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Goal

A) Every year, I strive to guide large classes of lately arriving students who are both new to the United States and to English through the monumental task of making roughly fifteen years of linguistic growth inside of two in the hope that even if they struggle to pass the benchmarks for graduation set forth by the state in language arts, they'll be capable of surpassing those demands within four. These students frequently arrive speaking Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Kiche, Maam, Akatek, and a variety of other tribal languages only found in the departments of Guatemala. They all come with little to no English exposure and more than a small number come with no formal schooling. These students come to us having experienced more in their short years than many of us will in a lifetime. They come seeking a better life. There are few routes more secure in obtaining this than a good education. A good education requires an understanding of the host culture's language. This proposal seeks nothing more than to offer these students learning English as a new language flexible and stout tools with which to build a solid foundation in English.
B) This investment targets growth in understanding the English language across three separate skill levels. It is not inconceivable to state that it could impact all academic goals that demand a usage of our language in both everyday and academic language. Specifically, however, this investment will focus on rapid, high-utility vocabulary acquisition; usage of basic grammar rules; speaking; listening; and scaffolded comprehension skills using targeted practice.  

 

Category

Learning Aids - Sunshine state book sets, robotics kits, puzzle boards, science models, engineering supplies, etc. 

 

What will be done with my students

A) The proposed activity requires the presence of a series of digitized picture dictionaries and related workbooks in conjunction with presentation software, formative and summative assessments, and projects. The usage of conceptually related topics with a variety of high-utility vocabulary that ranges from the most basic of concepts (such as meeting and greeting) to more advanced concepts (academics, work concepts, and more specialized vocabulary) with treatment that includes relevant real-world activities and assessments that build in rigor across levels that include low beginning, high beginning, and low intermediate should present these students with ample opportunity to bolster their vocabulary (one of the most important aspects of overall reading skill) and make respectable growth in overall English skill across the situational spectrum.
B) The strength in this material is found both in its common content and its ability to deliver differentiated practice and assessment across levels that are sensible for the many varieties of students in this classroom. They all require English. Every one of them has been in this country for less than two years. They currently all (excepting one) rate between a 1L and 1H on Florida's current assessment, which is generally regarded as both valid and reliable, but that presents bias against the lately arriving ELL population. There is plenty of material available at grade level, but though these students have been placed in ninth grade, their English skills are anywhere from K-5. Where does data from the most recent FAST assessment show that their greatest potential for growth is? The answer is: vocabulary and reading across the genres. The students still have a significant shortage of vocabulary and often lack cultural background knowledge presented by a traditional American life and education. This investment should assist in improving their lexicon, while the projects may allow them to explore the world around them and learn new concepts as they seek to demonstrate mastery. More, this investment adds additional options for the immigrant student population in Immokalee, which can be a very insular group that is sheltered from the importance of an English education because of Immokalee's unique citizenry composition. Many of these students may only get a chance to get serious English education through public schooling, and for those that come late in their secondary schooling years, the intensity of education required and need for such delivery grows exponentially more urgent with the passage of time. 

 

Benefits to my students

A) Student strength in speaking, reading, writing, and listening should all improve with proper engagement in the offered instructional proposal. Student understanding of each concept as it connects to the real world should improve as each topic is explored, and their ability to build upon schema that link these concepts should improve along with their conceptual growth.
B) Each assessment offers an opportunity to monitor each student's growth (and there will be a summative and project for each topic). However, the best indications will be in the results of the summative assessments, projects, and overall student function in delivery and reception of communicated concepts through the English language. The results of this proposal are quantifiable in the short term, but may be invaluable in the long term.  

 

Budget Narrative

Each of these products offers a 24 month license that includes the interactive e-book (English Oxford Picture Dictionary), its associated exercises, and a copy of a workbook at a level that should correspond to the student's current position in their walk on the path of English acquisition. The picture dictionary works like an interactive textbook designed for those acquiring English. The workbooks offer plenty of practice that should be accessible for students at mixed skill levels. Granted, this offers an experience only up to what Oxford declares is a low-intermediate level, but my students are all level one on the FAST and have plenty of growth ahead before they can post strong scores on the WIDA assessment. These workbooks correlate with the dictionaries perfectly (topic for topic) and in conjunction with the presentation software, my own imagination, and the teacher's resource center material that I already purchased, they should be a very solid medium for all students in my sheltered ELL English classroom. Fiscally, these options are a great deal. They offer both the dictionary and e-book at almost 1/3 of the price of the paper versions. As a teacher in a program that relies upon flexibility in curriculum for the sake of differentiation more than most, this could be a very precious resource that could be implemented promptly and likely to great benefit. The low-beginning content comes in at $22.00 for each bundle, while the high-beginning and low-intermediate content comes at a cost of $29.10 apiece. Most of my students are low and middle 1, so I cut costs a bit by only asking 20 of the low-intermediate bundles. The course presentation software comes in at $29.10 and should enhance delivery. While this is an electronic product, the excellent pricing and quality seem like they should trump screen time worries, especially with efforts to carry out related activities off of the computer. 

 

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