're foreign born and
that they're just coming into the country and then starting school,
middle school and high school. And that's absolutely not the case.
I
think a very revealing statistic from the PU Hispanic Center is that 85
percent of our English language learners are born in the United States,
are US citizens and start school in kindergarten and first grade. And
of the remaining 15 percent, 52 percent of the kids are foreign born,
but they start school in kindergarten and first grade, also.
It's
the remaining seven and eight percent that actually are coming from
other countries and hitting the schools at middle school and high
school.
Delia Pompa: You know we're talking about
teen readers and Susan, I'd like to ask you, how are our middle and
high school ELL students doing in school?
Susan Lafond: Well
they're of course working on acquiring English language and the content
and what's so difficult for them is the text dependency and it's a
non-fictional text where they need to read textbook and that's where
primarily their information is coming from.
And so that's very
difficult for them not having the English background, being able to
understand the content through their textbooks. But they're all working
very hard to learn about the cultural differences here in the US because
as typical adolescents, they want to fit in, they went to belong and be
a part of the community.
Delia Pompa: Has our approach, Kathleen, changed over the last 30 years, our approach to teaching English language learners?
Kathleen Leos: The
approach to teaching in the classroom is changing rapidly and it has
changed a lot. When students used to be removed from classrooms in the
past to work with an ESL teacher or certified teacher in the language
area to acquire playground English or social and culturally relevant
language.
And then add academic English on, later. Now what
happens is that ELL's may not be removed from the classroom during core
instructional time, not during math, science, reading, social studies
or, and literature. So the instruction and the instructional strategies
that teachers need, and this is for all teachers, content teachers, ESL
certified teachers or endorsed teachers, is that they really need to be
teaching language, language acquisition and contents simultaneously.
So it's a huge shift.
Delia Pompa: There
were some significant court and legislative actions that took place in
the 1970s, how did they contribute to the evolution in how we taught
these kids?
Kathleen Leos: Well I think the
Supreme Court case that started the trajectory, is 1974 with Lau versus
Nichols and what Lau says is that language may not be a barrier to
content knowledge, that any student that speaks another language other
then English that comes into a classroom, not only has to acquire the
language, but has to access the content, at the grade level, based on
the standards.
Where previously there were fewer students and they
may have been isolated in classrooms or in sheltered programs, now
they're in the classroom. As a result of Lau versus Nichols, students
must be taught language and content simultaneously.
And that's our students' civil rights, their educational civil right.
Delia Pompa: That's
how it got started and so much of it since then has happened in the
classroom, Susan. I would love for you, with all your experience in the
classroom, to tell us something about some of your students.
Susan Lafond: I've
had such a variety of students. I've had many, many languages, the
majority I do not speak, represented in my class. I've had students from
very different backgrounds. I've had students from very educated
families, countries, who fathers' will come here to the local university
on leave and they'll be here for about a year.
They've had
English in the past, they've been highly educated and they acquire the
language rather quickly. I've had students who come here with
interrupted formal education, also know as SIFE, who are struggling
because they don't have the prior education or the English.
To
scaffold them up to where we need them to be, it takes a lot of action
on part of the schools to help those students. I've also had students
who are very motivated, their parents are very supportive, though they
may not be educated themselves. These tend to be families with a
business or restaurant where the student will be working in that family
business or restaurant, when school is out.
So I really have seen a wide array of different students.
Delia Pompa: Diversity is the key, it sounds like.
Susan Lafond: That's right.
Delia Pompa: Thank
you all, this is a good start to many other conversations we're going
to have and that is the end of this segment. But our discussion will
continue. Please join us for part two of this webcast, building trust
with ELL families, when we'll be discussing ways to create partnerships
between schools and ELL families.
You can learn more about adolescent literacy and watch the other segments of this webcast at www.AdLit.org.
Narrator: Funding
for this AdLit.org webcast was generously provided by Carnegie
Corporation of New York. Additional funding for AdLit.org was provided
by the Anne B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation.
Part 2: Building Trust with Families
Delia Pompa: Hello,
I'm Delia Pompa, welcome to the AdLit.org webcast, English Language
Learners. In Part One we discussed some demographic trends among English
language learners or ELL's. Now we'll talk about developing strong
relationships between schools and the families of ELL's.
Delia Pompa: Thank
you Kathleen, Deborah and Susan for joining us. Kathleen, it's hard to
get families of these kids sometimes involved in schools. Why is it so
important to reach out ELL families and to students and their families
and what are the challenges?
Susan Lafond: I
think, for me in my experience, the importance is that families want to
be involved and there's real motivation on the part of the family of I
want to be part of my child's education, I want to be involved. I'm not
quite sure how and yet I want to show up and be there. So I think it's
incumbent on the rest of us in education to think about how we can open
those doors for families who really, really want to participate.
Delia Pompa: Deborah
some, what are some of the ways we can build trust with the families
of, of these ELL students and encourage their involvement in school?
Deborah Santiago: I
don't think it's necessarily rocket science what we need to do, I think
it's relevant to lots of students and families as well. But it's, it's
basic. It's you know we have to engage them and trust and work with the
assets students bring to the school and their families and build from
that bridge. We need to make sure that we have services, services and
programs that are culturally relevant and appropriate.
