The ENL Team is devoted to offering resources for educators serving culturally and linguistically diverse students in Catholic schools.
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EOLA
The English Oral Language Assessment
The English Oral Language Assessment is a formative assessment designed to help educators identify English language acquisition in Grades PreK-8. The assessment contains two sections: one that measures receptive language skills and one that measures expressive language skills. The EOLA was developed through a grant from the Sieben Foundation, which enables the assessment tool to be very cost-effective for Catholic schools. Digital files for use with the assessment are made available at acepress.nd.edu after purchase.
2-Minute Tips
Join us this school year for 2-Minute Tips, the latest installment of the ENL Team's 15 on the 15th resource series. Enjoy a two-minute video treat that will transform your classroom and tweak your technique.
September 2020: Supporting ELs in a Virtual Setting
Virtual learning has been adjustment for all of us, and it can be especially challenging for English learners. With so many teachers still teaching in either a virtual or a hybrid setting, we decided to focus our 2-Minute Tips this year on instructional techniques that help support the language development of English learners in a virtual setting.
In this month's video, watch Clare Roach demonstrate a simple but highly effective technique, using no more than the computer's webcam, that ensures everyone in the class gets the opportunity to share.
May 2020: Taking a Vocabulary Field Trip
This month, we invite you to examine a simple strategy you can integrate into your instructional day to help build the vocabularies of all the students in your classroom, and especially, of course, your English learners.
We call this strategy, "taking a vocabulary field trip."
April 2020: Ensuring eLearning Doesn't Leave English Learners Behind
In this current reality, many educators are rightfully concerned about how to help their English learners through these next few weeks and months of remote learning.
Watch this month's 2-Minute Tip to find out how our ENL team plans to help you navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by eLearning and ensure that English learners don't get left behind.
Check out our series of eLearning blog posts at ace.nd.edu/enl-elearning.
March 2020: The Importance of Building Oracy
Imagine a scenario that you might see in a 5th grade classroom . . .
Friends, please turn to your neighbor and talk about the layers of the Earth that we have been covering in science.
Immediately, you can just see the students chatting away, sharing knowledge, and reinforcing learning right?
But, upon closer examination, you begin to hear a lack of academic vocabulary being used or you begin to see your emergent bilingual students unengaged in this oracy activity.
How might we structure this activity in a way that promotes strong oracy skills? Find out in this month's 2-Minute Tip!
February 2020: Gradual Release of Responsibility Model
How do we build the confidence and independence of all students in our classroom, and especially our English learners, for whom the language load of a lesson is often far greater.
The highly adaptable and repetitive practice of gradual release of responsibility slowly and intentionally transfers the cognitive workload of a lesson from the teacher to the students. In this month's video, learn why this model is particularly beneficial for English learners and how you might incorporate it into your classroom!
January 2020: Supporting Social Relationships for English Learners
In our classrooms, we are taking intentional daily steps to develop the academic language of our students, but we also need to facilitate an equally important language set: social language!
Today we are going to discuss practical ways to help English learners build friendships and strengthen their social language skills.
December 2019: Editing the Writing of English Learners
Writing is both a complex linguistic task and great practice for English learners. Editing the writing of ELs so as to promote the most growth, however, can be challenging.
In this month's 2-Minute Tip, Clare Roach offers a few strategies and things to keep in mind when editing the writing samples of English learners in your classroom.
November 2019: Bringing Language Portraits to Life
This month's topic is intended to help you bring the language portraits of your students’ home language to life.
A home-language survey is a simple tool that can frame your knowledge gathering around the language backgrounds of your students, but it should leave educators wanting to ask more rich, more layered, and more nuanced questions.
So, let’s open our art kit and unpack three questions that can move home language environment from the background to the foreground.
October 2019: Celebrating Multilingualism
Being multilingual is a tremendous gift, but unfortunately, many of the English learners in our classrooms don’t feel this way. How might we change this so that students recognize and embrace their ability to speak another language for the gift that it is?
