ELLs & the Silent Period

The following is an excerpt from The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Tranisition (Roman & Littlefield International, 2016). Interesting in exploring the full book? Find it on Amazon, Roman & Littlefield, or your favorite retailer.

The Silent Period & Obstructed Speech

The effects of a child’s emotional and psychiatric distress are routinely fleshed out in the Newcomer classroom.   Often, the first of these symptoms are speech-related.  In many cases, newly resettled students endure a period of marked silence.  Silence is usually ascribed to the process of emotional transitioning.  During the silent phase, which last for variant lengths of time, an individual will not express thoughts in the host language, either out of reluctance or inability.[1]  Those who experience this phenomenon are sometimes referred to as “shell shocked”.[1] [1]  The silent phase can last a period of days, weeks, or months.

In addition to silence, exposure to traumatic episodes at any period in a child’s life can trigger recurring nightmares and cognitive delays, as well as speech “freezes” and impediments. Such blocks include stuttering.  Newcomer students who exhibit impeded speech should also be evaluated for traumatic stress.  

Both silence and stuttering have a need to be addressed in the classroom.  To begin, students should not be expected or mandated to produce oral language before they are ready.   It is also wise to avoid situations that might embarrass new language learners, including publicly calling on them to speak before they are ready.  We can be careful to offer caring encouragement and guidance.  Also, we are responsible to practice patient wait time for processing speakers.  In doing so, we model this behavior for other students.  

Specific classroom accommodations must be in place to support language learners, and particularly non-verbal ELLs.  First, to achieve this, a healthy and nurturing learning environment is critical.  Small group engagement, tactile activities and positive feedback may encourage speech attempts and decrease overall anxiety.  Alternative-expression tasks, such as drawing-and-labeling, script singing, or charade acting can provide additional opportunities to demonstrate knowledge in a language-centric environment.  

Of course, kindness and caring are often the most influential antidotes to stress-stemmed silence.  In the context of non-verbal ELLs, relationship and safety are everything.   Simply, security induces speech. 

Nine 21st Century Assets for ELLs

SOURCE: Louise Kreuzer (El Yaafouri), The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition, Rowman & Littlefield International Press, 2016.

21st century learning promotes the application of rigorous thinking patterns across content domains through performance-based activities, while encouraging learners to effectively utilize technology and other resources to achieve performance goals. For English language learners, opportunities to organically experience real-life learning are doubly critical.  In these situations, students are supported in negotiating social cues, cultural nuance and contextual shifts in linguistic expression. 

Healthy 21st-century instruction nurtures active and engaged learning by providing students with meaningful and authentic tasks throughout the school day.  Authentic learning fosters creativity, problem-solving skills, and social efficacy.  For all students, learning through authentic engagement enables 21st century efficacy.

Authentic learning is rooted in:

(a) Independent choice making;

(b) Opportunities for challenge;

(c) A range of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors; and

(d) Connections to the self, one’s learning, and the broader world context.

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Here we’ll define nine critical 21st century assets as they specifically relate to ELLs; and we’ll explore corresponding authentic tasks that promote development in each asset domain.

Asset 1: Innovative Communication

Communication skills are evidenced through social media and email platforms, phone etiquette, interviewing skills, a firm handshake, or the means to compose a well-written proposal. These assets are observed at lunchroom tables, on the playground, and the respectful shift in tone when a child addresses an authority figure. Beyond these basics, students must be capable of inventing and maneuvering in much more progressive bands of exchange.

Innovative communication incorporates a fluid capacity to engage and interact with people across multiple platforms of age, race, culture, religion, language, political inclination, exposure, and experience. It involves an attuned awareness to social nuances, and an aptitude for interpersonal navigation—networking, negotiating, peacekeeping, contextual management, and appropriate expressiveness. Communication skills, essentially, are people skills.

In the context of ELLs, promoting communication skills begins with the cultivation of safety, trust and individual self-confidence. It is demonstrated when we allow for multiple levels of expressive ability: oral output, drawing, labeling, singing, signing, writing, building, acting, expression or body language.  

We can continue to encourage growth by activating any of the following communication support cues:

1. Let them talk. Refer back to collaborative practices . . . and let them go! 


2.Limit teacher talk. The only way to really get students talking is to give them room to speak. By most figures, TTT (teacher talk time) should only 
account for 20%–30% of overall lesson time. Less of us, more of them. 


3.Let the games begin! Small and whole group game playing encourages practical communication and strategic problem-solving skills in a non- 
threatening setting. 


4.Model behavior.Do gently correct incorrect or inventive speech by repeat
ing the question or response in the amended format. 


5.Encourage descriptive speech and writing through questioning and hands- 
on learning. 


Asset 2: Critical Thinking Capacity

Critical thinking employs higher-level applications and solution-seeking strategies that can be tied to one grounding conclusion.  It demands analyzing properties and the ability to employ inductive, deductive, and/or alternative reasoning tactics as applicable.  Consequently, creative thinkers create and explore many ideas, possibilities, and opportunities.

Critical thinking and reasoning supports balanced judgment and sound decision-making by inviting thinkers to interpret information and conscientiously reflect upon precise predictions and decisions.  These skill sets are also intertwined with outside-the-box thinking, an essential component in creative solution seeking. As educators, it becomes our responsibility to endorse critical thinking and reasoning skills as viable components of twenty-first-century instruction.

Asset 3: Creativity

Creativity is the convergence of curiosity and problem-solving abilities. It is brought to life when humans see, feel, hear, and experience the world in original ways. Creative thinking leads to innovative ideas, which may manifest into novel designs, products, tools, solution sets, or thought output. Creative functioning follows a predictable pattern, or a life span of thought from creation to execution.

The creativity platform involves three elemental steps:

·      Naming the challenge,

·      Solution seeking (problem solving) for the challenge, and

·      Defining resolution.

Inventive skills aid our students in navigating their future lives. They fit into managing finances, negotiating travel itineraries, and coordinating college schedules. They also inspire works of art, the wording of a term paper, or a personal decision to alter a daily task for greater efficiency. Essentially, creative individuals are better equipped to meet the challenges of 21st century life.

We can nurture creativity in the classroom in an infinite number of ways. We can begin by setting aside time for imaginative exploration. Inventive thinking can be further supported through cooperative talk and technology integration, where applicable. As we plan our lessons, we can be cognizant in our efforts to provide students with multiple formats in which to demonstrate efficacy and understanding. Some learners feel more inspired when soft music is playing, when they can craft, act, or sing out their thoughts, or when they are able to kinesthetically problem solve for a solution.

Mechanisms for encouraging creativity in the classroom are also indicators for sheltered instruction. That is, we very likely nudge our students’ imagination as an existing byproduct of the Newcomer/ELL instruction model. If we consider creativity as an essential 21st century virtue, then we can be inspired to (creatively!) continue and expand upon our efforts to reinforce these skills.

Asset 4: Flexibility

Flexibility is demonstrated by an individual’s capacity to accept and adapt to change. These particular skill sets are usually situational; and thus are influenced by time, variable outcome, artistic influence, personality, feedback, negotiation, and other sensitivities. They are essential 21st century competencies.

Flexibility carries various faces and weights. It can mean adjusting to variant schedules and routines; adapting to shifting roles, such as weekly changes in classroom job assignments; or the ability to digest and respond to both positive and negative feedback. Ultimately, this form of intra-personal dexterity is a reflection of a person’s capacity to cope with unpredictability and other unknowns.

For our Newcomers ELLs, flexibility can carry a pronounced load. Our learners must adapt at extreme levels to situations that may be entirely new. Newcomers may be experts in flexibility long before they reach our classrooms. Many have learned to make creative adjustments when predicted food sources are not available; when home takes on a very mobile meaning; when loss and uncertainty occurs; and when financial resources exist as ebb and flow commodities.  In laying the groundwork for these demographics, structure, stability and predictability must be established, as essential markers of security.

Preparing our students for twenty-first-century success also means making room for opportunities to practice flexibility, but with safety nets in place. This can be accomplished by occasionally shifting reading group compositions, or by reversing the order of learning stations for a day. It sometimes helps to create the shift for something fun and memorable, such as an outside scavenger hunt during a scheduled block, or hosting unannounced reading buddies for an afternoon.

Asset 5: Self-Initiative

Self-initiative calls for independent goal setting, as well as the ability to effectively prioritize, monitor, and manage resources- including time, learning, and productivity. This family of skill sets is grounded in self-regulation, self-management, and strategic ownership. Self-initiating learners find direction with limited outside prompting, and are inspired to continuously develop in a target area or areas.  Self-initiation strengths are key indicators for 21st century success; and for Newcomer students, self-initiative can also enhance the possibility for timely and vigorous integration into the host society.

In the aim of fostering self-initiation skills, we can:

·      Offer a range of learning materials to pique a spectrum of interests.

·      Aid students in naming and understanding a baseline data point for a specific aim, such as math facts competency.

·      Offer guidance in identifying a goal point (advanced students can provide reasoning and explanation).

·      Mentor students in record keeping (such as graphing score values weekly) throughout the goal-seeking process.

·      Praise unyielding efforts as efforts in any regard, and celebrate failures as incredible opportunities for new understanding and growth.

Our mindfulness to these basic foundations helps us guide our students as they evolve from reactive to proactive participants in learning, and ultimately, develop as self-initiating individuals.

Asset 6: Leadership Skills

Leadership skills involve persuading others toward the accomplishment of a specific aim or aims, meanwhile exercising integrity, ethical maturity, interpersonal skills, strategic problem solving, and awareness for the common good.   In as much as leadership entails guiding, it must also encompass diplomacy, fairness, and equity. True leaders bear in mind the best interests of the whole, and they comprehend the divergence between imperiousness and spirited, pragmatic headship.

Opportunities to exercise leadership in the school setting should be governed by parameters of equity and accountability, virtues that should also be modeled by adult guides.  In the classroom setting, leadership skills are fostered through interactive activities that include project planning, team building, time and project management, goal setting, problem solving, and diversity awareness.

Leadership skills are unique in that they can be directly applied to all other faculties of 21st century development (and may effectively enhance or diminish the efficacy of any area where they are applied). The school setting, with all its safety nets in place, is an ideal ground for testing, modifying, and strengthening healthy leadership abilities.

Asset 7: Accountability and Productivity

Accountability and productivity are two separate 21st century functions that are inherently linked to one another.  Productivity entails envisioning a goal, and then implementing the specific procedures and protocol necessary to ensure completion of the overall task or objective. The process demands preplanning, careful management of time and physical resources, the ability to work under pressure and satisfy deadlines, and a willingness to accept and grow from positive and negative feedback.

Accountability is the ownership piece. Accountable individuals demonstrate a sense of duty and proprietorship for their work and personal choices. This is where the doing and the character of the doer meet.  Combined, these skill sets require that individuals work hard, work effectively, and take responsibility for their work

Accountability and productivity skills are encouraged through:

·      Partnerships with essential skill sets, such as creativity and collaboration.

·      Collaborative exchange

·      Clearly communicated objectives

·      Carefully defined rubrics (picture rubrics are appropriate for Newcomers)

·      Diminished teacher talk time

·      Sentence stems, which lay the groundwork for on-task talk.

·      Brain breaks provide, which fresh blood flow and focus energy

·      Use of appropriate technology input, which saves time and develops expertise.

·      Involving parents can also deeply enhance students’ accountability and productivity aims.

Asset 8: Civic Duty and Social Fluidity

Civic competency involves a cognizance of social structure and policy. It invokes an understanding of personal choices and liberties that are available under a given civil framework, as well as the duties and obligations that define good citizenship.

Civic education assumes additional complexity in the Newcomer setting as new customs, expectations, holidays, and citizenship protocol in the host setting are absorbed, learned, and embraced.  ELLs might also be responsible for transferring an awareness of basic laws and citizenship frameworks to adult family members or to grow into their roles as citizens in the new country alongside their adult counterparts.

Civic learning in the classroom occurs through:

·      Direct instruction about the government, governmental leaders and history, and normative social values (Ex, creating a classroom city, government and/or court; designing character maps of a good citizen; giving news reports; or conducting relevant author studies)

·      Modeling of essential platforms, such as democratic participation and good citizenship

·      Explicit teaching of civic dispositions  (or character virtues), including:

• moral responsibility

• integrity

• self-discipline,

• respect

• the ability to compromise,

• empathy

• a commitment to obeying laws, and a cognizance of human interconnectedness.