And reach
out to the community so it's not just seen as the student and the
parent, but the engagement of the community more broadly. One example
that I've seen used rather well is something called Promotodores,
which are promoters, with the schools engaging members of the community
and using them as parent liaisons. They have a little bit more trust
and faith with other members of the community and having them help
impart information, bring parents to the school as well, to help bridge
some of the cultural gaps, but also the trust and the awareness of what
their role is in their child's education.
Because it could be different from their country of origin.
Delia Pompa: Give us an example of a Promotodores and what they could do in the school system with a parent.
Deborah Santiago: Sure,
here's an example in, they're happening all over the country, but in
Los Angeles Unified School District, there are programs that use reached
out to a community with a combination of Latinos and Mung parents. They
reached out to a handful, about four or five Latino parents and about
three or four Mung parents.
And these parents did conducted
off-site, non-school gatherings to talk about education and parental
rights and responsibilities. Once they started feeling a little more
comfortable, they started talking to more people. Eventually they tried
to engage parents in PTA sessions at the school with teachers.
So they started externally, but brought it back into this campus.
Delia Pompa: But what about parents with no formal education themselves, what can schools do to support them?
Deborah Santiago: I
think there's, there's great opportunity engage parents. I think
parents want to be engaged, as, as Kathleen said, it's finding how to do
that. So some of the things we've seen work is offering parents port
services at the school itself, having ESusan Lafond courses online.
There are parent classrooms, they call them, where parents can come in
and be resources.
Bring parents in as TAs, teacher aides, or
luncheon room monitors and so they can see their child's educational
environment. They can, they can become familiar with the setting and the
teachers in the classroom and therefore feel more engaged even if they
don't have a formal education themselves.
Delia Pompa: You
say get more comfortable with the school, I'm, I'm going turn this over
to Kathleen. You know sometimes parents without formal education may
have some distrust of the school system. What can we do, what can the
schools do about building their school culture so that parents feel
comfortable in the school, they feel supported in the school?
Kathleen Leos: I
think that the home visit is really important, but in at, where a
school system can't support home visits for whatever reason, what's
really important is when the parent and the family walks in that front
door. And they come into the school and they walk up to the office. It's
their first introduction into a school.
And the people there are
often busy with a thousand activities, should just turn and acknowledge
that the family's there. To make sure that the family knows that I'll be
right with you. It doesn't have to be in the language that the family
understands. And can have materials set up because it's a school's
responsibility to make sure that parents receive all the information in
the language that the parent understands best.
So whether it's
welcoming information, introductory, here's the first meeting, here's
where we would like to see you et cetera, et cetera. I think that first
introduction is probably the most important.
Delia Pompa: We
focus on the schools, but there are other institutions that help these
families. Can you tell us a little bit Susan about libraries and how
they can work with families and English language learners?
Susan Lafond: Absolutely.
I know schools are always looking to reach out to families because they
recognize that the partnership is so critical and the language barrier
is an issue and that's where sending home all of your communication in
other languages is very helpful. And perhaps when family comes in having
a welcoming environment, bulletin boards and all.
But going onto
beyond the schools and going out to the community. In the area where I
work, we work very closely with the town library and we have what we
call the meet and greet. And we invited all the families to come in and
we brought in all the community groups, school groups, of programs that
are available for the families.
The library had child care for the
younger children and we had activities for the school aged children.
And they had the gentleman who's in charge of the teen room come out and
work with the teenagers as well. And it was a lot of information that
was shared. The walls were coming down. It was helpful for our school
and I think all schools should do this, is to inform families what is it
that they expect on the part of the parents, for participation.
Parents
who are born or raised in the US who are familiar with US culture are
going to understand what the expectation is for parent participation.
But people who may not be familiar, we need to bridge that. And what
was, what's so helpful about working with our library is they realized
we have a whole pocket of our population, the community, we are not
working with.
We are not meeting their needs. They want out, they
acquired some grants, they ended up getting books and materials in their
native languages. They also showed parents what resources they had
available as well as the technology computer, internet access. And every
parent, before they left, was given a library card so it helped open
those doors.
Narrator: If I could, one of the
things that I, I think is really important too is not only the welcoming
environment but there's actually federal funding that the schools
receive in Title III, where it specifically says that parents, the funds
can be used to involve parents in the education of their child, whether
that's a parent information center or whether it's materials that's,
that are translated.
Or it could be even education classes. My
experience, working in the inner city, in one of the major cities in the
country with families, was specifically where a family said to me and
to the PTA, we really want classes in English. But it was to help their
children with homework.
It's gone on all over the country where
families are saying, give us the tools that we need so that we can be
involved in, including whether it's language classes or teach us how to
help ours students with homework. Or teach us how to get online for you
know online information, et cetera, et cetera. But they were just
clamoring for more information.
Delia Pompa: Even the federal law provides for parent information centers, can you tell us a little about those?
Narrator: I
know that they're well funded and that there's a process that, that the
center have to go through in order to draw down the funds. And it's
usually a collaboration with parent advocacy groups and schools and
teachers, so they collaborate to come together. It could be with the
business community and it can be with higher ed.
But it's
specifically to open a center that's geared to parents, for parents and
with parents, that are in school clusters so that the parents can be
involved in that area, in the school area's education of the student.
Delia Pompa: Deborah,
you work across the community, are there other examples of, of ways of
institutions in the community that help parents and support parents of
English language learners?