In this episode, Jenny Dees discusses the many benefits of multilingualism and provides five helpful tips for how we might better celebrate multilingualism in our classrooms.
September 2019: The Value of Name Stories
As you work to establish a learning community that is welcoming of all students, it is important to consider the role of names as cultural anchors in your students’ lives.
In this episode, Itzxul Moreno shares more about why this matters and how you can model a name story activity in your own classroom using a read-aloud.
June 2019: Intermediate Language Fluency
Students in the fourth stage of language acquisition, the intermediate stage, have made immense progress. They are speaking at length, comprehending longer passages, and writing complex sentences with very few grammatical errors. They have so much to be proud of. All of this progress often makes it easy for teachers to mistakenly assume that these students no longer need linguistic supports, but we know that this is far from true. In this month's video, we explore concrete ways in which teachers can continue to push students linguistically and support further growth.
May 2019: Addressing the Third Stage of Language Acquisition
In our previous two segments we've shared strategies for the first and second stages of language acquisition. Today we bridge to the third stage in this process: speech emergence. In this stage, students’ academic and social English is really beginning to surface, specifically, their productive language, or the ability to read and write.
How can we support students in this stage of speech emergence?
Learn how an explicit focus on the function and form of language can really help learners in this third stage of language acquisition thrive in your classroom.
April 2019: Supporting Early Production Stage Learners
The second stage of language acquisition—the Early Production Stage—can be an exciting time, both for students and educators. After having been immersed in English for anywhere from six months to a year, English learners in this stage are beginning to find their voice. They may string together two to three words and even use common phrases, but they are not yet speaking in full sentences.
Children in this stage of early production are taking really big risks to begin using English in the classroom. In this month's 2-Minute Tip, learn how we, as educators, might take some big risks ourselves and change up our teaching styles so as to best support students in this stage of language acquisition.
March 2019: Supporting Pre-Productive Stage Learners
In this month's 2-Minute Tip, learn how you can strategically modify your learning environments to support students in the Pre-Productive stage of language acquisition, allowing them to listen, observe, make meaning, and show you what they are understanding.
February 2019: Group Work
Collaborative group work is an excellent way to strengthen oral language and to assist students in clarifying and organizing their thoughts. In this month's 2-Minute Tip, ENL Coordinator Jenny Dees offers three strategies for incorporating group work into your lesson plans, demonstrating how these simple practices can be particularly beneficial to English language learners.
Watch to learn how you can use these effective strategies to enrich the conversations that your students have in your classroom!
January 2019: Sentence Frames
In January's 2-Minute Tip, ENL Coordinator Clare Roach, explores the use of sentence stems and frames.
Watch to learn more about how this strategy can be used to scaffold instruction, reinforce sentence structure, and build writing stamina for English learners and every student in your classroom!
December 2018: Word Walls
In December's 2-minute tip, ENL Director Katy Lichon walks you through multiple examples of word walls. Watch to learn more about how to maximize your classroom real estate and student language acquisition by making the four walls of your classroom come alive with academic vocabulary.
November 2018: Tiered Vocabulary
In November's tip, ENL Coordinator Jennifer Dees demonstrates how to go beyond the bolded words on behalf of our English learners. Learn more about identifying tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 vocabulary words in your lessons and how this practice can expand access to content for your learners.
October 2018: Making Language Connections
October’s tip shows how you can shift from teaching words in isolation to helping your students be language detectives by recognizing systems in language and the relationship between words.
Dr. Katy Lichon shows you how to provide more "bang for your buck" for your students when it comes to language instruction.
September 2018: Total Physical Response
Vocabulary is the building block of ideas and messages. It's important that we teach vocabulary, and teach it well. The tip for September is an invitation to reimagine your vocabulary acquisition exercises with a strategy called Total Physical Response.
