Wednesday, 27 January 2016
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Helping ESOL students understand what you say
Helping ESOL students understand what you say
Clearly written advice from Paul Shoebottom at Frankfurt International School.
Clearly written advice from Paul Shoebottom at Frankfurt International School.
ESOL online email to do with reporting and my Inquiry into Oral Language
Hi
Elaine
I
think your post highlights some important things to consider.
Firstly
it is important to work with parents so that they understand that our National
Standards are expectations for native speakers of English and therefore if
their child is an English language learner we would expect (as should they)
that their child will be well below or below for a significant period of time
but that long term they are likely to meet the standard. Parent education about
this, that precedes reports being issued, is going to go a long way to
alleviating unpleasant surprises and angst among parents. This could be in the
form of information sharing sessions or in a written communication if
necessary.
The
other question you have about time frame for reaching cohort is an interesting
one. As with any group of students ELLs are not a homogenous group and
therefore the length of time they take to reach expected levels will differ
greatly depending on a number of factors. The ELLP has some information about
affective factors that impact on acquisition of English (p.6-8 Introductory
booklet) which is interesting to read.
When
teachers ask me this question I often refer to Cummins work about the
acquisition of BICS or playground language (Basic Interpersonal Communication
Skills) taking 2-3 years on average and CALP or language of learning (Cognitive
Academic language Proficiency) taking 5-7 years. This research from Cummins is
probably one of the best known in terms of expectations for time frames. Some
of the schools I work with have developed a "Graduate Profile" for an
ELL that enrols at school at 5 years of age with minimal English. Based on
Cummins work they have targets to get these students to National Standard level
or above by the time they leave at the end of Year 6. Some students will
achieve this earlier but if they look as if they are not on track to do so the
schools will ensure that a suitable intervention or support programme is
provided to accelerate progress.
The answer is yes
.Substantial research across many international settings (Cummins , 2001)
show that depending on the amount of previous literacy levels achieved
in first /heritage language literacy, it takes around 2 years to
reach oral proficiency known as BICS -Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills
for everyday informal interactions, but longer to be able and willing,
to use formal “School English” at school.
Cummins and others have
shown that the best most reliable indicator of later rate and level of
English academic achievement likely to be achieved is the level and
standard of first language literacy at time of entry to an English only
programme- And- any continuing l1 literacy development being
concurrently undertaken in their new setting / country. In other
words students who come to NZ with high levels of L1/HL l school literacy
from their own schooling system reach the highest levels of English
literacy quickest. Consequently students who come very young or come with low
or little L1 literacy struggle most and longest.A large number of
international and local ESOL and bilingual experimental programmes
show that providing concurrent L1 literacy support is very helpful in these
situations.
However to reach native
speaker like literacy cohort literacy levels to be able to
mange the language demands of curriculum content areas, it takes the
average second language learner 5- 8 years if there is first language
support and 10-12 years without such L1 support (Thomas and Collier, 1997, 2002
)
This evidence on the way
in which first language literacy can accelerate the acquisition of academic
CALP English is why there is so much interest and growing commitment in
this English medium field to continued L1 /HL language and literacy
development.
This research is well
known to all experts and specialists in ESOL and in literacy and much of
it is up on ESOL on line on tki.org on the Min of Education’s
comprehensive site.
It is clearly then
not an educational, but rather a well meaning but misguided
political decision that requires educators to report against
students failure to met native speaker norms and standards from the
begging of schooling .
The best and only way forward
at present is for educators to have the highest levels of best
evidence best practice professional knowledge in advocating for
students and families .
email: j.mccaffery@auckland.ac.nz
Work: 64-9-6238899 ext 48709 Mob: 027 20 83 766
Greetings from Aotearoa/New Zealand: "Kia Ora, Kia orana, Namaste-Ni sa bula, Taloha ni, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Malo e lelei, Halo olaketa, Kam na mauri, Ia orana, Kia ora, Talofa lava and Pacific Greetings to you all.
Culture of achievement vs culture of teaching and learning
 |
| I LOVE this. Borrowed frrom a twitter feed on Monday 18.1.15 |
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Saturday, 9 January 2016
Connected Rotorua - a group of professional teachers supporting each other with elearning.
Connected Rotorua
This link isto #Connected Rotorua twitter account . I follow Annemarie Hyde, a mover and a shaker for P.D. for teachers in Rotorua, in elearning . I also follow Marnel van der Spuy and Alec de Jong among others.
This link is
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