Supporting Newcomer Multilingual Learners

Supporting Newcomer Multilingual Learners

1. Welcome: Please grab a snack and sit where you are comfortable. We will begin at 9am

2. Meaningfully Supporting the whole mll Presented by Aika Topolski and Karen Reed Adapted from Mill Park LDS, Katie Nicholas and reviewed/revised by District LDS Team

3. Strategies The goal of this session is to walk away with as many practical strategies as possible for you to immediately use to support students. Keep in mind that quality instruction and support should be intentional, sustainable and consistent! You can and do make huge impacts on the students you serve!

4. Session Agreements REMAIN STUDENT CENTERED Be mindful of others’ experiences and backgrounds Participate ANYTHING ELSE?

5. In DDSD, We believe… Being multilingual is a superpower (for everyone–students and staff!!) The neural pathways! Talk time is key MLLs will need many opportunities for practice, in a low stress environment, to reach mastery. All students have a wealth of knowledge Our task is to find the key that unlocks their background knowledge.

6. District demographics By The Numbers: +/- 8,900 students 63-68 Home Languages 2459 Active MLLs (3/11/24) DD Elementary schools have an average of 23 languages spoken by their student population Currently we have 473 identified “Newcomers” enrolled K-5 4/11/24 Approx. 11% represents 1st or 2nd Gen. Eastern European Immigrants Approx. 4% represents 1st or 2nd Gen. African Immigrants

7. Our David douglas community Newcomer (n) : A student who has recently moved to a new country and is immersed in a new language, culture and community.

8. Have you ever been immersed in a community in which you did not speak the language? Describe your experience. How did you feel? How did you communicate? What things/tools/strategies helped you navigate? If you have not been in this situation.. Use your imagination and make inferences to respond to the same prompt. Words Pictures Sentences Lists

9. Give one. Get one. Find a partner . Take turns sharing and listening . Thank them! Find a new partner . Repeat until time runs out.

10. Now imagine being a young child + all that! OUR KIDS

11. Behavior is communication Every child is unique. Some MLLs may exhibit specific behaviors due to a variety of emotions. These behaviors might look like: Withdrawn Not following directions/expectations Leaving the group/room Big emotions (crying, yelling, anger)

12. As of 4/11/24 CP 502 EB 417 GH 450 GP 506 LP 472 Menlo 386 Mill 532 VP 376 WP 379 # Home Languages 21 15 25 27 25 22 28 23 23 % English as a Home Language 66.2% 64.5% 58.7% 58.9% 51.5% 72.5% 45.3% 60.4% 53% Top 5 Languages Spoken English Spanish Cantonese Viet. Russian English Spanish Cantonese Mandarin Russian English Spanish Viet. Cantonese Ukrainian English Spanish Ukrainian Russian Viet English Spanish Russian Nepali Cantonese English Spanish Viet. Cantonese Rohingya English Spanish Somali Viet. Russian English Spanish Dari Russian Viet. English Spanish Dari Ukrainian Russian Turn and Talk: What do you notice/observe/wonder ?? I notice/observe/wonder _____________ because….

13. Language gallery walk Walk around the room and visit the LANGUAGE POSTERS that represent the top languages spoken in our Elementary Schools and indicate your familiarity using the symbols below. If you speak it → If you know some words/phrases → If you know the specific country/countries where it is predominantly spoken→ ✓ → You may add more than one symbol to the same poster

14. English Spanish Second most widely spoken language in the world. Romance language along with Catalan, Italian, French, Portuguese and Romanian.Over 21 countries have Spanish as their official language. Chinese-Cantonese A tonal language (four tones) One of seven dialects of Chinese. Spoken in Southern China and Hong Kong. Vietnamese A tonal language (six tones). Originally written with chinese characters but adapted to latin script during French colonization. Three regional dialects. Russian The official language in Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Uses the Cyrillic alphabet which is based on the Greek alphabet. Originated in the middle ages. Chinese-Mandarin Most spoken language in the world. Spoken by 70% of Chinese Speakers. Same characters as cantonese but pronounced differently. Spoken in Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. Ukrainian Spoken as the primary language of 70% of Ukrainians. About 30% speak Russian as their first language. Uses a form of the Cyrillic alphabet. Nepali Language of Nepal and spoken by many in Bhutan, India and Burma. Written in Devanagari which is similar to Hindi. Originally based on ancient sanskrit Rohingya Arakan is the historical geographical name of Rakhine State, Myanmar (formerly Burma). About 2 million speakers. Arabic alphabet system. Somali Official language of Somalia and Ethiopia. Approx. 4 dialects. One of the Cushtic languages spoken in the horn of Africa. Uses english latin alphabet (except p v and z) Dari Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Very similar to farsi when written but not as much when spoken.

15. What do all these acronyms mean?! ELL English Language Learner MLL Multilingual Learner ELPA English Language Proficiency Assessment **With asset based thinking has come a shift in language: no longer is not speaking English seen as a deficit, a hole that needs to be filled. Being multilingual is a strength!

16. Let’s explore a MLL student’s ELPA profile: The ELPA has four domains in which students are assessed: Reading , Writing , Listening , and Speaking . The goal is for them to gain a level of proficiency each year , exiting the program once they have reached a level 4 or 5 in each domain. What do you notice or wonder about this student’s ELPA scores? What patterns or trends do you notice?

