Eisen-ELI Summer 2001

In this Issue... Spring workshop at OSU   Morning session with Rick Finnan   Afternoon session with Aurora Cedillo   Comments from participants   Reflections from Heather Peterson Saturday Credit Sessions   Reflections from Lisa Materials Grants   Albany   Lebanon   Lincoln County   Springfield Next year's workshops

With this issue of Eisen-ELI Newsletter, we conclude this year's program. We have accomplished a great deal during 2000-2001: We have held thirteen workshops, and we have established several networking resources, such as the Eisen-ELI website, the Nicenet discussion board and the quarterly newsletters. In addition, study groups have been very active in different districts, furthering the work started in the workshops. We would like to thank all participants from Albany, Lebanon, Lincoln County and Springfield, as well as OSU pre-service teachers, who have made this program such a huge success! Have a great summer break! We look forward to continuing to work with you in future programs!

Spring Workshop at OSU Approximately 40 participants attended our final Eisen-ELI workshop held at OSU on May 18. In addition to enjoying a beautiful spring day, we were able to learn a great deal about sociocultural factors that affect the classroom.
Morning Session with Rick Finnan * Raising cultural awareness and building cultural sensitivity among students * Understanding attitudes and perceptions * Avoiding stereotypes and labels Rick Finnan from the English Language Institute at OSU led us through a series of interactive activities designed to raise our awareness of "cultural conditioning." The activities reminded us that our cultural assumptions and values often lie outside our awareness but influence every part of our conscious lives! Rick emphasized that developing cultural awareness is extremely important for educators because it represents... the ability to understand what is going on in the mind of a person from a different culture so one doesn't get upset by the way the person behaves the ability to understand more about one's own culture as one tries to understand more about the target culture	Afternoon Session with Aurora Cedillo * Understanding the experiences of bilingual/bicultural students and of bilingual educators * Current Issues in our schools: teachers, parents, students and community Aurora Cedillo from the Salem-Keizer school district spoke to us about her own experiences growing up in the United States within a Mexican family, trying to integrate two different cultures into her life. Aurora told us about many of the challenges she faced at school and at home, and about her journey to become a bilingual educator. Aurora's demonstration was very powerful, and it helped us better understand the emotions, feelings and struggles experienced by bilingual students and teachers in our schools.
Comments from participants "Thank you for a meaningful, useful day!" "Very interesting! It has helped me to connect culturally better with all students." "Each session has really opened my eyes about the subtle differences in cultures. This one really did that." "Really helped me grasp the stresses that my ESL children feel everyday in the classroom!!"

There were some valuable lesson ideas that were presented by the small groups we broke into in the morning session, and all of them gave some great tips that would be very easy to implement. Particularly the one about observations or judgments: having the students look at magazine pictures and write down statements that could be categorized as either observations or judgments. It was a very powerful way to see that you cannot make judgments about people just by what you see.

In the afternoon, we had a guest speaker, Aurora Cedillo, from the Salem-Keizer school district talk to us regarding her life as an ELL student and her job as an educator. It was so great to have Aurora share her experiences first hand and talk about some of the specific issues she struggled while growing up: Things like the sounds letters make in English vs. Spanish, and why they are so difficult for Hispanic children to grasp. She also spent a lot of time addressing Mexican cultural issues, values and beliefs, and how they influence the way these students think and perceive things. Certainly we are all aware that every culture has its own belief and value system; however, it is always beneficial to know the specifics that Aurora presented. This type of information can enlighten us to the reasons why things happen, as well as help us do our job better by understanding and incorporating these values into our everyday interactions with the children. It was very refreshing to have someone say, "This is why you may find that many Hispanic students will do..."

I felt like I took so much away from the presentations in my own understanding of culture. I know that I will certainly be more aware of cultural differences. If I become more accepting of these differences, I can ease the burden of many of my ELL students.

Saturday Credit Sessions Eileen Waldschmidt led two Saturday sessions on April 28 and May 5 for Eisen-ELI participants who registered for OSU credit. The first session focused on the use of creative drama in the classroom. The second session featured a panel of educators who shared best practices on ESL teaching.

Reflections from Lisa Fragala Creative drama is easily integrated into different subject and content areas, and allows for the development of a variety of language skills. It also has the advantage of promoting language negotiation in a more relaxed environment, allows for an inclusive, cooperative learning process accessible to ELLs at all stages of language development, and offers a valuable assessment opportunity. Even though creative drama can take many forms, such as theater games, narrative pantomimes, story reenactments and improvisations, the form I found to be the most fascinating involved the use of playwriting and play production. This educational strategy allows not only for the development of language skills, but also has great potential for empowering students. It provides the opportunity for students to explore and evaluate meaningful issues within the creative process, and contains the possibility for celebrating the culture and language of students' communities. I hope to learn more about creative drama, and to utilize it in my own classroom in the future. I think it represents many wonderful opportunities for teaching and learning.

Materials Grants We are pleased to announce this year's recipients of Eisen-ELI materials grants.

Albany Tami Gardner from Memorial Middle School received $345 to purchase reading books in Spanish and Russian, as well as bilingual books written in English and another language. "In this district all libraries are linked. This would provide the opportunity for multiple schools to access these books." Tom Holling from Lafayette Elementary School received $155 to purchase interactive software programs. "Our purpose is to successfully teach basic reading skills to students achieving below grade level, including selected students learning English as a Second Language."

Lebanon Peggy Sweet, ESL Coordinator, received $270 to purchase books to be used with English language learners from all buildings in Lebanon. "The acquisition of these books will guide teachers as they plan activities for their classes that are at a comprehensible level for ELL students and other students that need extra help while continuing the process of learning with their peers." Tammy Brown from Green Acres Elementary School received $500 to purchase literacy resources, including bilingual books, picture books, picture dictionaries and books written in Spanish. "Green Acres is very fortunate to have so many teachers that participated in the ESOL workshops throughout the 2000-2001 school year. It is apparent that our staff strives to ensure the success of all students under their instruction. Between the workshops and this windfall of books I feel that the students at our school are on their way to a most prosperous schooling experience. Thank you!" Linda Cordoza from Waterloo Primary School received $149 to purchase "content area books that complement the existing science and social studies curriculum."

Lincoln County Susan Roebber, ESL Coordinator, received $500 to purchase bilingual dictionaries, Spanish language books with accompanying audiotapes, Spanish science audiotapes and portable tape players. "At the primary level, books and tapes will be selected to reinforce and support developing reading skills. Spanish science audiotapes that accompany the district adopted science text will support middle school English language learners. These materials would be available for students to checkout and use at home."

Springfield Nancy Bray, ESL Coordinator, received $500 to purchase professional materials which will complement the study group topics. "The materials will become part of the English Language Learner Program's professional library, and will be available for check-out by all participants in the study groups." Allyson Hazlehurst from Maple Elementary School received $100 to purchase a Total Physical response teaching guide, content-area social studies readers, and instructional science kits.

Late-breaking news We were notified that we will be awarded another Eisenhower grant for 2001-2002. We will be working with Corvallis, Lebanon, Lincoln County, and Springfield - make sure you are on our mailing list for updates. If you are not sure you are on the eisen-eli mailing list, just click on Deborah's email address below and give me your name and email address.

We look forward to working with you again in the future!

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