• Community engagement, such as volunteer service or interviewing.

• Civic-minded interactive classroom activities     

Asset 9: Technology Literacy

21st century learners must become adept manipulators of technological resources.  In order to fully contribute in the modern workforce, students must enjoy ownership of technological mastery and online etiquette- but should also recognize and aspire to a healthy balance between technological connectivity and direct social interaction. How do we integrate technology in our classroom and at our school? How could we increase and expand upon learners’ opportunities to employ technology in their educational processes? How do we define, model, and hold students accountable for issues of ethics regarding technology and digital information?

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Our students, inclusive of our English language learners, will be expected to achieve proficiency in every facet of 21st century functionality. The tools needed to thrive as productive adults begin in our classrooms today. By striving to incorporate authentic tasks, we can help students develop their nine key assets and foster true 21st century success.

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Branson, Margaret S. (1989). International and Citizenship Education: Need and Nexus.

Cain, Jim, Michelle Cummings & Jennifer Stanchfie (2005). A Teachable Moment: A Facilitator’s Guide to Activities for Processing, Debriefing, Reviewing and Reflection (1st Ed). Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Cash, Richard M, Ed.D (2010). Advancing Differentiation: Thinking and Learning for the 21st Century. Free Spirit Publishing.

Hay, I., & Dempster, N. (2004). Student Leadership Development within a School Curriculum Framework. In

Iowa Department of Education (2010). Iowa Core K-12 21st Century Skills: Essential Concepts and Skills with Details and Examples. Located at https://www. educateiowa.gov/sites/files/ed/documents/K-12_21stCentSkills_0.pdf. Retrieved May 2014.



Lai, Emily R. (2011). Critical Thinking: A Literature Review. Research Report. Pearson Publishing. Located at images.pearsonassessments.com/images/ tmrs/CriticalThinkingReviewFINAL.pdf. Retrieved Feb, 2015.


Partnerships for 21st Century Learning (2009). P21 Framework Definitions. Located at p21.org. Retrieved July 2011. 


Trilling, Bernie and Charles Fadel (2007). 21st Century Skills: Learning For Life In Our Times (1st Ed). Jossey-Bass. 


Van Briesen, Jeanne M. (2009). Oral presentation for Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Carnegie Mellon University. Located at nae.edu. Retrieved May 2015. 


Dramatic Play & Language Learning

from The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition, Louise Kreuzer-El Yaafouri, Roman & Littlefield International Press, 2016.

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Dramatic play is a natural and inherent piece of healthy child development, fostering both language and intellectual capabilities. Dramatics are pertinent to the Newcomer classroom in that they allow for expressed emotion and understanding, even with limited use of the host language. Learners who have not yet become comfortable in the new language framework have an opportunity to discover a “voice” through acting-out processes. These types of constructive experiences can be freeing for the student, revealing for the educator, and base building for the learning community. Beyond all of this, drama is just plain, old-fashioned fun!

One outcome of dramatic play is emotional exploration. Emotional exploration that occurs within a sheltered environment can provide many benefits, especially working with resettled refugee populations, where grief and traumatic exposure are routinely elevated. In positive, carefully crafted settings, dramatic learning structures can provide safe and healthy platforms for combined emotional and vocabulary growth. Meanwhile, theatrics function as a valid comprehension assessment that can be exclusive of the language piece.

For example, guided role-play, in which students silently act out various emotions, can satisfy the aim of associating specific facial features and body language with a given circumstance. In a literary setting, learners may be asked to show a character’s facial expressions (link: feelings); or to mime or act out character traits, actions, or whole scenes. As it is said, the best way to know something is to be it. Here are a few fun starters!

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1.              Create A Human Machine

            Begin with one or two connected children creating a simple, repetitive sound.  Children contribute to the machine by entering the work space one at a time, connecting to another part of the machine by some body part, and adding a new beep, honk, bend, squat, jump or squish.  After: Discuss questions, insights, new vocabulary and celebrated demonstrations of creativity.

2.              “Two Noses”

            Invite students to circumambulate the room.  Facilitator calls out a) a number and b) a body part.  Learners respond to the prompt by aligning themselves with the appropriate number of people, touching at the corresponding body part.  For example, three elbows would play out with three students connected to each other in some way by their elbows.  Encourage children to be creative in their connective choices and formations.  This process continues: 4 knees, 6 thumbs, 2 backs, or 5 shins.  This is a fun and creative means of team building; it also functions as a valuable opportunity for vocabulary acquisition.  

3.              Still Pictures/Tableaus

            Working in small groups, students create frozen snap shots of a scene from a text.  Tableaus can capture setting, character thought or emotion, sequence of events.  This is terrific for group work, and also as a means of evaluating individual understanding and participation.

4.              Act It Out

          Read and discuss a text with students (The Hungry Caterpillar, for example), and then ask them play out the story alongside a narration.  This is an entertaining process for all involved!  More than this, dramatic role play is engaging and meaningful for the students, and it meanwhile offers educators a valid formative assessment of learner comprehension.  Other ideas: plant life cycle, character reaction, imaginative journey (to another planet, say), migration trails, bullying responses, historical enactments, or the life of a drop of water.  This is also a great activity for acting out dialogue or the sequence of events in a story or text.

5.              True Theatrics

          Simple plays at early reading levels are fantastic for developing and practicing reading fluency.  Mask making can incorporate a host of various cultural and country traditions.  Puppetry allows for student creativity, reading fluency, imaginative skills, and the ability to act without fully revealing or exposing themselves.  Set the stage!

6.              Human Knot

          Students form a close circle, hands open and facing toward the center of the circle.  Each participant reaches for two hands.  The hands should not belong to the same person, or be joined to an immediate neighbor.  Slowly, and with some coaching, students try to unravel their human knot without disconnecting their hands.  This process stimulates teamwork, problem-solving skills and creativity.

7.              Treasure Chest

          Students sit in a circle.  One student is blindfolded and stands inside the circle.  An object (scarf, piece of paper, stuffed animal) is placed somewhere inside the circle.  Taking turns, participants will guide the blindfolded learner to the treasure chest, practicing the usage of descriptive and clear directions.  (Take three baby steps forward, then turn right…)  Exchange roles.  This process enables students to give and follow prompts, practice directional cue words and creatively problem solve toward a solution.

8.              One Word Story

         Sitting in a circle, the first person offers a single word to begin a story.  The next person contributes the second word of the story, and so on.  The story may shift and change unexpectedly, but should ultimately find closing.  This exercise is great for sense-making, sequencing, and vocabulary building; meanwhile, it is a fun team-building activity.  Certain parameters may be set in advance (theme, topic, unit vocabulary).   Recorded sessions are excellent opportunities for practicing recorded dictation and/or recall, story continuation, and listening station options, among others.

9.              What Are You Doing?

          Divide students in half; one group will be an audience.  The acting group of students forms two straight lines vertically facing the audience.   One of the two students in front begins a verb motion (for example, eating lunch).  The other student asks, What Are You Doing?  The first student replies with a new verb.  I’m brushing my teeth. 

            The second student immediately begins acting out this verb, while the first student goes to the back of his or her line.  The next student in line steps up and asks, “What are you doing?”  The active student responds with a new verb, I’m driving my car, and returns to the back of the line.  The process continues until all players have had a turn.  Actors and audience reverse.

         This is a fantastic vocabulary building game!  For ELLs- if a student can create an action, but is without the English word for it, the audience may kindly assist!  A high five to the audience can signal, “Help me out, here!”  Both sides love this!

10.           Miming

          Give a specific direction.  Model miming exact directive.  For example, Sharpen your pencil.  Open your book. Think. Have an idea. Feel the window and look out. Invite students to join.  Continue, without modeling.  This is a great exercise to check for understanding without language restriction. Miming is also effective for story lines and plot directives.

11.           Mock Interviews

          Author study?  Character study?  New science material? Covering world topics or key figures in history? Perfect for an interview!  Students can conduct this activity in pairs, or as a larger group interviewing a panel of experts.  Many learners, especially ELLs, may need specific insight and modeling regarding the interviewer/interviewee relationship.  Graphic organizers specific to the topic may also be very useful for recording responses. 

12.           Scene Improvisations

          Students divide into small teams.  Each team selects an index card with a scenario or location (at the grocery store; on the bus; at the pool; at a birthday party; at the zoo; learning to ride a bike; losing a tooth).  Teams act out the scenario or a short bit that would reveal the location, without actually saying the actual name of the scenario/locale aloud.  Observing teams will attempt to guess the index card cue correctly.

13.           Emotion Party

          Have students pretend they are going to a fancy party.  One student, acting as the host, will begin in the stage space alone, waiting for guests to arrive.  Another student will knock on the door, and be let in by the host.  The guest, without using words, will show an emotion.  (Silent emotions may work best in the classroom setting). The host, upon understanding the new emotion, will immediately assume the same energy. 

            A new guest will arrive, with a new emotion.  Everyone at the party will demonstrate this new emotion, and so on, until all guests have arrived.  Once everyone has had a turn to enter, each will leave in the order they arrived, with the emotion they came with.

This is a wonderful chance to explore emotions.Beginning learners will demonstrate simple facial expressions, and will match them with baseline vocabulary- happy, sad, mad, or tired.More advanced students will be able to apply other body language and may also be able to reach beyond basic word use, exploring higher level synonyms and altogether new ranges of emotion.

Viewing Heritage Language from an Asset-Based Lens

The following is an excerpt from The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s guide to Aid Transition by Louise Kreuzer-El Yaafouri (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), available HERE or HERE.

ORAL LANGUAGE: THE VOICE OF BELONGING

Language shapes how we think, and the influx of recent immigrants from hundreds of linguistic backgrounds presents a unique challenge to American schools. (1)

Oral language is very often the centerpiece of cultural cohesiveness, as it makes communication possible. Communication, meanwhile, is the foundation of human interconnectedness. Beyond allowing for the rituals of communal exchange, oral language is the primary platform upon which creative expression and universal sense making are constructed. It tells the story of the beginning, the end, and everything in between. It relates the family tree, defines social norms, solidifies romance, and generates war. Our world is made up of words.

All cultures demonstrate a high degree of oral reliance.(2) In certain regions, the communicative aspects of a culture permeate and sustain every grain of social function. In fact, most non-Western languages are rooted heavily in oral tradition. Many cultures are far more reliant upon verbal output and body language than printed text as a means of communicative exchange. Many of our new-to-English students come from these rich oral-centric backgrounds.

In much of Africa, for example, it is common for an individual to demonstrate agility in multiple local and national tongues, even when literacy abilities are restricted. In communities where legal contracts can be accomplished with a verbal handshake, print concepts may be extraneous to successful daily living. Of course, we understand that literacy is nonnegotiable for our students. Still, it may be helpful to understand the utter potency and significance of oral language in the Newcomer setting.

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FINDING BALANCE: SUPPORTING HOST-LANGUAGE GROWTH & HERITAGE LANGUAGE PRESERVATION

The ultimate goal of the Newcomer framework is to facilitate English language learning at an accelerated rate, and to prepare students for continued mainstream scholastic and post-school successes. As previously mentioned, one of the best courses of action that we can take in enhancing host language development is to outspokenly value and actively encourage heritage language preservation. While this may seem counterintuitive, research continues to illuminate the benefits of this practice.(3)

The most significant reasons for heritage language preservation have to do with maintaining a coherent self-identity.(4) Moreover, native language acts as a tie that unites families and ethnic communities. When this tie is severed, a sense of belonging is compromised.

A majority of ELLs who are successful in maintaining heritage and host languages also perform better academically than ELLs who are restricted to host language learning at the expense of heritage language.(5) This trend has been documented in standardized testing, as well as in ACTs and SATs. Bilingualism impacts the brain in profound ways, enhancing cognitive function and long-term memory (including the proven delay of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease).(6)

Dual-language skills also enrich problem-solving abilities, promote flexibility and multitasking abilities, and provide for future opportunities with regard to college learning and beyond.(7)

Meanwhile, valuing heritage languages in the classroom encourages tolerance, global awareness, and belonging. Maintaining the host language can also expedite host language acquisition.(8,9) Shawn Loewen writes: “It is important for second language children to feel that their first language and culture are valued and respected. It is particularly important for refugee children . . . to use their first language with other children, their teachers, and at home.”(10)

In the classroom context, we can enable heritage language preservation by allowing our students periods of time where they are encouraged to communicate with linguistically similar students, where applicable, for a short period, and repeating out thoughts in English. We can provide texts representing a variety of cultures and/or languages (see chapter 8 for a multicultural reading list), and we can relay to parents, through a translator when necessary, the importance of maintaining heritage language skills in the home. Through and because of first language fluency, second (or third) language efficacy is more likely to occur.

