About Me |
Here is a little bit about me; I have been working for Evergreen Park Elementary School District 124 since 2001. My passion for working with students began when I worked as a lunch mom at Northeast School. After two years as a lunch mom, I had the opportunity to work as a paraprofessional. I continued working as a paraprofessional while I was in school pursuing my Bachelor of the Arts degree in Elementary Education. Upon graduation from Trinity Christian College in 2007, I was hired as an EL teacher. Since 2007 I have been a part of the EL Department, except for one year when I taught sixth grade. I have a passion for English Learners and their families. This is my fifth year in the role of EL Instructional Coach and I am looking forward to working closely with my colleagues, students, and families. Along with my passion for teaching I consider myself to be a life long learner. In 2017 I earned my Masters of the Arts degree in Administration after completing the Illinois Principal Preparation Program at Concordia University. I am looking forward to the continued growth of our EL Programs and to watching our students be inspired, empowered, and achieve success - every day.
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Language Acquisition (Native Language)
Language is an essential part of living, without it we would not be able to build relationships, communicate our problems, or even understand one-another. Acquiring language is something that is not easily understood and is something that is often simplified. We need to remember that acquiring language is something that happens over a period of five years.
Source:
https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/all-about-linguistics/branches/language-acquisition/what-is-child-lanuage-acquistion
Source:
https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/all-about-linguistics/branches/language-acquisition/what-is-child-lanuage-acquistion
Second Language Acquisition
The understood goal for American EL students is Advanced Fluency. This includes fluency in academic contexts as well as social contexts. Advanced Fluency is when an individual communicates fluently in all contexts and can maneuver successfully in new contexts and when exposed to new academic information.
Second-language acquisition assumes knowledge in first language and encompasses the process an individual goes through as he or she learns the elements of a new language, such as vocabulary, phonological components, grammatical structures, and writing systems. There are different timelines for learning social and academic language. Under ideal conditions, it takes the average second-language learner two years to acquire social language. (BICS - Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) Where as it takes the average second-language learner, under ideal conditions, five to seven years to develop academic language. (CALP - Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)
Many EL students quickly develop conversational, social, language skills and this makes them appear fluent in English. However, they may still be struggling with academic language. The lack of development in their academic language can cause them to experience difficulties in the areas such as reading, writing, spelling, science, and social studies. Teachers who are aware of EL students' need to develop academic language fluency in English will be much better prepared to assist those students in becoming academically successful.
There are six stages of second language acquisition:
Pre-production
Early production
Speech emergence
Beginning fluency
Intermediate fluency
Advanced fluency
The length of time it takes for a language learner to go through these stages depends on the individual. One of the major contributors to accelerated second-language acquisition is the strength of the student's first language skills. Individuals who have strong first-language and literacy skills will achieve advanced fluency in the second-language in five to seven years. Individuals who do not have fully developed first-language and literacy skills may take between seven and ten years to achieve advanced fluency. Understanding this is and knowing which stage an individual is at is not only beneficial but imperative to the continued success of second-language acquisition.
Sources:
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/easl.htm
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108052/chapters/The-Stages-of-Second-Language-Acquisition.aspx
http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/language-acquisition-overview
Second-language acquisition assumes knowledge in first language and encompasses the process an individual goes through as he or she learns the elements of a new language, such as vocabulary, phonological components, grammatical structures, and writing systems. There are different timelines for learning social and academic language. Under ideal conditions, it takes the average second-language learner two years to acquire social language. (BICS - Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) Where as it takes the average second-language learner, under ideal conditions, five to seven years to develop academic language. (CALP - Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)
Many EL students quickly develop conversational, social, language skills and this makes them appear fluent in English. However, they may still be struggling with academic language. The lack of development in their academic language can cause them to experience difficulties in the areas such as reading, writing, spelling, science, and social studies. Teachers who are aware of EL students' need to develop academic language fluency in English will be much better prepared to assist those students in becoming academically successful.
There are six stages of second language acquisition:
Pre-production
Early production
Speech emergence
Beginning fluency
Intermediate fluency
Advanced fluency
The length of time it takes for a language learner to go through these stages depends on the individual. One of the major contributors to accelerated second-language acquisition is the strength of the student's first language skills. Individuals who have strong first-language and literacy skills will achieve advanced fluency in the second-language in five to seven years. Individuals who do not have fully developed first-language and literacy skills may take between seven and ten years to achieve advanced fluency. Understanding this is and knowing which stage an individual is at is not only beneficial but imperative to the continued success of second-language acquisition.
Sources:
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/easl.htm
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108052/chapters/The-Stages-of-Second-Language-Acquisition.aspx
http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/language-acquisition-overview