Podcasts
The 15 on the 15th: Bite-sized Book Club series features podcasts designed to help you digest short articles (no more than 15 minutes of reading required!). This 15-minute recipe for success is a pinch of insightful reading and a dash of engaging discussion that perfectly blends together research and classroom practice. Listen on SoundCloud or subscribe via iTunes or Google Play.
May 2018: Preventing the Summer Slide
This month, the ENL team discusses the summer slide, the impact it can have on ELLs, and strategies teachers can implement to prevent this loss of learning and language over the summer months. The conversation is anchored around the Chalkbeat article by Susan Gonzalez entitled "The not-so-secret ELL summer slide problem that no one has quantified". Tune in for great stories and helpful strategies to prevent the summer slide for your students.
April 2018: Assessment Strategies for English Language Learners
This month, we discuss the loaded and vast topic of assessment. We're focusing today's conversation on summative assessments and the specific strategies that classroom teachers can use to more accurately assess their English language learners. The article "Assessing ELLs in ESL or Mainstream Classrooms: Quick Fixes for Busy Teachers" by Laureen A. Fregeau and Robert D. Leier anchors the discussion and offers concrete adaptations that can have a real impact for English language learners.
Jenny Dees and Clare Roach are joined by Charlotte Perez, a graduate of the ENL Hernandez Fellows program, a member of the ENL Clinical Faculty, and the Resource Teacher at St. Cecilia in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey. We identify some stress-relieving strategies for teachers that will benefit every child in the classroom, not just ELLs.
Tune in and grab a few tactics to try in your classroom this week!
March 2018: Early Childhood Language Learners
This month, the podcast offers insightful ideas and practical strategies for early childhood language learners–including concrete ways to incorporate students' native languages into classroom libraries, labels, and even dramatic play materials.
We’re joined by Courtney O’Grady, a graduate of the ENL Hernandez Fellows program and a long-time early childhood educator who teaches at St. Raymond in the Diocese of Joliet. In addition to Courtney’s expertise in a traditional early childhood classroom, Clare Roach shares her experience starting a two-way immersion preschool program in South Bend, Indiana, an outreach effort of ENL. Tune in to learn more about how our Catholic schools can make a child’s first encounter with school and the learning process even more fruitful.
In addition to the article and the podcast, check out these helpful resources:
Academic vs Intellectual Goals article:
deyproject.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/d…-8-15.pdf
Illinois Early Learning Project Tip Sheets:
illinoisearlylearning.org/resources/tipsheets/
Head Start Center for Inclusion Visuals:
headstartinclusion.org/classroom-visuals
Colorín Colorado:
http://www.colorincolorado.org/
February 2018: "More Practical Ways to Engage ENL Families"
This month, the ENL team takes an in-depth look at the second half of the strategies outlined in Breiseth's article. This conversation focuses on simple, applicable, and transformative ways that schools can engage ENL families and enrich their school communities. Tune in for great stories and helpful strategies. Read the article article from Colorín Colorado and tune in for strategies to use at your school!
January 2018: "Practical Ways to Engage ENL Families"
This month’s installment is the first part of a two-part series in which the ENL team discusses practical ways that schools can engage ENL families. Strategies include everything from making the enrollment process more accessible, to learning about your ELL population, to creating a welcoming school environment, and more. Read the article article from Colorín Colorado and tune in for strategies to use at your school.
December 2017: "Es Su Escuela Nuestra Escuela? Latino Access to Catholic Schools"
This month, the ENL team welcomes Fr. Joe Corpora, CSC, to the studio to discuss the article, "Es Su Escuela Nuestra Escuela? Latino Access to Catholic Schools." Fr. Joe serves as Director of University-School Partnerships in the Alliance for Catholic Education and the Coordinator of Student Care for Campus Ministry. He has been instrumental in striving to increase the percentage of Latinos who send their children to Catholic elementary and secondary schools. In this conversation, Fr. Joe shares important demographic information, heartwarming stories, and practical strategies for schools who are committed to welcoming Latino children. Give yourself an early Christmas present and tune in for the conversation!
