We have received some private funds to develop and deliver Spanish GED 
preparation sessions since the State of PA Adult Ed program will not fund 
such prep classes.  The pass rate for the three test sessions we have 
conducted so far is less than 50%.  The program director always makes 
clear to the participants that it's a great achievement to obtain the GED 
in Spanish, but they must continue their studies for competency in English 
language reading, writing, speaking and listening. 

I essentially see obtaining the GED in Spanish as a way to demonstrate a 
significant achievement and instill some motivation and excitement for 
postsecondary education; also, it's useful for job purposes and it's 
important to show if the individual has the goal of entering 
college....especially if they don't already have a high school diploma 
from their native country.

In a special grant program I direct focusing on a comprehensive college 
prep program (called Project Success) for GED completers, I admitted three 
young adults (from the Dominican Republic) who had obtained the Spanish 
GED.  They were also graduates of high school in their country; they have 
been in the US for less than two years.  They still need lots of help to 
enhance their academic and everyday English language skills, so they are 
currently enrolled in credit ESL developmental courses. 

I realize now it was probably a waste of their time to obtain the Spanish 
GED since the college would have admitted them with proof of their native 
country's high school graduation, and they probably would have done OK on 
the Accuplacer using the "Ability to Benefit" option to obtain their 
financial aid. (The financial aid folks tell me a high school diploma from 
a foreign country is not recognized for an individual to received federal 
and/or state financial aid).  All community college folks need to be 
familiar with the "Ability to Benefit" option.  Unfortunately, it's not 
heavily promoted.

For similar situations in the future I would focus on helping these folks 
to aggressively prepare for the Accuplacer placement test using such tools 
as A+dvancer (notably the diagnostic function), tutoring, and other 
effective instructional approaches.

I am pleased to report that all three of the Latino students earned 12 
credit hours in Spanish by taking the College Board's CLEP test.  It was a 
great motivator for them to earn these credits as they begin their pathway 
to college.  We need to encourage as many motivated Latino folks as 
possible to consider taking the CLEP Spanish test.  It's a great way to 
help them get on a successful path for college studies.



Peter P. Balsamo, Ph.D.
Chief GED Examiner and Director
   of Community Outreach; Director of
   Project Success Grant
Luzerne County Community College
Corporate Learning Center
2 Public Square
Wilkes-Barre, PA  18701-1992
Phone:    570-822-3728
FAX:       570-822-6171
E-mail:    pbalsamo at luzerne.edu
www.luzerne.edu






"Helton, B.J.   (KYAE)" <BJ.Helton at ky.gov> 
Sent by: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov
02/07/09 02:54 PM
Please respond to
The Assessment Discussion List <assessment at nifl.gov>


To
"The Assessment Discussion List" <assessment at nifl.gov>
cc

Subject
[Assessment 1763] Re: GED Espanol






A student may take the test in Spanish and then if English is required for 
postsecondary or employment, the student may take test in English.  Not 
so, in the reverse unless they are going to another country and have to 
prove Spanish comprehension. 

________________________________

From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Ted Klein
Sent: Fri 2/6/2009 8:03 PM
To: The Assessment Discussion List
Subject: [Assessment 1758] Re: GED Espanol


Jim,
 
I asked my Spanish-speaking ESL students recently, who were talking about 
the GED in Spanish, what they would do if they were managers of a local 
retail store in Austin, Texas and they had a choice between two native 
speakers of Spanish to hire to be salespersons. One had taken the GED test 
in English and the other in Spanish. They talked about this and all 
decided, after some discussion, that they would rather hire the person who 
had taken the GED in English to prove that they were truly bilingual and 
could comfortably deal with both English and Spanish-speaking customers, 
as well as handle the paperwork. In the long run, our ESL students' 
successes will be based on their abilities to deal with two languages in 
our environment. It is possible to live here and not learn much English, 
but the best jobs will be for the persons who show the most linguistic 
flexibility. The same thing goes for English speakers here who are 
functional in Spanish. In some cases, they get extra pay for that ability.
 
Ted
www.tedklein-ESL.com <http://www.tedklein-esl.com/> 
 
 

                 ----- Original Message ----- 
                 From: Schneider, Jim <mailto:jschneider at eicc.edu> 
                 To: The Assessment Discussion List <
mailto:assessment at nifl.gov> 
                 Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 2:14 PM
                 Subject: [Assessment 1749] GED Espanol


 

                 We have some experience with it. Wisdom might best be 
sought elsewhere

 

                 Jim Schneider

                 Scott Community College

                 Career Assistance Center

                 627 W. 2nd Street

                 Davenport, IA 52801

                 563-326-5319

 

                 From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barber, Jennifer
                 Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 8:43 PM
                 To: The Assessment Discussion List
                 Subject: RE: [Assessment 1690] Re: Transitions Discussion 
begins today!

