Developing A Program
For New Arrivals
Irene Jiménez
Director of Bilingual/ESL Programs
Hays CISD
jimenezi@hayscisd.net
District Profile
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Hays CISD is in North Central Hays
County/South of Austin
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2008-2009: 13,800 students
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19 campuses/2 High Schools, 2
Alternative Programs, 4 Middle Schools,
11 Elementary Schools
District Profile
ELL Population: 1800
(2000-2001 364 ELLs)
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Dual Language Programs:
One Way Program K – 5
Two Way Program K – 5
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Content Based ESL Instruction
District Profile
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SIOP Trained Secondary Teachers
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Content Area Intervention Teachers
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SIOP Trained Instructional Strategists
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Newcomer Center
Challenges We Faced
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Improve Attendance–ELL students were
not showing up for school
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Provide Support for Teachers-Our
teachers could not communicate with
their students
Help, they don’t speak English!
Challenges We Faced

To improve TAKS scores
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To show growth in English reading
proficiency as measured by TELPAS
Reading
To motivate students to attend school
and graduate
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What We Had Tried
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Content Mastery
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ESL Strategies for Content Area
Teachers
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Translations
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Mexican textbooks
Looking For Solutions and
Exploring Our Options
Leadership Team:
Director of Secondary Curriculum,
Principals, Assistant Principals,
Counselors, Communities in School,
Bilingual/ESL Director, ESL Teachers,
Math and Science teachers
Findings

Increasing number of recent immigrants
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Students and teachers could not
communicate with each other
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Students were not mastering the
curriculum
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Students were not participating in class
Findings

Secondary teachers were unprepared to
instruct English Language Learners

Lack of appropriate resources or
materials for ELLS for content area
subjects

Unable to provide support for students
with gaps in their education

No available assessment instrument in
L1
Goals
To Assist ELL Students

To acquire social and academic English

To develop speaking, listening, reading
and writing skills in English

To integrate with native English
speakers
Goals

To improve attendance

To acquire credits toward graduation
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To master TAKS
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To increase their confidence to
participate in class
Our Dream
Develop a
New Arrival Center
New Arrival Center
To Serve ELL Students
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enrolled in grades 9-11
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who were Non-English Speakers
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who had been in the country for less
than 1 year
Questions
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What entry and exit criteria would we
have?
How would it be different from an ESL
class?
What assessment instrument would we
use?
Questions
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Where would the program be housed
How would we ensure that they were
integrated with other students?
Would we have a full day or a half day?
Would we have a semester or all year
program?
Questions
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Class size
Where would the students attend
classes after exiting the program?
How would we monitor them after
exiting?
Teacher qualifications
What program would we use?
What training would teachers receive?
Would the students earn credits ?
Teacher Qualifications

ESL certified – Bilingual preferred
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Experience working with second
language learners

Secondary certification
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Flexible and innovative
Assessments

Logramos (Vocabulary, Reading & Math
Skills)
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LAS Oral, LAS Reading
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Released RPTE
Steps Taken
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Superintendent approval
Visited New Arrival Center in Galena
Park ISD
Generated parent and student
interest/Bilingual Advisory Council
Steps Taken
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Board Approval
Attended the Accelerated Learning
Training for New Arrival CentersPhase I and Phase II
Bought the curriculum
District Level Coordination
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Registrar at each campus referred
students who were recent immigrants
to Lehman High School
Counselor would meet with student and
parents to explain program and goals
Transcripts were evaluated for credits
District Level Coordination

