English speakers of other languages

English Speakers of Other Languages

ESOL at Lyall Bay School

• A brief history of ESOL at Lyall Bay School - Clint

• What happens now -Gillian

• Charter Target – Rebecca• Points to Ponder - Clint

How schools were fundedPrior to 1998 ESOL funding was dealt by Local Office in Lower Hutt.Students were placed in one of two categories –- Category 1 (most severe)- Category 2 (least severe)

In 1997 we had 20 students who qualified for assistance- 4 Category 1- 16 Category 2- 6% of the current school role

How schools were fundedIn1998 ESOL funding was taken over by National Operations

Provided a standard rate of funding over 12 payments

One application form for resourcing, completed each term- Term 1: 23 students funded totalling $1840 ($80 per student)- Term 2 : 25 students totalling $2000- Term 3 : 29 students totalling $2320- Term 4 : 35 students totalling $2800

In 1999 funding increased to $100 per student and we reached a high of 37 funded students during that year.

How schools were funded

In 2000 applications for funding started being completed twice a year

Funding for period 1 (terms 1 and 2) was completed by March 1

Funding for period 2 (terms 3 and 4) was completed by August 1

How schools are now funded

In 2001 a new refuge policy and funding came into use. NESB (non English speaking background) students received $125 per funding period and refugees $275

Our first refugee arrived in funding period 2 in 2001

In 2005 new funding changes came out - Migrant students $400 first year, $300 subsequent years.- Refugee students $600 in first year, $300 subsequent years- NZ born students $300 in their first 4 years

How schools are now funded

Currently we have 33 students on our ESOL roll.- 14 migrant students- 1 refugee student- 18 NZ born students

Funding for this period (period 1) is $9256

During this year we received extra funding of $10 000. This was the 3rd and final part of 3 years of extra ESOL funding. –much appreciated!!!

Verification

Schools are audited by the ESOL verifiers every two years.Gillian and I meet with the verifiers to discuss our procedures and policies.The verifiers also talk to ESOl children on the list, and to classroom teachers.All paperwork is also viewed.We have received very positive reports each time we have been verified.Our next verification is due later this year.

Assessing the students - ESOL/AF

Students were assessed mainly by me in the early days.Teachers would inform me of the students requiring assistance and I would put the claim in.

When the new forms (ESOL/AF) arrived I worked more closely with the teachers, but still was responsible for completing the forms and making sure the applications were sent in on time!

Gillian now works with the teachers and aids them in completing the forms. She is responsible for completing applications

The assessment form is quite long and detailed, and one could argue (and we frequently do) that they are time consuming and in some cases extremely difficult to complete.

Students being assessed are compared with their cohorts.






English Language LearningProgressions (ELLP)

Change of funding form: The ministry are currently in the process of changing the way we request funding for our ESOL children. It is now being done through the ‘ELLP’ ( English Language Learning Progressions)Focus: The focus is still on listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Professional Development: The management team, myself and the SENCO have received training on this new assessment tool and are hoping to implement them throughout the school by the funding round at the end of the year.It’s a positive change: With these progressions their role is two –fold. 1) They are a tool to assess students progress on a regular basis 2) this data can be transferred directly to the request for funding forms. Previously our school assessments did not correlate with our funding forms which meant considerable time was spent completing forms which were only used to gain ESOL funding. This change will be more time efficient and I believe more relevant and successful.

Assessing the students - ELLP





The ESOL ChildrenA new child is enrolled

• Kathy informs me if the family speak a language other than English.

• I meet with teacher to discuss child OR

• teacher alerts me if they feel the child is having difficulty in class due to language barriers.

Child is Assessed• After child has been at school for a

period of time (about 6 weeks) I will assess the child in the areas of;

# vocab# listening # speaking

# reading and writing assessments are either completed by teacher/myself.

Setting goals, compiling the programme and working with the child

• Programme is designed with the teacher - taking into consideration# assessment information and information gathered from classroom work

• Set goals for each area – listening, speaking, reading, writing

• Decide how we are going to meet these goals – teacher, teacher-aide, ESOL tchr# decide how we will work – either ESOL teacher taking child/children in class or withdrawn from class programme. # This decision is often around whether the child is able to access the curriculum being covered in class.

Next step decided• Decided with teacher whether I can work with

child or provide ideas/support to teacher• Children with minimal English and jnr children are

given priority in terms of working with me.

Programme Planning• As mentioned this is very much done in consultation with the child’s teacher.

• I will often try and incorporate what the child is focussing on in their class in the programme eg if class are working on ‘Instructional Writing’ I will do the same. If topic is Wellington – I will incorporate this theme into our programme.

