English Language Learning

To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world. – Chinese Proverb

Author: Michelle Van Balkom (Page 4 of 5)

Monday, Mash-up September 21, 2020

September 21, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Reminders

ELL Elementary Teachers: There has been some shuffling of staff so please take 1 minute to fill out the survey listed in TEAMS so we have a list of who is where. Thank you!!!

BC TESOL

BC TESOL is going virtual. The keynote is Kate Kinesella who is discussing ways to improve academic language. Registration is here: http://bctesol.ca/conference-2020/

Resource Share

We can’t wait to get our hands on this upcoming book by local author and fellow ELL teacher Hieu Pham-Fraser.  The Little Girl is Hieu’s own story about the importance of names and systemic racism. Books are being planned for before Christmas so add your pledge to this excitement project or ask friends and family to get you a copy: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1822498000/the-little-girl/community

Share it out

Consider sharing this poster with your school at the next staff meeting.  Often, when we talk about academic language, people assume we are describing Tier 3 words, but Tier 2 language are words students need for ALL subjects. Encourage everyone to focus on teaching the Tier 2 vocabulary students will need to be successful at the current unit.  A list of examples of academic words by grade level can be found on the blog here: http://blogs.sd41.bc.ca/ell/files/2017/12/Tier-2-vocab-K-12.pdf

Have a great week!

have a great day

 

Monday Mash-up September 14th

September 14, 2020 / / 0 Comments

And We’re Off…

Today is the first day of full in-person classes since March. Be patient with everyone, including yourself as we find our new groove.

ELL Blog

This is the last email blast from us. Starting next week, the Monday Mash-up will only be posted on the ELL Blog and our ELL Microsoft Teams. If you want to get it in your email, we recommend subscribing to the blog to get notifications.

As We Welcome Students Back

Tan Huyhn wrote this powerful list of ways we can welcome ELs but we think it is useful to remember for all students.  Most then ever, it is necessary to make students feel we want them to be in our schools and classes. You can read the full blog post here: https://www.empoweringells.com/welcoming-environment/

Redesigning Social Language

Sajeeda at Monticito created an excellent series of lessons called “Redesigning Social Language” to help students understand and take ownership of our new social norms. With content and language objectives, it will be useful to ELL and classroom teachers alike. It is shared below with Sajeeda’s permission.

FAQs

What should teachers do with ELL files of students who are in transition, remote learning, or distance learning programs? 

All ELL files should remain at their current school unless a student has moved in-person to another school in the district. Please see the powerpoint from last week’s September Start Up meeting regarding students you have moved out of district. ​There is a checklists for exiting students in the Handbook.  Please refer to that as well.

Can teachers update the AIP to reflect the students’ current progress?

ELL teachers can update reassessments to reflect students’ current levels. However, in order to receive Ministry funding, there needs to be a signed AIP dated before September 30, 2020. Do not change initial assessments but create and print a reassessment.

Why do new internationals only have an oral assessment?

Due to quarantine guidelines, new international students were only able to remote oral assessments. Please do a reading and writing assessment with them when they join schools.

Who needs reassessing?

Any returning students whose reassessments were not completed in the spring. These can be done in-person or remotely with the same variety of assessment protocols as we were using in the spring.

September ELL Teacher Checklist

As of September 30th, 2020,  

  • a current 2020-21 Annual Instruction Plan ( AIP) for each student, signed* by an ELL specialist and dated
  • a current assessment/reassessment of speaking, reading, and writing
  • demonstrated ELL services (for all students) are in place (timetable, log)

(An ELL teacher must have directly supported or consulted with the classroom teacher with documentation.)

SUPPORT MUST BE CONTINUOUS FOR EACH STUDENT THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL YEAR (September-June).  This ongoing support may vary (e.g. flexible groupings) according to the needs of the student as determined in collaboration with the classroom teacher.  

Upcoming Events

Secondary SIOP meeting-September 17th, 3:30 on TEAMs (invites sent)

ELL reassessment workshop-September 16th, 3:00pm on Zoom. Please email Michelle to be invited.

