ESL Competency 10

Competency 10 - Overview

The ESL teacher applies knowledge of effective strategies advocating educational and social equity for ESL students.

Match the Module Competencies with the correct descriptions.

• 10.D

• The ESL teacher understands the importance of family involvement in the education of ESL students and knows how to facilitate parent/guardian participation in their children’s education and school activities.

• 10.B

• The ESL teacher applies knowledge of effective strategies advocating educational and social equity for ESL students.

• 10.C

• The ESL teacher knows how community members and resources can positively affect student learning in the ESL program and is able to access community resources to enhance the education of ESL students.

• 10.A

• The ESL teacher applies skills for communicating and collaborating effectively with the parents/guardians of ESL students in a variety of educational contexts.

Educational equity involves providing emergent bilingual students with the following:

• -​ (a)   instruction

• -Adequate ​ (b)  

• -​ (c)   assessments

• -Appropriate ​ (d)  

• Quality
• resources
• Comprehensible
• accommodations
• Inadequate
• Ambiguous
• Unfair
• support
• guidelines
• evaluations

Effective strategies may include:

• -Advocacy

• -Opportunities for collaboration during instruction

• -Regular evaluation

• -Language programs

• -Increasing awareness among content area teachers

• -Professional development for all staff members

• -Incorporating grade-level content embedded within English language development

• In essence, the most effective strategies to ensure _____ _____ for emergent bilingual students will require advocacy, collaboration, and sheltered instruction support in all content areas through coordinated efforts from all staff members in order to ensure ESL programs are meeting the affective, linguistic, and cognitive needs of emergent bilingual students.

• -Ensure students are placed in appropriate programs

• -Review data on each identified EB student when making assessment & reclassification decisions 

• -Monitor the effectiveness of the program

• Teacher’s Role in the LPAC

• Teacher's Role in the TELPAS

• Teacher’s Role in the TEA

• Teacher’s Role in the LEA

Family engagement in schools improves student achievement, reduces ​ (a)   , and restores parents’ confidence in their children’s education.

To support family engagement, districts and schools that receive Title I funds are required to “...educate teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, principals, and other school leaders with the assistance of parents in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to

-Reach out to, communicate with, and ​ (b)  

-​ (c)  

-Build ties between ​ (d)  

To support the parents and families of emergent bilingual and immigrant students, Title III, Part A funds can be used for similar purposes as listed above. Remember that these funds should supplement not supplant other funds used.

• absenteeism
• work with parents as equal partners
• Implement and coordinate parent programs
• parents and the school
• dropout rates
• embrace parental input
• encourage communication with families

Teachers may need to serve as a _____ in order to ensure parent participation in their child’s education and establish the expectations for parents of emergent bilingual students when assisting their child with school work while taking into account their own language skills and educational background, or thinking about other ways be able to support their child academically regardless of their own abilities parents may in English.

In all cases and especially with families of emergent bilingual students, teachers play an integral part in assisting parents and supporting their child's academic success.

Strategies for parent involvement may include the following:

-Honoring a ​ (a)   for homework

-Taking ​ (b)   by asking their child or the teacher questions

-Interacting with their child at home by reading or telling stories in their ​ (c)  

-​ (d)  

• time and place
• interest in their child’s education
• primary language
• Participating in school functions

Communicating effectively with parents of emergent bilingual students requires addressing any language barrier between the parent’s primary language and English if the parent is also in the process of learning English.

Two key strategies that may help include:

• • Developing a process for reliable, consistent, and formal translation on both ends

• • Training all staff members in making phone calls that communicate information in simplified English when a bilingual staff member is not available

• Requiring weekly phone calls to home with a ready translator on standby

• Offering parent-teacher conferences during office hours