Albany Senior High School/Curriculum plans/ESoL

Curriculum Plan for ESoL

Vision

Students learning English as an additional language will be nurtured, empowered and inspired through participating in our learning community at Albany Senior High School. A range of interventions that include specialist programmes, first language support in selected subjects, the reception tutor class, tutorial support and impact project support are designed to enable these students to achieve highly and become good citizens. We use a communicative approach. Students will build on their prior languages knowledge as they learn to receive, process and present ideas or information using the English language as a medium (NZC). Students will be provided with the opportunity to participate in constructive and co-constructive interactions that promote listening, speaking reading and writing across all three strands of the curriculum in their first language as well as in English. Students' culture and home language is honoured and respected in our learning community. They are encouraged to use both their home language and their increasing facility in English language as they participate in and to contribute to our curriculum and our learning community. They, in turn, nurture, inspire and empower others in the community to achieve highly and become good citizens.

Values

We expect that English as an additional language learners experience respectful, responsive and research based practice through the three strands of our curriculum: tutorials, ESOL and other specialist subjects and impact projects.

• We promote excellence in all that we do through our expectation that our students will achieve highly in and through their developing expertise in English language.
• Warm mutually respectful relationships are at the core of effective, authentic communication. We expect all teachers to research and respect the “cultural capital” that English language learners bring to our learning community.
• Families are an important party of our learning community. Tutors have regular contact with families. We access teachers' language expertise in Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, French and German where appropriate. Supported by our board, we consult regularly with our Korean community.
• We promote fairness, openness, honesty and trust through active listening and respectful interactions with our students in classes and in our learning community.
• English language learners are encouraged to take ownership of their learning and to make wise choices.
• Teacher inquiry supports effective learning for language learners. Student feedback and formative assessment provide evidence for effective planning. We consult with and share assessment information with Albany Junior High School, and other contributing schools and ensure that programmes are designed to build on students' prior knowledge.
• Students are encouraged to use their home languages as well as English to enjoy the exploration of ideas and to create oral, visual and written texts in English.
• Through participating and contributing to our learning community, English language learners develop their language skills and their understanding of New Zealand culture while enriching our community with their different cultural perspectives.
• New Zealand's cultural heritage is at the core of programmes. The study of Maori verbal ,oral and visual texts provides rich opportunities for the understanding of the unique place of Maori in Aoteoroa New Zealand and allows for the exploration of Te Reo and tikanga as a primary source of New Zealand's self-knowledge and identity (NZC).

Expectations

Expectations for teaching and learning, including pedagogy, assessment, e-learning.

1. How will our teaching and learning meet the school’s expectations for 21st century pedagogy based on current research?

We respect one another; we use research in our practice; we are responsive to learners and their learning (Specialist Subjects: Switching young adults on to 21st century learning) Respect Learning a new language is challenging for students. Before they are comfortable sharing their ideas in another language and an unfamiliar environment, they need to feel respected and accepted in the classroom learning community. Establishing caring and honest relationships with students is essential for effective learning as is recognising students' prior knowledge and learning in languages and the cultural capital they bring to their learning. At all times we demonstrate high expectations through knowing individual learners, helping them set goals that will enable them to meet their aspirations, closely monitoring their progress and providing them with appropriate challenge. We use a communicative approach to the teaching of English as an additional language. Students are encouraged to relate their learning to their own experience. They are encouraged to talk in their home language and in English as they explore ideas and produce texts. Weaker students can learn from stronger students in an a supportive and understanding community of learners. Students need to be able to take risks with language and feel that their contribution is valued no matter what their English language level. The teacher shares the learning intentions for each lesson. Students have multiple opportunities to practice and build on their skills. They are encouraged to reflect on their learning orally and in writing. Research Formal and informal diagnostic and formative assessments, observations and discussion are all used to know individual students, their strengths and areas to develop in speaking, listening, reading and writing in English. The English as an additional language course is differentiated to meet the learning needs of these diverse students. Teacher inquiry enables the teacher to learn about the effectiveness of their teaching through gathering and analysing assessment data including using student feedback. Teacher professional learning and development including being part of the North Shore ESOL cluster, accessing Team Solutions support, attending courses and conferences, enables the teacher of English as an additional language to keep up-to-date with current thinking and practice. Responsivity Planning is designed to be relevant and to reflect students interests and aspirations. The teacher shares learning intentions with students and ensures that they understand them, using students home language where appropriate. The “split screen” is used to share the what and why of learning for students. Students, especially when they are processing ideas in English, need time to reflect and feed back to the teacher during the lessons. The teacher needs to be flexible and respond to different learning “moments” as they arise. Students are encouraged to set goals and monitor their own progress.