 

                 Does anyone have information/words of wisdom about the 
GED in Spanish?

 

                 Jennifer Barber

                 English as a Second Language

 

                 Grays Harbor College

                 1620 Edward P. Smith Drive

                 Office: 2214

                 Aberdeen, WA 98520

                 360-538-2516

                 jbarber at ghc.edu

                 www.ghc.edu/faculty/barber

 

 

________________________________

                 From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Sinnes, 
Elizabeth (CCPS)
                 Sent: Thu 2/5/2009 7:06 AM
                 To: The Assessment Discussion List
                 Subject: [Assessment 1690] Re: Transitions Discussion 
begins today!

                 In response to several requests to share the syllabus we 
developed for the ESL Transition to ABE class, I am sending some details. 
Although we have had a transition class for 3 years, this is the first 
year we have treated it as a 16 week class with a syllabus.  It was 
developed by two current teachers with 25 years of combined experience in 
ABE and ESL.

 

                 The class meets 3 hours, twice per week for  for 16 
weeks.  Most students move to an ABE class after one semester, but some 
have been enrolled in the Transition class for a second semester.  The 
class focuses on both math and reading/writing, but with less emphasis on 
speaking than the lower level ESL classes.  Students must score between 
215 and 225 on the CASAS Reading 185 or GE 4-8 on the TABE for class 
placement, in math they take the CASAS 33 but are not required to have a 
specific score.  CASAS is used for all pre/post testing.  Students also 
write a sample paragraph from a prompt.

 

                 The texts currently used are: 

                 Weaving It Together Book 2  (Heinle) and 

                 Pre-GED Mathematics Skill Workbook (New Readers Press).

 

                 Computer software is used to enhance the curriculum and 
used weekly by all enrolled students during class time. The computer lab 
is also available before or after class, if students wish to stay. 
Software programs used are Aztec, Skills Tutor and Web Quests.

 

                 Math skills include but are not limited to:

                 Place value, whole number operations, reading graphs, 
rounding, introductory fractions, basic measurement, math word problems, 
identifying operations, calculating miles per gallon, shopping/finding 
percent

 

                 Language Skills Include but are not limited to:

                 Compound sentences, inference, scanning for details, 
topic sentences, map skills, subject/verb agreement, punctuation, writing 
complete sentences, supporting sentences, plurals, reading graphs and 
charts, plural possessives, reading labels, homonyms, reading for details, 
commas, parts of speech, using a dictionary/thesaurus, writing a 
narrative, sequencing, 

 

                 I hope this is helpful.  By the end of this semester we 
will refine the existing syllabus and would be happy to share it with 
those who are  interested.

 

 

                 Elizabeth B. Sinnes

                 Adult Education Programs Coordinator

                 Charles County Maryland Public Schools

                 esinnes at ccboe.com

                 301-753-1774

 

 

________________________________

                 From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Rhonda Booker
                 Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 9:46 AM
                 To: The Assessment Discussion List
                 Subject: RE: [Assessment 1568] Re: Transitions Discussion 
begins today!

                 Hello, we have the same problem....the ESOL class is too 
high to make gains, but the students either don't want a GED or aren't 
ready....would you share your syllabus? What is your class size and how 
many of your students yearly obtain skills to earn a GED?  I am the 
Supervisor of AE in Williamson County TN.  We are trying to help our 
students advance to the GED.

                 Thanks,

                 Rhonda

 

                 Rhonda Booker Long

 

________________________________

                 From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Sinnes, 
Elizabeth (CCPS)
                 Sent: Tue 2/3/2009 7:29 AM
                 To: barbara.jacala at guamcc.edu; The Assessment Discussion 
List
                 Subject: [Assessment 1568] Re: Transitions Discussion 
begins today!

                 We have an ESL to ABE Transition class for those exact 
learners.  High ESL learners were often not ready for an ABE or GED class 
so we developed the Transition Class. Most students are in the ESL to ABE 
Transition class for one or two semesters.  We developed a set syllabus, 
but certainly exercise some flexibility.

 

                 Elizabeth B. Sinnes

                 Adult Education Programs Coordinator

                 Charles County Maryland Public Schools

                 301-753-1774

 

 

________________________________

                 From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Barbara Jacala
                 Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 9:16 PM
                 To: 'The Assessment Discussion List'
                 Subject: [Assessment 1567] Re: Transitions Discussion 
begins today!