17. ELPA Practice TEST Go to this website: https://osasportal.org/students.html >> Sample and Training Tests >> Log in as Guest User >> Keep Default Settings >> Choose Grade Level you want to see

18. Lines of Communication: Cherry Park RED suits make a line (shoulder to shoulder) BLACK suits lineup (shoulder to shoulder) facing red With the person across from you, share one new piece of learning or something that was interesting “One thing I learned was _______” “Something I found interesting was ________ because…” When you’re finished : Voices off, Thumbs up!

19. Inner-Outer Circle: Menlo RED suits will form the outside of the circle BLACK suits form the inside of the circle facing and pairing with someone with a red suit With the person across from you, share one new piece of learning or something that was interesting “One thing I learned was _______” “Something I found interesting was ________ because…” When you’re finished : Voices off, Thumbs up!

20. BREAK Please take a break and be back in 10 minutes

21. For supporting multilingual students (and others!) as whole people! Strategies

22. First and foremost, Show empathy Have patience Maintain high expectations and BELIEVE all students can learn!

23. Show . Don’t tell . Have students be leaders and show one another what they’re to do. Fishbowl/Peer modeling, For everything you do! Task Directions, Expectations, etc. Actually DO what you’re asking them to do (whether it is behavioral or academic) Animate your delivery to provide more context and information beyond the words 1 Visuals! Modeling Peer examples Gestures & Body Language 04 02 03

24. When teaching new vocabulary, pictures are key in connecting the word in English to any background knowledge the student may already have. Use pictures Tree This could be as simple as Googling images → always preview before showing students!

25. Use Sentence Frames Providing sentence frames, or sentence stems, is a great way to support our multilingual students. I see a ____________. The ______ is ____________. A _______ is/has _________, _________, and __________. **These frames are leveled to help support different levels of proficiency, with red being the easiest and blue the most challenging. Tree

26. Translanguaging If the students you’re working with are literate in their first language, you can use Google Translate or other sources to find the word in their language . Cây (Vietnamese) شجرة (Arabic) Árbol (Spanish) 树 (Chinese) Tree

27. As you watch, please listen for specific strategies that students say are helpful while at school. What do you notice? Any surprises? Take a moment to add to your graphic organizer→

28. First, group together by number so t hat your group has ALL SUITS Then, collectively choose one strategy we’ve discussed and: : Identify the strategy what (1 pt.) Describe the strategy how (1 pt.) Explain how it supports MLLs why (1 pt.) Lastly, I will call each group and one person (suit) will be responsible for sharing out to the whole group. Your team can earn up to 3 points ! → Audience will listen to determine the score. Numbered heads Together

29. Proximity Sit next to your striving MLLs, especially newcomers. Be close to students when giving directions, support or redirection. Ideally, be on the same level as students as often as possible. Avoid talking over others or addressing students from afar.

30. Speak in complete sentences as often as possible Provides more context and clarity Models language structure (syntax and grammar) Supports writing tasks Also, think back to the ELPA domains… speaking domain should demonstrate proficiency using complete sentences

31. Total Physical Response (tpr) Total Physical Response (TPR) is a method of teaching language or vocabulary concepts by using physical movement to react to verbal input . The process mimics the way that infants learn their first language, and it reduces student inhibitions and lowers stress.

32. Universal design for learning (UDL) Pictures Words Auditory Tactile Play Text to Speech Speech to text Translation MULTIPLE WAYS OF accessing Speaking Writing Drawing Use of Technology Modeling Graphic Organizers Group work Independent MULTIPLE WAYS OF expressing Visual Auditory Experimental Tactile Text to Speech Pictures Multimedia Games MULTIPLE WAYS OF Engagement

33. Cognates: Cognates are words in two languages that share a similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation. While English may share very few cognates with a language like Chinese, 30-40% of all words in English have a related word in Spanish . For Spanish-speaking ELLs, cognates are an obvious bridge to the English language. Spanish Word centro familia biografia accidente causa English Cognate center family biography accident cause

34. Things to Consider Students may have low English proficiency but depending on their age, may be highly educated and literate in their home language. Some newcomers also carry the weight of trauma, which can impact their learning and behavior. Be patient. Recognize all of the background knowledge students already have. Often, newcomers go through a “silent period.” Speaking and writing are high level “productive” skills.

35. Take advantage of technology! If you have a Smartphone, there are many free apps that can help you communicate with our MLLs. SayHi App This one is my favorite because it has SO MANY languages. It also allows you, or a student, to speak into the microphone and it will say the translation out loud-no reading required!

36. ______the bottom line______ David Douglas School District and all of us , as educators, have the privilege of serving a culturally, linguistically, racially, ethnically, RICH and DIVERSE community of learners! Therefore, we must be intentional about our instruction and ensure that learning is accessible to all students!

37. Closing: Lightening share Think of one takeaway, appreciation, something that stood out to you and be ready to share quickly ( 5-10 seconds tops!) When the talking piece gets to you, share your idea and pass it along to the next person.

38. Your input helps us better support you! Please do now Scan or click here

39. Resources Science of Reading - Multilingual Podcast Phonemic Inventories and Cultural and Linguistic Information DDSD Emerging English Supports Language Rich Content Elementary ELD