Newsletter 1

SLPS TESOL ExcELLence

Issue 8 April, 2017

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

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RACE FOR REFUGEES/ TESOL 2017

ESOL PARENT MEETING/SUMMER SCHOOL

TRANSLATED FORMS/PLANNING FOR 2017-

18 SCHOOL YEAR

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITY

CALENDAR OF EVENTS/COMMUNITY EVENTS

ESOL PLANNING TEMPLATES ( ES-MS-HS)

Race for Refugees 5K

April 15, 2017

Calling on all runners and walkers!

Join the Race for Refugees 5k in Tower Grove Park

for a great cause! All proceeds of this event will

benefit the International Institute of St. Louis.

Enjoy complimentary Urban Chestnut Brewing

Company beer, Starbucks coffee and Companion

goodies.

The Sadie Hawkins Day String Band will also be

playing tunes.

Runners and walkers of all ages are welcome as well

as strollers and dogs!

Click here for additional details and to register.

Location: Tower Grove Park Date: Saturday, April 15

Time: 9:00 am

cellen

TESOL 2017

Seattle, Washington

Submitted by Ms. Tuckson, ESOL Coordinator

ESOL office staff spent their Spring Break in Seattle,

Washington at the TESOL conference. We toured their

newcomer middle and high school, Seattle World

School, and were highly impressed with their program.

During the conference attendees learned about

building academic vocabulary, refugee concerns, co-

teaching, and much more. Heather Tuckson

represented St. Louis Public Schools in the

presentation "Introducing the St. Louis Co-teach for

ELLs Regional Initiative." The presentation highlighted

how co-teaching is transforming mainstream

classrooms for ELLs and improving ELL achievement

in our district.

Next year's TESOL conference is March 27-30th in

Chicago. We hope you can join us on this professional

development experience.

Newsletter 2

ESOL Parent Meeting Updates

Submitted by Mrs. Wiesner-Groff, ESOL

Coordinator

The ESOL Bilingual Migrant Program held the

fourth, and final, Parent Meeting of the 2016-17

school year. Despite the stormy weather

conditions, over 71 dedicated parents and family

members came to: learn about ways they can

help their children succeed in school, provide

feedback about the ESOL program, and receive

Summer School updates. Parents won prizes,

were assisted in filling out summer school

applications, and were provided visits to our

Bilingual Library where over 75 books, in 5

different languages, were checked out! If you

have not already, please come visit our Bilingual

Library to see what all the hype is about!

On a final note, a big thank you to Sandra

Anderson, Lisa Zambito, Cheryl Boesch, and

Bilingual team member, Diana Marin’s, daughter,

Veronica, for volunteering their time at this event.

If you would like to volunteer for future meetings,

or events, please contact Elena Okanovic.

Summer School ESOL Sites

Summer Schools Updates

Summer school application forms were translated and emailed to all school principals

Students will stay at their current grade level

Current NCNAA students will be attending NCNAA

Roosevelt, Gateway STEM, and Soldan students at 3.0 on ACCESS Literacy can attend NCNAA for language development courses or obtain credit recovery credits at other high schools

NCNAA K-10

P-5 Mason

9:00-3:20PM

Mason

Buder

Woerner

P-5 Monroe

9:00-3:20 PM

Monroe

Mann

Sigel

Woodward

P-5 Mullanphy

9:00-3:20 PM

Mullanphy Dewey

Oak Hill

6-8 Long

Long

Fanning6

-8 Gateway MS

Gateway MS

6-8 Compton-

Drew

Compton-Drew

Busch

A Thank you Note from a Parent

One of the ESOL parents expressed a sincere thanks to Mrs. Juhlin, ESOL teacher at Busch

Middle School. The parent stated that Ms. Juhlin shared useful information about the school and ESOL services provided by the ESOL program during the District

Teacher Conference day.

Kudos to Ms. Juhlin!

Newsletter 3

Welcoming Neighbor Signs St. Louis Mosaic Project was very successful with giving people welcome signs in the community. Mosaic was able to give 80 signs with many donations to the International Institute of St. Louis. It is truly wonderful to see people in the St. Louis community being so welcoming and inclusive. Mosaic has seen many signs in various neighborhoods in the region and people are very excited to have them. If you or someone else is interested in obtaining a sign, they are sold for $15 at Plowsharing Crafts stores. These stores are a ministry of the St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship and can be found in Delmar Loop, Downtown Kirkwood and Town and Country. Click here for more information.

The ESOL bilingual team added the following

translated forms to the program website:

"SIGN AND RETURN" COVER PAGE

PARENT MEETING FLYER

FAMILY INVOLVEMENT SURVEY

PARENT PORTAL AUTHORIZATION FOR

Please, feel free to share these and other translated forms with classroom teachers and other school personnel.

Planning for 2017-2018

Submitted by Dr. Gonzalez Del Castillo, ESOL Director

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you do something about it now.”

