ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
Jill Kerper Mora San Diego State University

Purpose of the ELD Institute

The goal of the Project CORE ELD Institute is to provide teacher participants with a high level of knowledge of the theoretical foundations and structure of the California 2012 English Language Development Standards to maximize their effectiveness in teaching English Learners in a variety of program models and language learning contexts. Participants will engage in hands-on practical implementation of instructional approaches and strategies according to the proficiency levels of students through academically rigorous and challenging content-based learning activities using collaborative, interpretive and productive mode. Teachers will apply assessments samples of students’ work to determine appropriate levels of support for students to interact in meaning ways through tasks and texts that utilize various linguistic resources to build metalinguistic awareness and accuracy of production along a developmental continuum. During the Institute, participants will assemble a Professional ELD Notebook with essential points of learning, resources and exemplars for ELD planning and instruction.

Day 1 Session I 9:00-12:00

This session of the ELD Institute is for participants to examine and analyze the theoretical foundations and policy initiative that undergird the California English Language Development Standards 2012. Participants will conduct a KWL activity to determine areas where they have solidified their existing knowledge base for effective ELD instruction to implement the ELD 2012.  An overview of the important shifts in the theoretical and instructional focus of the ELD 2012 as compared to the 1999 ELD Standards (Appendix B, Table 1) will highlight important areas for professional development. Participants will engage in a jigsaw group activity to carefully review and become experts in each of the four appendices of the ELD Standards document and present what they learn and observe to their peers. Participants will recognize the continuity and the innovation in the theoretical eclecticism and melding of theoretical thread and current research meta-analysis finding that provide coherence between the Common Core Standards and the ELD 2012. Session I concludes with an activity for participants to identify areas of inquiry for further professional development in the ELD Standards’ theoretical foundations and policy and instructional implications for implementation in dual language programs.

Day 1 Session 2 1:00-3:00

This session familiarizes participants with the stages of the language developmental continuum as defined and described by the three levels: Emerging, Expanding and Bridging. Participants identify indicators of English Learners (EL) levels of ability to use their L2 English according to the demands of different types of texts and vocabulary, for different functions or purposes, and for addressing different audiences and interacting in meaningful ways. Participants will compare and contrast the three levels of ELD 2012 with other scales and descriptors of language proficiency to gain competency in extrapolating CELDT data and measurements from other language proficiency assessments into the levels of the 2012 continuum. Participants will analyze samples of EL students’ writing and classify these according to the three levels. A focus will be on identifying the use of specific language forms for different linguistic and communicative functions along the continuum and to observe students’ growth Knowledge of Language: accuracy of production and metalinguistic awareness and transfer. This session concludes with the opportunity for participants to articulate their current knowledge about the sequence and progression of L2 development and language proficiency assessment and identify areas for further professional development.

Day 2 Session 3 9:00-12:00

This morning session’s goal is for participants to gain a deepened understanding of the levels of instructional support (scaffolding or differentiation) required for the three proficiency levels of the continuum in relationship to the three modes of language use: Collaborative, Interpretive and Productive (CIP Modes).Participants will conduct group activities to identify and classify instructional strategies and tasks that utilize one or more of the CIP modes and that are appropriate and effective for different grade levels.  Participants also identify activities and tasks that correspond with the Common Core Standards Language Modalities: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language. The purpose of this examination of modes and modalities is to structure in-depth task analysis of specific grade-level content and texts for planning coherent and progressive content- and text-based ELD instruction. During this session, participants will form planning groups, select a theme and a content-area reader, and engage in a step-by-step task analysis of the linguistic and the cognitive conceptual demands of the selected theme and text for a selected grade level.

Day 2 Session 4 1:00-3:00

This session is time and resources for the participants to plan lessons in their ELD theme groups using the content readers and resource materials provided. The product of this session is a complete theme unit of lessons for Emerging, Expanding and Bridging level students with strategies and activities for students to engage in the three CIP modes. The lessons will reflect the results of the task analysis of concrete versus abstract concepts and the academic language demands of texts and discourse in context.

Day 3 Session 5 9:00-12:00

This session focuses on utilitarian and content-based writing tasks and activities for the three levels of ELD Level Continuum of language proficiency that address the CIP modes of the ELD 2012. Features of metalinguistic awareness and accuracy of production according to students’ levels of language development as evidenced in students’ writing will be examined. Participants will make linkages with the increased focus on writing of a variety of text types and purposes required by the Common Core Standards. Participants will be given time to integrate writing tasks and activities into their ELD theme group lesson plans.

Day 3 Session 6 1:00-3:00

This session is dedicated to presentations of each theme groups’ process and product in developing lessons for the three language proficiency levels integrating the CIP modes.  Peer critique and commentary will enhance participants’ effectiveness in planning content-based thematic ELD lesson planning. To conclude the session and the Institute, participants will revisit the KWL conducted in Session 1 to consolidate their learning and deepened understanding of the ELD 2012 and how to implement the Standards in their school assignments.