November 2017: 12 Ways to Support English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom
In this month’s installment, the ENL team unpacks the article, "12 Ways to Support English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom.” Katy, Clare, and Jenny explore the 12 strategies, expounding on why they work and how they have seen them unfold in the classroom. Tune in for strategies to try in your classroom!
October 2017: Supporting English Language Learners in Math Classrooms
In this month’s installment, the ENL team revisits the article, "Promoting Science Among English Language Learners: Professional Development for Today’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms” from the Journal of Science Teacher Education. This podcast examines the article through the lens of math instruction. We are joined by Meghann Kirzeder, M.Ed., an outstanding math teacher with vast experience. Her approach to math instruction highlights linguistic supports in the area of math instruction. Tune in to be inspired and acquire new strategies for your own math classroom.
September 2017: Supporting English Language Learners in Science Classrooms
This month, the ENL team explores best practices in science instruction. Katy, Jenny, and Clare unpack the article, "Promoting Science Among English Language Learners: Professional Development for Today’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms” from the Journal of Science Teacher Education. The discussion focuses on writing strategies, reading supports, linguistic considerations in the science classroom, and much more.
May 2017: Multicultural Children's Literature, Part II
The ENL team continues last month's conversation on multicultural children's literature with Notre Dame's Dr. Erin Moira Lemrow. This month's edition focuses on four themes that represent multilingual texts: language as blending in, hybrid language identities, language as culture affirmation, and language as learning from others.
Once again the discussion is inspired by María Paula Ghiso and Gerald Campano's article "Ideologies of Language and Identity in U.S. Children's Literature."
April 2017: Multicultural Children's Literature, Part I
The ENL team dives into the topic of multicultural children's literature and how it can be utilized to support our English language learners on their journey of school and language acquisition. Katy and Clare are joined by Dr. Erin Moira Lemrow, a Notre Dame faculty member in multiple departments, including: First Year of Studies, the Institute for Latino Studies, the Center for Study of Languages and Culture, and the Education, Schooling, and Society undergraduate minor. This month's conversation is inspired by María Paula Ghiso and Gerald Campano's article "Ideologies of Language and Identity in U.S. Children's Literature".
Looking for ideas to start a bilingual/bicultural library for your classroom? Download Dr. Lemrow's Top 10 Bilingual/Bicultural Children's Book List.
March 2017: Serving Chinese Students in American Catholic Schools, Part II - Language
The ENL team continues last month's conversation with Priscilla Wong and focuses on the linguistic challenges that face Mandarin and Cantonese speakers as they learn English. Priscilla shares her experiences as an English language learner from China and even offers a helpful tip sheet for educators who serve Chinese students. This month's conversation is inspired by Anthony Zavagnin’s article "The Rising Number of Chinese Students in American Catholic High Schools" from the October 17, 2016 edition of America Magazine.
February 2017: Serving Chinese Students in American Catholic Schools, Part I - Culture
This month, the ENL team sits down with Priscilla Wong to discuss Anthony Zavagnin’s article "The Rising Number of Chinese Students in American Catholic High Schools" from the October 17, 2016 edition of America Magazine. You can view Priscilla's extensive notes on Chinese culture here.
Priscilla is a campus minister at Notre Dame and has worked with Chinese students in American Catholic school settings for decades. Over the course of our next two podcasts, Priscilla offers insights into what schools can do to help Chinese students build rapport with teachers and classmates, adjust to faith-filled settings, develop oral language skills, and become engaged members of a learning community.
