Meeting 1: TOD

Today we discussed our personal goals and our overall team goals.  We set out an action plan.
Anna and Angela shared information about the English Language Learning Progressions and Funding.

Next meeting:

Please bring a resource or an idea to share which will be helpful to support ells learners in class. We will decide which ellps stage it is at together.

Anna will bring a copy of the esol principals to share and an easy ideas for supporting ells sheet.

ACTIONS:

• To create a shared resource for teachers to use in class with new ells students.  At all stages.
• To review ells policies and procedures.
• To rewrite the ellp matrix in child speak.
• To look at bridging the gap between national standards and ellps matrix.

Team Goals

TEAM GOALS:

Overall team goals:
                                 To support our ells learners in mainstream class.
                                 To bridge the gap between stage 2 ells and cohort.


Anna:

My school goal:
To connect English class learning with mainstream class learning.  To ensure that class teachers have correct knowledge of how their students are progressing,what ellp stage they are at, and what they are capable of doing at that stage.  For myself and teachers to work more collaboratively together with our ELLS.

My academic goal:To better understanding migrant cultures in NZ.

Angela:
My school goal:
To better develop a school wide understanding of our ELLs programme and policies and review how the programme is currently implemented
To review the transition to an English school for our newest migrants to ensure they have the best start to their schooling at Forrest Hill School. 

My academic goal: To better understanding migrant cultures in NZ.

Jane Pearson:

To develop a programme and resources to support Ells during their first year at school.

Marshia: 

To provide support for the Ells students when they are in class for writing and reading using a variety of resources.

Jess:

To introduce vocabulary within context and across the curriculum using visual resources. (Principle 5 & 1)

Tracey: To increase Ell students English and peer interaction within the classroom.

reflections:

Tracey Clarke: Reflection Term 3 Week 6

Confidence has grown amongst the ELL students and they continue to make progress interacting and speaking English in front of small groups and the whole class. They are encouraged to join in with housekeeping tasks within the classroom and have begun to use their initiative at the end of the day when we are packing up the room. This contributes to peer interaction within the class. All my ELL students are happy to distribute worksheets or notices to the rest of the class and this provides them with opportunities for interaction and conversation with their peers. They have the confidence to go to the office with a buddy and interact with other adults within the school.  We still regularly use the think pair share. This is beneficial to them as it gives them the opportunity for think time and enables them to listen to the ideas of others first before they need to come up with their own ideas. Two out of my three ELL students independently wrote a speech and presented it in English to the whole class. I was so proud of them both! One still lacked the confidence and language skills to present a speech and although he had the option to present it in Chinese, he decided not to. However, he is using more English while in the classroom and is willing to participate in classroom activities so is still making good progress. 

Tracey Clarke: Reflection Term 2 Week 2

Starting off in buddy groups worked really well as it helped the ELL students to gain in confidence before having to speak in front of a smaller group and whole class discussions. We used think pair share too which helped them contribute ideas. Listening to others in their group talking and watching them interact with each other also gave the students confidence to demonstrate their English speaking abilities. Using other students fluent in the same home language as translators at times, also gave them the confidence and opportunities to contribute. First in their home language and then in English. To see their confidence grow and hear them speaking more English within the classroom is awesome. All three of my ELL students are talking to me so much more than at the start of the year. They have the confidence to clarify what we are doing and ask for help if needed. They are all interacting much more with others in the classroom. 

Allison:  Transitioning Ells into Reading Recovery and monitoring how they transition back into the classroom, looking at Reading and writing specifically.