The middle school were doing a unit on ‘Natural Resources’. Priyanka and I made a sundial. Connected this to ‘instructional writing’ and wrote how to make a sundial.

Rayhaan was very new to NZ with very minimal English. We walked around school taking photos of objects and places and here he is playing memory with the cards. A great way of learning new vocabulary.

Edward and I had been going over a reading book given to him by his teacher. I realised he didn’t know what wood, metal and plastic was. Edward and I walked around the school taking photos of various objects made of plastic, wood and metal. We put these in his vocab book and looked at the phrase ‘ is made of…..’. In following sessions we did a sorting activity using these and other objects.

Student Achievement Target – Goal 4 - Literacy

• In 2013, two students were enrolled at Lyall Bay School as a result of a merger of two schools in the local area.

• Their ESOL forms and OTJs highlighted an urgent need for language support.

• These students came with extra funding.

• It was decided to place these students together with a small group of similarly struggling ESOL students into the same class in 2014.

• Using the funding provided we purchased 6 tablets for these students to work with.

• Rebecca, Gillian and I developed an action plan - for these students using assisted technology to work co-operatively in a group

Classroom Programme

Target GoalsChildren will develop confidence in speaking in both small and large groups.

Develop written language skills.

Social Interactions between their peers.

Increased written and oral vocabulary.

Support in the ClassGillian - Working with identified target group withdrawing them weekly.

Katarina – Supports this group through Reading/Writing rotations.

Buddy System – Students are paired up for support for activities and buddy reading.

Teacher – Ongoing Classroom Programme

Current Focus

Reading/Writing Oral Language and Vocabulary Extension

• Word of the Week

• Vocab activities

• Interactive activities using the tablets

• Smart Shute

• Oral Language

• Instructional Writing – How to use the tablets?

• Current events

• Sentence structure

• Games

• Building confidence

• Online Storybooks

Buddy Reading

What is Happening in Class?

Buddy Support

The class is currently working in groups on different technology projects. Target students were placed in groups where the can be supported.

Mathematics

Students are in ability based groups. They are either working with me or on activities suitable to their needs. Currently focusing on Geometry. Vocab development in this area is a big focus.

Rinku working with her group which is designing a safety box to keep the new tablets safe!

How are the Tablets helping Student Learning?

• Google translator

• Apps and websites

• Videos and camera – We have been recording out reading group. This helps students to reflect back on what they have done.

• Research

• Develops confidence – the group is able to show other students in the class how to use the tablets.

• Improved enthusiasm especially in reading.

• More confidence when using the computer to write.

We know it is helping because:

• Increased participation in oral situations both in class and in the playground.

• Increased use of content vocabulary in a range of contexts i.e social and curriculum contexts and in both oral and written situations.

Points to ponder – not in any particular order• It can take 5 to 8 years or more before all the academic skills required to

cope with classroom language and curriculum content are developed in ESOL.

• New Zealand-born students are now entitled to up to 3 years of funding support, while migrants are entitled to 5 years of support. However, most of these students will not reach the ‘cohort level’ within the time they are entitled to funding support.

• National Standards data for all ESOL students is required to be sent to the MOE.

• Even though Boards are able to use ELLP alongside National Standards reporting to show the progress of learners yet to meet The New Zealand Curriculum National Standards four point scale (at, above, below or well below), I am guessing that the 20% tail (or 1 : 5 students) that is supposedly failing is made of a significant number of ESOL students.

Points to ponder – not in any particular order• ESOL students may have highly developed conversational skills in

English, yet still perform poorly in school if their academic language skills remain underdeveloped. This is known as the second-language learning delay.

• Often ESOL students are very adept at rote learning (times tables, word lists etc), often giving the impression that they are performing well

• Often ESOL students are placed into reading recovery (as we are required to do).

• Are we not taking away spaces from students who have reading difficulties and not language specific difficulties.

Points to ponder – taken from the MOE analysis March 2014)• 1 327 schools have funded students.

• The Period 1 (Terms 1 & 2) funding payment was made in March for 31,829 students in 1,327 schools.

• An analysis of trends over the last five years shows that the number of students from Indian backgrounds has increased.

• The combined number of Indian and Fijian Indian ESOL funded students is currently 4,855, making this group of students the second largest after Samoan. LBS’s largest group being funded is Indian (1/3 of our funded students)

• The largest number of refugee students came from Burma and Nepal• In 2004, the largest groups were Somali, Afghan and Iraqi.

How will this effect on education in the future?

Education

English speakers of other languages