Report: ELL students benefit from more instructional time

Report Recommends Longer School Day for English-Language Learners

A report from the National Center on Time and Learning explores how three U.S. schools are using expanded school days to provide extra support for English-language learners.

The report profiles two Massachusetts expanded-time schools—Hill Elementary in Revere and Guilmette Elementary in Lawrence—and Godsman Elementary in Denver, and examines the strategies educators used to boost the achievement of English-learners.

The study, Giving English Language Learners the Time They Need to Succeed, identified four best practices that worked in the schools:

Extended literacy blocks, with upwards of 2.5 hours per day focused on skills needed for reading and writing.
Using data to pinpoint areas where individual students struggle, then subdividing those students into small groups where staff can help address the challenges.
Maintaining support and services for fluent-speaking English-learners who need to boost their academic English skills
Ensuring that teachers meet often to align lesson plans, and identify and address student needs.

Capture ELL II.PNG

“The benefits of having more instructional time during the day and across the year to build in many layers of learning and mastering English are undeniable,” Jennifer Davis, the National Center on Time and Learning’s co-founder and president said in statement. “With substantially more time than the conventional schedule, the schools we document are able to provide the kind of deep support that traditional schools find much more difficult to do.”

The Boston-based research group advocates for an extended school day and school year. All three of the high-poverty schools have extended the school day as part of statewide efforts to boost academic achievement.

Hill Elementary is a member of the Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time Initiative, which allows staff to develop a longer school day and calendar. Slightly more than 25 percent of the students there are ELLs.

Earlier this year, my colleague Denisa Superville wrote about the districtwide expanded learning time effort in the Lawrence schools.

Almost half the students at Guilmette are English-learners. In Denver, Godsman Elementary used their designation as a state “innovation school” to add a dual-language program and expanded the school day to 8 hours, up from 6.5.

The percentage of students who are English-learners at each school ranges from nearly 90 at Godsman to slightly more than 25 percent at Hill.

Here’s a look at the report:

ell_report_12.14.15

By Corey Mitchell on December 16, 2015 1:42 PM

Bilingual skills enhance stroke recovery

Stroke patients are more likely to regain their cognitive functions if they speak more than one language, new research has found.

A study of 600 stroke victims found 40.5% who were multilingual had normal mental functions afterwards, compared to 19.6% who only speak one language.

The Edinburgh University study took into account smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and age.

It worked with the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences in India.

Cognitive impairment

The study was conducted in Hyderabad because its multi-cultural nature means many languages are commonly spoken.

The study, published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke, found “results support the notion of a protective role of bilingualism in the development of post-stroke cognitive impairment”.

It is the first time a study has been done looking at the relationship between the number of languages spoken and a patient’s cognitive outcome after stroke.

The paper said: “The percentage of patients with intact cognitive functions post-stroke was more than twice as high in bilinguals than in monolinguals.

“In contrast, patients with cognitive impairment were more common in monolinguals.”

Researchers believe the study, which was funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research, suggests the mental challenge of speaking multiple languages can boost cognitive reserve – an improved ability of the brain to cope with damaging influences such as stroke or dementia.

Co-author Thomas Bak, of the University of Edinburgh’s school of philosophy, psychology and language sciences, said: “Bilingualism makes people switch from one language to another, so while they inhibit one language, they have to activate another to communicate.

“This switching offers practically constant brain training which may be a factor in helping stroke patients recover.”

Many European kids learn two foreign languages by age 9. Most Americans? Zero.

Maybe it is time to put to rest the stereotype of the Frenchman refusing to speak English.

In fact, the statistics point in the opposite direction. According to The Pew Research Center, almost every country in Europe requires students as young as six to learn a foreign language, usually English. Even more impressive, over 20 European countries (including France) require students to learn two foreign languages in school for at least one school year.

In 2010, over 90% of secondary school and 73% of primary school students in Europe were learning English in the classroom, according to Pew’s analysis of Eurostat data.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the US does not have any national requirement for learning a second language. While most high schools offer foreign language classes, a mere 15% of American elementary schools do the same. And in 2008 only 18.5% of American elementary and secondary students reported learning a foreign language, according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

The disparity may be due to the fact that English has cemented its role as the language of the global economy in the 21st century. It does not come as a surprise, then, that the only two countries in Europe to not mandate foreign language classes are Ireland and Scotland, where the first language is also English.

Marty Abbott, the executive director of the ACTFL, gives another reason for the language disparity. “When you look at Europe, they are geographically closer to each other, and now with the European Union it is beneficial for those in Europe to know other languages because of the employability within the European Union,” Abbott tells Quartz.

English speakers may soon find themselves wishing they had learned another language, Abbott, who speaks Spanish and was once a Latin teacher, says. “We know that it is a fundamentally different world now and it’s time for Americans to wake up because English is not necessarily the lingua franca when you leave the US,” she says.

In any case, the benefits of learning a foreign language extend beyond just being able to speak up in an international business meeting. Being bilingual comes with a whole host of cognitive gains. Researchers have found that bilingual people perform better on standardized tests, for example, and are more perceptive of their environment, helping them differentiate between trivial and significant details.

And, Abbott says, “of course, there is the level of personal satisfaction” gained from being able to “establish relationships with people who speak that language.”

Written by Gabriel Fischer for Quartz, July 14, 2015

source : http://qz.com/453297/many-european-kids-learn-two-foreign-languages-by-age-9-most-americans-zero/

French Bilingual Revolution in New York’s Public Schools

French-English bilingual programs in New York City’s public schools are growing.

The programs were developed not only to serve the French families who had initiated after-school programs, but also to meet the needs of a growing number of diverse Francophone immigrant children who are emergent bilinguals, better known as English Language Learners A true bilingual revolution is taking place in New York’s public schools.

In order to succeed, French-English bilingual programs in New York require a solid tri-partite partnership –– strong commitment from the schools’ leadership, very qualified and dedicated teachers, and ceaseless involvement from the parents at all levels. Schools hosting these programs also benefit from the diversity of the population they serve and the diversity of the teaching

staff, able to incorporate linguistic and cultural differences into their pedagogy. This model is also rich in cognitive advancement and beneficial to the brain’s executive control functions as neuroscience researchers have come to consensus about.

– Source New York in French

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”  ‒Nelson Mandela
Bilingual Quote

Category: Benefits of Bilingualism