 

Have a great week!

Monday Mash-Up September 7th

September 8, 2020 / / 0 Comments

We are Back!

Welcome to a school year that will probably be completely different from every one you’ve had before it.  Let’s focus on the positives and see this as a way to try unique ideas to support our English learners.

September Start Up

Elementary ELL Start-up/ ELL in Service Session

Please plan to attend ONE of these important sessions

When: Thursday, September 10, 2020  10am/12pm/ 3pm (please attend 1 session)

Where: Microsoft Teams-Elementary ELL Channel

The purpose of this workshop:

  • to review process for preparing the 1701
  • to review audit compliance requirements
  • to facilitate booking new ELs at the Welcome Centre
  • to identify ways to make a schedule in 2020-21

Please email michelle.van-balkom@burnabyschools.ca to be added to the Team.

 

New or Nearly New ELL Teachers Session

When? Friday, Sept 11, 2020 9am/2:00pm (please attend 1 session)

Where? Microsoft Teams- Please email michelle.van-balkom@burnabyschools.ca to be added to the Team.

The purpose of this workshop:

  • to introduce ELL terminology and resources
  • to demonstrate how to complete assessments
  • to outline the responsibilities of an ELL Teacher
  • to facilitate building a schedule

Please note: T.T.O.C. funding is not available for these workshops.

Upcoming Events

October 7-SIOP Meeting 3:30pm

ELL Bookclub-October 8th (Sign up on Staff Development Calendar)

 

A Place to Start

Carol Salva recently released a video blog post about how to start a classroom during Co-Vid. It is less than 20 minutes and gives practical ways for ALL teachers to create community during in-person, hybrid, or remotely instruction. It is worth watching but also great to share with our school communities.

 

Fall is always a hectic time. Please contact Fanny and Michelle with any questions or concerns.

 

 

 

 

Monday Mash Up June 23, 2020

June 22, 2020 / / 0 Comments

We did it! We are on the last week of June. Celebrations will be quieter this year but everyone should feel a huge sense of accomplishment. Burnaby is so fortunate to have you on their team.

 

Questions

Instead of answering your questions, this week we’d like you to answer ours. If you could take 5 minutes to fill out this survey, it will help the ELL support team to plan for 2020-21: End of the Year ELL Survey

Professional Development Opportunities

Carol Salva’s Boosting Achievement Podcast: https://salvac.edublogs.org/the-boosting-achievement-esl-podcast/
Tan Huyhn’s Empowering Language Learners podcast: https://www.empoweringells.com/podcast/
Voice Ed Canada educational radio: https://voiced.ca/ 

Announcements

Schools will be receiving files from the Welcome Centre this week. Also, included will be re-signed AIPs that need to replace ones previously sent out.

Last Note

Jeannette, Fanny and Michelle would like to thank you for all your support, collaboration, and encouragement. We hope to re-connect with you all in the fall. Have an amazing, much-deserved summer break.

Monday Mash Up June 15th

June 15, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Last week’s Victories

Many teachers are finishing up assessments, report cards, and AIPs. A task that seemed overwhelmingly insurmountable in April has been accomplished. You all have done an amazing job at learning new skills and techniques. You are awesome.

Questions

Which students should be marked on the proficiency scale on a report card? 

Please see this document: Updated Reporting Guidelines for Elementary ELL 2019-2020

Reminders

If you need Fanny to come to your school to sign AIPs, please email her to set a date.

Events have been added to the staff development calendar for the 2020-21 school year, please take a look at sign up for ones you are interested in attending. Dates are set but whether the meetings are remote or in-person will be determined in the future.

Resources

Newsela has an article in 5 reading levels (grade 3, 5, 7, 9, 12) to read and discuss systemic racism with your students.

