Interaction and Scaffolding

I teach English Language Development with some "pull-out" groups every day. With these small groups, our specific activities vary over the course of the year. The themes that we read, talk, or write about vary as well.

A constant is that students communicate in three modalities: receptive, productive, and interactive. Listening and reading are receptive modalities. Speaking and writing are productive modalities.

Interactive skills are developed during collaborative, interactive activities. Students engage in two-way communication. They negotiate meaning. I appreciate the opportunity and the challenge of creating opportunities for interaction that will help students develop their English language proficiency.

I also support some students in their classrooms (for example, during their writing workshop time), instead of pulling them out. A constant in this setting is scaffolding. I focus on scaffolding the work that the student is doing. Scaffolding is providing guidance or assistance that enables the students to perform tasks at a higher level than they would do on their own.

Feel free to stop by 206 to learn more about ELD at Grout.

We are approaching winter break-- enjoy your holidays!

~Kristin

November!

Hello everyone,

Elections just happened a couple days ago on November 6. I voted, and I hope you did too!

Parent teacher conferences are around the corner, on November 19 and 20. We have heard back from the Translation and Interpretation Services department that many of our interpreted conference times have been confirmed. We hope that we get our requested interpreters for the conferences, and that parents are able to make it. It is a great opportunity for families to connect with their children's teachers, and be able to genuinely communicate with the interpreter support.

You are welcome to stop by to chat about ESL at Grout. I am in room 206.
I also welcome any requests for ESL topics to address in a future blog post.

Happy November!

~Kristin

Fall is busy

Hello, and happy October!

Things are busy at Grout. Everyone is in the thick of learning and teaching. I am enjoying a mix of classroom-based and small group English Language Development with my students.

I am also busy making lists for our secretary to make requests for language interpreters for Parent Teacher Conferences, which are coming up in November. We'll be requesting interpreters for over 50 families speaking a dozen different languages.

During my supervision duty out on the field each day, the students and adults are all enjoying the sunny mild weather we have been having.

Thank you to those reading!

~Kristin Kjome (room 206)

Summer is around the corner

As I write this last post for the school year, we have just one full week plus 2 days left of this school year.

All of our ELPA21 scores have come back, and next week we will congratulate our students who scored Proficient and will be exiting the ESL program. Promoted, but not forgotten-- we'll monitor their progress for four years.

Like the butterflies we released into the school garden a couple of weeks ago, our students will soon "fly" off into summer sunshine. Lucky for me, I'll get to see most of them back here again for 2018-2019. Good luck on your next chapter to the 5th graders moving on to middle school!
For everyone-- may summer be everything you hope for!

As promised last month, a couple of photos of adult insects. The mealworms became...

Adult Darkling Beetles

...Darkling Beetles. You could ask a 1st grader why they are different colors. Or do an internet search, if the 1st graders you know are busy on summer adventures!
As most students had predicted, the Painted Lady Caterpillars became...

Painted Lady Butterfly withfascinated 1st graders. (Sorry this is sideways; I don't know how to turn it.)

...Painted Lady Butterflies!

Interestingly, some Painted Lady Butterflies have a migration story that was only relatively recently discovered. I'll include a link to a video about it to the right here:

Happy Summer!

~Kristin

May insects

Happy May!

I will highlight what is happening in English Language Development in the 1st grade this month.

This is the fourth year that we have integrated English Language Development with science content for classroom based lessons in 1st grade classrooms. The classroom teacher works together with me to create this opportunity for students to explore science themes while also developing their skills in speaking, writing, reading and listening in English. This year, the schedule allowed for only one 25 minute time block to do this at the end of the day. We have made the most of the time we have to allow for as much science exploration as we can. The Emergent Bilingual students (also called English Language Learners) from the next door classroom "walk to science" during the time, and a handful of students from the classroom I teach in walk over and join science with the neighboring teacher. This allows me to connect with all of the 1st grade EBs during this time. All 1st graders are engaged in an Insects unit right now, in all 3 classrooms.

The students have been enjoying our Insects unit. We are observing the development of Milkweed Bugs, Mealworms, and Painted Lady Caterpillars. At this time, all of the Caterpillars and many of the Mealworms have entered the pupa phase of their life cycle. Students are making and sharing predictions about what kind of adult insects we will see, and what they will look like. Spring is a great time of year to pay attention to insects, because there are so many opportunities to observe insects outside. Students come in with stories about what they have seen, and where.

Painted Lady caterpillars soon ready to become chrysalises

We have many mealworm pupae.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I will post pictures of the adults when they begin to emerge.

If you are part of the Grout community and have any questions about ESL at Grout, stop by to visit in room 206.

~Kristin

March

Here we are, in the month of March already.

In ESL at Grout lately, our English Language Learners are taking the annual English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century (ELPA21). All ELLs in the state of Oregon take this assessment. Some of my students enjoy the chance to speak into a microphone and listen back to their own voice as they complete the Speaking segment of the test. Others are not so fond of that part.

Like it or not, I'm hopeful that students are doing their best. The scores we get from this assessment show student growth in their proficiency in English over time. The domains included on the test are Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking.

It will be nice for me to get back to my regular teaching schedule once we have wrapped up this test.

As always, I welcome you to stop by my room, 206, if you have any questions about the ESL program at Grout.

Happy Spring!
~Kristin