John Stanford International School

Language Immersion Boot Camp with Regla Armengol

July 31, 2000

MONDAY - BUILDING A SOUND FOUNDATION
Second-language Acquisition: From Theory to Practice. Topics include: Caregiver Speech; Comprehensible Input; Contextualized language; Stretch Language; Comprehensible Output; the Role of Grammar Instruction; the Role of Error Correction; and How Age, Aptitude, Personality, and Motivation affect Second Language Acquisition.

Time	Topic	Implications
8:45 AM	Introductions Regla Armengol – originally ballet teacher, then turned to bilingual education. This year working with immersion programs (for CAL). In two weeks, going back to teach 5^th grade. Also will co-direct a project in Fairfax County for after school literacy for Spanish-speaking kids to gain literacy in Spanish. Maria Miller – kindergarten immersion teacher at JSIS, from Madrid, Spain. Came to Seattle 11 years ago to study in English; got married here. Was Spanish instructor at the World Bank. Got teaching certificate. Taught K-8 Spanish at Evergreen School, plus Math. Three children being raised bilingual. Nicole Silver – 2^nd grade teacher next year at JSIS. Taught in Seattle Schools migrant program, then at Highland Park. Lived in Mexico 1 year and 2 years in Tucson. Husband bilingual Spanish. Daughter 5 months old, being raised bilingually. Paul Aoki – director of Language Learning Center, UW. Co-chair of Partnership group at UW. UW President McCormick agreed with John Stanford to strive for more seamless K-20 education. Has worked with variety of languages (not Spanish). Sarah Coles– 1^st grade immersion teacher at JSIS. . Mercedes Sandoval – works in BOC at JSIS. From Chile. Daughter age 35. Started working 8 years ago. Worked as tutor in Projecto Saber initially. Hopes to be a resource to Spanish program. Karen Kodama – principal of JSIS. Started as a 2^nd grade teacher. Taught 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd grades. Got MA in instruction and special education. Worked in staff development for teachers and administrators. Became head teacher in elementary school, then principal at Stevens (3 yrs) then TOPS K-8 (10 years). Two years planning for JSIS after John Stanford asked her to be principal. Tori Moroney – FLES teacher at JSIS next year. New to Seattle from CA. Taught bilingual ed to 1^st and 2^nd grade. Husband starting Law School. Very excited about international school where there is support. Supporter of bilingual ed in CA, had to fight to get it back. Got BA and lived in Madrid for 1 year. Rosemary – from UW School of Education. Spent 3 summers in Mexico City. Knows survival Spanish. MA in Curriculum & Instruction. Masters project – integrating the Arts into the curriculum. Different world review with teaching Spanish to kids. In doctoral program. Now teaching at St. Benedict’s – 5^th grade and Spanish 4-8. Betty Lau – teaches ESL at Middle High School. Supervises Chinese language school. On JSIS planning committee. Michele Anciaux – language consultant to JSIS. Degrees in ESL and Slavic Linguistics. Served on Steering Committee for National Assessment of Educational Progress for Foreign Language (to be offered in Spanish in 2003). Sandra Hernandes – graduate student UW School of Education.
9:10 AM	Building a Sound Foundation: From Theory to Practice Materials from Montgomery County Public Schools: Second Language Acquisition by Mimi Met and Eileen Lorenz. (Eileen trained Regla.) Project was funded by US Dept. of Ed. Grant for teacher training in immersion schools. Teaching Language in Context by Alice Omaggio Hadley Heinle & Heinle: Boston, MA. 1993. Freeman & Freeman book.	Overview of the week Tue 7 PM Parent Meeting for K-1 parents Parents need to see teachers as authority.
9:23 AM	Break
9:33 AM - 9:45	Stephen Krashen – 2^nd Language Acquisition Linguist, expert on 2^nd Language Acquisition. Key Points of Monitor Model Acquisition – Learning distinction Natural order hypothesis Monitor hypothesis Input hypothesis Affective Filter hypothesis	*(handout #1)* Meet in pairs to review materials and identify key points. Write key points on board. Share with entire group.
10:15	Questions & Concerns/Brainstorming 1. Acquisition – Learning distinction (Betty & Michele) Acquisition requires more listening & observation (kids need lots of input/data to see patterns) Need lots of opportunities to practice (according to their needs, not directed by teacher) Learning is less holistic (more focused on specific things, like grammar, intonation, meaning, culture) Acquisition involves many elements (kids tune in to what interests them)	Provide Rich Language Learning Environment
