This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
Our school in a public school in Indiana. It has an extremely high population of ENL or ESL students. We are an urban school, and our students have a lot of needs. Our school has 800 students, 300 of those are English as a New Language students. We think of our school as a true representation of what the "real world" looks like since we are so diverse!
There are 4 ENL teachers in our school. I teach the 2nd, 5th, and 6th grade ENL students, and the other teachers are assigned the remaining grades.
Last year, we started putting our ENL students on two computer programs, Ellis and RAZ-Kids. In both of these programs, the students are able to address three of the SIOP components. They are able to read, listen, and speak. It is so exciting when the students record themselves speaking English and seeing the look on their faces when they hear themselves in on the headphones
Last year, after having our students do the computer programs, we found that our students' confidence soared, as did their reading levels! The only problem is, we were only issued 12 headphones with microphones from our district, and as the program became more popular with the students, the demand for more headphones with microphones grew! We tried buying some of them, but, obviously, our personal budgets can't support the need for the headphones.
We also think if we have enough headphones, that we might be able to have an afterschool program where our non-English speaking parents can do these programs in a non-threatening environment. The possibilities are endless!!
What we really need are 50 new headphones with microphones. We would also like three more licenses to RAZ-Kids and fifteen more licenses to the Ellis program. Our district only gave us 20 licenses to Ellis, and with a population of over 300 kids, we certainly need more!
The ENL students love to practice their English in a non-threatening environment. They love hearing themselves read and speak English. As stated previously, having the students engaged in this type of activity incorporates three of the SIOP lesson plan elements; reading, listening and speaking!
Your help will ensure that our school of over 300 ENL students will not have to wait for a headphone with a microphone in order to practice their English. We will be able to do more than one group of students at a time if we have the proper materials! Hopefully, we can get our non-English speaking parents involved, too! We were so impressed how well received these programs were by our students last year, and how the practice on these programs really increased their reading levels. We would really appreciate your support and help with our project!
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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