Welcoming Newcomer Students

The following is an excerpt from The Newcomer Teacher: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition (Rowman & Littlefied International) available HERE.

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We know that a whole family approach serves our students’ highest learning welfares. We understand that community interest and involvement is a school asset with tremendous payouts.  However, such presence is not instantaneous or guaranteed.  Instead, it is meticulously cultivated.  Who is responsible for this charge?  The school and its’ staff. Us.

Strong community relations cannot occur without strong communication efforts by the school.   In fact, robust school-to-home communication is an apparent quality of America’s healthiest schools.  Positive community outreach disseminates the breakdown of barriers between families and the school and endorses collaboration.  Communication is a crux of school success, and it is one that requires support, nurturing, and creative perseverance. (8).

A school can work to foster whole family engagement in any combination of ways.  The most common efforts include outreach and inclusion programs.  In our classrooms, we also employ home visits, conferencing, parent/guardian correspondence and volunteer/chaperone opportunities.  (9).

The same communication tactics are applicable in Newcomer settings.  However, they demand significant manipulation and elaboration in order to be successful.  The truth is that home communication in multi-lingual, exceptionally diverse school settings doesn’t always go over so smoothly.  There are translations, liaisons, caseworkers and older-child spokespersons.  There are misunderstandings, misgivings, fears, and discomforts.  There are frustrations, question marks, and lines of cultural jurisdiction.  There is language, language, and language. 

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Despite obvious exchange barriers, the roots of parent-school partnership efforts are generally coherent across all socio-economic platforms.  In most cases, parents in every category do wish the very best for their children.  Similarly, the vast majority of teachers also manifest high hopes and expectations for every single student in their care. 

This is the meeting ground.  Under optimal conditions, the school is synonymous with safety and collaboration.  It is viewed as an action point for trustful collaboration.  In the Newcomer setting, this is non-negotiable, as many families may not be aware of or comfortable with Western academic expectations.  That’s a big responsibility.  We must make the most of it.

Teaching Resiliency: A Tool Kit

Resilience is the ability to negotiate and recover from adversity. Humans experience all kinds of unique life experiences that demand an element of resiliency in order to move forward. We may endure physical illness, family dysfunction, abuse, transition, migration, loss or defeat.

We are also hard-wired with tools to overcome these events. We add to this tool box of healthy coping mechanisms as we move through life. We experience significant events that require us to manage defeat and rise again, and we also observe resilient-oriented behaviors of others who pass through struggle.

Sometimes, our ability to overcome adversity becomes compromised- perhaps our systems have become overwhelmed by challenge or we have not had access to healthy examples of resilience (or we have noted plenty of examples of unhealthy coping behaviors). Because resiliency is largely learned, students can benefit from lessons that explicitly teach and allow for practice of resilience-oriented behaviors.

In speaking to a school-based approach to resilience, I find it helpful to examine the concept from four lenses: foundation, regulation, incorporation and education.

Foundation

Foundation, in the context of achieving resilience, relates to the meeting of basic needs.  Access to essential goods and services such as healthy food, clean water, clothing, transportation and medical care are considered foundational to resilience. Other features of resilient children include a sense of safety and “access to open spaces and free play”, which enriches multi-faceted age-appropriate development (1).   Discrimination plays a role in determining a baseline for resiliency, too.   As incidences of prejudice, discrimination and bullying are decreased, resilience is encouraged. 

Regulation

Resilient individuals are capable of self-regulation.  That is, they have developed healthy ways to negotiate and recover from unexpected or undesirable life events. (4) Healthy regulation mechanisms include self-soothing, creative problem solving, acknowledging and keeping boundaries, practicing bravery, calculated risk-taking, asking for help, flexibility and exercising a sense of humor when things don’t go as planned.

Incorporation

A sense of belonging, or “feeling valued and respected within a community”, is critical to resilience. (3) (4) Children, in particular, need to be able to identify specific people and places that make them feel welcomed and protected.   Positive recognition and inclusion are critical tenants of belonging. (3) Positive relationships matter, and a diversified portfolio of relationships is ideal: family members, school friendships, non-school friendships, teachers and mentors. (1) Research indicates a a robust support community- and a deep sense of belonging within that community- are strong indicators for resilience.  (2)

Education

Resilience can impact student learning; and learning can influence resiliency.  Those who have their basic needs met and belong to the learning community- are more receptive to receiving and storing new information.  Similarly, students may gain confidence through learning and sharing existing strengths, which promotes resilience. (4) Many indicators for resilience are embedded throughout the school day: organization, relationship building, access to play, opportunities to share expertise, and practicing commitment and follow-through.

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From each of these four lenses, let’s explore some ways that we can actively approach resiliency and engage students in resilience-oriented behaviors at school.

FOUNDATION

Students cannot learn when they do not feel safe.  Similarly, they will struggle to process new information after a poor night’s sleep or missed breakfast.   Those who are facing social challenges, such as discrimination or bullying, may find it impossible to concentrate on the learning at hand. So, before we address the curriculum, we must address the learner.  How are our students showing up for each learning day?  How can we encourage those students who come to school in survival brain move toward learning brain… and stay there?

One of my favorite activities is the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, or DBT House.  You can visit the activity description and view students samples HERE.   The strategy is also available in the book, The Newcomer Fieldbook (Louise El Yaafouri), available HERE. 

The DBT House exercise allows a glimpse into students’ lives, so that we re better able to meet them where they are.  To foster resiliency, I like to follow the DBT House with this “Being Safe” lesson from Resilient Tutor Group:  View it HERE.

PROMOTING ACCESS TO BASIC NEEDS AT SCHOOL

·      Learning on the Move

·      7 C’s of Resilience VIDEO

·      Change Kids Lives

ANTI-BULLYING AND BULLYING PREVENTION

·      Bullying No Way!

Non-academic foundations for learning:

·      K. Brooke Stafford-Brizard @ EdWeek

REGULATION

Self-regulation leads to resiliency.  Most self-regulation behaviors are learned. With this in mind, it makes sense to incorporate and model effective regulatory strategies throughout the school day.  Chances are, we do this already.  We may ask a student to count to 10 slowly before reacting; to self-evaluate and record distress levels; to identify “safe” spaces in the school or to diffuse disagreements with a Peace Circle.  

Here are a few of my favorite techniques to use with learners of all ages. 

Check out these other worthwhile resources, too!

·      American Psychological Association

·      We Are Teachers

·      Responsive Classroom

INCORPORATION

There are many ways to encourage students to grow in their sense of belonging at school.  A great way to begin is by deliberately focusing on simple cues of belonging, such as making eye contact and referring to each child by his or her preferred (and correctly pronounced!) name. The following lessons and tools provide an entry point to promoting healthy incorporation in a school setting. 

·      MindSet Kit LESSONS

·      MindSet Kit INTERACTIVE

·      I Belong!

EDUCATION

How can we draw from students’ existing resilience?  How do we make room for bolstering new strands of resiliency in our already congested school day?   We can begin by choosing resilience-building strategies that can be easily incorporated into a lesson and into the daily functioning of a classroom.   Examples include:

·      creating and adhering to routines (as much as possible!);

·      opportunities to practice responsible choice-making (hey-hey, flexible seating!);

·      brain breaks that engage students in physical exercise and creative play (GoNoodle is the bees knees!);  

·      learning games that encourage memory and impulse control;

·      encouragement to practice safe risk-taking;

·      and modeling of resilient behaviors, such as reframing disappointment.

As these tools and expectations become consistently embedded throughout students’ school experiences, they become part of the culture of the school.  Ready to get started?  Check out these recommended launch-points:

OVERALL TOOLBOX:

·      Hey, Sigmund   

EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR ACKNOWLEDGING FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE

·      North Carolina Early Learning Network   

 ·     Colleen Springer-Lopez

EXECTUTIVE FUNCTIONING STRATEGIES FOR STUDENTS:

·      The Inclusion Lab

·      Career and Life Skills Lessons Channel VIDEO

LESSON PLANS & IDEAS FOR RESILIENCY:

·      Positive Psychology Program

Sources: 

1. Pearson, Umayahara and Ndijuye. Play and Resilience: SUPPORTING CHILDHOOD RESILIENCE THROUGH PLAY A facilitation guide for early childhood practitioners

2. Sarah V. Marsden, Resilience and Belonging https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-55019-4_4

3. Taylor & Hart. The Resilient Classroom A Resource Pack for Tutor Groups and Pastoral School Staff, Published by BOND and YoungMinds.

4. Nowicki, Anna. 2008 Self-efficacy, sense of belonging and social support as predictors of resilience in adolescents Anna Nowicki Edith Cowan University

9 Cross-Curricular Writing Activities for ELLs

As summer wraps up, we find ourselves contemplating our instructional intentions for the coming school year.  My big focus this year: writing.

Of the four language-learning domains (listening, speaking, reading, writing), writing is typically the last to fully develop.   We can help our ELLs to develop confidence in this area by providing plenty of opportunities to practice writing skills and build writing stamina.  Here are nine fantastic ways to incorporate writing into any lesson, at any grade level, and across all levels of English mastery.  

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CLASS MURAL

Class murals are interactive anchor charts that encourage text analysis and cooperative talk. In advance, prepare the mural "wall". A long piece of butcher paper turned lengthwise (or several strips of butcher paper taped together) works well. Depending on the class size, the mural may be 5-20 feet long. Also, a variety of print materials related to a topic should also be available- books, magazines, picture cards, student dictionaries or websites. To create the mural, first draw out background knowledge from the entire group. Then, allow students sufficient time to explore resources independently, in pairs or in teams. When ready, students will synthesize information to create a landscape on the mural that includes pictures, words, quotes, etc. To encourage language development, all illustrations should be labeled. Post mural in a visible place. Learners may add to the mural throughout a unit of study as new information is revealed. When spelling or speaking a word related to the topic, students should be asked to refer to the mural as the primary anchor chart.

FEEDBACK JOURNALS

Journaling allows students a healthy expressive outlet while practicing critical writing skills. The feedback component is what makes this strategy an effective one. Each student has a dedicated notebook to be used for the purpose of journaling for the duration of the course or unit. Students may be asked to record free thoughts, respond to direct prompts or create short summaries of daily learning or wonderings. The facilitator has the responsibility to read and respond to students' entries, offering comments, insight, clarification, grammatical notes or additional prompts. A student, in return, may also reply to or comment on the teacher's feedback. Feedback journals act as a conversation piece between the student and instructional guide, foster trust and engagement, and serve as a record of students' writing progress.

GRAFFITI

Graffiti is a cooperative exercise in which all members of a group are invited share awareness about a topic. To begin, arrange students into small cooperative work groups (3 or 5 students work best).   Provide each student with a piece of butcher paper or poster-sized Post-It.  Assign each group a topic or prompt that is relevant to a current unit of study.  Within work groups, students will discuss and record thoughts/illustrations related to the prompt.  All students are encouraged to converse and write (different colored makers- one color for each student in the group- work well for this).  Use a timer to mark discussions and recording sessions.  After a set period of time, rotate the posters from one group to another in a circular fashion.  Each group will receive a poster that already contains student insight.  Within groups, students will share thoughts on what the previous group recorded before writing new thoughts.  This process continues until each poster returns to its "home" group.  Posters may be reserved as anchor charts or used to further class discussion. 

