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Project
Teach Out of the Box
INTRODUCTION
“Teach Out of the Box” is Project ALPHA’s Resource Packet to promote the development of a Professional Learning Network among program participants. The information provided is organized into several categories—(1) resources from government agencies and professional associations on the education of ELLs; (2) resources on serving different ELL student profiles; and (3) resources on the three areas with moderate evidence of effectiveness that form the “strong theory of action” of Project ALPHA.
This Resource Packet is primarily designed to support teachers in Project ALPHA—that is certified content area teachers who have ELLs in their classrooms. The intersection of content area instruction and language teaching is not a new phenomenon as evidenced by a wide body of previous work on “content ESL,” “integrating content and language development,” and even “writing across the curriculum” specifically focused on ELLs. Project ALPHA addresses the shortage of certified teachers prepared with specialized instructional strategies for teaching English language learners.
Participants were surveyed for what additional training or support they needed, beyond the Project ALPHA coursework. Feedback indicates a consistent need for additional concrete strategies for use in the classroom as well as additional opportunities for hands-on practice and one-on-one support. Participants are interested, for example, in explicit modeling of practices by instructors, classroom visitations, video assessments, etc. Participants would like to engage in a peer learning network that is framed as a means of further professional development. Project ALPHA participants expressed a need to better their own skills as adult learners. There is a high level of interest for sessions on topics such as time management and study skills.
As this documents’ audience is content area teachers serving English Language Learners, the document is organized to provide core knowledge of the essential resources and contact points that permanently certified ENL and bilingual teachers would be more familiar with. These supplemental resources are intended to add to the coursework of the five Project ALPHA classes:
ESC 759: Foundations of Bilingual/Bicultural Education. Including history, goals, models, rationale, legal and legislative basis, linguistic principles, and language evaluation. Current issues and research findings in bilingual/bicultural education will be studied. Includes field experience.
ESC 761: Teaching ESL to Adolescents and Adults. Methods, materials, and evaluation for developing the literacy skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing for middle childhood, adolescent, and adult English language learners, including reading enrichment and remediation. Curriculum development; use of relevant technology and software; current standards; instructional strategies; inclusion of students from diverse language backgrounds and students with disabilities.
ESC 760: Second Language Acquisition. The objective of this course is to familiarize in-service and pre-service teachers with the major issues and findings in the research on second language acquisition. The primary focus will be on the acquisition of English as a second language around the world, especially with reference to the role of sociolinguistic, cultural and pragmatic aspects.
ESC 766: Teaching English as a Second Language Through the Content Areas. Methods, materials, and evaluation for developing the literacy skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in English to speakers of other languages through the content areas, including mathematics, science, and social studies. Curriculum development; use of relevant technology and software; current standards; instructional strategies; inclusion of students from diverse language backgrounds and students with disabilities; and assessment. Includes field experience.
ESC 769: Latinos in U.S. Schools. Interdisciplinary study of educational issues affecting Latinos in the United States, with a focus on the urban school setting; educational, historical, literary, linguistic, and sociological sources will be utilized to analyze issues.
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