Deborah Santiago: Yeah,
I think there are numerous ones, part of the challenge for schools is
to link up to them in some ways. That, I do think as you shared earlier,
the issue of clarity of expectations and understanding some of the
culture values are really important. We see a lot of community based
organizations who are taking that extra effort and that extra step,
which I think is important.
I talk to parents who have said, in my
country of origin, if my student isn't doing well, it's the teacher's
responsibility to assume she's not doing her job. But in this country,
what I had to learn is that if my student isn't doing well and I had to
bring in a tutor, then I'm not doing my job as a parent.
Their
part of it is the cultural and expectations that they come with, that we
bring in, and community-based organizations that work, with the
specific communities tend to be the most nuanced understanding of what
they bring to an educational context and how to help bridge the gap.
Delia Pompa: Susan,
with all your years of experience, I keep focusing on your treasure
trove of experience, can you share with us a specific outreach effort
that you used as an ESL teacher?
Susan Lafond: This
one is a very exciting end of the year, culminating activity. We called
it the ESL extravaganza. We invited all our families in for a potluck
dinner at the end of the school year and at this point we, showcased
our, the talents of our students as well recognizing their achievement
and their effort that they've put into the school year.
So all the
families brought in a dish and we had events going on throughout, it
was just an entertaining event. But we realized that, that not all
parents would be able to attend. So we, we had the site be a very easy
one for all of them to get to as well as providing transportation if
they weren't able to. So that way we had more turnout.
Delia Pompa: Deborah,
I have a double question for you. There are, are two groups that
sometimes feel that they can't help families or can't work with ELL
students, those are teachers who don't speak the native language and
their classmates of ELL students who aren't ELL themselves.
What are ways both of these groups can support both ELL students and their families?
Deborah Santiago: That's
a great question. I think you know we found that sometimes the simplest
things can make a substantive difference and making these students feel
like they belong, that they're engaged and a part of it. For teachers
we found very simply doing professional development could be an hour,
two hours, where running through pronunciation classes.
So they
get students, you know, if you have a large Hispanic or Mung population,
but you can say their name. For example, we had teachers who said to
us, you know, our students who would tell us that they couldn't say
their name right. They would say Jesus Jimenez and when you think about
it, if you just knew a little bit more about the language, you'd know
that it's Jesus Jimenez.
And the student would feel so much more
engaged in the classroom that you at least can say their name accurately
and appropriately. I think for students who are involved, peer learning
is so important. And you know some people might say it's mentoring
others, but learning from each other and recognizing that students of
different backgrounds can learn how to contextualize and talk about what
they're learning in the classroom, in other settings.
Whether
it's the lunchroom or in the hallway and getting to know them one-on-one
can really help make a difference in their education.
Delia Pompa: Sometimes
it's the little things isn't it, thank you all. Thank you everyone. Our
discussion of English language learners does not end here. Please join
us for Part Three of the English Language Learners Webcast, Good
Instruction for ELL's. You can learn more about adolescent literacy and
watch the other segments of this webcast at www.AdLit.org.
Narrator: Funding
for this AdLit.org webcast was generously provided by Carnegie
Corporation of New York. Additional funding for AdLit.org was provided
by the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation.
Part 3: Good Instruction
Narrator: How
can teachers adapt what they already know about good instruction to
support English language learners? Please join me for good instruction
for ELL's, Part Three of the AdLit.org webcast, English Language
Learners.
Delia Pompa: Hello, I'm Delia Pompa, in
the previous segment of English language learners, we explored building
connections between schools and families. In this segment our panelists
will discuss the components of good instruction for English language
learners or ELL's. Welcome Kathleen, Deborah and Susan again. Kathleen,
let's start with staffing.
How do professional responsibilities breakdown in middle and high school for English language learners or their teachers?
Kathleen Leos: I
think it's changed a lot and since English language learners are now in
the classroom, all classrooms, especially the content classroom, I
think it places different demands on the teaching staff and different
challenges for the teaching staff so that a teacher who has several
ELL's in the classroom and ELL's maybe from a different, a variety of
language backgrounds.
We do know that of all the ELL's, 76 percent
are Spanish speakers. However, we often here that a teacher will say,
you know, I have X number of students in my classroom, say 30, 32 kids
and there are eight languages represented. And I'm a mono- English
speaking teacher and so how am I going to deliver my content, whether
it's physics, biology, geometry et cetera, et cetera, not just in math
and science, to everybody in the classroom, when I used to having the
students leave for a part of the day, during my instruction?
And
have, there are taught by someone else. And so I think what principals
have been doing and teachers themselves to figure out how to team teach,
how to collaborate where you might take either a whole grade level,
9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade, middle school and say, and bring the
teachers together along with the reading coaches, the literacy coaches,
the speech language pathologists and the counselors, et cetera.
Figure
out what it is that each teacher needs to know in order to deliver the
instruction in the content area, that includes both language development
and language acquisition. It's beginning to shift, but at the moment,
the biggest shift is coming in, in the team teaching, a collaborative
kind of aspect for, for the staff itself.
Delia Pompa: Susan, would you give us some examples of good collaboration models for English language learners?
Susan Lafond: Kathleen
had mentioned it, if you have the collaborative co-teaching where
you've got the content teacher and the ESL teacher who are actually team
teaching, what I would encourage with that is that the two be given a
common planning time so they can discuss between themselves what are the
effective instructional strategies as well as the assessment
modifications that are necessary to meet the needs of the students.
