ESL grant program to welcome new teachers

Forty new teachers selected for two English as a Second Language grant programs will hear about the experiences of last year’s graduates at a special orientation December 10 at ESU.

The programs are part of four U.S. Department of Education grants awarded to ESU to provide 15 hours of graduate coursework to schoolteachers throughout rural Kansas and metropolitan Kansas City. Almost $3.8 million was awarded for the grant package, written by Cynthia Anast Seguin of the department of school leadership and middle/secondary education and Abdelilah Salim Sehlaoui of the department of foreign languages.

The grants pay for tuition, books and supplies. Teachers also receive either a $1,000 stipend or a laptop computer. Five courses covered topics such as cultural awareness, applied linguistics, ESL methods, assessment and evaluation, and a practicum.

Next month’s program will also help prepare outgoing graduates for the Praxis standardized exam. The Kansas Department of Education will pilot thetest for ESL teachers over the next two years then use the results to establish baseline standards.

The program addresses the needs of a growing immigrant population in Kansas schools. While most immigrants are Hispanic, some school districts must also accommodate students from Laos, Russia, The Philippines and other countries, said resource specialist Christopher Renner.

According to Renner, school districts have many incentives to encourage teachers to apply for the program. “When teachers get ESU endorsement, schools often put all ESL kids in their classroom for a couple of reasons. The teacher is supposed to know how to modify instruction and help children become academically successful. And it helps generate a little money for district to assist academic and social needs of these youngsters.”

ESL instruction cuts across subjects and grade levels, said resource specialist Sandy Burrell. “There is no exclusion. You can be secondary or special education or even early childhood. The whole gamut of educators are eligible.”

“It helps them be better teachers,” said Burrell. “The strategies they learn benefit all learners, not just ESL students. We teach them that you don’t just ‘stand and deliver’ a lecture. Students have different learning styles and teachers can use techniques that are a simple as just providing more visuals, assigning learning partners and not using cursive writing that immigrant students might not be able to read.

The program will honor key personnel at an afternoon luncheon, including the grant authors Seguin and Sehlaoui; resource specialists Renner, Burrell and Kim Kreicker; ESU research and grants director Pam Fillmore; John Ziegler, Cheryl O’Dell, Kay Shireman and Zeni Colorado from ESU Technology and Computing Services; Brad Goebel, Linda Orear and Amanda Pearl from ESU Lifelong Learning; Teachers College dean Tes Mehring; College of Liberal Arts and Science dean Rodney Sobieski; foreign languages chair William Clamurro and school leadership department chair Jerry Will.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>