When English is Not Your Home Language, By Scott J. Turnbull

FEATURED COLUMNIST When English is Not Your Home Language

By Scott J. Turnbull, Superintendent, Soquel Union Elementary School District

“Every student can learn, just not on the same day or in the same way.”

— George Evans, American cartoonist •••

Would it be challenging for you to attend school and learn in a language other than English? Let’s say you had to go to Germany and take courses in German. Would that be a challenge for you? I know it would be for me. Well, our schools are proud to serve students in this very situation. They have a primary language other than English and they come to our schools where instruction is provided in, of course, English. Our incredibly talented teachers support these amazing students through English Language Development.

Soquel Union Elementary School District has ramped up our focus on English Language Development. I am extremely proud of the work being done in our school district in this area and I want to share it with you. Before I do that, I will start with a brief explanation of what it is.

English Language Development is a support for students who are English Learners. These students, as defined by the California Department of Education are are “students in transitional kindergarten through grade 12 with a primary language other than English, whose English proficiency upon enrolling in school dictates a need for support to access instruction in English and develop English proficiency.”

The California Department of Education explains that “because they are learning English as an additional language, English Learners require specialized instructional support to ensure that they simultaneously develop academic English and have full access to a rich curriculum across the disciplines.”

That’s English Language Development instruction and it takes place in two but equally important ways. Integrated ELD is where students learn English throughout all subject matter (learning the academic English required to learn, understand and fully participate in math, science, PE, etc) and Designated ELD is where students learn the mechanics of English tailored to their specific English Proficiency Level.

Approximately 10% of our district’s 1,700 students are classified as English Learners. We must support each and every one of them. We must ensure we are using resources to best support these students.

The most important systemic decision our district has made in this area in recent years was to hire a Teacher on Special Assignment specifically for English Language Development. Her name is Barbara Huebner and she helps all of our teachers learn and grow in our ability to support English Learners. Specifically, Ms. Huebner helps support the full implementation of the California Department of Education’s English Learner Roadmap, which guides the support of English Learners in our state via four principles: 1) Assets-oriented and needs-responsive schools 2) Intellectual quality of instruction and meaningful access 3) System conditions that support effectiveness 4) Alignment and articulation within and across systems

Ms. Huebner works with all of our elementary school teachers on a monthly basis and also leads a group of very talented ELD specialists from each of our school sites through the roadmap. They are: • Julie Livingstone, Soquel Elementary

School • Hilda Hernandez-Meza, Soquel Elementary School • Beth Willen, Main Street Elementary

School • Desiree Sattari, Santa Cruz Gardens

Elementary School • Tina Bonar, Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary School • Erica Marquez, New Brighton Middle

School

They collaborate on creating a community of support for English Learners, problem-solving, and identifying best practices.

This model allows for our specialists to instruct our English Learners directly, as well as indirectly by guiding our teachers as they refine their practices in supporting English Learners in their classrooms.

Our English Language Development Specialists also perform another important role and that is giving the English Learner Proficiency Assessments for California (or “ELPAC”).

The results of this assessment help us identify the specific areas each English Learner needs support with. It is through an annual administration of the ELPAC, along with other criteria, that an English Learner can become designated as “Reclassified Fluent English Proficient” (or “RFEP”).

Reaching this “RFEP” status is a big deal. Think back to that situation I posed to you at the beginning of this article. You go off to school in Germany, trying to learn new content, in a new language! What the “RFEP” status would say about you is that you not only learned a new language but that you learned all of your new content simultaneously. Learning new content in a second language is an amazing accomplishment.

Julie Livingstone Hilda Hernandez-Meza Beth Willem

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Tina Bonar Desiree Satari Erica Marquez