So that's what I would, I would encourage.
Delia Pompa: What about a school that doesn't have any ELL or ESL teachers prepared to work with the ELL students?
Susan Lafond: And
I think there are, probably around the country, most schools don't
really have say ELS endorsed or bilingual teachers et cetera and, and I
think that that's where the schools are challenged, thinking that they
have to hire an ESL-endorsed individual, which does help. But what we
really want is the knowledge itself.
And I think that when you
look at who is on staff, what background, what, say higher ed
institution is close by that I can draw on the resources from higher ed?
What university professors are there? Because what we're talking about
is that students are acquiring a language, they could be acquiring two.
There, in other words Spanish and English, dual language programs.
Or
they could be transitioning from one to another, but they have to
acquire the second language and they do it at their language level to
get into the content itself. So when you think about what the charge is
and then you say, okay, who's going to help either in the district or in
the school itself, or even in the community to bring the expertise to
bear at the, at the grade level or within the classroom?
Susan Lafond: I think it takes the whole school to teach the children.
Susan Lafond: And
schools are mandated to have highly qualified teachers.who are trained
to teach their content areas. So school, but they're mandated to have an
ESL teacher. However, it's not just the ESL teacher who's going to be
teaching that English language learner.
Narrator: Right.
Susan Lafond: And,
and I think that's what the challenge has come in the implementation
when, when we see English language learners who are now, you know,
rapidly growing in the classroom, one in four soon. And we say okay, and
if the students are leaving the classroom during core instructional
time, then what is it that the teachers are charged to do when higher ed
to date may not have prepared them so far, to be effective in the
classroom?
So both working with higher ed and getting them to
change what their teacher prep programs are like, but also the teachers
themselves. Because I know a lot of teachers will, at first with a
challenge they'll feel nervous, scared. I'm, I'm not quite sure what to
do. I don't really have the strategies and then decide well you, you
probably do.
So let's help figure out not only through team
teaching and not only adding an expert, say to the building, but the
teacher them self that can modify and adapt instruction.
Delia Pompa: So
you've got an ideal we're all working toward, but then you also have
fallback processes that you can put in place until you've got somebody
certified, is what you're saying?
Susan Lafond: Yes.
Delia Pompa: Let
me ask you another question, Kathleen. There's so much subject matter
that kids have to learn at middle and high school. Do kids have to learn
English before they start working or master English before they start
working on this content work like in history or in, in math?
Kathleen Leos: No,
and I think that's the other implication. When states spent so much
developing language standards and aligning them to academic content
standards and then taking it down to the curriculum for, when the
teachers are teaching and they're teaching to two sets of standards. And
that means all teachers.
So it's really shifted and when the
teachers that are involved now, have to teach both language and content
simultaneously, and for a long time in the field and I'd say probably
for about 50 years or so, what we were used to doing in the past is
teaching language first and more along the social aspects of language.
And
the cultural aspects and then sort of layering, well now the student's
ready to learn the academics. But now the focus is, really that's gone,
it's gone. And so what's left is this language and content is taught at
the grade level, in physics or in algebra, in that content area and it's
simultaneous teaching.
Delia Pompa: Deborah, so
many students actually do come with advanced knowledge in subject areas,
come from other countries, educated in their own countries, but don't
speak English. How do you handle that in the classroom?
Deborah Santiago: You
know we are seeing this, especially at the middle and high school and
what we've seen really works is to try to make, you know there are a lot
of cognates that we find that we easy. Like I've made examples of
(SPANISH) promoters, that's not a hard one to guess. There are lots of
words like that. But if they're already educated in the discipline or
whatever the study is, finding cognates, but also making it interactive
and making it relevant, helps them in ways that a pure lecture might not
be able to.
So if they already know the content or are familiar
with the baseline, they can follow along because they understand the
concept even while they're working through the language component of it
because they can see the parallels if you make it hands on, relevant,
appropriate to them.
Delia Pompa: But what if the content teachers don't speak the native language of the child?
Deborah Santiago: I
don't know that that's an absolute requirement, but we see it as, what
you're trying to do is, is to marry their content knowledge with the
work you're trying to do at the classroom level. We've seen simple
things like, someone was doing a little cheat sheet where you can have a
colleague or go online and get some of the terminology in the content
you're looking for.
And offer that, either you keep it yourself or
offer it to your students, so that you have them learn the terminology
while you're doing the work, but also finding ways to make it less an
issue about language and more about the subject matter. And students,
especially at that level, can really figure it out if they already have
that knowledge.
I think we don't often give our young people
enough credit for their ability to follow through, especially if they've
already come well prepared academically and it's only a language issue.
They can translate much easier then we assume.
Delia Pompa: It
sounds like we also need to give teachers some tips on how to work with
these kids. You've done so much professional development work, Susan.
If you look at populations, school populations with growing ELL groups,
what are some priorities in professional development that the schools
should focus on?
Susan Lafond: Well I know
schools see that as a critical issue on the front burner and that's
something they need to address. And again it's the instructional
strategies, it's looking at the assessments, the ideas of how you can
modify that as well as what are the testing accommodations and
glossaries, the bi-level glossaries that students are able to use are,
are helpful.
