Saturday, January 29, 2011
In 2005-06, St. Cloud school district had 15.6 teachers assigned to assist English Language Learner students. Today, there are more than 28.
In all, St. Cloud students speak 38 different languages at home. While English, with about 8,000 students who speak it, is still the most common language spoken by far, Somali is growing with more than 600 and dozens speak Spanish. St. Cloud has a more diverse set of languages spoken at home by students than other nearby districts. Sartell-St. Stephen and Big Lake have students who speak 17 different languages and Sauk Rapids-Rice has 12.
Statewide, there are dozens of different primary languages spoken by students.
St. Cloud and other area schools have responded to the growth in the number of non-English-speaking students by starting programs that provide additional assistance.
Schools receive additional money for students who speak another primary language and are not proficient in English. Students take a test that measures their skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. The test determines whether they need to be in English Language Learner programs and what level of English proficiency they possess.
Schools receive $700 for each student eligible for English Language Learner instruction. In addition, districts with more students receive additional dollars. St. Cloud will receive $647,000 in 2010-2011. The number of eligible students has grown from 550 in 2005-06 to more than 800 this year.
In the classroom
In St. Cloud classrooms, the students in the English Language Learner program are mixed with their peers. The classroom teacher and the ELL teacher work with students in small groups that are determined by their reading levels. The ELL students sometimes meet with their teacher for 15 or 20 minutes of intense instruction, but mostly they stay in the classroom.
At Discovery Community School in Waite Park, second-grader Abdullahi Arte is one of three students working with English Language Learner teacher Sandy Briscoe. She is helping them spell and identify words. Classroom teacher Jessica Dircks is also meeting with three children in a small group. Other students are reading independently in other parts of the room
“I know the expectation is they are really close to grade level quickly,” Briscoe said.
It’s not always that easy, especially with students who came to the United States from other countries and have not learned their native language because they are too young or might have come from a refugee camp. Students who have learned a language before have a base to learn another one, said Natalie Prasch, the English Language Learner coordinator for the district.
Prasch said it is important to help the students learn English quickly so they can use it at an academic level, not just a speaking level.
“To sit in a classroom all day without that instruction in English, the kids would be lost,” Prasch said.
In Dircks’ second-grade classroom, Fernando Maldonado and Hunter Olson sit on the floor and read to each other. Later, after some whole classroom instruction from Dircks, they are at a table with her and one other student working on words.
English Language Learner teachers can have up to 45 students and they move from room to room assisting with lessons. At Discovery, where Briscoe works, there are five.
The teachers often do not speak the native language of their students and teach lessons in English. Rogers calls it English immersion classes.
“In the model we use, the teachers do not have to have and frequently do not have the first language. They are very skilled,” Rogers said.
In Sauk Rapids-Rice, a smaller program meets the needs of the students who speak primary
“If you don’t come with those basic literacy skills, it doesn’t transfer,” Prasch said.
Prasch tells parents who don’t speak English to read to their children in their native language because that helps the child build literacy skills.
Prasch is based at the Welcome Center at Roosevelt Early Childhood Center. She is the one who tests the students for English proficiency.
St. Cloud has English Language Learners programs at all of its schools except Lincoln Elementary in St. Cloud, Clearview Elementary in Clear Lake and Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph. Those schools do not have enough non-English-speaking children to warrant a program, said Elisabeth Lodge Rogers, director of student services for St. Cloud school district.
The students who qualify for the program who attend those schools get instruction at another school.
St. Cloud also has more intensive programs called Jumpstart for those just learning the language. Those programs are at Talahi and Discovery elementary schools and North Junior High School and Apollo High School.
Mostly, all efforts are made to keep students in the classroom in which they belong.
“There is nothing that is a bigger motivator than to be able to do what your peers are doing,” Prasch said.
Source: St. Cloud Times