The National Education Association and Colorín Colorado have produced a series of classroom videos highlighting how two northern Virginia elementary schools work to meet the needs of English-language learners.
At Claremont Immersion Elementary, the videos explore how to assess the progress of language-learners, and highlights the school’s dual-language program and English-as-a-second-language support services. The video on support services shares the story of 4th grade student Gian Carlos, an ELL newcomer from Colombia, who’s fluent in Spanish, but has little experience in English.
The segment at Mason Crest Elementary showcases reading strategies for English-language learner newcomers.
The NEA and Colorín Colorado, a website that focuses on English-language learners, produced the videos with help from Diane Staehr Fenner, a former ESL teacher in Virginia who now runs her own consulting company.
The NEA and American Federation of Teachers both provide financial support for Colorín Colorado. With many teachers searching for strategies to support their students who are still learning English, both unions have a vested interest in helping their members.
As reported on the Learning the Language blog, representatives from the NEA and AFT were panelists last month at a U.S. Department of Education forum on ELLs, telling federal staffers about their struggles and successes with the Common Core State Standards for language learners.