Whereas the dictionaries or even the electronic
translators are not always as good because they don't have that academic
language that the students need to be successful. But the bi-lingual
glossaries are more helpful. So I think schools are realizing they need
that professional development. Teachers are asking for it, but now we're
dealing with such a, a difficult time with the economy that school
districts are, are cutting back on the professional development in order
to be able to save jobs of teachers and programs.
So it will be interesting to see where we go from here.
Delia Pompa: Let
me stay with you Susan and go a little deeper in the classroom. What
are some ways we can adapt instruction for English language learners?
Susan Lafond: As
students are coming in without the English, if you have less
text-dependent ways to teach information, that's going to help get the
concepts across.
Delia Pompa: And what does that mean for me?
Susan Lafond: Without
having so much language where it's English, English allover and you can
use graphic organizers, any sort of non-linguistic representations. One
thing I found extremely useful was using Smart Board, the technology,
it's an electronic whiteboard to, to teach concepts where I could bring a
lot more graphics involved in that.
Delia Pompa: Give some examples, just a very specific one, how you would do that.
Susan Lafond: I
tell you, I used it every single day, so I used it to teach poetry, by
pre-teaching vocabulary within that. If students had a question and I
could see right there on their faces that they didn't understand, I can
immediately go to a website to bring up a picture of something if I
didn't already have it planned in anticipating that they maybe confused.
I
could have a larger font. I could highlight certain words in different
colors to have things standout, it was far more superior then the
blackboard, yet it wasn't because it was technology that I was using, it
was useful. And students were participating. I could have them come up
and without even using language, have them participate in an activity,
showing me their comprehension by just touching and dragging.
So it was a, a really helpful tool.
Delia Pompa: You
know Deborah, college readiness sometimes focuses on academic language.
We hear people who talk about kids being ready for college, having
academic language.
Deborah Santiago: Right.
Delia Pompa: What is that and how do, how do you give that students?
Deborah Santiago: You
know I asked that same question when I first got (unint.) because you
know for us it's, at college it really is part of the, the academic, the
jargon of the discipline. It's really, do the students know, given
whatever the discipline is or the topic, how to talk about it in manners
that they would professionally or with specific faculty members so they
can get deeper into the issue overall.
And what we see is that;
that's not a hard thing to share with students. It's finding ways that
are relevant and appropriate to the students so they get it and they get
it quickly.
Delia Pompa: What might be an example of some language kids have to learn, think biology?
Deborah Santiago: Think
biology, that, that's a perfect example actually. And it's where you
find lots of cognates and you have students you know, because of it is
Latin-based, where students can really get a lot of what's going on. So
there are terms; there is lots of terminology. We can say, the one that I
shared earlier when that's when we were talking, is photosynthesis.
I
tend to work a lot in the social sciences, so we work a lot in finding
the cognates, but making sure the concept is clear and introducing them
to the academic jargon that they need to connect with it so that the
concept is clear, the terminology that's generally used in the
discipline is understood and that they will remember so that when they
get into the college setting, they're not starting from scratch or they
don't know what photosynthesis is.
If we're, we're talking about
biology or components of dissection so that the concept is clear, that
terminology, they are exposed to. And when they get into the college
classroom, they're not starting from scratch.
Delia Pompa: I
think what the academic language, teachers, benevolent teachers who
really want their students learn, bring language down to such a lower
level that it's, it's baby talk and they're not understanding the, the
language that they need to know. So therefore they can't scaffold up.
Delia Pompa: And, and be successful on the assessments or just really showing understanding of the information.
Narrator: I'm
sorry, I just wanted to add because it, I think of what's important for
a teacher, all of us to remember is that the majority of the students,
English language learners, are really starting school at kindergarten
and first grade. So it's not waiting 'til middle school or high school,
'til they're into the higher and harder academic areas.
But the
concept of teaching language and content simultaneously starts in
kindergarten and first grade so that the teachers are teaching exactly
the same thing to a non-English speaker as they are teaching to a
monolingual English speaker. And so the expectation is the same, they
get the same content knowledge.
And then they start moving forward
from there on. When to middle school and high school and as the demand
gets harder, the process is in place so the student at least understands
the process and can pickup like the cognates and the concepts et
cetera, cetera.
Delia Pompa: Right, it's good teaching strategies, whether they're our native speakers or ELL's.
Narrator: Exactly.
Delia Pompa: But they're the same.
Delia Pompa: And
you need to bring in thinking strategies. These students, all students
need to know how to think, problem solve, cause and effect.
Narrator: In relevant ways.
Delia Pompa: That's correct.
Delia Pompa: Absolutely.
And you all have been talking about students who need time to build
these strategies. Kathleen, what are some strategies for kids who are
older when they come into our system and need to acquire, or they may
need to acquire the academic language all before they graduate?
Kathleen Leos: What
we did is, we, on the website for AdLit, there are some instructional
strategies that are appropriate for middle school and high school
students. And it's specifically and based on the currently research
that's available now, walks teachers through, this is what you do. This
is how you do it, this exactly what we're talking about when you take
the level of language, language equity and mesh it and fuse it through
language acquisition.
Whether it's a beginning student, a middle
or intermediate student or advanced student in language proficiency. And
then, and then weds it right to the content area. But these are
specific strategies. Susan mentioned graphic organizers and, and what
we're saying from our perspective, guilt now, is that teachers are using
strategies every single day.