January 2017: Vocabulary Expansion Strategies
In this month's conversation, Katy Lichon and Clare Roach discuss how to develop the vocabularies of ELLs as they unpack the findings in "Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades" from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the What Works Clearinghouse. The conversation shares five key vocabulary expansion strategies:
- Remember the Backdrop
- Take the Bull by the Horns
- A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
- Repeated Exposure
- Build Linguistic Bridges
Listen in on the conversation and consider how best to serve the English language learners in your school.
December 2016: Vietnam: Cultural Background for ESL/EFL Teachers
In this month's installment, the ENL Team takes a closer look at serving Vietnamese students in our Catholic schools by reading "Vietnam: Cultural Background for ESL/EFL Teachers." The discussion includes a guest, Sr. Kim Tran, O.P., a Dominican sister and a graduate student in Notre Dame's Master's in Divinity program. Sr. Kim shares her insights about what Catholic schools can do to better serve Vietnamese students, the second-largest community of language learners in Catholic schools.
November 2016: A Strength-Based Approach to Teaching ESL
In this month's installment, the ENL Team looks at the blog post “A Strength-Based Approach to Teaching ESL” from the Cult of Pedagogy website. The discussion focuses on six approaches teachers can take to celebrate English learners and implement an additive approach to teaching these extraordinary students.
October 2016: Is Being a Good Teacher Good Enough?
In this month's installment, the ENL Team looks at de Jong and Harper’s article, "Preparing Mainstream Teachers for English-Language Learners: Is Being a Good Teacher Good Enough?” The discussion focuses on the five stages of language acquisition, the development of oral language, assessing ELLs, and supporting the development of writing skills! Listen to the October podcast.
September 2016: What Research Says about ELLs
In this month's installment, the ENL Team breaks down Claude Goldenberg's article "Teaching English Language Learners: What the Research Does - and Does Not - Say". The discussion focuses on pages 14-22 of Goldenberg's text and highlights the benefits of having parents speak in their native tongue at home, the concept of "transfer", and the 7 S's that help new vocabulary "stick" for your students, among others! Listen to September's podcast.
Articles
Read on to see 15 on the 15th Email series, which highlights some of the web's best videos of practical and easy-to-implement strategies for language learners.
Mary Around the World
These images of Mary from around the world provide opportunities for students to see a more authentically universal image of heaven and take pride in their own cultural identity. Please enjoy these various images of Mary from around the world, and consider purchasing one for your school.
ELLs and Technology
As technology continues to advance and evolve, it is easy to be both excited about its potential and overwhelmed by the sheer number of resources that are available. As educators, these options deserve our critical attention since properly chosen resources can make a significant positive impact on our English language learners when it comes to language acquisition. Read more about technologies that can be used as a foundation for our ELLs prior to engaging in the core of a lesson.
Dual Language Catholic Schools
This month spotlights an innovative school model – Dual Language Catholic schools or Two-Way Immersion (TWI) Catholic schools. There is much excitement surrounding the growth of Dual Language Catholic schools in the United States. This model has shown evidence of cognitive, social, emotional, and economic benefits (Gándara, 2015). We invite you to learn more about this model, which manifests deep mutual respect for linguistic and cultural diversity.
ELLs and ESSA
English learners (ELs) are the fastest growing population in U.S. schools at five million plus, and the newly minted Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), formerly known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and the newest version of the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), contains changes that will impact this population. Learn more about the key changes to how states, districts, and schools serve English learners.
Title III Funds
As Catholic schools serve a diverse population of learners, it’s important that we find every source of support available to help English language learners thrive. Title III authorizes the use of federal funds to benefit immigrant and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students in public and private schools. ENL Coordinator Clare Roach shares a blog post on Title III, including how to access services and a sampling of resources that can be purchased for your English language learners using Title III funds.
Las Posadas
Are you are looking for ideas on how your school can be culturally responsive and sustaining for Mexican-American students this Advent? You may want to consider celebrating Las Posadas. This interactive and vibrant tradition of seeking posada, Spanish for accommodation or an inn, is more than four hundred years old and provides students a rich experience in which to engage their faith.