	2. Natural order hypothesis (Nicole & Mercedes) Allow time to acquire – exposure Accept mistakes Do not teach isolated grammar Modeling correct structure Exposure to music, literature, games, etc. Metering (tailor complexity of instruction for students)	How to maximize time in partial immersion classroom? How to teach grammar (in context)? How to do indirect error correction? How to keep the communication going, while offering feedback?
	3. Monitor hypothesis (Regla & Paul) Time (do I have the time?) Form (do I care about the form?) Knowing the rules (do I know the correct way?)	Wait time is crucial (for kids to respond). Hard if other kids are impatient. In terms of classroom management, get away from whole group to give time to activate monitor. Strategy: Shut up; Store; Diagnose; Decide; Give Back (recycle to provide additional practice) Don’t stop and correct every utterance.
	4. Input hypothesis (Maria & Rosemary) Work with what they know Use what comes up in class/context Use many presentation opportunities: music, dance, drama, photography, visual arts Correction through modeling comments	When kids understand the correct way, they want to do it. Not until 3^rd grade can you really do anything with teaching grammar. Input (and intake) is the KEY to acquisition. Don’t discard written word. Label the classroom. (Different from formal reading instruction.) If it’s not made comprehensible, it’s just noise.
	5. Affective Filter hypothesis (Dolly & Tori) Create an environment that is relaxed and comfortable Promote self-confidence Games, songs, poetry	With games, songs, poetry, kids don’t realize they’re learning the language. Correct them through modeling rather than pointing out mistakes. If safe environment, they’ll take risks in the language. Challenge: how to show them that the language has prestige? Make it engaging (not the same as "entertaining"). Take an intrinsically interesting activity. Then layer the language on top. Wide array of issues that children bring to school; language adds a layer of complexity. IDEA: Regla had English speaker (counselor) in the room all the time for the 1^st week. Must try to not use English. If you break the Spanish rule, children will view you as an English speaker. Children must see you as the Spanish speaker in immersion.
10:55	Krashen’s Implications.	*(handout #2)* Don’t push self-generated speech until kids are ready. (OK to use songs, drama, etc.)
11:00	Break
11:08	First Language Acquisition Discussion questions in small groups.	*(handout #3)* Go over questions, then share responses with large groups.
11:20	1. How do most people you know usually speak, when they talk to a baby or toddler? Soft, higher voice (sing-song) – intonation In Spanish, use diminutives Show the object, demonstrate (use the senses) Demonstration, modeling, and experiencing Encouragement
	2. What do people usually talk about when they talk to babies and toddlers? What messages do they try to convey? Survival topics (meet the baby’s needs – food, shelter, safety) Convey comfort, safety, toys The here and now (babies don’t see the abstract)
	3. At what age do most babies begin to speak in recognizable words? One to two years old (up until then just storing info)
	4. What other kinds of responses can show babies’ interest and comprehension? Gestures, facial expressions, smiling, crying Response to commands (do what you say)
	5. Give some examples of babies’ first utterances. Short sounds Convey meaning (but aren’t grammatical)
	6. How do most adults respond to babies’ and toddlers’ early speech? Modeling, repeating the words Encouraging, accepting, lots of praise (Some parents repeat the baby talk – because cute) Pretending to understand (to encourage them)
	7. How often do adults attempt to correct baby’s early speech? Not much
	8. How do babies and toddlers usually respond to explicit correction of their grammar and pronunciation? Don’t respond. (Don’t recognize errors.)
	9. How can we explain such grammatical errors as "I wined" and "My foots are cold" in a young child’s speech? Generalizing grammatical structures.
	10. When we select read-aloud books for young children what kind of language do we look for? Simple, repetitive, clear, exciting What kinds of subjects do we look for? Interesting for them Lot of made-up words in children’s books Don’t they ever get tired of hearing the same story? They like to predict (because they remember some of what was happening). Then to be right. Enjoy experience of reading. Keep adding to each experience.
11:35	Characteristics of Caregiver Speech Summarize implications for 2^nd language classroom with examples comparing grade 1 and grade 6. What caregivers do almost instinctively because it has to do with communication process.	*(handout #4)* Focus on the "here and now." Slower and simpler. ("Me Tarzan, you Jane." stage) Focus on meaning over form. Extension and expansion (Use teachable moments.) KEY: Keep focused on the communication process; the rest comes.