So it's not changing the strategies
in the classroom that they're using, but it's expanding and enhancing
them so that they understand exactly what to do when there's English
language learners in the classroom.
Narrator: I'd
like to, can I share a, a website that is fabulous for teachers in
communicating with parents, in finding some great strategies. It's
www.colorincolorado.org and there is just a wealth of information for
teachers, for educators.
Delia Pompa: We often
get caught up talking teaching strategies because they're at the key,
they're the backbone of what we do in the classroom everyday. But we
can't not talk about testing also. So Kathleen, could you tell us a
little bit about what's going on right now with regard to standards and
assessment for English language learners?
Kathleen Leos: Certainly
and, and be happy to talk about it at the national level and give more
of a, a national overview and then we get into classroom assessment. And
for the past six to seven years, there has been an effort in the
country to develop language proficiency standards that are specifically
focused on language development, reading, writing, speaking and
listening.
And K to 12, the standards are separate and different
from content standards because starting in 2000, 2002, every state had
content standards, especially in reading and math. But this new area of
language standards has to align specifically to the content standards in
math and in science and in reading.
And so what that does is it,
first of all impacts instruction later on, but then states were required
to also develop two different assessments. One was an assessment that's
aligned to the content area with accommodations so that ELL's could
understand and, an access that content assessment. But the other is a
language proficiency assessment that's aligned to language proficiency
standards that measures the acquisition of how's my student learning
English overtime?
And it, the assessment not only tells you, but
should be giving data of how I can refine my instruction because it's
ongoing assessment.
Delia Pompa: But and you
talked about high stakes testing and, and I, I think what some of our
teachers out there may want to know is, what can I do daily though to
evaluate progress and monitor what's going on with my kids and what
they're learning? Susan what, what are some other things teachers can do
in-between the high stakes tests?
Susan Lafond: Right,
which, there's not much time left, but there needs to be ongoing
formative assessment and just as Kathleen said, teachers, after you
teach and actually there's a misnomer. Really teachers shouldn't see
their job as just teaching, but if students are learning.
Susan Lafond: And
that's where it needs to be that, that feedback from once you have had
instruction taken place, did the student learn it? And if not, then
where are you going to go to try to pickup that comprehension on their
part? It could be something as simple as observation, checklists, and
going more into performance assessment.
Portfolios showing improvement overtime, so all of those really give you an idea of how that student is progressing.
Delia Pompa: That
was a terrific discussion, thank you everyone. Please join us for Part
Four of our webcast, College Readiness where we'll be discussing ELL's
and higher education. You can learn more about adolescent literacy and
watch other segments of this webcast at wwww.AdLit.org.
Narrator: Funding
for this AdLit.org webcast was generously provided by Carnegie
Corporation of New York. Additional funding for AdLit.org was provided
by the Anne B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation.
Part 4: College Readiness
Do
English language learners face unique barriers to higher education? How
can teachers improve college readiness for ELL's? Join me for the
answers to these and other questions in segment four of the AdLit.org
webcast, English Language Learners.
Delia Pompa: Hi,
I'm Delia Pompa, welcome to the AdLit.org webcast, English Language
Learners. In previous segments we've discussed building trust and
connections with ELL families as well as the components of good
instruction for ELL's. In this segment we'll explore ELL's and college
readiness. Welcome, Kathleen, Deborah and Susan.
I'm going to
start with you Deborah and jump right into this because I know you've
done a lot of research on English Language Learners and college going.
What are some of the trends in research? What are we finding out about
English language learners and higher education?
Deborah Santiago: Well,
I think it's part of the work I've done is really trying to separate
English language learners from students, (unint.) students and we do a
lot of work on both of them because they're so important. But what we've
seen is that you know 18 percent of Latino students are English
language learners which means so many are not.
So when we look at
the data, we try to make sure we look at both components. If it's too
generally assume that if you have a Hispanic name, you, you are an ELL.
So part of that is a balance. When we look at higher education we see a
couple of critical trends, when we look at ELL's and, and also Latinos
actually. And that is, we see much more enrollment at the community
college level.
Fortunately we, we are seeing more enrollment
overall in colleges then we have in the past, we've tracked for the last
10, 12 years, that I've been tracking it, between the ELL's and
Latinos. But the community college is a lot of it. We've seen there is
growing attention to engaging families and not just students, especially
for ELL's.
We've seen and, and that means you know simple things
like translating one side in English, the other side in Spanish, in the
cases we've been seeing, so that parents get the same information as
their youth. We often find that ELL's tend to be the first in their
family to go to college. If they've been successful in K-12, jumped
through all those hoops, they still need the support in college.
And
we find that's not always as readily available and so having parents
get information and be able to continue to be advocates for their
children, young adults at this point in college, is summarily important.
And so we're seeing trends of that nature.
Delia Pompa: Kathleen, when should school start talking to ELL students about going to college?
Kathleen Leos: I'd
say kindergarten, pre-K-K, first grade and especially involving the
parents because just from a cultural perspective, there's so much that
we understand if we've been educated in this country of the preparation
for going to college, that it really starts very young. And it's not
just about the funding, it's making sure that parents have the same
expectation.
That teachers have the expectation, that the students
themselves have the expectation. What am I going to do after I graduate
from high school? Are you going to college? Yes, what does that mean,
is the next question, not only for the student who then needs to take
the right courses in order to college, but parents really need to be
talking to counselors very early on.