PARTNER DICTATION

Partner dictation is a fast-paced, simple activity that engages students in all four language-learning domains. To prepare, select a brief passage on a focus topic. Print half the number of copies as students in the class. (Or, choose unique dictation passages and print separately). For the activity, begin by pairing students. Each pair of students stands on one side of the room. Dictation passages are posted in another part of the room (or outside of the room in a hallway or corridor). One student will act as the "runner" and the other as the "recorder". (Students will have a chance to change roles). The "runner" will quickly make trips to and from the printed dictation passage to read it and return to partner to relay the message. The recorder writes what he or she hears. Students work together to edit scripts as they are being written. The runner makes as many trips to the dictation sample as needed for the recorder to capture the whole passage. Roles reverse, with a new dictation passage.  Length and complexity of passages should reflect grade and language abilities present in the classroom and should be modified for pair groups as necessary.

QUICK WRITE

One key challenge for ELLs around writing is stamina. It is important to remember that students need to build up to writing longer passages. This is especially true in the upper grades, where lengthy responses are expected. Quick writes are one strategy to aid students in building stamina and structure for writing. Quick writes are set apart from other types of writing in that they purposefully omit planning, organizing, editing and revising (at least in the initial stage). The purpose of a quick write is to have students record as much relevant information related to a topic as they can in a set period of time. The writing period is intentionally limited, often beginning with only 5 or 10 minutes and working up to 15, 20 or 25-minute intervals. In the beginning stages of practices, modifications may be necessary. Early emergent students may need to copy a specific passage or use sentence stems or cloze sentences for support. More advanced students may employ a text on the topic of writing, but will be responsible for paraphrasing important information. Eventually, students will learn to write freely without significant support. To introduce a quick write, first establish a topic and time limit and then model the practice for students. It is also helpful to practice writing one document as a whole class. Finally, students write on their worn. A word bank may be useful. Quick writes should be carried out on a consistent basis and should receive some type of feedback (either from a teacher or peer). If desired, a quick write may be expanded upon to create a fully fleshed out and edited writing piece.

SAGE N’ SCRIBE

(Kagan Activity)

Sage n 'Scribe is a Kagan activity that effectively engages learners in all four language domains. Students work in pairs for this exercise. Generally, pairs use the time to work together in completing comprehension questions related to a topic. To begin, the first student (Sage) will read the first question aloud. The sage will then verbally answer his or her own question. Meanwhile, the second partner (Scribe) records the first partner’s response. The scribe also coaches the sage and/or offers feedback, if necessary. Then, the sage also records his or her response. Finally, the partners switch roles and move on to another question.

THINK-WRITE-PAIR-SHARE

(adapted Kagan strategy)

Think-Write-Pair-Share is a variation on the popular Think-Pair-Share Strategy. For Think-Pair-Share, students are asked to consider a question, given time to think about their response, and then are paired with a partner to share and discuss their reply. Adding the "write" portion deepens students thinking into the question and allows for students to explore an additional language domain. To complete the activity, facilitator poses a question to students related to a text or topic of study. Then, students are given time to process the question and think about their response. The next step calls for students to record their reply on a piece of paper or white board. When students do pair with a partner, they exchange papers. Each student reads his or her partner's contribution aloud. Within partner groups, students work together to discuss, amend, and edit responses. (Applicable texts, dictionaries, word walls or other supports may be used). Responses may be turned in, shared with other classmates, or incorporated into a graphic organizer or class anchor chart.

WRITING IN REVERSE

(based on a lesson by Jackie McAvoy)

This activity asks students to consider "comprehension" questions in order to compose a piece of writing. To complete, present students with a series of questions that are worded in the style of reading comprehension questions. Students are amused when you explain that you brought the questions to class but "lost" the reading passage. Using these questions as thinking points, they will work backward to create a composition. Working with a partner, they will first read all of the questions and write short answers to them. Then, they will use these responses to craft a full writing piece.  When finished, students can exchange stories with a peer.  Each learner should be able to answer the comprehension questions based on his or her partner’s writing.

WRITING WITH A MENTOR TEXT

Many English language learners can benefit from extra supports when writing. Mentor texts provide students with an exemplary piece of work to follow. They are especially helpful for intermediate and advanced students who are ready to move beyond sentence stems/cloze writing and are working toward independent writing. An appropriate mentor text should be on the same topic, length and writing style (or similar topic, length and writing style) as the piece that students will be expected to produce. Students should be guided, as a whole group or in smaller work groups, to deconstruct the mentor text. To do this, students will identify and explore key features of the text. First, have students identify the purpose of the text (narrative, expository, how-to, etc.). Next, students will explore the passage's organization (sentence structure, paragraph structure, etc.). Finally, students evaluate the "star features" of the text- meaning words, phrases, writing style, voice, figurative language or other items that make the mentor text interesting to read. Once students have had a sufficient time to digest and understand the components of the mentor text, they can use this passage to guide their independent writing.

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Ready to dig deeper? These activities (and many others) were created by Refugee Classroom as part of the comprehensive EduSkills platform. Learn more at eduskills.us.

EduSkills is an educational services and school data analysis company serving schools and districts Pre-K through 12th grade. EduSkills collaborates with schools and districts in order to help teachers and administrators become high-performing outcome based educators with a clear focus on high level student achievement.

The Power of Narrative Storytelling with Emergent Multilinguals

Personal narratives can be a valuable teaching and learning tool.  For refugee and immigrant language learners, the process of narrative storytelling can be especially significant, as it fulfills multiple aims.  Storytelling can motivate Emergent Multilinguals to engage in the new language, develop essential writing skills, process critical life events, and foster inter-peer relationships.

Narrative expression is an essential component of our humanness.  We are drawn to share pieces of ourselves through storytelling, and we discover our interconnectedness in doing so.  For many of our students, storytelling is also part of a rich cultural tradition- one that is intrinsically embedded in nearly every facet of social functioning.

In the classroom, setting, we can employ personal narratives as a means to draw students into language learning.  Meanwhile, we can draw out details that allow us to know and understand our students better.  The strategy is helpful in that it can be implemented across the language acquisition spectrum and can be scaffolded in a variety of ways.

“Storytelling can be a very valid means to experiment with the new language in a variety of contexts. It is an accessible option at various stages of the language acquisition process, and it is a skill that can develop in accordance with a learner’s expanding linguistic capabilities.” -The Newcomer Student

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Additionally, storytelling is a powerful strategy for working through transition shock.  Transition shock is a broad umbrella that encompasses transition, trauma, culture shock, and stress-related anxiety.   From Elements of Behavioral Health, “Talking about [experiences] helps organize memories and feelings into a more manageable and understandable psychological ‘package’. Telling the story, or developing a trauma narrative, is a significant step in the trauma recovery process no matter what array of symptoms is present.”

 “There is an additional dimension to storytelling that can be profoundly cathartic and healing. The particular exercise of capturing human feelings and experiences, through fictional characters or biographical ones, allows students opportunities to release, revisit, question, and make sense of poignant life events. The retelling of personal experiences creates a fertile ground for self-discovery and social understanding.”         -The Newcomer Student

Where Do We Start?

Family trees are an excellent start point.  In research and focusing on the aspect of lineage, students are invited to work within a safe space, sharing what they feel is comfortable and “right” to them (this may be particularly relevant for refugee students who transition with family members who are not necessarily birth parents).  This activity may also draw from parents’ existing funds of knowledge and encourage caretaker participation in students’ academic pursuits. 

Incorporating heritage language is one way to increase intrinsic motivation.  Constructing a family tree can also generate vocabulary connections for English words like father, grandmother, or uncle.   Sharing a family tree in s safe learning space can benefit a learning community and lead to increased student ownership and self-esteem.  Constructing a family tree can also generate vocabulary connections for English words like father, grandmother, or uncle.

The included samples were created by third grade students.  

Heritage Books

Heritage reports, or heritage books, expand on the process of sharing students’ original stories.  These are multi-step projects that “are designed to guide students in expressing their personal stories with others via sheltered instruction” (The Newcomer Student).   Heritage books also enhance meaningful vocabulary expansion and promote empathic, tolerant school-based relationships.

A detailed description of heritage book planning and building is available in The Newcomer Student: An Educator's Guide to Aid Transition, available HERE.

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Areas that are worthwhile to explore include:

·       About Me

·       U.S. Flag/flag study

·       Alternative country flag(s)

·       Traditional dress

·       Traditional food

·       Traditional customs

·       Traditional housing

·       Celebrities and pop culture

·       Alphabet/number systems

·       Family tree

·       Family photos

·       Emigration story

·       Future hopes and wishes

The following samples are from third grade students.

“Heritage book authors are usually very eager to document, show, and share their projects with an audience. Meanwhile, they are practicing cooperative language structures and cultural normative values (handshaking and simple greetings for each guest) throughout the sharing process!” (The Newcomer Student)  

Personal narratives are certainly worth including as a viable part of classroom learning and relationship building.  Share your own experience enacting personalized storytelling with students to @ELYaafouriCLDE, #ELstorytelling #heritagebook

Using Sentence Starters with ELLs

The initial stages of language acquisition can be overwhelming for Newcomer learners.  We can support these students (and all ELLs!) by incorporating “sheltering” techniques into our teaching practice.  Sheltering strategies help to make content more accessible to language learners.  Sentence starters are one type of sheltered instruction.

Sentence starters are helpful for language learners in that they can be used to scaffold both oral and written expression.  Also, when learners are provided with sentence starters, they are relieved of some of the pressure to structure an entire reply.  This allows students to focus on the body, or "meat", of their response. 

“Sentence starters provide opportunities for ELLs to successfully participate in classroom activities in structured, purposeful ways.”

–Louise El Yaafouri, The Newcomer Student, 2016

When introducing sentence starters to learners who are within the early stages of language acquisition, it is best to limit the number of prompts to choose from.  In fact, one or two options are plenty.   As students grow in their language development, the number of options can be increased.  With time and consistent opportunities to practice, learners will eventually develop efficacy in using a broad range of starters.

To make the most out of using sentence starters, the specific prompts should be visible to students as they are speaking and/or writing.  Appropriate usage should be modeled- by the instructor, by video, or by other students, or in some combination of all of these.  Eventually, students will become more independent in their production sentence starters.  

As learners move closer to mastery with a particular set of sentence starters, these supports can be gradually lessened and eventually removed.  Meanwhile, more complex strategies can be introduced- with new supports, if needed.   Through this process of continuous scaffolding, we can guide our students closer to language proficiency and deeper content understanding.

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Included is a collection of key sentence starters for academic participation.  The prompts are organized into two categories: listening capacity and speaking capacity.  They are suitable across grade and age levels.

Do you currently use sentence starters in your classroom?  Share your experiences and contribute new prompts on Twitter @NewcomerESL #sentencestarters.

Trauma, Stress & Friend-Making

Student trauma and high levels of stress can manifest in a wide range of socio-academic challenges.  As one example, complex stress can hinder friend-making.  This is especially critical for EL students, as social inclusion an integral component of integration.  As we strive to create trauma-sensitive learning environments for all students, we must be inclusive of the need to promote healthy social interaction and friend making.  

In looking at refugee Newcomers specifically, here’s what we know: “With no other complications, it may be difficult for resettled refugee children to form healthy peer relationships in the host setting.” (The Newcomer Student, 2016).  Let’s look at why.

“Newcomers face challenges in communicating thoughts and feelings in the new language, and may feel that peers do not understand them. As an added complexity, children who demonstrate elements of post-traumatic stress also score lower on the prosocial behavior scale. In other words, normative social efficacy is compromised.” (The Newcomer Student, 2016). 

Friend making and self-esteem are inherently linked.  Learners who feel that they have friends (or at least are largely accepted by their peers) are more likely to demonstrate healthy self-confidence.  The ability to make and keep friends has academic implications, too.  Students who self-identify as partners in a friendship or friendships tend to have healthier self-esteems; and learners with this type of confidence are more likely to perform well academically.

The reverse is also true: individuals who are challenged to make friends are also likely to experience difficulties in learning and participating at school.  For example, “a child who has difficulty recalling, pronouncing, or ordering words in the new language is likely to experience teasing or harassment. … Teasing, in turn, can lead to shame and silence, and ultimately, to isolation. Such stalls create obvious fissures in an individual’s friend-making capacities.” (The Newcomer Student, 2016)

We know that trauma and high levels of stress negatively impact friend making (and consequently self-esteem, school satisfaction and academic success).  We can also acknowledge our responsibility to aid our students in navigating social exchange as a mechanism of trauma informed instruction.

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We can begin this work in the classroom using evidence-based strategies.  Here’s how to get started. 

