The Road to English
NABE 2006
Phoenix, Arizona
Norm Gold
Sacramento, California
norm@normgoldassociates.com
Silence is the enemy
of education.
Talk with your children!
Goal:
Improve the learning and
acquisition of English
Objectives
Participants will:
•
•
•
•
Increase understanding of what is a
language.
Understand the dimensions of the English
language.
Be motivated to use daily activities that
promote full proficiency in English.
Become familiar with resources they can
use to help with the education of their
children.
Agenda
• LEP Students or English Learners (ELs)
–
•
•
•
•
•
Alumnos aprendices de inglés
Language: What is it?
exercise
Acquisition of a language
Activities that promote acquisition
Questions
Evaluation
Exercise
What is language?
• Think - Write
• Discuss in pairs
• Share
Who are LEP Students* in the
USA?
• 5 million LEP in US, 1.6 million in
California, and 144,000 in Arizona, for
example.
• They lack full proficiency in English.
• 84% of LEP in California speak
Spanish.
• They are 25 percent of all enrollment in
California schools.
---------
English is needed for:
•
•
•
•
Jobs
Technical training
University education
Complete participation in this
democracy
Why study?
• Personal advantages
• Social advantages
• An enormous increase in wealth:
– Lifetime income increases one
million dollars
with a university degree.
– Many good non-university careers require
higher education: contractor, supervisor
of construction workers, etc.
There are resources for study:
• In 2003 there was a total of $7.345
billion per year available in grants and
loans.
• Just in California:
– $ 662 million were available
– Contact: California Student Aid
Commission
– Grants up to $9,700 per year
Language
• What is language? What does it mean:
– to KNOW a language?
• What is ELD? (ELD = English language
development)
• Learn vs. acquire a language
• Standards for ELD  ELA
• How to ensure that there are optimal
conditions to promote acquisition of
English.
Dimensions of a language
• BICS– Basic Interpersonal
Communication Skills
• Examples
• CALP – Cognitive Academic Language
Proficiency
• Examples
Complete proficiency in
English requires much effort:
• Student must master BICS and CALP.
• Upon enrollment in school (at the age of
5), an English speaker understands
about 13,000 words and uses between
6,000 and 10,000 words.
… this is similar to the vocabulary of speakers of other languages.
...English requires much...
• Normal growth in language includes
acquisition of between 2,000 and 3,000
words per year.
• A High School graduate controls about
40,000 words.
• Teachers can directly provide between
300 – 400 words per year.
– And the rest, where does it come from?
– Direct teaching/learning provides only about 13 % of the total
needed (400 X 13 years = 5,200).
What we don’t learn is school
we acquire from:
• Interactions with others
– speaking
• Interactions with text
– reading
But a language is much more
than just the words!
• 5 components:
– comprehension, vocabulary, fluency,
pronunciation, grammar
• 4 aspects:
– listen, speak, read, write
It also includes…
• Linguistic competencies:
– grammatical, sociolinguistic,
conversational, strategic
• Abilities to use:
– Notions and functions: authentic use of the
language
For language development
you need both:
• Acquisition
– By means of conversation and reading
• And Learning
– Through formal study
ELD Standards
• Precursor or on-ramp to reach the ELA
(English language arts) standards.
• Form the base for the CELDT
–
California English Language
Development Test
CELDT, combined with tests of the use of
English should guide strategies for:
•
ELD instruction
• Content instruction (language and literature,
mathematics, sciences, etc.), using:
• SDAIE - Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English
• Native language
• Mainstream instruction
ELD
English
and
ELA
Language and literature
Advanced
_________________________________________________________________________________
Advanced
Early Advanced
______________________________________________________________________________
Reclassified FEP} 
Intermediate
{EL}
Early Intermediate
{EL}
Beginner
{EL}
Proficien
t
Basic
Below
Basic
Far Below
Basic
Parents can:
•
•
•
•
•
Talk with our children
Tell them stories
Relate family history
Sing
Read stories
– Our child can read to us...
...we can also:
• Share
– poems, rhymes
– riddles
– jokes
• Ask about what they are doing in school
• Ask open-ended questions
-- examples
...also:
• Give chores at home and talk with them about
details of the work:
– Teach how to wash clothes, how to fix a toy, beat
an egg, prepare the batter for tortillas, how to toast
bread, etc..
• Play board games and SPEAK about what we
are doing, how, and why…
– Examples: checkers, dice games, dominoes etc.
– Do you have other examples?
• Ask that our children teach us at least
ONE new word in English every day.
• TALK about a program on television,
examining details of time, plot,
characters, and reasons for action or
conflict.
When we talk with our
children:
• We communicate love and affection.
• We develop their intellectual and
linguistic capacities.
• We guide them toward a productive life.
• We fulfill our responsibility to be our
children’s first teacher.
Schools should ensure an optimal
environment for language
acquisition
• Clearly understandable course designs.
• Rigorous courses that are monitored
and implemented with consistency.
• Programs where language proficiency
and academic needs of the students
guide instruction.
• Frequent use of data and results of
tests.
• A total commitment of the school district
and all school staff to language
development.
Talk with your children!
Silence is the enemy
of education.
The road to English is long
and difficult
• We must make an effort.
• It requires much time.
• The time passes better, when
we talk.
• There are many benefits.
Summary
• Questions
• Evaluation
Resources
•
NCELA
– National Clearnighouse for English Language Acquistiion and Language
Instruction
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/resfor/parents/espanol.htm
•
Brochures of the Parent Institute (Fairfax Station, VA): [English and Spanish]
– Lo que los padres pueden hacer en el hogar para ayudar a los estudiantes
con…
• El vocabulario, La escritura, La lectura
•
FAFSA en español
– Financial aide for higher education
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/scomplete013.htm
•
META – Multicultural Education Training and Advocacy
– Office (415) 546 – 6382, FAX: (415) 546 – 6363
•
PIQUE – Parent Institute for Quality Education
– http://www.piqe.org/
– Office (858) 483-4499, FAX (858) 483-4646
For more information
Norm Gold Associates
Sacramento, CA 95819
Many thanks to:
Parents, teachers and administrators in:
Desert Sands USD, Hayward USD, Newport-Mesa USD,
Parlier USD, Sacramento City USD, Santa Ana USD, West
Contra Costa USD.
California Department of Education, English Learner
Accountability Unit
__________________________________________________________
Norm Gold • www.normgoldassociates.com
• (916) 731-4734
norm@normgoldassociates.com
The kids will persevere and
they will succeed!
Many thanks !