My child is going to go to
college, therefore, it's not just about content knowledge and language
acquisition, what courses does my child need to take, sixth, seventh and
eighth grade? Is my child ready to take algebra and two languages and
English? And the answer needs to be yes because we all know algebra's a
gateway course.
And so to start that conversation very early and the expectation very early, I think is crucial for English language learners.
Delia Pompa: We
seem to moving toward a curriculum that's college ready for everybody,
but we still have college track courses in, in most schools. So you
know, Deborah, what happens to English language learners, do they have
to wait until they learn English to take college track courses?
Deborah Santiago: No,
the correct answer. You know this goes back to how important it is that
students feel they're involved and they're engaged and that they belong
in the classroom and that starts early on. I think it's part of what
Kathleen was saying, but we have to continue all the way through because
to have a rigorous academic curricula and to be able to participate
means they have to get the rigor from the beginning and all the way
through.
And a rigorous college ready curriculum does create
opportunities for students who are English language learners that we
find ways, if we can make it relevant, we can make it appropriate, we
can make it hands on, we can keep those students engaged in college
course tracks that we too often don't consider a possibility.
And
we as, as educators, are don't often think about it, but also the
students themselves don't see themselves as college material because
they're not, they think you know, I'm focused so much on my language, I
don't have the disciplinary knowledge that I need to move forward. And I
think that is short-sighted on our side as educators, but we have an
opportunity to make sure that we integrate curricular knowledge as well
as language development and acquisition in a college prep course work.
Delia Pompa: So
I have to ask you, you said, too often kids don't take the college prep
course who are ELL's. Is that a big issue and if it is, how do we
handle that, what do we do about it?
Deborah Santiago: I
do think it is, is a big issue. And I think it relates to expectations
on the students side, on the parents side, on the school side, the
teacher sides overall. And it's become more and more of an issue because
I think, as I look at the data, we should be seeing more and more of
our English language learners in college then we are seeing even now.
And
when we look at statistics in states that have large concentrations
like California or Texas, like Arizona, the, the lost potential of
intelligent young people in our colleges and therefore in the human
capital of this country is something that we should not disregard as
easily as we are.
And I think part of that challenge means that
we've got to pay attention to where our students are, our ELL's are
today, where they are in their course taking and how we can find ways to
get them into those tracks that are going to make them college ready.
It's a level of intentionality that I think can be intimidating, but it
requires time and effort.
I think there are many teachers that
feel that responsibility and are just looking for that extra push so
that they can intentional, making sure our students get the education
they need.
Delia Pompa: Clearly instruction is
key here, Susan, but what are some other supports that could help kids,
ELL kids, along this route to college.
Susan Lafond: Well
I found that as their ESL teacher, I was the person they come to and I
didn't know. So I had to learn very quickly what gets them in there. And
one thing was collaborating with the guidance counselor and insuring
that the students were scheduled for classes that would help prepare
them for college and that didn't mean they had to be AP classes or
honors classes.
Not every student needs that to gain access to
college. So it's understanding that they meet the requirements for
graduating high school and, and then letting them know what they need to
do for the application aspect of it. A lot of information they didn't
understand, what was the difference between two year and four year
colleges.
And what certain terminology meant. So helping prepare them really was a lot of the work that I was able to, to do with them.
Delia Pompa: Are
there other support systems that kick in at that point, can they get
help from other students? Is there tutoring or mentoring that is
necessary?
Susan Lafond: Yes, again because they
were taking these courses that would help them to graduate and then
going to college, I was able to work with service groups, national honor
society or key club, who needed to have service learning hours to help
them. And these were offered during the school day and they were free or
they could be done after school.
And what was nice about that is I
did provide some training so they understood the language acquisition
process, how to help these students, don't give them the answer, that's
not tutoring. And then I also found in what these students shared with
me after was, it was a mutually beneficial process or endeavor, that
they learned just as much as the ELL's did.
Also I would find that
perhaps the English speaking student was really good in English, so
they helped the student with their essays or English or vocabulary. But
the ELL was really good in math and was able to turn around and help the
English speaker with their math class.
Delia Pompa: Well
one of the biggest impediments to getting into college for an English
language learner, I would think, is dropping out of high school and so
many of them do. Deborah, what can we do about that? That's a huge
question I know, but give us a few things.
Deborah Santiago: Well
you know, going back to what we can do in the classroom, it really does
require that we make the students feel engaged and we make their
academic experience relevant and appropriate. It sounds simplistic in so
many ways, but we find there are critical points along the educational
continuum where we have, we loose our students.
And student who
have so much potential and what it takes is sometimes as simple as, you
know, taking ownership of the students that are there and making sure
that we link to the opportunities, what you shared as well. But also
making sure that they are engaged with their learning process, maybe
with peers, maybe with others in other classes.
Maybe with their
faculty member, sometimes that means bringing in community based
organizations and helping along. But I think to keep your eye on the
prize that, you know, we know what the implications of dropping out of
high school are for our students. In some ways many, more then the
students themselves who are living in a moment and don't necessarily see
what the implications are.
And I think the onus is therefore on
us as the adults in that environment to make sure we make them feel like
their education is important, that this has value and contribution. I
think, you know, and that they feel it's a part of their future and
sometimes the onus on us. There's onus on students as well, but they're
taking our lead.