1.  Create safe opportunities for social engagement.  Begin with pair groupings (to encourage talk and decrease the chances of a student feeling “left out”).  Build up to small group engagement.  Initially, schedule short periods of interaction, working up into longer ones.

2.  Begin simply, with exchanges around likes and dislikes or recalling steps in a process.  Invite students to find similarities in their views or observations.

3.  Choose interactive activities that highlight the various strengths of students within the work-social groups.

4.  Aim to initiate small group activities on a schedule, so that students can predict and better prepare themselves for interpersonal exchange.

5.  During periods of sustained student interaction, listen for areas that individual students appear to struggle with or exhibit discomfort in.  Work with individual students to create “social scripts” that can guide them through tricky points in a conversation.

6.  Explicitly teach the meaning of facial expressions and body language.  This is especially helpful for students coming from cultures where there are discrepancies in communicative gestures.

7.  Avoid competitive exchanges.  Instead, offer activities that promote teamwork, sharing, friendly game play and routine conversation.  Have students leave personal items behind when they enter a partner or group setting, to minimize opportunities for conflict.  Slowly incorporate activities that require sharing or taking turns.

 8.  Provide live, video or other examples of similarly aged-students engaged in normative play, conversation or group work. 

9.  Create structure, routine and control, but also allow students some choice and the opportunity to demonstrate self-efficacy.  Anticipate that students will act in mature ways.  Redirect when necessary.

10.  Model how to work through conflict or disagreement.  Offer sentence stems and allow students to practice these exchanges in a safe, monitored setting.

11.  Prepare students to be active listeners.  Emphasize the importance of active listening in a conversation.  Ask students to engage in a conversation and recall details about what their partner revealed during his or her talk time.  Model facial expressions and body language that indicate active listening.

12.  Be mindful that some students will require additional interventions.  Be prompt in processing referrals for those services.   If, after a period of consistent interventions in the classroom, the student continues to struggle in social setting, request the assistance of school staff who are equipped to support the learner at a more advanced level. 

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Trauma and stress can impact students’ academic achievement and social wellbeing.   The ability to establish and maintain friendships is a singular facet, but an important one.  We can do our part to introduce tools that help our students to overcome these obstacles.   

Keep in mind that our students are brilliant reminders of the resilience of the human spirit.  There is always hope to be found here, and that hope is bolstered by implementation of timely, appropriate and evidence-rooted strategies in the learning context. 

Art Therapy for Trauma in the Classroom

All children experience stress.  In fact, it is natural and normative for young people to encounter stress and learn to process it in healthy ways.  Some children experience very high levels of stress, either as an isolated moment of impact or as a period of heightened, prolonged unrest.  

Trauma occurs when the experience of stress is significant enough to overwhelm one’s capacity to manage and diffuse it.  Not all individuals who experience trauma will exhibit lasting symptoms of distress.  Yet for others, traumatic stress can dismantle one’s entire sense of belonging, safety, and self-control.

As teachers, we may witness the effects of childhood trauma in the classroom.  Significant stress manifests in a myriad of ways- from speech impediments and frequent urination to disruptive behaviors and excessive organization.  Educators are not advised to step into the role of psychologist or student counselor, unless they are explicitly trained and licensed to do so.  However, we can do our best to take proactive measures to mitigate significant stress in the classroom setting.

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The implications of trauma in childhood can be significant, affecting physical wellbeing and brain development at a molecular level.  Specifically, significant trauma is capable of creating blockages, or “stalls”, in the right brain (where visual memories are stored) and in the Brocas area of the frontal lobe (where speech and language processing occur).  Meanwhile, the amygdala, which is responsible for recognizing and reacting to danger, becomes hyperactive, leaving the “fight or flight” switch turned on. (Rausch et al, 1996).   

Art is widely recognized as one effective means of trauma-informed care.  A variety of art forms are employed in therapeutic contexts.  Classroom art activities can be used as a component of trauma-informed instruction and may include drawing, painting, drama, music-making, creative movement, sculpting, weaving, and collage-making.

Artistic expression is unique in its ability to bypass speech-production areas in the brain and construct wordless somatic paths to expression.  The actual process of art making is a predominately right-brained activity.  As the right brain is stimulated and strengthened, left-brain connectivity (the essential link to language acquisition) can begin to repair.  Miranda Field, writing for the University of Regina, explains:

“Research has shown that the non-verbal right brain holds traumatic memories and these can be accessed through the use of symbols and sensations in art therapy. Communication between the brain hemispheres can be accomplished through the use of art therapy and may assist in the processing of the trauma (Lobban, 2014).”

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Humans retain traumatic memories in physiological and cerebral ways.  The use of art in education addresses both facets.  Chloe Chapman, for The Palmeira Practice, shares that “using art to express emotion accesses both visually stored memory and body memory, as not only does it enable people to create images, but the use of art materials such as clay and paint can reconnect them to physical sensation.”  In fact, research links sights and touch to the amygdala and the processing of fear.  When these sensory elements are introduced in safe contexts, the slow relinquishment of trauma can occur. (Lusebrink, 2004)

Art making provides a container for trauma and can promote feelings of safety, security, belonging, grounding and validation.  Creative output engages the student in organizing, expressing and making meaning from traumatic experiences.  It also encourages the reconstruction of one’s sense of efficacy and and the notion of “being present” in the new context. 

Art expression provides learners with the option of creative choice, as well as the ability to process trauma in their own measure- reducing the likelihood of emotional overload.  Ultimately, students who are exposed to art as therapy are more likely to reach a place of recognizing and valuing their own existing coping strategies- and becoming more receptive to learning new ones.

Ready to grow on the path of trauma-informed education through art therapy? 

Visit the incredible authors and resources below.

1.     101 Mindful Arts-Based Activities to Get Children and Adolescents Talking: Working with Severe Trauma, Abuse and Neglect Using Found and Everyday Objects  (Dawn D’Amico) 

https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Arts-Based-Activities-Children-Adolescents-ebook/dp/B01N47I0FI/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1514483429&sr=8-2-fkmr1&keywords=dialectical+behavioral+therapy+101

2.     The Big Book of Therapeutic Activity Ideas for Children and Teens: Inspiring Arts-Based Activities and Character Education Curricula (Lindsey Joiner)

https://www.amazon.com/Therapeutic-Activity-Ideas-Children-Teens-ebook/dp/B00812X6GE/ref=pd_sim_351_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SB2JP3ZDPDZW5VQXHC03

3.     Free Video Series: Trauma Training For Educators (ACES in Education)

http://www.acesconnection.com/g/aces-in-education/blog/trauma-training-for-educators-free

4.     Essentials for Creating A Trauma-Sensitive Classroom

https://traumaessentials.weebly.com/resources.html

5.     The Art Therapy Sourcebook (Cathy Malchiodi)

https://www.amazon.com/Therapy-Sourcebook-Sourcebooks-Cathy-Malchiodi/dp/0071468277/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1514483721&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=The+Art+Therapy+Sourcebook

6.     Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul (Shawn McNiff)

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Heals-Creativity-Cures-Soul/dp/1590301668

7.     DBT® Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition (Marsha M. Linehan)

https://www.amazon.com/Skills-Training-Handouts-Worksheets-Second/dp/1572307811/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1514484354&sr=8-2&keywords=dialectical+behavior+therapy+skills+workbook

8 Listening-Speaking Strategies to Engage ELLs

Listening and speaking are often the first domains explored by a language learner.  Students who are new to English require frequent, purposeful opportunities to develop these skills.   With so many demands on our classroom time, it can be challenging to make room for dedicated speaking/listening skills practice.  Fortunately, we can engage learners by embedding meaningful conversational activities in our lessons throughout the school day. 

Here are eight low-prep cross-curricular activities that will get students talking (and listening, too!).

DESCRIPTIVE PAIRS

This activity encourages academic vocabulary development by engaging students in active speaking and listening around relevant classroom content. A pair of students sits back to back, with one student facing the front of the room. A category is announced (for example: mammals, text characters, types of triangles) Facilitator presents an image of one item in this category. The student facing the visual must relay to his or her partner what the image shows. In giving clues, this student must be as descriptive as possible, but cannot say the actual word or words that name the image. The student facing away from the image must engage his or her active listening skills in order to guess what the image is. When the away-facing student correctly names the image, partners hold a high-five or touching elbows and wait for other teams to solve the puzzle. Partners exchange seats and reverse speaking/listening roles.

FAN N’ PICK

Fan N' Pick is a Kagan cooperative strategy that can be used to activate background knowledge, facilitate discussion on a topic or review a concept. To prepare for activity, create a series of questions related to a text or concept. Write or type questions on strips of paper that are of similar size and shape. Place questions in an envelope. Each working group of four students will receive one envelope. Create as many envelopes as projected student groups. For lesson, arrange students into groups of four and distribute envelopes.  Students in each group are numbered 1-4. Student 1 will remove the strips, making sure that all of the questions are faced down. Student 1 "fans" the strips and presents them to Student 2. Student 2 reads the strip that he or she chose and provides thinking time. Student 3 is responsible for answering the questions. Student 4 clarifies, praises, or adds on to Student 3's response. Then, the sentence strips are passed to Student 2, who becomes the new Student 1. The process repeats until all students have had a turn or all questions are answered.

INFORMATION DETECTIVE

Students work in pairs for this cooperative activity. Within pairs, each student has a card containing an image or text. The two images or passages are the same, except that each is missing some information. It is important that different information is missing on each card. Place a folder or other divider between the two students. Partners take turns asking each other questions in order to solve for the missing information on each card. New information should be recorded on the card or in a notebook. The students should not view one another's cards during the activity. Sentence starters may be useful.

LISTEN-RETELL

Listen-retell is a straightforward strategy that assesses student comprehension while working to develop learners' listening and speaking skills.  For this exercise, students work in pairs.  Facilitator gives each pair a prompt that is relevant to a topic being studied.  One student from each pair responds to the prompt.  The other student listens carefully to his or her partner's response.  Then, the listening partner rephrases what was said.  The first partner confirms the accuracy of the listing partner's retell.  For older or more advanced students, the listening partner will rephrase the speaking partner's statement and then add on to the conversation with a new statement.  After both partners have contributed, a new prompt is issues and students' speaking/listening roles are reversed.

MIX-AND-MATCH

The Mix-and-Match strategy encourages students to interact with one another in a guided format and allows for movement within the classroom.  This exercise works well across all content areas.  To prepare, first create a series of questions related to a topic or unit of study.   Record these questions on a set of index cards.  On a separate set of cards, record appropriate responses to those questions.  Each question card should have a corresponding answer card. In working with older learners and/or learners with higher levels of language proficiency, it is best to incorporate student-generated questions and responses.  To carry out the exercise, half of the participants are issued cards containing questions.  Give the other students cards with appropriate responses to questions.  Learners must move about the room sharing and comparing their cards until they find their match.  Once all students have found their match, pairs may share out their corresponding questions and responses with the other students in the class.

PARTNER COACHING

Partner coaching is a cooperative strategy that allows students to practice using several or all language domains while working to solve a problem together. This activity works especially well in math or science subjects. To begin, arrange students in pairs and assign two challenges or problems to each pair of students. Each student in the pair will be responsible for solving one challenge. While the first student works on his or her problem, the second student acts as a coach, offering advice, feedback and encouragement. The coach is not permitted to write the answers or solve the problem for the first student. Students reverse roles and solve the other problem. When both challenges have been solved, one pair of students partners with another pair to form a group of four. All four students work together to confirm the validity of answers and make corrections as necessary. Note that it is helpful to model the acts of offering and accepting constructive feedback in advance. Some students may find it difficult to accept peer coaching. Make it clear that the expectation is to try to be open to feedback as possible. Offer sentence stems and other supports to guide students through the cooperative practice, as needed.

