Hi All! 

Please remember that we are having a guest speaker starting next
Wednesday (Feb. 15th--the day after Valentine's Day).

Robin Schwarz, a longtime LD specialist, researcher and ESOL tutor, will
discuss her  recent article, "Taking a Closer Look at Struggling ESOL
Learners ", about ESOL learners who seem "stuck", and how we can find
the real reasons for their struggles and find ways to get them back on
track.

You can find this article at:
http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=994

Following are some questions to think about as we prepare to discuss
this article. If you have staff meetings coming up, I encourage you to
use them as a chance to discuss the following questions as they relate
to your center or program.

Discussion Questions

1.  Stories:  Have you had struggling learners in your program? How
common do you think this problem is? Do you want to share a story of a
learner you have worked with, and tell us how you were able to find out
the issue, and what you did to help?

2.  Physical Disabilities:  How do we screen for them and what specific
accommodations can we make in the class or program for them?

3.  Intake/Counseling Procedures:  What does your center or program do
for a routine intake? What is the procedure to address a learner who is
not progressing? How well do you get at factors such as physical and
health problems, living situations, amount and nature of literacy
skills, nature of the primary language and cultural communication style?

4.  Responding: Once there is a reason discovered for a learner's
struggles, how well-equipped are you to respond to the problem? How do
you learn how to accommodate a hearing or visual problem? What do you do
for the learner with anxiety or depression? Do you have access to a
consulting teacher, or someone knowledgeable in the complexities of a
given culture's communication style (as in the example of the Sudanese
men in the article)? 

5.  Staff Training/Professional Development: What kind of training do we
all need in order to ensure that our intake procedures are complete and
appropriate? What kind of  training will help us to respond an effective
way?

6.  Did This Article Change Something You Do? Share with us anything
that you changed, did, started, or stopped as a result of reading this
article.  Why?  What result did you get?

7. What Connections Did You Make With This Article? Even if you did not
change anything, did it ring a bell or hit home to you in some way?

 We'll see you next week for the discussion!

Julie


Julie McKinney
Discussion List Moderator
World Education/NCSALL
jmckinney at worlded.org