BILINGUAL/ELL DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER 2017/2018

Welcome!

We believe that the role of education is to prepare children with the knowledge and skills that are needed to become productive, successful citizens of the United States of America. Our educational philosophy is that each child must be recognized as a unique individual with personal strengths, learning styles and various levels of readiness. We believe that every child can learn and develops at his or her own pace. We acknowledge that it is our responsibility, as effective teachers, to provide a safe, orderly environment that is challenging, while instilling a life-long love for learning. We use a variety of research-based approaches to provide meaningful authentic language instruction to meet the specific needs of English Language Learners. We respect all families and their children from all cultural backgrounds and believe in promoting pride in culture.

A NOTE ABOUT LANGUAGES

There are about five thousand different languages spoken in the world. Many languages are spoken by a relatively small number of people in specific geographic areas, while major languages are spoken by a large number of people in widespread areas. People have long been interested in having one language that could be spoken throughout the world and serve as a bridge between language groups for international communication. English is spoken throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. It is also used as a second language in almost every part of the world. 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF LEARNING TWO LANGUAGES?

In today’s society a majority of people live in situations where they regularly use two or more languages. It is estimated that between half and two-thirds of the world’s population is bilingual. Knowing more than one language therefore is a skill to be valued and encouraged. Research shows that continuing to develop a child’s native language does not interfere with the acquisition of English – it facilitates the process! The child who knows more than one language has personal, social, cognitive and economic advantages which will continue throughout his or her life.

PARENT ADVICE

  • Converse with your child in the language you know best, your home language
  • Foster literacy development by reading books and telling stories to your child in the home language AND ask “wh” questions (what, where, why, who)
  • Have your child read books in the home language while learning English at school
  • Expand your child’s world by exploring the community and joining community groups
  • Check the District 113A website using Google Translate or ask friends about school events
  • Schedule a special time to do homework
  • Look at teacher websites for classroom information and assignments using Google Translate –school work can often be found in Google Classroom and grades are found on the District website
  • If you cannot help your child with any given homework, please let your child’s teacher know

MANDATED STATE TESTING

Testing time: January 17- February 20, 2018

ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners) is a state mandated assessment given annually in Illinois to monitor sTudents’ progress in acquiring academic English. It is a secure large-scale English language proficiency test given to students in kindergarten through 12th grade, who have been identified as English language learners (ELLs.) While the lower grades will be taking a paper and pencil test, the higher grades test online.

IDENTIFYING STUDENTS WHO ARE EL (ENGLISH LEARNERS)

Students who are new to the district complete a home language survey form at registration. If a student has a home language listed, which is not English, and the students has never been screened for language services, the building ELL teacher will assess the student for English language proficiency. Currently, students will be assessed using the WIDA Screener and must achieve an overall score of 5.0 to be considered proficient in English. If a student scores below a 5.0, he or she is eligible for academic support through the Bilingual/ELL Department.