 

Last Note

This year has been like nothing we have every seen. We deserve and need the summer break that is coming up to decompress and celebrate our accomplishments. Because we had to learn on the fly a new style of teaching, professional development came from experience. However, there are some opportunities in the summer you may want to take advantage of:

If you’ve ever wanted to attend the annual SIOP convention but been unable, here is your chance. The conference is going virtual with all sessions being recorded to watch for attendees between July 16-30th. Be aware the conference is not free. Registration can be done here: https://www.siop.org/Annual-Conference

If you want some free PD, July 25th is VirtuEL conference 2020. Larry Ferlazzo (author of The ELL Teacher’s Toolbox) is the keynote with many other notable names like Katie Toppel, Dorina Sackman-Ebuwa, Irina McGrath and Michelle Shory. You can find more information here: https://sites.google.com/view/virtuel/virtuel-2020

Thank you for all that you do.

Fanny and Michelle

 

 

Monday Mash Up June 8 2020

June 8, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Last week’s Victories

Fanny learned how to make labels so the Welcome Centre could start sending files to schools. Hooray!

The Welcome Centre was able to accept their first family in person since March 13!

Danielle Stokes at Burnaby North Secondary had the most students (voluntary attendance) in her class twice last week to discuss the recent anti-racism protests. She also learned how to keep learning and content objectives on screen while doing a powerpoint presentation. Ask her how!

Questions

What should we put in the Tool/Measure Used box of AIP this year?

Oral: Ipt level __/ Observation notes and matrix/ Consultation notes and matrix/ matrix

Reading: Sample and matrix

Writing: Sample and matrix

Should a student who is bridging in all areas be exited?

Does that student continue to need support to succeed in all areas of content in the classroom? If the answer is yes, the student should continue to receive ELL support in the following year. 

Why am I not getting files from the Welcome Centre?

Like everyone, Fanny and Michelle were working remotely until June 1, 2020. Therefore, files were not being sent out. They are working on getting the backlog out as quickly as possible but they ask for your patience. 

What if a student has been exited previously but now seems to need support?

Students can be often be exited for oral proficiency in kindergarten or grade 1 and then need support with reading or writing at some point in their academic journey. If you suspect that this is the case, you can reassess the student at the school. If the student does need support, you must inform the parents before starting service. 

 

Reminders

Make a list of students who have not been assessed before June 30th, 2020 and share it with your administrators so that they can be assessed when school resumes in the fall.

 

Resources

Hope: Where are you? is a free multi-lingual book about Co-vid 19 that can be downloaded into 30 different languages from: https://www.hopewhereareyou.com/ It tells a story about the pandemic from one child’s perspective on each continent. Because it is free, teachers can download versions into all the languages of a classroom and have students write their own stories of hope.

Last Note

“But they sound fluent” is a phrase ELL teachers hear a lot. However, as specialists, we know that being conversationally fluent does not mean the student no longer needs language support. 

Through the work of Jim Cummins, we know there is a difference between BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills) and CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency). According to Baker (2006) “BICS is said to occur when there are contextual supports and props for language delivery. Face-to-face `context embedded´ situations provide, for example, non-verbal support to 

secure understanding. Actions with eyes and hands, instant feedback, cues and clues support verbal language. CALP, on the other hand, is said to occur in ‘context reduced’ [boldface in original] academic situations. Where higher order thinking skills (e.g. analysis, synthesis, evaluation) are required in the curriculum, language is `disembedded´ from a meaningful, supportive context. Where language is `disembedded´ the situation is often referred to as `context reduced´ .” (Baker, 2006, p. 174).

Students develop BICS first as the tasks are less cognitively demanding compared to CALP. Therefore, someone may assume that students have reached fluency because they can achieve tasks using BICS with ease. However, this can lead to erroneous thinking that students lack of achievement in cognitively demanding tasks is due to intelligence or motivation. 

To develop CALP, students need to be taught academic language and concepts explicitly. Then, they need to be given multiple opportunities to practice these skills. As we work in our communities, we can encourage and share this research with others. 


Baker, C. (2006). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (4th Edition).
Clevedon, England, Buffalo, N.Y.: Multilingual Matters.

