College of Education & Human Services

Overview

As we enroll English Language Learners in our school districts, there are many things to consider for this special population of students. These students come to us with not only language differences but cultural, religious and home environments that are unique to each student. We have the obligation to meet the needs of each student that comes to us.What do we need to know about the law and our requirements to communicatewith parents? How do we begin to understand these students as we striveto meet their educational needs?  This module will provideresources and real experiences as we make the Home/School connections.

Prerequisites
In order to complete this course, STAR-Online participants must…

  • have access to a computer with an Internet connection.
  • use a web browser to access course content.
  • actively utilize email for communication and feedback.

Objectives
 By completing this course, the participant will be able to:

Lesson 1: Enrollment of English Language Learners

  • locate information regarding the enrollment of ELLs in the US school system.

Lesson 2: Cultural Differences: Don't Assume... Observe...Ask...and Ask Again Later

  • identify differences as well as similarities among cultural groups.
  • recognize the impact of religion with ELLs.

Lesson 3: English Language Learner Certificate

  • communicate through interpreters more effectively.
  • identify solutions to student achievement that involve limited access to technology.
Getting Started
In this module, we will be referring to the WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards. Go to: http://www.wida.us/standards/elp.aspx to download and print your own copy of the English Proficiency Standards before continuing this module.

When you have accessed the WIDA site, you will find a number of resources available. For this module, we will be using the following documents. You can go to the WIDA site above or download them from here:

NOTE: The ELP standards are available as two separate documents to reduce the size of the download. If you have any difficulty opening these documents, please make sure that your computer has the latest version of Adobe Reader installed (www.adobe.com).