PARTNER DICTATION

Partner dictation is a fast-paced, simple activity that engages students in all four language-learning domains. To prepare, select a brief passage on a focus topic. Print half the number of copies as students in the class. (Or, choose unique dictation passages and print separately). For the activity, begin by pairing students. Each pair of students stands on one side of the room. Dictation passages are posted in another part of the room (or outside of the room in a hallway or corridor). One student will act as the "runner" and the other as the "recorder". (Students will have a chance to change roles). The "runner" will quickly make trips to and from the printed dictation passage to read it and return to partner to relay the message. The recorder writes what he or she hears. Students work together to edit scripts as they are being written. The runner makes as many trips to the dictation sample as needed for the recorder to capture the whole passage. Roles reverse, with a new dictation passage.  Length and complexity of passages should reflect grade and language abilities present in the classroom and should be modified for pair groups as necessary.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

This is a classic drama warm-up game that works great for ESL verb study. To play, select a small group of students (teams of 5-7 students works well, though any number is fine) to enter the "stage". The remaining students in the class will serve as the audience, though all students should have the chance to perform. Have one student from the acting group take center stage while his or her teammates wait "in the wings". The first student begins the game by performing an action, such as driving a car. Another teammate enters and asks the first student, "What are you doing?" The first student can respond with any answer excluding his or her actual answer. For example, "I'm brushing my teeth." The second student would then have to begin the action of brushing his or her teeth. The first and second students continue performing their actions. The third student enters and asks the second student, "What are you doing?" He or she responds with a new action, such as "I'm ice skating." The third student mimes ice skating. The process repeats until all students in the group have gone.  Audience applauds and a new group takes the stage. More advanced students may be encouraged to use more complex verb clauses, such as “I’m baking a cake for my mom’s birthday.” Students really love this activity!

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Ready to dig deeper? These activities (and many others) are part of the comprehensive EduSkills platform. Learn more at eduskills.us.

EduSkills is an educational services and school data analysis company serving schools and districts Pre-K through 12th grade. EduSkills collaborates with schools and districts in order to help teachers and administrators become high-performing outcome based educators with a clear focus on high level student achievement. 

Risk Factors for Newcomer Trauma

Approximately one quarter of the young people in U.S. schools have endured some type of significant trauma.  Trauma can occur as a singular paralyzing event or as a period of intense ongoing stress.  We can define significant trauma as distress that is impactful enough to overwhelm an individual’s ability to produce and manage healthy responses to upheaval. 

Trauma and shock are complex issues, especially with respect to students’ academic participation.  It is important to bear in mind that trauma is often multi-layered and can be influenced by a broad range of factors.  This helps us to better understand why two individuals who may have experienced very similar profound-stress life events may rationalize that information in vastly different ways.  Underlying risk factors can have dedicated implications for both the impact of trauma and the viability of resilience.

 Refugee newcomer students are vulnerable to additional risk factors that may impair or restrict an individual's ability to access emotional coping resources.  For example, the age at which the trauma occurred can influence the degree of affectedness (preschool and early adolescence are especially critical periods).  In The Newcomer Student, we read:

“The degree to which our Newcomer students are impacted by stress can be notably profound. We can assume that most Newcomers will have endured episodes of prolonged stress, as an organic byproduct of abrupt flight. Of course, affectedness presents itself in individualized ways, and it is intensely codependent upon the length and gradation of stressful experience, as well as a string of alternative variables.” 

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What are those variables?

We can explore some of the most common trauma impact risk factors for refugee Newcomer students in the info-chart below.  We can use this resource to increase our own educator awareness around our students’ vulnerabilities.  This understanding can be integrated into a whole child approach to trauma prevention and mitigation in the school setting.  

By increasing our own awareness into trauma, we are also expanding the breadth and depth to which we are able to service our students.  We can commit to meeting our learners where they are now; setting high expectations for their socio-academic achievement; and celebrating with them critical milestones along the way.  

Let's embrace this cognizance that episodes of trauma may manifest in our students, but focus our sights looking forward- to our students' overwhelming, captivating resilience.  Our learners have a story to tell, but that's not the whole journey.  It's just the beginning.

Teacher Home Visits with ASCD

Teacher home visits are a vital component of overall student success.  How Home Visits Transformed My Teaching (ASCD Educational Leadership, September 2017) captures some of my own experiences inside the homes of my students.

Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/2j3QBu5

(As a side note, it was such a treat to work with the Educational Leadership team.  From start to finish, this was a seamless, professional and joyful process.  Moreover, the other articles in this issue- and in other issues- are insightful, engaging and worth the read!) 

Now, I’d love to hear from YOU.

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What are your experiences around teacher home visits?  Which of these occasions transformed you or your students?  Which site visits became memorable experiences or lead to lasting relationships with a student’s family?

I hope you’ll take the chance to share in the comment field below.  As practitioners, we grow the most when we take the time to listen to and learn from one another.  I am grateful for you, educator!

Newcomer Education: Facilitating Integration

Excerpted from The Newcomer Student: An Educator’s Guide to Aid Transition, Louise Kreuzer-El Yaafouri @ Rowman & Littlefield International Press, 2016.

As we strive to guide our refugee and immigrant newcomers toward socio-academic access, we must focus on a unified goal: healthy, holistic & long-range integration.

Integration is a loaded concept with varied intent, depending on its context.  Let’s clarify this term with specificity to Newcomer programming. 

 To do this, we’ll need to take a few steps back.  To get to integration, we’ll need to start with culture shock.  Culture shock is a process of adjusting from one set of heritage norms to another.  

The process of culture shock is marked by four domains: honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment and mastery.  We can see how culture shock resembles grief in the sense that an individual will navigate a predictable set of uncomfortable stages before reaching a level of comfort and acceptance.

Briefly, the honeymoon period is a romaticized one, full of awe and discovery.  Stress factors may be delayed by fascination and shock.  The negotiation phase, which may begin approximately three months after resettlement, signals reality setting in and is marked by frustration, fear, homesickness, detachment and physical discomfort.  The adjustment period, typically encountered six to twelve months post-resettlement, is one of acceptance and sense-making.  Anxiety is reduced as maneauverability and self-efficacy are increased.  Finally, the mastery (or bicultural stage) is generally achieved between one to five years post-resettlement and indicates an ability to navigate freely and successfully in the new culture.

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In order to examine potential implications of culture shock in the classroom setting, we’ll focus on the adjustment domain, the third stage on the way to cultural mastery.  The Adjustment Domain can be further disseminated into three categories: Isolation, Adoption and Integration. 

We can view these three areas within the adjustment domain on a spectrum.  On the far left of the spectrum, we’ll place Isolation; on the far right, Adoption.  These tendencies have opposite values.

Isolation  

·       Marked by disengagement or conflict with the host culture.

·       Likely to return to heritage country, but may not fit in well.

·       Feelings of separation from heritage and host identities.

Adoption  

·       Marked by utter identification with new culture at the expense of the old one.

·       Expected loss of language, culture and loyalty to heritage culture.

·       Social isolation between family and community members can occur.

Of course, neither end of the spectrum is particularly healthy, though isolation creates the most devastation.  What we hope for our Newcomers to achieve is a balance.  This “sweet spot” in the middle range of the spectrum we identify as "integration".

Integration

·       Able to recognize positive attributes of heritage and host cultures.

·       Full, healthy assimilation into new culture without loss of the old one.

·       More likely to experience social acceptance, emotional well-being, self-efficacy, cooperative relationships and general productivity.

It may be helpful to imagine the verb of integrating in this way: picture an individual standing in the middle of a teeter-totter, with a goal of keeping both ends of the teeter-totter elevated from the ground.  To do this, the individual needs to have one hand and one foot on each side of center.  Constant re-adjustment is necessary.

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Education plays a critical role in aiding successful integration.  Ager and Strang (2008) write that, “For refugee children, schools are the most important place of contact with members of local host communities, playing an important role in establishing relationships supportive of integration”.   Aart De Gues, in Cities of Migration, adds that, “When integration fails, the inevitable result is inertia and exclusion. Nothing is more important than education for gaining a foothold in society and determining one’s own path.” 

As schools and teachers, where can we start in facilitating this process?  Here are a few ideas:

Tips & Tools to Promote Healthy Integration

1.     Ensure that inclusion is school-wide priority.

2.     Begin inclusive services promptly.

3.     Maintain consistency of services, scheduling and supports.

4.     Meet students where they are and consider individual backgrounds when prescribing services.

5.     Proactively address mental and physical health issues.

6.     Explore and celebrate confianza.

7.     Establish safety and trust through routine and predictability.               

8.     Explicitly teach new laws, rules, customs and traditions. 

9.     Model speech and behavior.              

10.  Encourage collaboration.

11.  Champion native language speech/literacy.

12.  Honor cultures without trivialization.

13.  Value Newcomers and their parents as critical stakeholders and partners in success.

14.  Encourage ELL investment in the classroom, the school and the community.

15.  Actively engage with Newcomer parents and work to build mutual trust and respect.

16.  Employ adult Newcomers as volunteers, paraprofessionals, teachers and other school staff.

17.  Foster relationships with community links and stakeholders.

18.  Allow opportunities to create and share cultural artifacts.

19.  Incorporate cultural realia, such as foreign coins, postcards, and stamps as manipulatives or authentic textiles/patterns for geometry and spatial reasoning.

20.  Allow for multiple levels of expression that include traditional songs, games and call-and-response.

21.  Provide opportunities for “wander-and-explore” learning (practical, hands-on application).

22.  Celebrate both students and parents as sharers of wisdom.

Growing Through Our Biases: An Educator Exercise

The recent events surrounding race and racism have been difficult and painful.  

And we have to talk about it. 

 As we piece through our individual places in the fray, we have the double task of coaching our students through these uncomfortable social paradigms.  In the case of schools, we can only support our students' in the shedding of unhealthy biases after we have examined and tended to our own.  

As someone who is hired to coach educators through the processes of naming and mitigating implicit and explicit biases, recent events have forced a re-evaluation of my own thoughts, rooted values and prejudices.   More than this, they've been a catalyst to explore my potential contributions within this context, as well as the potential contributions of my peer practitioners and our students, who watch us with anticipatory eyes.  How can our voices be proactively and retroactively employed?  How can we come to terms with a reasonable framework for self-accountability in light of the brazen dissolution of interpersonal respect and cooperativeness?

I have prejudices.  You have prejudices.  Our students and their parents carry biases into the school each day.  Some of those are friendly, harmless judgments.  Many are not. 

We have a responsibility to mitigate our own biases to whatever extent we are able.  This duty carries remarkable weight, based on the nature of our work with children and the inevitable part we play as  role models in urban, multicultural settings.  It is also our task to encourage a shift in the negative biases that exist in our parents and students, Newcomer and non-Newcomer alike.

Where is our start point? 

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The following is an excerpt from The Newcomer Teacher: A Workbook Companion to the Newcomer Student (Sept 2017).   The Cultural Biases Workshop is a means to explore our own thought and action patterns.  After all, only after we are brave enough to confront our own implicit and explicit biases can we hope to make positive changes to the broader social dynamic.

 From the text:

"When we meet new people or begin to establish new relationships, our brains respond with a flurry of conscious and unconscious activity. We are analyzing the other individual and making a series of analyses based on the stimulation that our brain is receiving. We are producing and activating biases.

Prejudices, stereotypes and discriminatory evaluations are unconscious thinking patterns. Often, these thought-processing channels were constructed in our early childhood, influenced by our role models, societal constructs and media. Reinforced or repeated prejudices eventually become automatic. They become ingrained information-processing mechanisms."

 

But there's good news. 

"Evidence strongly indicates that unconscious biases can be overcome, and even reversed, with sincere intent." In fact, "A person who is motivated to be unprejudiced—because of legal sanctions, social pressures, or strong personal egalitarian values—can suppress biased responses." -Culture Plus, 2018 

 In a fascinating turn of events, the human mind is capable of overriding itself. 

Again from The Newcomer Teacher:

 "We are capable of re-imagining our vision of the world around us. In order for true culture and bias training to be effective, we have to make way for it to be effective. That process begins with us taking the time to be raw and honest with ourselves about our own apparent and underlying prejudices.

There’s no promise that the process will be attractive, or even particularly enjoyable. However, be assured that by taking the first steps in being truthful with ourselves, we can open doors for growth and improvement, both in our lives and in the the lives of the students we serve."

 Ina Catrinescu writes, “Confirmation bias is our most treasured enemy.  Our opinions, our acumen- all of it, are the result of years of selectively choosing to pay attention to that information only which confirms what our limited minds already accept as truth.” 

If we can selectively choose to pay attention to those things that support one thought pattern, then we can selectively choose to entertain new though patterns as well.   Let’s make an effort to choose wisely. 

Access the full Cultural Biases Workshop HERE.

