ELIANS

1. ELIANS

2. English Learners in a Nut Shell

3. District 742 Students

4. District 742 Students

5. District 742 Students

6. District 742 Students Top Three Languages Spoken (other than English)

7. Home Languages at Westwood

8. Who are today’s EL students?

9. Demographics of Today’s EL Students Myth Number One A large majority of identified EL students are foreign born. Just over half of EL student in U.S. schools are foreign born. 40% of foreign born students are EL.

10. Demographics of Today’s EL Students Myth Number Two Minnesota statistics are similar to U.S. statistics in growth of EL student population.

11. Demographics of Today’s EL Students Myth Number Three Minnesota immigrant populations are similar to the rest of the country. • Highest proportion of refugee students of any state

12. Demographics of Today’s EL Students Minnesota has seen a shift in immigrant groups over the past 10 years 2000 Mexico Laos Vietnam Canada China 2009 Somalia Ethiopia India Mexico Philippines Top 5 Immigrant Groups

13. Demographics of Today’s EL Students • Higher proportion of immigrants from Africa and Asia • Smaller proportion from Americas

14. Demographics of Today’s EL Students Today’s EL students face greater educational challenges than earlier generations of immigrants. • State and federal assessments • Graduation requirements • Number of jobs requiring post- secondary education

15. How are our students identified?

16. Identification and Enrollment • Parents enroll their children at the Welcome Center. • If, on the registration form, parents indicate another language is spoken, the children are scheduled for a language assessment. • The LAS assessment is given to all students indicating a language other than English. • Based on the students’ scores, the students are placed in Jumpstart, EL services or no services.

17. Scoring and Placement • Students scoring level 1 in the listening, speaking, reading and writing portions of the LAS are placed in Jumpstart. • For kindergarten students, we assess speaking and basic literacy skills using the Pre-LAS. • Students scoring with a variety of scores from 1 to 3 on any portion are labeled as EL in Skyward and LEP (Limited English Proficient) in MARSS. • Students scoring 4 and 5 on all portions of the test are not labeled EL in Skyward or in MARSS and are not qualified to receive EL services.

18. What do these scores mean? • Level 1—Beginning • This student is new-to-English and will need lots of support to be successful. Bilingual support, if accessible, is helpful. • Level 2—Early Intermediate • This student is developing the ability to communicate in English. This student will need extra support to be successful. The oral language of this student will be developing very rapidly.

19. What do these scores mean? • Level 3—Intermediate • This student is rapidly acquiring language while continuing to make errors which can interfere with academic progress. This student needs academic language support to continue to progress. • Level 4—Proficient • This student is at a level where communication is effective across all academic areas and where errors don’t impede communication or comprehension. • Level 5—Above Proficient • This student communicates effectively across all academic areas. This student communicates with the same skill level as a native speaker.

20. The Language We Use

21. The Language We Use • Language is… • The message we hear • The message we see • Highly arbitrary because of our ability to interpret verbal and non-verbal cues • A highly complex and complicated arena based on our individual, societal and cultural norms

22. The Language We Use What do you see?

23. Gestures The movements made by speaker or listener during communication ‘Gestures’ is not a universal or natural language, but the product of social and cultural contexts

24. Gestures and Culture • There are many gestures in American culture which are considered quite rude in other cultures. • It can be like walking through a mine field when meeting someone from a new culture. • The best clues include watching others, waiting for someone else to make a movement, or pretending you aren’t paying attention.

25. Gestures in other cultures • Using one finger to get someone’s attention is considered rude in almost all cultures except ours. • A thumbs-up gesture often indicates “good job” or “well done” but in Arab cultures this gesture is extremely rude. • The American OK sign is not so OK in Latin America, Germany or the Middle East. • Moving our head from side to side is often seen as “no” but in India it shows agreement.

26. Gestures in other cultures • Avoid showing the soles of your shoes or bottoms of your feet to people from Arab and Asian cultures. Pointing to your feet is also considered rude. • Avoid using your left hand for shaking, eating or other tasks in Arab countries—it is considered dirty. • In the Somali culture it is rude to point with what we call our pointer finger. This is why many Somali children track with their middle finger. • Eyebrow gesturing is considered rude in many Asian cultures, especially between members of the opposite gender.

27. Let’s LOOK at the English language • English is a very unique language. • It has exceptions to almost every rule. • It is confusing even for those of us who speak it well. • Learning English isn’t for sissies.

28. What???? • If the plural of goose is geese, then the plural of moose is meese, right? • If the plural of tooth is teeth, then the plural of booth is beeth, right? • Why is it that writers write, but fingers don’t fing and hammers don’t ham?

29. Really???? • There is no egg in eggplant. • There is no ham in hamburger. • There is neither pine nor apple in pineapple. • Quicksand moves slowly. • Boxing rings are square.

30. Are you kidding???? • A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. • We drive on parkways and park on driveways. • If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? • If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

31. WHOA! • In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? • We ship by truck and send cargo by ship. • We have noses that run and feet that smell. • How can a slim and a fat chance be the same while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

32. The Language We Use • You have to laugh at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on. • Imagine what runs through a person’s mind when you say that someone kicked the bucket, has butterflies in his/her stomach or is in over his/her head when English isn’t his/her first language.

33. The Language We Use • Remember, language is so much more than just what we say. • It includes what we hear and see, keeping in mind our body language and tone of voice.

34. Questions? I can be reached at extension 5751