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