Back-to-School With ELL Parents

A Closer Look at ELL Parent Engagement

An age-old question: How do we, as teachers and schools, go about increasing parent participation in students’ learning?  To further define this question, how do we engage our newcomer parents and EL families in their child’s academic endeavors?

Involving parents in school activities can be tricky business.  It can also be immensely rewarding- for the teacher, the school, and (most importantly!) the student.

 A million terrific ideas exist on the subject.  Don’t believe me?  Take a visit to the Teachers Pay Teachers website with the key word parent.   

 As with any instructional technique, it is critically important to discover the strategy that works best for our specific student demographics- and then refine it to meet the needs of our students in a given year and within a particular scenario.  What I found in researching parent-engagement ideas was that few were actually applicable within my unique classroom context- which was vibrant with cultural and linguistic diversity.  The one-size-fits all plans did not fit at all.

And so began the process of creating suitable alternatives. Here is one of my favorites.  It's one that I’ve implemented many times over with much success. 

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This idea came about one year as I was preparing for “Back-to-School” night.  Combined, the students in my third grade newcomer class spoke nearly a dozen separate primary languages.  I desperately wanted parents to feel welcomed and to be able to participate in the evening.

The problem was that I had no idea how I would overcome tremendous language obstacles to achieve this.  

So, asked the students for their help.  Together, this is what we came up with.

Student-Parent Notes

The students wrote simple notes to their parents and families.  We arranged the notes so that they were waiting in the classroom for parents when they arrived for the school event.  As a class team, we decided that students would record their sentiments in English (and later translate them for their parents) or in their native language (if this skill set was accessible to them). 

When family members arrived at school, students took immediate ownership of their letters and were eager to share them.  They were equally eager to ask their parents to reciprocate the gesture.

Our classroom writing station became a hub of activity.  We laid out an assortment of colored pens and stationary.  Parents and caretakers, shy at first, took pens in their hands to begin composing notes of love and encouragement for their students.  As with the kids, caretakers were invited to utilize the language they felt most comfortable with. 

As parents read aloud to their students in their native languages, the entire tone of the room shifted.  Parents of different cultures exchanged knowing glances with one another.  Those who shared the same language made room for laughter and conversation.  These caretakers all had the same thoughts, hopes and expectations for their children.  They were the very same considerations that I had for their children:

I am proud of you.  You are a good child.  Work hard.  Try your best.  Be kind.  I am here for you.   

 I couldn't comprehend all of the notes, as I was now the one inhibited by language ability.  That didn't matter.  The messages were not meant for me.  My take away was this: we were all on the same playing field, and also on the same team.  

The notes hung in our classroom for the duration of the year.  Not only did they provide tangible artifacts of students’ heritage cultures, they offered grounding and a call toward fortitude.  Our student-parent notes became the most authentic, relevant anchor charts that Room 13 had to offer.

 Here are a few for the road!

Books That Celebrate Diversity 2017

Readers- especially young readers- should have access to texts that provide mirrors and windows.  Mirrors in literature enable our readers to see reflections of themselves within the pages of books.  Windows allow for glimpses into worlds, cultures and perspectives that are outside of a reader's personal experience.

These remarkable books of 2017 allow for both- and they are calling for a place on your classroom bookshelf.

EARLY READERS
 

This is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from Around the World

Matt Lamothe (Chronicle Books)

This visually engaging picture book follows one day in the lives of seven children from countries around the world.  From Uganda to Russia, from Peru to Iran, we find that while differences do exist, we are all connected by our human qualities and the world we share. 

My Beautiful Birds

Suzanne Del Rizzo (Pajama Press)

My Beautiful Birds is an eloquently written story of a boy who is forced to flee his home in war-torn Syria.   He finds purpose in caring for the birds that surround him.  Del Rizzo, through words and fascinating mixed-media illustrations, tells a story of human resiliency with clarity, compassion and a firm sense of hope. 

A Different Pond

Bao Phi, illustrated by Thi Bui (Capstone Young Readers)

Author Bao Phi relays the touching story of a father and son in honest, captivating simplicity.  Each day, the father and son fish a Minneapolis pond for the family’s evening meal.  During these precious moments together, the father reveals more of his own memories of fishing in Vietnam and of his migration to the United States.   The illustrations are equally as moving, making A Different Pondan impactful and digestible sharing of the human experience. 

A Family is a Family is a Family

Sara O’Leary, illustrated by Qin Leng (Groundwood Books)

This vibrant picture book tells the story of a young girl who lives with her loving foster family, but is hesitant to share this information with her classmates.  When a class project reveals the diversity of other students’ home lives, she becomes empowered to share- and to find pride in- her own unique version of family.

All the Way to Havana

Margarita Engle, illustrated by Mike Curato

Full of energetic sounds and illustrations, All the Way to Havana highlights the adventures of a young boy and his parents while driving to Havana, Cuba.  “Cara Cara”, the old family car, chugs and rumbles and zooms through streets filled with musicians, vendors, bustling activity and colorful buildings.  All the Way to Havana is a delightful celebration of culture, sight and sound.

Danza!: Amalia Hernandez and El Ballet Folklorico de Mexico

Duncan Tonatiuh

Danza! celebrates the life of famous dancer and choreographer Amalia Hernandez.  It tells of her dreams as a young child and her eventual founding of El Ballet Folklorico de Mexico.  With this troupe, she performed all over the world, sharing her unique blend of ballet, modern and traditional Mexican dance.  Danza! is engaging, informative, inspiring and a visual treat for young readers.

The Journey

Francesca Sanna (Flying Eagle Books)

Italian author and illustrator Francesca Sanna examines the kinds of journeys a refugee might take and the difficult decisions a family might endure when confronted with the unimaginable.  The Journey does not detail the refugee experiences of a specific region, giving the main characters a sense of universal relevance.   The book is expressive, beautifully depicted and incredibly timely.

The World is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid

Jeanette Winter

Zara Hadid, famed Iraqi architect takes the stage in this uplifting non-fiction picture book.   Readers learn of Hadid’s struggles to achieve her dream of becoming a great architect, despite the obstacles she encountered because of her gender and religion.  The World is Not a Rectangle encourages young readers to dream big and work hard to reach their aims.

Malaika’s Costume

Nadia Hohn, illustrated by Irena Luxbacher (Groundwood Books)

The culture of the Caribbean comes alive in this delightful picture book.  Maliaka, living with her grandmother in Canada, work together to create the perfect carnival costume.  Malaika’s Costume celebrates the values of family, cultural pride and imagination.

MIDDLE READERS

Refugee

Alan Gratz (Scholastic)

Refugee details three separate accounts of the refugee experience, from

Nazi Germany to 90’s Cuba to modern day Syria.  Gratz weaves these stories together in suspenseful ways, making clear that each refugee experience is significant and deserving of human attention.  While each character's search for refuge is unique, hope is the overarching sentiment throughout.

Amina’s Voice

Hena Kan

In this coming-of-age story, Amina and her best friend Soojin must navigate middle school and what it means to be American.  Faced with the idea of “fitting in”, Amina contemplates changing her name and hiding her most obvious cultural markers.  When her local mosque is vandalized, Amina is forced to reconcile with her own identity.  Amina’s Voice is a brave story of finding balance between cultures new and old.

Illegal

Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano (Hodder Books)

Illegal is an engrossing graphic novel that tells the harrowing story of Ebo, who is forced to leave his North African homeland.  At only twelve years old, Ebo must make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, experiencing a vast range of emotions and experiences along the way. 

The Epic Fail of Artura Zamora

Pablo Cartaya

Growing up in Miami, thirteen-year-old Artura Zamora is about to embark on a summer of challenges, complicated by the presence of Carmen, who moves into the neighborhood and consumes Arturo’s thoughts.  Artura becomes a hero in the community when he uses poetry and the art of Jose Marti as a form of protest against neighborhood gentrification.

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History

Vashti Harrison (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Little Leaders features forty inspiring role models in history, including Sojourner Truth, Bessie Coleman, Alice Ball and Maya Angelou.  The text is beautifully illustrated and captures the imagination of readers of all ages.   From science to poetry to advocacy, Harrison relates these true stories of determination with poise and clarity.

Somos Como Las Nubes/We Are Like the Clouds

Jorge Argueta (Groundwood Books)

We Are Like the Clouds is an honest collection of bilingual poems that relate the experience of child migration from Central America to the United States.  The poems tell stories from a variety of perspectives and capture sentiments of fear, sorrow, adventure, desperation, hope, and resilience.  

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

Karina Yan Glaser (Houton Mifflin)

Celebrated as a New York Times Notable Children’s Book of 2017, this book swallows readers up in the story of a large bi-racial family known as the Vanderbeekers, and the beloved brownstone they’ve always called home.  When Beiderman, the not-so-nice landlord, refuses to renew their lease, the Vanderbeekers must use all of their combined creativity to keep their home.

YOUNG ADULT

The Stars Beneath Our Feet

David Barclay Moore (Knopf)

Lolly Rachpaul is a twelve-year-old boy living in Harlem.  He and his mother are still grieving the loss of Lolly’s older brother, who was lost to gang violence.  A gift of Legos changes the course of Lolly’s life, marking a path toward friendship, purpose, overcoming and eventual healing.   This remarkable coming of age story is heartfelt and speaks to the combined power of self-determination and human connectivity.

The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas (Walker)

Thomas’ debut novel about Starr Carter is a Black Lives Matter inspired testament to our times.  Starr’s friend Khalil is shot and killed by a police officer as she watches.  The consequences are many, rippling into the community and rattling Starr’s existence.  This is a potent look at modern race issues, tempered by the goodness of community and the strength of human resolve.

See You in the Cosmos

Jack Cheng

See You in the Cosmos is an endearing story of 11-year old Alex, who records his travels throughout the American southwest on his iPod, with the hopes of one day launching the device into space.  Sharing in Alex’s adventures are his troubled mother and sidekick of a dog, Carl Sagan.  Alex’s experiences lead him to recognize that the destination is the journey and that family is where- and what- you make of it. 

American Street

Ibi Zoboi (Balzer & Bray)

Teenager Fabiola Toussaint expects to find joy and ease after making it from Port-au-Prince to Detroit.  She is faced with a different version of reality when her mother is detained by U.S. immigration.  Fabiola now wrestles with high school in a new country, the overbearing presence of her cousins, a feeling that must certainly be love- and at the forefront, a desperate drive to free her mother. 

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

Erica L. Sanchez

Julia has always been compared to her “perfect” sister Olga.   In fact, Julia's family struggles to understand her motive to leave the family and move away to college.  When her sister is killed in a tragic car accident, Julia faces even more pressure to live up to the daughter Olga was.  Julia is already juggling new life and new love- and now must face the loss of Olga and the truth about who her sister really might have been.  In all of this, Julia begins to reconcile with the past, make peace with her Mexican heritage and discover her own self worth.

Piecing Me Together

Renee Watson

Jade is a determined and bright young women fighting an upward incline of social mobility.  She has set out to leave her neighborhood to find success.  She is awarded a scholarship to a predominately white school and is taken under the wings of powerful black female advisors.   Yet, Jade struggles to identify completely with her old world or her new one.  She eventually learns to value all that her less-privileged upbringing taught her.  These lessons are part of her identity and become part of her own success story.  Watson elegantly tackles race, privilege, and identity in this coming-of-age treat.

When Dimple Met Rishi

Sandhya Menon

Menon has crafted a lighthearted YA romance that places her protagonist at the crossroads of cultural tradition and modern aspirations.  Dimple Shah has recently graduated high school and is off to a summer academy for web developers.   There, she meets Rishi, the same boy her parents selected as her “suggested arrangement”. While Dimple shuns the idea of an arranged marriage, Rishi welcomes it.   Despite their differences, the two are drawn together, and eventually discover a connection that surprises them both.  New York Times bestseller and winner of multiple book awards

The Girl from Aleppo: Nujeen’s Escape from War to Freedom

Nujeen Mustafa and Christina Lamb

Lamb, co-author of I Am Malala has joined with Nujeen Mustafa to relate another incredible true story.  Sixteen-year-old Nujeen was forced to flee Syria amid the destruction and terror of civil war.  Her journey is complicated by the fact that she is has cerebral palsy is bound to a wheelchair, making her escape more challenging and dangerous.  Nujeen’s quest for safety becomes a sixteen-month odyssey across the Mediterranean and through a number of countries before at last finding haven in Germany.  A Girl From Aleppo offers a window into the tragic events in Syria and through one young woman’s story of hardship, perseverance, and overcoming.