                 We have advanced ESOL students who keep coming back 
because they want to improve. However, their CASAS score is too high that 
we are not seeing any more gains and they are therefore showing up in our 
reports as failures, i.e. continued in the same level or left the program 
before completion. I am thinking that we should try to move them over to 
the postsecondary developmental English courses. We are also considering 
offering an academic ESL course to transition such students to 
postsecondary. What are your thoughts?

 

                 Barbara Jacala

                 Guam Community College

 

________________________________

                 From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov 
[mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Wendy Quinones
                 Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 2:07 AM
                 To: The Assessment Discussion List
                 Subject: [Assessment 1559] Re: Transitions Discussion 
begins today!

 

                 Hello and welcome everyone,

                 I'm Wendy Quiñones, an ABE teacher at a community-based 
learning center, the Community Learning Center in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts.  I also taught for two years in our college transition 
program while Cynthia Zafft, whom you'll also meet in the course of the 
discussion âEUR" was head of NCTN.  Recently âEUR" this past Saturday, in 
fact âEUR" I also began teaching a high-level ESOL communication class at 
a private tw-year college in Boston, Urban College.  This class consists 
of women who are family day care providers working toward a certificate; 
they have had all their content courses in Spanish and are now trying an 
academic English course for the first time.

 

                 Marie asked me to talk about the "process" at my learning 
center for transitioning students from ESOL into ABE.  I can name it in a 
word:  none.  Our ABE program aims to move students toward a GED; many of 
our ESOL students have no need of or desire for one.  We are also 
fortunate to receive a number of scholarships to the ESOL program at 
Harvard University's extension school, so our advanced students who want 
to work hard at improving their English often go there.  We tried a 
specific transition class one year, but it was the only time we had a 
large enough cohort of students who were "stalled" in high-intermediate 
ESOL but wanted a GED.

 

                 However, when students do move into the ABE program from 
our ESOL classes, or they enter the ABE program with skills that are too 
high for ESOL but low by ABE standards, they generall go into a 
low-intermediate reading and writing class which I taught for two years. 
Higher-level students who already have a high school credential (and 
sometimes college as well) in their home countries often entered our 
transition to college program. 

 

                 As we all know, these students are very different from 
native speakers in the same classes.  In his research on low-intermediate 
adult learners, John Strucker noted the following distinction between 
native speakers and ELLs: 

                 §       Native speakers tended to have relatively 
stronger "meaning-based skills" [like comprehension and vocabulary] as 
compared to "print-based skills," [for example, word recognition] while 
non-native speakers exhibited the opposite pattern. Chall (1991) reported 
similar findings. 

                 §       Many second-language speakers in ABE classes had 
surprisingly low levels of oral vocabulary in English (GE 2 to GE 4), 
despite their fluent levels of conversational English. Similarly low 
levels of oral vocabulary occurred among some inner-city young adults who 
were native speakers.  Strucker, John.  "What Silent Reading Tests Alone 
Can't Tell You: Two Case Studies in Adult Reading Differences," Focus on 
Basics, May 1997.  http://www.ncsall.net/?id=456 

                 So the question is, how do we cope with these learners 
with different needs?  At my center, teachers are mostly left to our own 
devices.  In the lower-level classes, where student need is universal for 
vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension instruction, concentrating on those 
is easy.  At higher levels, it gets more complicated.  In my GED class, 
using "The Lord is my shepherd" to demonstrate methaphor, my ELL students 
didn't know the word "shepherd"; in my college class, my Spanish-speaking 
students didn't know the word "rhyme." 

 

                 One year in the transitions class, I tried to 
differentiate the instruction, having the lower-level ELLs work with an 
ESOL teacher for an hour of the 3-hour class.  They learned the same 
vocabulary words but in contexts they could understand, and their writing 
assignments and grammar instruction paid attention to more specific ESOL 
issues in which to this day I have not been trained.  We learned that 
while we could expect these ELLs to learn the words, we couldn't use the 
same tests; their tests needed to be much more similar to the examples 
they used in class.  Native speakers and higher-level ELLs could be 
expected to know the words in different contexts.  I also gave some 
readings at different levels âEUR" either different materials or in many 
cases short stories for which I provided both an adapted version and the 
original, like O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi."  Except for the fact 
that all the students were exposed to great American short stories, I 
can't say that any of these techniques worked particularly well.

 

                 So I'm still hunting for a "process" that will help ELLs 
to transition into ABE and college classes.  I imagine many of you have 
much better ideas than I do.  I'm looking forward to hearing about them!

 

                 Regards,

                 Wendy

 

 
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