2. How will our assessment promote effective learning?

A range of diagnostic assessment is used to establish the entry level of students. These include: Diagnostic reading using ELLP A piece of writing Oxford Placement test for listening An interview Paul Nations Vocabulary Test Assessment information and consultation with contributing schools, particularly Albany Junior High School The teacher monitors progress and adjusts the programme through collecting and responding to student feedback from group and individual tasks. This may be written or oral feedback and may be in the home language of Korean and Japanese students. The programme is differentiated to meet the diverse learning needs. NZQA standards assessments tasks are developed and moderated in consultation with the English department (for English standards) and through involvement with North Shore Cluster Group and Team Solutions(for ESOL standards).

3. What does an effective 100-minute lesson look like?

See attached

Key competencies

How will we develop each of the key competencies in the learning area? How will we promote the split screen? These are a means and an end.

Managing self Students are encouraged to monitor their own learning through goal setting and self and peer assessment. They discuss feedback with the teacher and with the teacher co-construct next steps in order to achieve the desired outcomes. Students are encouraged to ask questions and to contribute to discussion. They are provided with choices in learning activities and contexts. They have times when they are expected to work individually on differentiated tasks. Relating to others A communicative approach means that students are provided with multiple opportunities to talk about their ideas and views with other students in a respectful and warm learning community. They work collaboratively and take on a supportive role with other students. The teacher models and supports students as they learn to communicate appropriately in differing social situations in English in a New Zealand context. Thinking Students are scaffolded into speaking in English. They develop confidence as their attempts are respected and valued and when they start to see the progress they can make. They are encouraged to activate their prior language knowledge as they interact with English language so that they make explicit links between what they already know and new information. They learn how to develop questions and explore ideas. In class students are also encouraged to make connections between English as an alternative language and their English language learning in the other specialist subjects. Participating and contributing Students are provided with opportunities to learn in contexts that are relevant to them or that they can relate to their own experience. They are encouraged in their home language or English to explore and be sensitive to others' perspectives as shown in visual, oral or written texts. Visual, oral and written texts include those by Maori authors. Learning activities also enable students to participate in English language learning in a social or cultural setting outside the classroom. Students' impact projects are used as a rich resource for English language learning in English as an alternative language. Using language symbols and texts The English as an additional language programme allows students to integrate oral, written and visual skills in a meaningful way. They are provided with experiences that enable them to present ideas differently to different audiences. Our students are experts in accessing language, symbols and texts in the electronic media and the programme encourages them to build on their strengths in this area. Students are encouraged to share the challenges and make connections about their experiences in English language learning in their other specialist subjects. The ESOL teacher works collaboratively with teachers across the curriculum to support students who are studying English as an additional language.

Curriculum design

What do we want our students to learn and/or develop? 

See course outline 2010/2011

Quality assurance

How will we ensure that standards are transparent, clear, reliable, valid and fair?

English standards tasks and assessment schedules are developed in collaboration with the English Department and comply with their policies and procedures for moderation (See English Department Handbook). ESOL standards are developed and pre and post moderated with colleagues from the North Shore Cluster Group (Westlake Girls, Westlake Boys and Northcote College). Team Solutions also provide expert critique and support.

Self review

What data will we collect and how will we use it?

Individual student progress and achievement is regularly monitored in line with school guidelines. Assessment data and student feedback is regularly collected and analysed as part of teacher inquiry. The NZQA achievement data is collated and analysed according to the school guidelines.