Connecting ELD & Academic Language

Rights Reserved. RefugeeClassroom, 2018.

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” – Flora Lewis

Language learning engages some of our most complex cognitive capacities.  Growing our understanding of how language acquisition works helps us to better address the needs of our new-to-English learners.  Indeed, "Academic Language is believed to be one of the most important factors in the academic success of English Language Learners, and it has been shown to be a major contributor to achievement gaps between ELLs and English-proficient students." (Willis, 2013).

We’ll look at language acquisition under two distinct umbrellas: English Language Development (ELD) and Academic Language.  The first refers to direct language use and function (social expressiveness), while the latter addresses content-specific communication. New-to-English speakers typically achieve conversational language fluency at or around two years of practice; academic language proficiency can take five to seven years to develop.  

Teaching for ELLs requires a dedication to English Language Development.  ELD instruction is deliberately designed to promote language proficiency and overall school success.  As a learner develops the ability to navigate basic language use and function, he or she can begin to access academic language components.  Basic social expressiveness falls under the realm of ELD.  These elemental mechanisms of inter-personal communication are essential for successful integration and can be heard in the hallways and lunchrooms and on the bus or playground. 

Here’s what we need to keep in mind about English Language Development:

·       It is the basic infrastructure for language learning

·       It is necessary for communication

·       Language acquisition is the primary goal   

·       ELD is structured around Tier 1 and Tier 2 words

·       ELD instruction should be continued, even as academic language is introduced

·       ELD instruction benefits cooperative structures, team building, classroom culture, information processing.  

·       ELD techniques can be effectively used in whole class settings across a range of language ability levels (including non-ELLs!) to grow command of the English language.

 English, in the context of ELD, is explicitly taught using specific strategies that are shown to enhance and accelerate language acquisition.  Instruction often occurs in small group settings and focuses on the domains of listening and speaking to build efficacy in the areas of reading and writing. ELD efforts provide opportunities to learn and practice English vocabulary, syntax, conventions, functions, grammar and registers.  Student engagement is enhanced through the implementation of sheltered instruction techniques and consistent ongoing feedback toward student growth.

The goal of ELD is to provide ELs a foundation on which academic language constructs can be mapped, built and renovated.  Students require academic language proficiency in order to navigate the classroom experience, to fully participate content learning and to express knowledge in school-appropriate ways.  Students encounter academic language in learning objectives, textbooks, course/content exercises and standardized testing materials.  Writer and researcher Todd Finley summarizes: "Academic language is a meta-language that helps learners acquire the 50,000 words that they are expected to have internalized by the end of high school."

Here’s what we need to keep in mind about academic language, or integrated ELD:

·       It is discipline and content specific

·       It grows from basic conversational fluency

·       Academic language is explicitly taught in direct content context   

·       It is standards based and essential for school success

·       Academic language is structured Tier 2 words and beyond

·       Academic language includes and expands upon essential ELD principles (vocabulary, syntax, grammar, conventions and functions)

·       Sheltered instruction techniques can also used for the purpose of teaching and clarifying academic language 

·       ELD/social language aptitude is not an accurate indicator for academic language proficiency

As educators, we can encourage the shift from social language to academic content language in organic ways.  One approach is to assist language learners in making conscious moves to “upgrade” known language.  In this way, we can scaffold the transition toward advanced content-specific vernacular, or “juicy” words, in elementary-teacher talk.

Let's look at some examples in shifting from social to academic language:

·       Know: recognize, experience, comprehend

·       See: observe, examine, distinguish

·       Think: determine, consider, summarize

·       Guess: predict, wonder, imagine

·       Show: demonstrate, prove, establish

·       Write: record, compose, formulate 

 It is important to point out that social and academic English need not (and should not) be mutually exclusive entities in the classroom context.  Each serves a unique purpose and supports the other.  In fact, conversational English is an essential tool for teaching, clarifying and exchanging ideas around academic language.  

We can refer to the structure of language building as an "iceberg".  At the tip of the iceberg, above the surface, social language proficiency is demonstrated (as output defined under ELD).  This is what we hear when we engage with our students.  It provides a snapshot of an individual's level of BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills).  Below the surface, we find the deeper, more complex tier of academic-content language, associated with CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency).  The wide bottom platform of the iceberg represents language mastery. 

We can make the (often overwhelming) task of learning a new language more manageable when we shape our instruction in purposeful, developmentally appropriate ways.  That is, we can provide students opportunities to achieve language mastery by building on the brain’s holistic tendency to sequentially stack learning according to accessibility and complexity. We show intentionality in our work with language learners by building on known language and scaffolding into new domains.  

School success for ELLs requires an integrated approach that combines English Language Development and explicit academic-content language instruction in a ways that are tailored to a student's English language capacity at a given time, in a given space.   In this way, students are able to work toward the successful negotiation of both worlds on a continuum toward language mastery.  After all, assures artist and intellect Edmund De Waal, 

"With languages, you are at home anywhere."

Crafting a Language Rich Classroom

Traits of a Language Rich Classroom

Language rich environments promote direct interaction with contextual print and vocabulary in facilitative, non-threatening ways.   These types of learning environments are especially critical for ELLs, who are likely to have had limited exposure to literacy in the new language.   Classrooms can and should be designed to promote literacy accessibility across all language and reading levels.  Print rich environments accomplish this by providing students many different opportunities to engage in many different components of language and literacy.

The key in creating an effective print-rich environment is to first evaluate the specific ages, interests and learning needs of a student population.  An 8th grade Newcomer classroom should not reflect the learning or interest needs of an kindergarten Newcomer classroom, a 3rd grade ESL classroom or a sophomore Geography class.   Print-rich planning should encourage rigorous, grade-level content learning by making language more accessible to developing readers and language learners.

 The good news: creating a language rich learning environment is not rocket science.  In fact, you are likely incorporating many literacy-promoting techniques in your school or classroom right now.  Our aim, then, is to grow and refine our repertoire.  The following ideas can be employed across multiple grade and content levels. Start with two or three; add on as the school year progresses.

 Exposing children to more than one form of communication sparks interest and interest turns into learning. This connection quickly becomes the making of meaning for reading.  –Leyva & McClure, et al.

·       Rebus Labeling: Familiar items (door, bookshelf, glue) should be clearly labeled and in student view.  Labeling works best when combined with an image.  To avoid over-stimulation, refrain from labeling every item in the room.  For example, one “ window” tag is sufficient, even if there are four windows in the room.

·       Content Language Objectives: CLOs should be visible at child-height, clearly printed and worded in student-friendly ways.  Objectives should be read aloud and together with students at the beginning of each lesson and revisited throughout.  Eventually, academic frames used in Content Language Objectives will become predictable; and individual or small groups of students may have the responsibility of reading CLOs aloud to the class.

·       Student-created books: Learners develop special relationships with stories and books they create.  The act of physically and mentally composing text makes it relatable and “readable” in subsequent visits to the material, even if a child is not yet actually (or fully) literate in the text language.   Student-created books also encourage sequencing and oral production and fluency, when shared aloud.

·       Teacher-created books:  Teacher-created books serve many of the same functions and advantages of student-created texts.   Instructor-created books, however, are more deliberate in their use of content-based vocabulary, target sight words and proper grammar and punctuation. 

·       Name Labels: Students love seeing their name- it’s also a great way to encourage print concepts!  Options: label student photos, desks, lockers, cubbies, notebooks, attendance markers

·       Displayed Co-Created Work: These samples should remain in student view for the day or days for which they are relevant.  Ideas include: morning message, whole group text summaries, co-created objectives, daily weather or “news” reports.

·       Print-based charts: Essential charts are very helpful.  Again, the caution is in not overdoing it.  Too many posters create clutter and issues with over-stimulation.  Pick and choose carefully, and re-adjust as students’ specific learning and unit needs change.  Examples: days of the week, months of the year, weather, colors, sight words, planets, homonyms, life cycle, Pledge of Allegiance. Alphabet, calendars, schedules, directions, number line, teacher helpers, anchor charts and rubrics are posted in clear student view and referred to often.

·       Frequent Read-Alouds: Listening to teacher read-alouds and audio read-alouds of text encourage auditory processing and help students learn to identify and use appropriate intonation and emphasis.  Tip: Read like an adult.  Learners should hear (and learn to mimic) natural tonal fluctuation.

·       Language Based Technology and Media: Computer-based programs that support language learning and literacy can be incorporated as station work.  Watch for: computer use as a crutch, diversion or means of “occupying” a learner during mainstream instruction.

·       Displayed Student Work: This is a very powerful tool for promoting student confidence and encouraging learners to read and reflect on peer accomplishments.  Posted teacher celebrations on the work (or peer celebrations) also encourage reading!

·       Writing Centers:  Writing centers are a chance for students to explore print and practice skills in differentiated ways. Provide different sized writing tools to develop fine motor skills and interesting paper sources that invite participation.  Suggestions: shopping lists, thank-you cards, Pen Pal writing, journaling, invitations, notes to teachers and school personnel, postcards, reading response logs.  Early writers will benefit from sentence stems and graphic organizer choices.

·       Teacher-print: Teacher-printed dictation, summaries of student expression, daily vocabulary or other relevant items are meaningful to students as models for appropriate spelling, spacing, punctuation and print.

·       Murals: Whole class murals invite students to contribute understanding and insight on a theme in ways that are accessible to each at his or her own language development level.  A mural on the story, Swimmy, by Leo Leonni, for example, might include a story line or multiple story lines; labeled pictures of fish, characters with thinking or speaking bubbles; pictures or descriptions of the environment; single or multi-sentence structures about the story; opinions on characters or plot; or non-fiction statements about fish.  A word of note: language development is key.  That is, while illustration is an important element of mural work, it should not be the only element.  Encourage students to exchange topic-focused thoughts with their peers as they work and to include some variation of print expression with every illustration.

·       Classroom Libraries:  Inviting, comfortable classroom libraries are an essential component of the Newcomer classroom (or any classroom!). Exemplary classroom libraries are age, ability and interest appropriate, and they are representative of a global community. Newcomer classrooms are especially diverse and include an incredible range of reading and interest levels; libraries should reflect this diversity.  Books should be organized and clearly labeled.  Students will benefit from reading books at their level and also exploring other texts in interest areas that are outside of reader ability.  Early readers, especially, will learn to explore print concepts, picture cues, captions, directionality and broad content idea-shaping.  Depending on the age and grade level, Newcomer classroom libraries areas should include:

o   Picture, dual language (where applicable), English dictionaries

o   Tactile and Predictable Picture Books

o   Special-interest books

o   Multi-cultural books

o   Dual-language books, where accessible

o   Grade-level content texts with supports

o   Maps and atlases

o   Magazines

o   Play-based and life-based print: magnetic letters, menus, phone books, recipes, bus schedules, business cards

·       Word Walls: As many thoughts and ideas exist on word walls as word walls themselves.  Alphabetically, by unit, by tiers, by reading group, by color code?  Growing throughout the year or rotating through? So many choices!  Bottom line?  They work!  Ask around, try different variations… see what works best for you, then modify and refine. 

·       Theme displays: Theme displays are helpful in anchoring ideas related to an ongoing unit.  These are excellent areas to post unit vocabulary, charts, pictures, student work and teacher dictation related to a topic.

·       Involve parents: This may be the most important trait of all.  Most Newcomer parents do wish to help their students learn English and succeed in school.  The most commonly heard Newcomer parent frustration?  The feeling of helplessness that arises in wanting to aid their child in at-home learning, while working through language learning themselves.  In the vast majority of cases, Newcomer parents are eager to take part in their child’s successes and are open to guidance from the teacher and school.  So- make this process fun!  Allow for activities that can be completed as a family.  Host parents at the school to discuss cultural expectations around parent involvement in learning and creating quiet “homework” spaces at home.  Invite parents to share their strengths with students.  Parents can gain confidence by working with their children on math, teaching them the history of their heritage country, creating regional maps, or explaining in-depth science concepts in the native language.  Learning is a collaborative process- and parents are an essential link!

Download & print Language Functional Survey (GREAT for classroom observations!) HERE