1. Sacramento START - Students Today Achieving Results for Tomorrow Supporting English Language Learners

2. Sacramento START  START- Students Today Achieving Results for Tomorrow  Part of City of Sacramento, Parks and Recreation Department  46 Schools in five districts  Serving 5,000 children daily  Program has been in existence for 16 years

3. Demographic data for Sacramento START from our 2009/2010 Program Evaluation Report  Gender breakdown is 50%  Ethnic groups include: Hispanic students were largest group at 36% African American students at 28% Asian Americans at 15%  English Learners were 29%  Free and Reduced Meal participation rates were 77% of START students

4. What We Know About English Learners and After School  California: highest school enrollment of English Learners compared to any other state  According to the Master Plan for California After School Programs, ASES and 21 st Century Community Learning Centers are located in schools with a high percentage of English Learners.  English Learners may not have adequate instructional time during the school day and After School programs are able to extend the amount of time the students spend learning English.  English Learners speak English about 2 minutes during the school day. The After School environment provides a gift of time for those students to practice English by speaking, listening, writing and reading.

5. EL Success in School and Beyond What it takes:  Practice  Supportive environment for risk-taking  Motivation to communicate  Diverse experiences  Techniques to enhance and expand understanding and effective communication Motivation to communicate Diverse experiences

6. Afterschool & English Learners  Unique features for teaching and learning  More opportunities to practice English  Learn new vocabulary  Homework help

7. Afterschool & English Learners Supporting additional needs, making connections  Learning social norms  Building meaningful relationships with adults and children  Link to school, home and the community  Greater family engagement

8. How We Support English Learners  Training team participated in seminars on Leveraging Support for English Learners  Professional development trainings for our staff  Purchased curriculum for each site  Collaborated with Academic Alignment Coach from each school who completed the English Learner Form

9. How We Support English Learners  Establish a relationship with each child  Create a safe environment  Ask all children to speak in complete sentences  Group children in a deliberate manner so EL students are with Native English speaking children  Ask the children to teach you words in their native language.  Place our diverse staff at sites where they can communicate with the children and parents in their native language.

10. How We Support English Learners  Wait several seconds after asking a question for the child to answer  If the child does not answer, repeat the question with hints so the child will be able to answer successfully  Do not over correct children as that happens in the daytime.  Focus on comprehension over reading each word correctly.

11. What Students HaveWhat Students Can DoWhat Teachers Should DoQuestioning Strategies Their primary language Minimal comprehension of English Minimal verbal production in English One/two word responses Nod and shake head to answer questions Point to objects or print Sort objects into categories Pantomime Draw pictures and label drawings and diagrams Gesture to show understanding Match objects or pictures Give yes/no answers to simple questions Reproduce what they hear, repeat and recite Vocabulary Development  Teach vocabulary using physical movement and drawing Demonstrate personal interest and caring for students Provide ample listening activities including daily listening center with taped picture books Read aloud predictable and patterned books Have students label and manipulate pictures and objects Provide one-on-one time with students  Point to…  Find the…  Put the ____next to the____.  Give the ____to____.  Do you have the ____?  Is this a ____?  Who wants the ____?  Who has the ____? Remember….  While beginning English Learners can communicate only in their primary language, they are very capable of higher-level thinking skills. Supporting EL Students ~ Staff Instructional Resource Language Acquisition Descriptors: CEDLT Level 1: Beginning Key Strategy *Listening! Listening! Listening!-Books on tape, read-alouds, choral reading, buddy reading *Beginning vocabulary is best understood and learned when taught thematically

12. What Students HaveWhat Students Can DoWhat Teachers Should DoQuestioning Strategies One/two word responses /some phrases Limited proficiency to communicate ideas Some comprehension of contextualized information All of what students can do at the Beginning level, plus List and categorize Repeat sentences, mimic intonation and phrasing and reproduce familiar phrases Attempt to talk, making extensive pronunciation and grammatical errors Generate and speak simple sentences Begin to acquire some grammatical elements Read some basic vocabulary and write simple sentences Give short answers to simple questions All of the above, plus: Vocabulary Development  Continue to expand students understanding of concrete words  Have students learn vocabulary and sentence structure from patterned pictures books Expand students’ responses by asking who, what, where (literal questions) Expect short answers. Give students a chance to produce language in situations where they are not comfortable Ask questions requiring simple comparisons and descriptions Provide activities designed to encourage students to produce simple sentences Use the language experience approach for reading and writing Give students a chance to produce language in comfortable situations  Yes/no (is the light on?)  Either/or (Is this a knife or a fork)  One-word responses (What utensil am I holding in my hand?)  General questions which encourage list of words (What do you see on the table?)  Two-word responses(Where did he go) Remember….  While Early Intermediate students are still developing basic communication skills they are at the same time capable of higher level-thinking skills. Supporting EL Students~ Staff Instructional Resource Language Acquisition Descriptors: CEDLT Level 2: Early Intermediate Key Strategy *Beginning vocabulary is best understood and learned when taught thematically *Appropriate questioning techniques will increase student oral production i.e., using the answer as part of the question i.e., (Did you go to the grocery store or to the library?)

