SLPS TESOL ExcELLence Issue 6 February 2015 BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ONLINE TESOL COMMUNITY Education Connections: Teachers Working Together for English Learner Success NEWS FROM ESOL SITES Fundraising Event for Nahed Chapman New American Academy Education Connections is an online network of teachers managed by CAL that provides easy online access to free webinars, teacher-created videos and lesson plans, and a (Submitted by Mrs. Harris, NCNAA Director) January 30, 2015 the Rotary Club of St. Louis, Missouri hosted “A Night for Nahed Chapman New American Academy (NCNAA)” which was held at the elegant Missouri Athletic Club. This grand affair sponsored a night of dinner and dancing as a fundraiser to assist our newcomer students providing additional money to support instruction and needed commodities for the newly arrived students and their families. The night began with a getting acquainted time. Many organizations and agencies were represented such as the International Institute, Open Door, Bridges, and of course, SLPS. Mr. Ed Harris, Rotary member chairperson, formally welcomed al and gave a heartfelt introduction about our program and his desire to assist. He also introduced the keynote speaker, Donnie Harris, Director of Nahed Chapman Academy. She spoke on the original vision of Nahed Chapman’s Newcomer program. Mrs. Harris described the common challenges and successes of our students as future goals of the newcomer (continued on p.2) community of educators working together to implement standards-based instruction across the country. Join the Educations Connections community today by accessing the following link. https://www.obaverse.net/edconnect/ DID YOU KNOW? Updates from the Office for Civil Rights http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/edu/documents/eldcleng .pdf According to the U.S. Department Office of Civil Rights, even though “school districts have an obligation to serve all EL students, parent have a right to decline or opt their children out of a school district’s EL program or out of a particular EL services within EL program.” To ensure that the needs of optout EL students are being met, “school districts must periodically monitor the progress of students who have opted out of EL programs.” If you have students whose parents ( INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 News from ESOL Sites 1 Center for Applied Linguistics ( CAL) Invitation: Become a Member of the Online Community them into your monitoring files. If the opted- out student does not demonstrated appropriate growth in English proficiency, or struggle in one or more subject due to language barrier, the school district’s affirmative steps include informing the EL student’s parent of his /her lack of progress and offering the parent further opportunities to enroll the student in the EL program or at least EL services and any time. 1 2 Updates for the Office of Civil Rights News from ESOL Sites ( continued) 2 MELL 2014 Conference 2 Welcome to our New ESOL Staff- Mrs. Juhlin at Busch AAA Middle School Calendar of Monthly Events 3 opted out of EL services from our program please include March 6 is the end of the third quarter for the academic year. Please, complete the individual monitoring forms for the M1, M2, and opted-out students. Based on DESE requirements, the information have to be kept on file for each monitored students. Newsletter 1 (continued from p.1) MELL 2014 Conference (Submitted by Mrs. Anderson, SLPS SIOP Coach) NEWS FROM THE ESOL SITES Fundraising Event for Nahed Chapman New American Academy At the 2014 MELL Conference, Adrienne Johnson from program. Upon conclusion of the speaker’s presentation, a classroom. Instead of students conducting the same scrumptious dinner was served. The evening ended with live experiment in groups, Ms. Johnson had each group conduct a entertainment by Tammy and the Grippies (which stands for different experiment that determined density of objects as they gray haired hippies) and dancing. observed buoyant force and the force of gravity. After students The Rotary Club will award the NCNAA money collected observed the findings and recorded their observations, they from the fundraiser at their upcoming meeting. We are partnered with students from other groups to explain their forever grateful to the Rotary Club of St. louis, Missouri! specific experiment and their results using the vocabulary Missouri Western State University demonstrated how to increase students’ use of academic language in the science greater than, less than, buoyant force, force of gravity and density. By explaining the procedure and findings to different classmates who had no knowledge of the other experiments, it created a communication gap activity. Students were able to practice using the target vocabulary and to explain the content concepts to classmates in a more authentic situation. Welcome Our New Staff at Busch AAA Middle School- Mrs. Juhlin! Mann Mustangs are Busy! (Submitted by Mrs. Berry, Mann ESOL Teacher) (Submitted by Mrs. Juhlin, Busch AAA ESOL Teacher) In December, our students helped their teachers create Hi, I’m Ruth Juhlin. I am a “third culture kid” having grown up presentations about various countries. At each stop on in Burundi, Quebec and the Congo. I speak French as a Holidays Around the World students learned about several second language and have my BS in French Education earned countries’ locations, customs, flags, and food. They were in ’90. My life took a different course in order to find work in able to taste many treats from countries such as Mexico, the mid ‘90s, pursuing a BS in Nursing, which provided stable France, Kenya, and Vietnam to name a few. Many ESOL and fulfilling work in hospitals, and then most recently, for 5 students wore clothing from their native countries and years in a K-4 public school in Cape Girardeau. It was there participated in the presentations. In January, Mann families that I rediscovered my passion for teaching. I began to enjoyed snuggling up in their PJ’s to watch Frozen for complete requirements for certification in French in Missouri Family Movie Night. On February 12th, and pursued a MA in TESOL at SEMO, while nursing in the Mann will hold its annual Friendship Dance. Girls will wear fancy dresses and public school. My husband and 3 kids, now age 16,14 and 12 boys must wear ties to attend. The students will enjoy have been very supportive. I recently moved to the St. Louis dancing, crafts, snacking, and taking pictures. area for my husband’s work, which was a good career choice for me as there is much more work available in the St. Louis area in ESOL. So this is a new adventure for me in my life, really a dream finally realized to be teaching language. I look forward to meeting all the ESOL staff and thanks for welcoming me! Newsletter 2 CALENDAR Date OF EVENTS Event Time Location Thursday, February 5 ESOL Parent Committee 3:30PM-4:30 PM ESOL Office, Building 1 Thursday, February 12 ESOL PD Committee 3:30PM-4:30 PM ESOL Office, Building 1 3:30PM-4:30 PM ESOL Office, Building 1 3:30PM-4:30 PM ESOL Office, Building 1 8:00- 12:00 ESOL office, Building 3 Meeting Thursday, February 19 ESOL Leadership Committee Thursday, February 26 ESOL Community Outreach Committee February 2 Co-teaching Training 12:00-4:00 Friday, February 13 District PD 8:00- 3:30PM Sign in to My Learning Plan Monday, February 16 HOLIDAY- President’s Day Tuesday, February 17 High School College Prep 5:30-7:00PM ESOL Office Parent Meeting Friday, February 27 ACCESS test administration is due Please, share the ESOL updates from your site with Elena Okanovic by February 28, 2015 to be included in our next issue of the SLPS TESOL ExcELLence newsletter. Newsletter 3