Students were tested
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Counselor had to hand schedule
students
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Transportation had to be coordinated
Program Design/ First Year
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Half day program for 1 semester
Class size was limited to 20 students
Credits earned:
.5 ESL, .5 U.S. History,
.5 Public Speaking, .5 Reading (as a
local credit)
Program Design/ First Year
Afternoon classes:
 Students with gaps in education took:
Fine Arts, Physical Education, Computer
Strong students in L1 took:
Math, World Geography, Fine Arts or
Computer
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Program Design
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Bilingual paraprofessional would trail
students in content area classes to
provide support
Newcomer teacher provided
intervention to students who had gaps
in education in L1
The second semester students stayed
at Lehman and were supported by the
bilingual paraprofessional
Program Design
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New Arrival Teacher met weekly with
content area teachers.
Student grades were monitored every
six weeks
Students invited to attend ESL summer
school program
End of Year Program
Evaluation
What We Had Provided:
 Orientation to school system and
community
 Individualized attention
 Support services: CIS counselors,
Health Clinic, Tutoring
End of Year Program
Evaluation
What We Discovered:
 Second semester students were not
handling content area class well.
 Not enough time in that supportive
environment
 Needed more teacher training
 Additional resources for content area
support
End of Year Program
Evaluation
What We Discovered
 There was a need for new methods to help
accelerate the second language acquisition
process.
 Educating second language learners at the
secondary level required providing content
area intervention.
 That learning a second language is
emotionally and psychologically draining
Making Changes
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Awarded LEP SSI Grant
Partner with ISLA- Institute for Second
Language Acquisition/ Texas A & M
Corpus Christi
July 2005: Bilingual Advisory Council
met to create an improvement plan to
be funded by the LEP SSI Grant.
ISLA Support
Conducted a Needs Assessment which
was created by ISLA
http://ell.tamucc.edu/shelteredinstruction.
html
 ISLA reviewed our Needs Assessment
and gave us feedback
 Provided technical support as we
designed an implementation plan
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Findings
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For success we need a program for all
campuses
Administrators and faculty needed an
awareness of the process of second
language acquisition
Faculty need to be trained in sheltered
instruction
Instructional Strategists were needed
for new to profession teacher support
Findings
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Teacher support for content area
teachers working with ELL students
Content area intervention was needed
for ELL students
Supplemental content area resources
appropriate for ELL students
Plan Goes Into Action
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ISLA provided an ESL Academy which was
attended by elementary and secondary
content area teachers and a few
administrators (Second Language Acquisition)
Training was provided to campuses
This training is very important and must be
provided before any other training such as
sheltered instruction
Plan Goes Into Action
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ISLA provided SIOP and CALLA
training. We sent selected teachers and
academic deans
Provided training on Best Practices
District provided Instructional Strategists
for every campus with local funding
Grant funds provided Content Area
Intervention Teachers on every
secondary campus
SIOP Trained Teachers
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Principals required teachers to attend
SIOP training. Why ?? Scheduling!!
Required does not work
Next year principals identified teachers
who wanted to take on this role
Students were hand scheduled into
these classrooms
Implementation Plan
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The teachers who attended SIOP and
CALLA training became our content
intervention teachers and instructional
strategists.
The instructional strategists took on the
role of SIOP coaches, providing monthly
training by content area, modeling
lessons and helping with lesson plans
Our academic deans were better
informed of what to look for in the
classrooms
New Arrival Center Changes
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From a half year program to a full year
Dropped US History credit
Awarded:1 ESOL, 1 Reading, 1/2 Public
Speaking, 1/2 Communications
Modified curriculum: Integrated Access
Math, Access Science, Access History Great Source
Second Year Changes
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Content Area Intervention Teacher
Hand scheduled into classrooms with
SIOP trained teachers
After school tutoring
Summer School ESL Program
Where We Are Now
Secondary campuses have SIOP
trained teachers – not SIOP classrooms
 Content Area Intervention Teachers are
providing intervention, not tutoring
 Bought appropriate content area
resources
 Instructional Strategists provide monthly
training for sheltered instruction
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Training
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Summer ESL Academies
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Summer SIOP Training/ 2 days
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CALLA Strategies/ 1 day
District Sustainability
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Commitment to continue the New Arrival
Center
Instructional Strategists and Content
Intervention Teachers
Title III funds will be used to continue
the tutoring that was being provided by
grant funds.
SIOP training will continue to be
provided by the instructional strategist
Curriculum
•
High School NAC Curriculum from
Maximum Capacity Learning
•
Hampton Brown- The Basics
•
Great Source- Access Math, Access
Science, Access History
National Geographic Resources
•
Maximum Capacity Learning
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Lesson Plans
Large Full Color Flash Cards
Full Color Posters
Classical CDs
Drama Books
History Books
Maximum Capacity Learning
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Ángeles Chávez :
angeles@aclanguageschool.com
281/265-3276
Dr. Georgi Lozanov’s Theory
Emphasis a safe & positive environment
Recognizes learning styles
Promotes collaboration
Encourages learning language in content
Incorporates music
Supports field trips