13. What Students HaveWhat Students Can DoWhat Teachers Should DoQuestioning Strategies Enough English proficiency to be understood Ability to produce utterance with basic sentence structure (Subject + Verb + Object or Phrase) Ability to interact more with native speakers but can make errors in speech Good comprehension of contextualized information All of what students can do at the Beginning and Early Intermediate levels, plus: Describe people, places and events Recall and state facts Define and explain some vocabulary Make some error in speech Read and retell from a variety of text with scaffolding from teacher Begin to identify main ideas and details Vocabulary Development  Provide explicit instruction for idiomatic expressions while continuing to help students acquire lots of vocabulary- including academic vocabulary Begin to develop cognitive skills, especially reading and writing Include instruction in phonemic awareness, decoding, spelling and grammar Model expand, restate and use standard English with students Ask how and why open-ended questions, and help students to respond in complete sentences Ask higher level thinking questions Provide ample opportunities for partner talk and pair-share, and activities to develop higher levels of thinking  Why?  How?  Tell me about…  Talk about…  Describe…  How would you change this part? Remember….  Very often at this level students’ verbal communication skills are strong, but are not reliable indicators of their ability to comprehend academic material. Supporting EL Students~ Staff Instructional Resource Language Acquisition Descriptors: CEDLT Level 3: Intermediate Key Strategy: *At this level, oral communication skills are more highly developed. Using cooperative groups during instruction will help students develop their higher levels of thinking while increasing their vocabulary and comprehension.

14. What Students HaveWhat Students Can DoWhat Teachers Should DoQuestioning Strategies Good comprehension of information Proficiency to communicate well verbally Adequate vocabulary to achieve academically Give opinions and reasons, draw comparisons, justify views and behaviors and summarize Demonstrate ability to use higher order language, synthesize, analyze, evaluate, persuade and debate Demonstrate both social and academic understanding of language Identify main idea and details Use expanded vocabulary Engage in conversation and produce sequential narrative Develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills with increased comprehension Vocabulary Development  Focus on academic language and literacy Structure group discussions Ask questions to help students synthesize, analyze and evaluate in oral and written communication Provide reading opportunities with a variety of genre Include grammar instruction Provide a variety of realistic writing opportunities Guide use of reference materials and technology  What would you recommend/suggest?  How do you think this story will end?  What is your opinion(on this matter)?  Describe/compare…  How are these similar/different?  What would happen if…?  Which do you prefer?  Why? Remember….  Students at this level need strong emphasis on structured writing and continued vocabulary development. Supporting EL Students Staff Resource Language Acquisition Descriptors: CEDLT Level 4: Early Advanced Key Strategy *Students have a strong conversational vocabulary but still need an emphasis on academic vocabulary

15. What Students HaveWhat Students Can DoWhat Teachers Should DoQuestioning Strategies Very good comprehension of information Heightened proficiency to communicate well Expanded vocabulary to achieve academically Near native speech fluency Comprehend and generate discussions and presentations in social as well as academic settings Demonstrate fluency with content topics Read and comprehend grade level texts Respond to and use figurative language and idiomatic expressions appropriately Organize and generate written compositions based on purpose, audience and subject matter Prepare and deliver presentations/reports across grade level content areas that use a variety of sources: include purpose, point of view, introductions, coherent transitions and appropriate conclusions Initiate and negotiate social conversations Allow students to lead group discussions Encourage independent use of reference materials and technology Provide explicit grammar instruction Provide opportunities for student generated presentations Provide a variety of realistic writing opportunities in a variety of genre  What would you recommend/suggest?  How do you think this story will end?  What is your opinion (on this matter)?  Describe/compare…  How are these similar/different?  What would happen if…?  Which do you prefer?  Why? Remember  Students at this level need ongoing development of background knowledge and must be challenged academically. Supporting EL Students Staff Resource Language Acquisition Descriptors: CEDLT Level 5: Advanced Key Strategy *Provide multiple opportunities for student to participate in cooperative learning groups and take on leadership roles.

16. Child’s NameGradeHome Language CELD T Level School Day Language Development Hints for START for student success Site Name_________________________________________ START EL Form

17. Sacramento START Beryl Johnson, Training Coordinator bbjohnson@cityofsacramento.org Shirley Rosenbloom, Academic Resource Teacher srosenbloom@cityofsacramento.org