ESOL curriculum addresses longtime need, but concerns persist
by Beandrea Davis
Last fall, teachers of students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) did not receive their own core curriculum materials like their colleagues teaching in mainstream K-9 classrooms did.
Instead, according to several ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teachers interviewed by the Notebook, they had to borrow and photocopy materials from regular classroom teachers in order to effectively instruct ELL students on grade-level material.
After an external audit of the District's ELL programs brought about by legal challenges, the District has provided curriculum materials for its 13,300 ELL students this fall.
The 2004 independent evaluation report of the District's ELL programs criticized last year's new District standardized curriculum in language arts for providing only "brief mention of services to ELLs" and providing "neither designated materials nor specific guidance to teachers on how to implement instruction designed to assist ELLs at various stages of learning English."
"In elementary schools, ELLs were included in grade-level literacy programs with no accommodations," noted the report's authors, a panel of four national education experts.
"We were told, 'You need to follow the core curriculum,' but it wasn't always appropriate," said April Marinell, an ESOL teacher at McKinley Elementary in Norris Square. "You can't take beginning ESOL fifth-grade students and force them to meet those goals in the core curriculum designed for a typical fifth-grade student."
ESOL teachers get materials
Officials from the School District's Office of Language, Culture, and the Arts (OLCA) - which oversees programs for ELL students - said by mid-September ESOL teachers of students in grades Pre-K to 5 would receive their own core curriculum guides in language arts designed especially for ELL instruction. The curriculum for grades 6 -12 is slated to be introduced in the fall of 2005.
To promote better coordination between ESOL teachers and content teachers, the state standards and thematic units in the ESOL curriculum are aligned with those already in use in grade-level classrooms. In addition to the reading and writing goals in the standard language arts curriculum, the new ESOL curriculum guide includes listening and speaking performance goals for ELL students.
OLCA also spent $1.5 million on new "Moving Into English" textbooks for K-5 ESOL classrooms. The textbook is a supplemental series to the Harcourt Trophies language arts textbook already in place districtwide.
"This year's results speak of what this office can do," said OLCA head Margaret Chin.
Prior to these new resources for ELL instruction, Marinell took to rummaging through her school's storage closet for reading materials appropriate for her students' levels of English proficiency.
"It will be nice to have something that is designed specifically for ESOL students," she said.
Different pace
The ESOL version of the language arts curriculum does not include a detailed pacing schedule, unlike the curriculum taught by content teachers which many teachers raised concerns about last year. But the ESOL curriculum is divided into six-week units that include benchmark testing at the end of each unit, just like the grade-level curriculum.
"A relaxed pacing schedule is really important," said ESOL teacher Delia Mirarchi. "If you're an ELL, you can't pick up the knowledge you need at the same rate that [native] English speakers do."
Ana Sainz de la Peņa, OLCA's director of ESOL and bilingual programs, said ESOL teachers need "flexibility" to deal with the influx of ELL students in their classrooms throughout the year.
The new ESOL curriculum aims to provide a "bridge" for beginner ELL students to the grade-level curriculum in language arts, ELL teacher coaches told ESOL teachers during four days of required professional development in late August. With appropriate supports from their ESOL teacher, intermediate and advanced students are supposed to make the grade-level language arts curriculum their primary focus.
Concerns raised about instruction
But there are still questions about how the new ESOL curriculum and textbook will work in a system whose instructional programs for ELLs have been troubled for decades (see District ELL programs: a troubled past).
ELL instructional models - push-in, pullout, bilingual, and dual-immersion - vary at the 133 District schools with ELL programs. Schools choose their model according to "[their] population and the number of children in [their] building," said Sainz de la Peņa.
According to the evaluation report, with the push-in model - where an ESOL teacher supports ELL students primarily during their literacy block in the grade-level classroom - better collaboration with the classroom teacher is needed.
"Although ESOL teachers often worked with ELLs directly in their literacy classes, their role was often one of assistance rather than leadership," said the report. As a result, "the instructional program was not designed for nor adapted to address ELL needs."
Mirarchi said one grade-level teacher she worked with threw her out of her classroom at her former elementary school last year.
"If the ESOL teacher is working in a push-in model and the push-in environment is the same as it was before, how is this going to work?" Mirarchi commented.
Marinell said making time during the school day to plan with the five content teachers who instruct her 60 ELL students in the grade-level classrooms is a challenge.
"It's supposed to be a collaborative effort, but you can only be so many places at once," said Marinell, who was the only ESOL teacher at McKinley last year.
OLCA officials recently unveiled a new handbook of policies and procedures for ELL programs, which for the first time in the District's history provides a detailed description of instructional requirements for ELL students.
Although she said she's glad there is finally a written description of how the District is supposed to serve ELL students, Mirarchi said she is concerned it won't be enforced in schools.
But Hackett Elementary ESOL teacher Saiyida Islam said she is optimistic about the changes.
"We were not given any guidelines last year. This year is very different," she said.