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Updated 2/7/12...gb

"ESL in Maine" Blog - www.eslinmaine.blogspot.com

Shared information, resources, troubleshooting, tips, best practices, questions answered

 

English Learners and Maine's Assessments Deeksha

Maine’s Comprehensive Assessment System (MeCAS) - includes assessment components and calendar of test dates

 

Research Study: “New Measures of English Language Proficiency and Their Relationship to Performance on Large-scale Content Assessments”

Summary:  Using assessment results for 5th and 8th grade English language learner students in three Northeast and Island Region states, the report finds that the English language domains of reading and writing (as measured by a proficiency assessment) are significant predictors of performance on reading, writing, and mathematics assessments and that the domains of reading and writing (literacy skills) are more closely associated with performance than are the English language domains of speaking and listening (oral skills). - Regional Educational Laboratory, 2009

 

Common Core State Standards

Learn more about the Common Core State Standards

 

Translated Health Screen and Permission Forms

All of the translated (9 languages) Health Screen and Permission Forms are posted (as well as links to the translated Vaccine Information Statements/VIS in 24 languages) in the big box of forms on this Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention website, MaineFlu.gov: http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/boh/maineflu/h1n1/educators.shtml#schoolclinics.

 

Film Short: "Immersion" http://learning.snagfilms.com/film/immersionxxThis 12-minute film is thought-provoking and an important resource for all school personnel.

 

Beatrice Moore Luchin 2010 and 2011 Maine workshops

“Math and English Learners: Graphic Organizers” - April 29, 2011.xTo access the handouts, go to http://syntiro.org/index.php/resources/handouts#ell and scroll down the page to "Using Graphic Organizers to Support Literacy in Math Instruction - April 29, 2011 - Presented by Bea Moore Luchin.”

 

"How Do I Know What they Know and Understand? Instant Math Assessment Techniques" - April 29, 2010

"How Do I Know What They Know? Building Your Toolkit of Assessment Strategies" PowerPoint in pdf  |  Handouts from the workshop

 

NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
The Federal Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA) provides national leadership to help ensure that English language learners and immigrant students attain English proficiency and achieve academically:  http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/index.html
 
US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights English Language Learner Resources
 
The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) collects, coordinates and conveys a broad range of research and resources in support of an inclusive approach to high quality education for ELLs:  http://www.ncela.gwu.edu
 
The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) provides a comprehensive range of research-based information, tools, and resources related to language and culture useful to practitioners working with English languages learners. A recent update to the website includes"CAL Solutions: PreK-12 ELL Education: www.cal.org and www.cal.org/solutions
 
The World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium is the source of ACCESS for ELLs®. a broad reach of resources are available on the site as well as links to WIDA states: www.wida.us
 
SchoolsMovingUp/WestEd offers interactive resources to schools and districts to address the challenge of raising student achievement for English Learners: http://www.schoolsmovingup.net/cs/smu/view/tpc/8.   Also use the NCLB and Diverse Learners tabs.
 
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), is a global association for English language teaching professionals: www.tesol.org. To access the nationally developed  TESOL standards in use across most states with TESOL students, click ESL Standards: http://www.tesol.org/assoc/k12standards/index.html
 
The National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) is a professional organization devoted to representing Bilingual Learners and Bilingual Education professionals: http://www.nabe.org/
 
Limited English Proficiency - a Federal Interagency Website:http://www.lep.gov
MAINE LINKS
The University of Maine's Project Opportunity provides a comprehensive, state-wide program in support of K-12 English Language Learners (ELLs) and ELL Teachers in Maine's public schools: http://www2.umaine.edu/projectopportunity
 
Portland Public Schools Multilingual and Multicultural Center:  http://www.portlandschools.org/schools/multilingual

 

Holocaust Human Rights Center of Maine http://www.hhrc.org/
 
For Maine's service center that supports Maine's Wabanaki tribes and others interested in Indian education and issues, click Wabanaki Studies. http://www.umaine.edu/ld291/
 
Multicultural Resources, Services, and Diversity Initiatives of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services .http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/oma/MulticulturalResource/educ.html

GENERAL RESOURCES    These sources can be used to access many more resources than will be listed here

everythingESL.net - ESL lesson plan samples, teaching tips, resources, ESL national news. http://www.everythingesl.net
 
International network of ESL educators, Dave's ESL Cafe http://www.eslcafe.com/
 
The Internet TESL Journal - Articles, research papers, lesson plans, classroom handouts, teaching ideas and links for teachers of English as a Second Language. http://iteslj.org
 
ESL Magazine. http://www.eslmag.com/
 
Links to ESL resources and curriculum: www.schackne.com/Languageteaching.htm
 
Successful School Environments for Spanish-Speaking Parents: www.colorincolorado.org
 
Partnership for Hispanic Family Learning: www.YesICan.gov
 
Volunteer abroad: http://www.unitedplanet.org
INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES
On-Line Dictionaries serving 6800 known languages in 191 countries: http://yourdictionary.com/languages.html
 
Learn English - a free, on-line, educational resource helping ESL and EFL students to learn English words, with high-quality audio created in a sound studio. The flash site incorporates 40 topics, along with over 1,500 English words and phrases. When you click on a word or phrase you can hear it spoken. The menus, transliterations and translations are in French, Hebrew Russian and Spanish, with an English- only menu option.
 
eGlossary - a web-based glossary for mathematics with several languages - Arabic, Bengal, Chinese, Spanish, Haitian, Hmong, Korean, Russian, Tagalog Urdu, Vietnamese. Note: this link is specific for math terms only. http://www.glencoe.com/sec/math/mlg/mlg.php
 
itools is a useful intenet tool to help English language learners to look up words, check out computer terms, or to translate text (taken from freetranslation.com), all in one site: http://www.itools.com
 
Language software reviews and resources - www.languagesoftware.net 
 
Newspapers Around the World - online links: http://www.thepaperboy.com
 
Domestic and International Events, Conflict Resolution, and Intercultural Understanding lesson plans (Grades K-12): http:// www.teachablemoment.org
Free Curriculum Guide for Teaching Tolerance Focusing on the Uniqueness of the Vietnamese (Grades 7 and up): www.teachingtolerance.org/kit/vietnamese-americans. Other free Curriculum Guides can be found by browsing the general site: www.teaching tolerance.org.
 
Two-Level Current Affairs Lesson Plans for English Language Learners: All lessons have a current affairs focus. Each contains a news article, listening (MP3 file), communication activities, pair work, discussion, reading and vocabulary exercises. Classroom handouts are reproducible in Word and PDF. http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
 
Ethnologue: Languages of the World - an encyclopedic reference work cataloging all of the world’s 6,909 known living languages, including geographic distribution of 2000 living languages. http://www.ethnologue.com
 
Words borrowed from other languages - covers 146 languages: http://www.krysstal.com/borrow.html
 
The Ministry of Education from Mexico - materials on line for Spanish speakers: http://www.sep.gob.mx/wb2
MIGRANT RESOURCES
Migration Policy Institute Data Hub: http://www.migrationinformation.org/USfocus/statemap.cfm# 
ESCORT - the Migrant Education National Support Center for Migrant Limited English Proficient Students. Texts and help kits are available for low density populations of students for whom English is a new language, particularly for migrant students: http://www.escort.org/
Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees: http://www.gcir.org/