Listen to La GRANDE!!!!

This month we will be promoting our 

Dual Language Program on La Grande!  

Take a listen 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WcgCdC52-x86KEdXgJSTpvbA6-VGjIqs

Tech Tools for Translation directly to Parent

https://talkingpts.org/

Time for MY learning-Spanish Courses

UWM is offering online Spanish Courses, contact their program manager for more information.

This Gives “Homework” a Whole New Meaning! As many of us adjust to working remotely, we’re faced with challenges as well as many opportunities. To ease your transition during this dynamic time, we’re pleased to offer a wide range of online courses in a variety of formats – providing new avenues of personal enrichment. Online courses Spanish I May 12-June 16 Spanish II May 11-June 22 Spanish III May 12-June 16 Spanish IV May 16-June 18 Spanish V May 12-June 16 Spanish Conversation I May 13-June 17 German I Register anytime French I Register anytime Italian I Register anytime

For more information Samantha Meyer, Program Manager language@uwm.edu or 414-227-3118

HELP! I do not know what to expect from my English Learners!

First thing is not to worry! Stay connected to your students (voice to voice is best).  Students will really appreciate your specific support to them during this time.
Relationships first, but also we must design our instruction based on data.  We got this!  Below are  tools to help you to think about the needs your English Learners that you will meet in the virtual world.  

• Students will benefit from data based instruction and assessment of learning.  This handy tool  can help you to gauge what students can do and what they should be expected to produce.
• Students need supports and differentiation to access your content but also to access the language complexity that stands between them and your content.  This tool can give you Access Proficiency level based scaffold ideas

Remember kids really need preteaching of critical vocabulary-You can make cognate lists between English and Spanish with helpful tools like google translate, you can encourage yourself or your students to add visuals to them.

Finally, English Learners must be engaged in discourse.  This is a great opportunity to make appointments with your ELs and their non-EL peers for small group conferring or discussion with supports.  

Inquire with your ESL Teacher for opportunities to coplan and coserve students-our team is here to support you and our students!

Teaching English Learners in Virtual Spaces Part 1

In these challenging times, the RELATIONSHIPS you have with your immigrant students and those with immigrant families will be the most important link to learning.  If relationships were warm, empathetic, and connected before the covid crisis, the opportunity to provide comfort, communication and connection during this crisis is already there.

But, what should you do if that warm and trusting relationship was not exactly where you wished it was?  Recommendations are to follow.

I wish a list of strategies were going to radically change the depth of trust in our relationships with immigrant students and their families.  If the relationships in the classroom were not there the way you would have hoped, they need to be built more than ever now that students are away from the classroom and the daily structures of school.
As we know, Immigrant students are likely to experience several issues during covid that deeper than just being able to access online learning in English.  Many students are living in a lot of trauma based "fear" today.  Parents and caregivers have potentially lost their employment, the ability to pay rent and bills, and families are struggling to provide food and transportation.  Families often do not qualify for any type of support, stimulus or community funding to offset the impact of covid.  This means children, especial young teens and teens, are taking on adult responsibilities like full time work, full time childcare, becoming their siblings "home school teacher," and cooking/acquiring food.   Younger children may not have the resources to support the volume, timeline or academic content that they are asked to complete while away from school.  Meeting basic needs have moved to top priority for some of our students.

We can do simple things for immigrant students that can make a big difference in meeting some of the basic social needs they have during this time.
Daily meaningful,voice to voice communication is one the best ways to do this: calls, but then texts and emails can proactively build or build upon relationships.  While many student's roles in families have shifted,  immigrant students more than ever require even deeper relationships with us if they are to stay engaged with "schooling".  To follow are some guiding reflection questions to help you consider the space many immigrant students might need us to be in.

1.  How personal is your daily contact with immigrant students voice to voice? Are you having daily voice to voice contact with your students? If you aren't, why not? who is?  Are there barriers that you are able to problem solve with your administrator or peer?
2.  Are you sending personal emails and chats to these students? are they engaged back with you?
3.  Have you prioritized asking students how they are, what is going well and what is challenging?
4.  Have you asked whether a students is "going through" anything that you could help them to understand?

Please know that everyone is here to support this unexpected opportunity to learn how to teach and engage all students virtually.  Please reach out in any way that the Department of Multilingual Education can support you or your team. dmgarcia@waukesha.k12.wi.us.



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