Learn more about Las Posadas, and view a listing of resources for your classroom, in this blog post from ENL's Dr. Katy Lichon.
Total Physical Response
Total physical response (TPR) is a language acquisition strategy that combines visual supports, movement, and repetition to help children learn. Watch the delivery of a lesson on the water cycle by a teacher at Abe Lincoln Elementary School in Belleville, IL. Look for techniques she employs to bolster comprehension.
Pay attention to the way the teacher:
- uses gestures as visual support
- integrates cues for academic vocabulary
- allows students to practice language through repetition
- maximizes teaching time with smooth transitions
The Writing Recipe with ELLs
Watch Dorina Sackman, National Teacher of the Year Finalist and teacher at Westridge Middle School in Orlando, Florida, unfold a writing lesson for English learners on TeachingChannel.Org.
Pay attention to the way Ms. Sackman employs:
- visual support
- selective and strategic use of bilingualism
- linguistic focus on manipulating pronouns
- contagious enthusiasm and respect for language learners
Webinars
The 15 on the 15th webinars are free, 15-minute offerings with practical and easy-to-implement ESL strategies for language learners.
| Presenter | Topic |
|---|---|
| Paty Salazar Harty | Promoting Fluency and Reading Comprehension |
| Clare Roach & Jenny Dees | How to Assess ELLs |
| Laura Hamman | How to Help your ELLs Acquire Vocabulary |
| Clare Roach & Jenny Dees | Funds of Knowledge - Tapping into Community Resources |
| Marisa Foyle | Creating Visual Supports for ELLs |
| Colleen Cross | The Theology of Serving Immigrant Students |
| Megan Adzima | Communicating with Parents |
| Jenni Crain | Home Visits |
| Matthew Hughes | Writing |
| Jodi Bossio | Reading and Comprehension: Literacy and Comprehension Input |
Multicultural Saints
Moments with Multicultural Saints: Anna Wang
This is our latest installment of the English as a New Language Program’s Moments with Multicultural Saints, intended to provide useful classroom takeaways that will help you to broaden perspectives, teach about the universal Church, and find inspiration from saints from around the world. This month, we highlight the life of Anna Wang. You will find two different versions below, tailored to the appropriate age range of your students.
Moments with Multicultural Saints: Mother Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas
This is our latest installment of the English as a New Language Program’s Moments with Multicultural Saints, intended to provide useful classroom takeaways that will help you to broaden perspectives, teach about the universal Church, and find inspiration from saints from around the world. This month, we highlight the life of Mother Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas. You will find two different versions below, tailored to the appropriate age range of your students.
Moments with Multicultural Saints: Saint Josephine Bakhita
This month, we highlight the life of Saint Josephine Bakhita. You will find two different versions below, tailored to the appropriate age range of your students.
Moments with Multicultural Saints: Mother Laura Montoya
Are you looking for ways to make your classroom more culturally dynamic? ENL’s Moments with Multicultural Saints is loaded with classroom takeaways that will help you broaden perspectives, teach about the universal Church, and find inspiration from saints from around the world. Learn more about Mother Laura Montoya.
¡Viva Cristo Rey! Honoring Saint José Sánchez del Río
Are you looking for ways to make your classroom more culturally dynamic? ENL’s Moments with Multicultural Saints is loaded with classroom takeaways that will help you broaden perspectives, teach about the universal Church, and find inspiration from saints from around the world. Learn more about Mexico's newest saint: Saint José Sánchez del Río.
Latino Enrollment
The Catholic School Advantage
CSA is a national movement committed to promoting the value and the accessibility of a quality Catholic education among Church and school leaders, educators, and families. The work of CSA is committed to embracing the universality of the Church by increasing Latino enrollment, educating culturally and linguistically diverse children through excellent academic formation, and empowering all Catholic school stakeholders through the celebration of faith, language, and culture.