11:47	Video: Regla delivering a lesson. 1. Focus on the "here and now." Talking about rectangle & square while holding them (they could touch and feel it) 2. Slower and simpler. Repeat the question Work hard to shut up (to let students speak) 3. Focus on meaning over form. Use more familiar vocabulary 4. Extension and expansion Let them hear the complete utterance	*(handout #5)*
11:55-1:00 PM	Lunch
1:00	Practice lesson – Math K-1 (meet in pairs)	*(handout #6, #7)*
1:25	Comments: Would need background on shapes and colors. Need other activities to build up to this. This raises issue of sequencing. Preparation activity might be just sorting shapes (label Nordstrom’s boxes with shapes). Teach concepts by example. Have a large, blue square. Have a small, blue square. Only difference is size. They’ll get the concept of size.	1. Focus on here and now Go on shape hunt around the school. Tally different shapes, e.g., (circle shape) llll (tally marks) (square shape) ll 2. Slower and simpler Construct each lesson so you know what you want. Few new words in each lesson. Familiar with rest of vocabulary. 3. Focus on meaning over form. Primary goal was to convey meaning of size (not noun-adjective agreement placement) 4. Extension and expansion Extend with Goldilocks story (large, medium, small)
1:35 1:50	Stages of 2^nd Language Acquisition Work of Tracy Terrell – Communicative Approach Pre-production #12 (students #16) slow and simple short answers (yes/no) simple commands to check comprehension Early production #13 (students #17) short answers adding/elaborating yes/no questions give answer to the students (in the question) – let them choose prefabricated chunks of language (e.g., fill in the blank kind of structures) Speech Emergence #14 (students #18) connect to the previous learning ask what/how questions (not just yes/no) kids produce longer sentences ask "if" questions – linguistically difficult Intermediate fluency #15 (students #19) new words and concepts (labeling concepts, e.g., hibernate) kids speaking in longer sentences	*(handout #8, 9, 10, 11 – 4 colored cartoons with examples of language acquisition)* Sequence from early to later stages. Label them.
2:00	The Five Stages of Language Acquisition	*(handout #20) (handout #21)* Work in pairs brainstorming ideas for suggested activities at each stage. *(handout #22) – responses*
2:20	Discussion As a teacher, demand the target language. Reward them for using the Spanish. Make that the prestige thing to do. But don’t stop a student who is trying to convey a scientific concept in English that he doesn’t yet have the language for in Spanish. Teacher needs to be a "merciful tyrant" on using the language. Build the structures into the Centers so that activities build scaffolding for using the language. Toughest time to stay in target language is when they’re alone. Need to give them the tools to speak the language.	Provide scaffolding on board with model to follow that shows certain structures. (Works by 2^nd grade when they can read.)
	Video: Solids (sitting in circle at Center) Solids already introduced by sorting activity. Teacher shows them the language (i.e. show the geometric solid). Then "Touch it." "Does it have…" (attributes are posted across the top of chart). Each one then gets a turn at being the teacher.	With language scaffolding provided, kids are more likely to continue speaking Spanish. Note: Kids are at Centers half an hour a day.
2:40	Evaluation/Feedback form	*(handout #23)* (handout #24 To Monitor Comprehension)

IDEAS to Consider

Have an English speaker/helper in the immersion classroom to help out first week. Needs to be an outsider (not someone who needs to be perceived as Spanish speaker).

Use kids that speak Spanish as "brokers" for the other kids.

Use drama/role play to get them producing speech without being so conscious of mistakes. Use puppets or dolls.

Use Venn diagrams to help students think about things, not just in Math, but Social Studies (compare habitats, etc.).

As a teacher, demand the target language. Reward them for using the Spanish. Make that the prestige thing to do. Don’t stop a student who is trying to convey a scientific concept in English that he doesn’t yet have the language for in Spanish. Teacher needs to be a "merciful tyrant" on using the language. Build the structures into the Centers so that activities build scaffolding for using the language.

Any down time at Centers (when kids waiting for instructions), they READ books in Spanish.

Kids will take the path of least resistance. If they have just practiced doing something in Spanish, it takes less effort to continue in Spanish, than to translate into English.

Continue to Day 2 of the Workshop

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