Alan Lakein

To better prepare for the upcoming school year, the ESOL program conducts annual planning meetings with school leaders. During these meetings, preliminary plans are made to address ELL services and supports during the upcoming school year. This year, the planning meetings will be facilitated by the ESOL teachers. The following individuals should be invited to the meetings:

school principal AP and/or AIC All ESOL teachers and ESOL TAs working at that

school ESOL Director

Additional staff members can attend this meeting as well. Because ACCESS 2.0 data will be used to lead this planning conversation, the meeting should be scheduled after you receive ACCESS 2.0 data. Tentatively, ACCESS 2.0 data is scheduled to be released on April 29, 2017. Therefore, all planning meetings should take place between May 1, 2017 and May 19, 2017. Send meeting invites as soon as possible. Working with multiple people means coordinating multiple calendars. Not an easy task! A planning template should be used to guide the conversation during this meeting. Planning templates for elementary and middle schools were shared during the last co-teaching PD session and are included at the end of this newsletter. Planning templates for high schools are also included at the end of this newsletter. As you are working on filling out your planning template, feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have. You can also schedule a pre-planning conversation with me to help you get ready for the planning meeting.

Newsletter 4

Professional Learning Opportunity

Join our Leadership Talks—a Free Webinar Series

How do you lead and read by example? Join us for an exploration of language and literacy with our professional learning webinar series, and hear from the nation's most prominent thought leaders in academic language. Each week, “Lead the Way for Literacy” will feature a different influencer who will share his or her expertise on literacy, along with an open Q&A.

The next webinar we think you will love:

SPEAKER Elena Izquierdo, Ph.D. Author, Faculty at University of Texas May 2, 2017 at 2 PM ET

Literacy and Language Gains for Long-Term English Learners: Shifting Policy and Practices For full descriptions of each webinar, click here.

If you are not able to join the live webinar live, please feel free to register anyway in order to receive access to

a recorded version to view the webinar at your convenience.

The 16th annual conference will take place in St. Louis on June 14, 15 and 16th, 2017.

PLUS! Extended Education Track on Language, Literacy and Culture on June 16-17.

Registration for the 2017 Conference is now available here! Early Bird registration rates

Cambio de Colores is a multistate conference about integration of immigrants in new destinations in the Midwest. It is a professional development opportunity that engages practitioners, researchers, and those working with immigrant communities in sharing experiences and knowledge that facilitate the integration of immigrants in new settlement areas. The 16th annual conference will take place in St. Louis on June 14, 15 and 16th, 2017. PLUS! Extended Education Track on Language, Literacy and Culture on June 16-

17.

Registration for the 2017 Conference is now available here! Early Bird registration rates will end April 17.

The conference has extended the deadline for proposals

for posters and for lightning rounds (5 minute

presentations). You may submit a poster or lightning round

Newsletter 5

C A L E N D A R O F U P C O M I N G E V E N T S

Date Event Time Location

April 13 ESL Parent Involvement

Committee

3:30-4:30 ESOL Office

April 20 ESOL Leadership

Committee

3:30-4:30 ESOL Office

April 27 Community Outreach

Committee

3:30-4:30 ESOL Office

SLPS Community Events

Bosnian Heritage

April 13, 2017

Patrick McCarthy, Associate Dean of Libraries at

Saint Louis University will discuss the history and

impact of the Bosnian community in the St. Louis

region. A panel discussion will follow the

presentation, featuring members of the St. Louis

Bosnian community.

Adults. Registration required. Call (314)994-3300

Click here for additional details.

Location: St. Louis County Library, Grants

View Branch 9700 Mursick Rd., St. Louis, MO

63123 Date: April 13, 2017 Time: 6:30 pm

New World Sunday April 23, 2017

Join this one-act play about three refugee women from

Afghanistan, Bosnia and the Republic of the Congo. They come to St. Louis where they hope to create a new world by healing their old-world wounds.

This program is free to the public and is being presented in

conjunction with the St. Louis Artists Guilds exhibit

Displacement and Migration, a national juried exhibit that

investigates the current or historic forced or voluntary relocation

of individuals or groups of people who no longer inhabit their

place of origin.

Reservations not required.

For bookings contact Gitana at 314-721-6556 or

info@gitana-inc.org

Location: St. Louis Artists Guild, 12 North Jackson Ave.,

Clayton, MO 63105

Date: Sunday, April 23 Time: 2:00 pm

St. Louis Symphony Annual

Welcome Concert

April 24, 2017

The International Institute is hosting their annual

welcome concert with the Strings of Arda from the

St. Louis Symphony. Also, Amir Salesevic,

accordionist from Bosnia and Khaldoun Khreaden,

percussionist from Syria will also play a few pieces

during the concert. Their participation will reflect

two different points on the arc of resettlement.

Click here for additional details. Location: International Institute of St. Louis

3401 Arsenal Street, St. Louis, MO 63118

Date: Monday, April 24

Time: 11:00 am

Please, share ESOL updates from your site with Elena

Okanovic by April 30, 2017 to be included in our next

issue of the SLPS TESOL ExcELLence newsletter.

Newsletter 6

Newsletter 7

Newsletter 8