And I think we need to make sure we structure our educational system and support to make sure they get that message.
Delia Pompa: Let
me just lead us somewhere that I think all of you were going. Despite
all these supports that we have you have, given us some great ideas. It
must be really tough for a child who comes here from another country,
doesn't speak English, to struggle to learn English. He came in at the
seventh grade and then get in the college track, pass all the tests.
What can teachers do to encourage these kids or to keep them from getting, getting discouraged, more to the point.
Narrator: I
think it's a great question Delia because I was actually thinking, when
you were responding. The real key I think to ELL success, academic
success truly is the teacher becomes the lynch pin in, in this, you know
trajectory so to speak because the interaction is between the student,
the parent and the teacher. And that's the most important relationship.
So
regardless of acquisition of language, it's when the teachers are so
well prepared and they know exactly, you know, this is what I'm going to
teach during this week, et cetera, et cetera. And then brings the team
together to instruct all students in the classroom with knowing where
the student's going to go.
Very student that I teach is going to
college, so what can I do within my building with the principal, the
school leadership, with the community, in order to make that happen for
every child that's with me, five days a week. And I'd say from the
teacher's perspective, at least eight to ten hours a day.
Narrator: Is there an individual plan for them?
Narrator: Yes,
well maybe an individual education plan, maybe the building does it.
Maybe the district institutes, I know the governors are talking about it
that there is, you know, a teacher who assigns a mentor that's a
community mentor, that holds the child's hand from the moment they hit
the classroom until they graduate from and onto college.
Delia Pompa: There
are so many things we all know we can do. I, I want to wrap up though
by talking about one of the key, the key persons in a child's life that
all of you alluded to, and that was the parents. Deborah, what is it
that parents need to know, when they come to this country and their
dream is that their child will go to college?
Deborah Santiago: They
need to know how to prepare for college and at a very early age, what
does that mean? We've advocated getting information into the hands of
parents and majority would at early childhood education programs as well
as throughout K-12, to make sure they get information that's very
accessible and easy for them to understand.
So preparing so that
they know what things are expected of their child academically is
important. Also how to pay for college and I think those things should
be concurrent because too often we hear parents, especially if they're
immigrants to this country, don't understand. We have a very complex
system for doing that.
But if we can get information early and
often about the opportunities that are there, we know that ELL students
are more likely to be low income then others. And that has lots of
implications. We have good information that we can provide parents about
how affordable and how possible college is, even if they are learning
the English language.
Even if they are low income, that
information is important. The third thing I would say is important is
really understanding the differences in college choice. You know most of
these families have gone through a K-12 system, where you don't have a
great deal of choice. You go to the public school that's closest to
where you live.
College is a whole different dynamic because
you've got community colleges, that for-profit institutions. You've got,
you know, (unint.). You've got four year, you've got universities.
You've got such a mix and choices that sometimes it's hard for parents
to understand. I often hear people say well, you know, often ELL's make
poor college choices because if they are well prepared academically,
they could go to a more selective institution.
But they're going
to the community college and don't they know that if they start there,
they're not going to, you know, get a baccalaureate degree and do
certain things. Research in part supports that, but we see that there's
still so much potential and parents have to help their students.
And
often it's hard for parents because they didn't go through this system
here. So we have to help empower them with that information.
Delia Pompa: That's
a great thought and thank you all for your very thoughtful answers
today. I know we have so much more to discussion. Before we end, I'd
like to get a final thought from each of you, something you'd like to
leave our audience with. And let's start with you Kathleen.
Kathleen Leos: My
final thought is when I've had such an opportunity to work with ELL's
and not only that, that I'm a parent of five ELL's. And what's been
important for myself, my children and then other children and in
non-English speaking communities, is that education is their right. And
that parents, really it's important for them to understand that.
That
it's a gift yes, but education is the key to their child's success and
whatever it takes for their child to keep succeeding and staying in
school, then it's important and incumbent upon the parent, not the
educators but the parents, to say, I'm not going to stop. I'm not going
to take no for an answer. And we're going to keep all of our kids in the
system and graduate them and beyond.
And then to pick up the teacher and hold the teacher's hand and say, and you're my partner in this.
Delia Pompa: Thanks, that's so important, thank you very much. Deborah.
Deborah Santiago: If
I had one thought it would say, we have to treat language as an asset. I
think too often we see it as a deficit to, to overcome a hurdle that we
have to address. So I would say, we have to see language as an asset
and then we build from that asset to make sure our students are the best
they can be.
Delia Pompa: Thanks. Susan, wrap it up for us.
Susan Lafond: Mine
goes along with Deborah's and that's in the classroom setting where
you're one-on-one with the student, recognize what your English language
learner brings. And that the language is an asset but there are also
prior experiences and previous knowledge, to celebrate that and really
support them as they go through the educational process.
Delia Pompa: Thank
you Susan and thank you all so much. And thank you for joining us for
English Language Learners. To view all segments of the webcast and for
more information about how you can help the team readers and writers in
your life, please visit us on the web at www.AdLit.org. Again, thank you
for joining us.
Narrator: Funding for this
AdLit.org webcast was generously provided by Carnegie Corporation of New
York. Additional funding for AdLit.org was provided by the Anne B. and
Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation.
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