BICS & CALP Explained by Jim Cummins
http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/bicscalp.html

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Have a great week!

Michelle and Fanny

Monday Mash-up June 1, 2020

June 1, 2020 / / 0 Comments
Last Week’s Victories
Once again, teachers pivoted and adapted for a new learning environment in a short time. You went into schools, you set up classrooms, you met with colleagues and administrators to plan and collaborate both in-person and remotely. You showed bravery, leadership, and compassion. As you head into schools to see students for maybe the first time since March, Fanny and Michelle hope your reunions are filled with joy. We are often the line of communication between our language learners and the rest of the school community so we know they have missed you.
Reminders
If you have questions about assessment and reporting, please see the Frequently Asked Questions Document that was sent out last Wednesday. It can be found here: https://blogs.sd41.bc.ca/ell/2020-reporting-and-year-end-assessment-frequently-asked-questions/
Last Note
This weekend Michelle was listening to Tan Hyunh’s Empowering Language Learner’s Podcast with Dr. Jim Cummins. This Canadian RoyELLty has been researched English language learning for over 40 years. Listening to him speak was so inspiring so she’d thought to share a few of the highlights with you.
  • When a dominant language group does not allow for a minority language in the academic setting, students not fluent in the dominant language will continue to fall further behind academically throughout their schooling.
  • It is a teacher’s responsibility to challenge power and status systems by asking “Who are my students?”
  • Three overlapping groups consistently underachieve in schools: children of immigrants, children from low socio-economic backgrounds, and students from marginalized communities. Students who fall under all three groups achieve the least academically.
  • Teachers can push back by scaffolding instruction, reinforce academic language, and engage students home languages to learn academic content.
  • The most effective way to combat this underachievement is by making sure students have ample access to print in both target language and heritage language and consistently engage in literacy activities. Reading can eliminate 1/3 of the affect of poverty. 
  • Finally, challenge all students with learning that reflects a high level of intelligence and capability.

Thank you for all you do. Have a fantastic week.

Fanny and Michelle

Supporting English Learners at Home

May 28, 2020 / / 0 Comments

There are a lot of websites out there to help with students studying of English language. However, it can be hard to know where to start. Below are some suggestions that I recommend.

Primary

A resource I often recommend to parents of new students is Unite for Literacy. This amazing website has dozens of books that have beautiful pictures and informative as well as engaging stories. The books can be read by the student or they can choose to have the story read to them in English. However, the best feature is that the stories can be read in over 40 languages. By clicking the narration button, these languages will be available. Choose the language you want and the books that are available with that second narration will be shown. Students can listen to the English narration, their heritage language narration, and then repeat or read the text. This is an excellent opportunity in a dual language situation.

Intermediate

A fun vocabulary building website is Quizlet. There are thousands of vocabulary lists to student (including mine under the user name mvanbalkom). There are many activities and games students can use to study these but they can also create their own based on classwork or independent study. Finally, students can use the multilingual function to translate words into their heritage languages.

Secondary

A website that has multiple home uses for secondary students is News in Levels. In my own secondary classes, I often have students work with this site. It offers three levels of English difficulty for news stories around the world. All three levels have audio versions as well as the text and vocabulary support. I recommend students listen to the audio while reading the text, then read the text out loud either with the audio or alone. Then, write one sentence summary of what they read either in their home language or in English.

Bitmoji Virtual Classrooms

May 15, 2020 / / 0 Comments

In the last few weeks, a new way to present materials to students has emerged on social media. Virtual Classrooms use embedded links to websites or videos to organize information. These classrooms are an engaging way for students to interact with your materials and assignments. In addition, they provide visual scaffolding for ELL student. Finally, they are pretty fun to make (think Sims without the annoying language). 

They are so fun to make that below are two versions. One is a virtual version of this blog and the other is a sample ELL classroom. As you click the items, they will take you to links of audio books, resources, and tools. 

If you are interested in making one of your own, this We are Teachers article is a great place to start. 

Please share out your creations with the Burnaby ELL community. 

 

 

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