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Project Involvement:

There are four parts to involvement within Project Las Estrellas:

1. Project Courses
2. Professional Development
3. Observations
4. Summer Institute

 

1. Project Courses:

Participants take five courses in the sequence to their endorsement.

  1. ESL / Dual language Methods*
    2.
  2. ESL / Dual language Multicultural*
    3.
  3. ESL / Dual language Assessment*
    4.
  4. ESL / Dual language Linguistics*
    5.
  5. ESL / Dual language Practicum*
    6.

* See the descriptions below

 

EDEL/EDSEC 730
ESL Dual Language Methods

Course Description:
This course provides an overview of key issues relevant to strategies, techniques, and methods of ESL instruction, as well as an overview of instructional management in the ESL classroom. The major topics to be addressed by this course include, but are not limited to:

  • the development or adaptation of instructional materials for diverse learners
    •
  • culturally sensitive and content based strategies of instruction for dual-language learners
    •
  • an exploration of second language acquisition theories and their impact on the choice of appropriate instructional strategies, techniques, and methods for the ESL classroom
    •
  • the development of communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. across the curriculum.
    •

EDEL/EDSEC 731
ESL Dual Language Linguistics

Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to prepare educators desiring ESL endorsement with a background in linguistics germane to the ESL setting that will allow them to understand the structure and function of language. The course will encompass the theoretical underpinning educators need to apprehend in order to better plan curriculum for their students. Using information provided in this course, educators will be able to determine those elements of the English language most likely to prove problematic for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Additionally, students will learn both the ways in which languages may differ and those characteristics of language with tend to be universal; including the commonalties between first and second language acquisition. Students will develop these understandings through collaboration, critically reflective approaches, and practice, solving linguistic problems in the professional setting.

EDEL/EDSEC 742
ESL Dual Language Assessment

Course Description:
This course provides an overview of current issues regarding assessing, defining, and teaching students with limited English proficiency at all age levels. Some of the major topics to be covered include:

  • issues in the assessment and placement process
    •
  • writing useful assessment plans and reports
    •
  • working with culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional students
    •
  • facilitating and informing parental involvement in the assessment process

EDCIP 740
Curriculum Materials for Dual Language Learners: A Course in Multicultural Curriculum, the Cross-Cultural Dynamics of the ESL Setting, and the Foundations of Bilingual & ESL Education

Course Description:
This course provides an overview of key issues relevant to;

  • the cross-cultural dynamics of the ESL setting
    •
  • appropriate adaptations necessary for a multicultural curriculum
    •
  • an overview of the foundations of Bilingual and ESL education.The major topics to be addressed by this course include, but are not limited to:
  • rapidly changing societal demographics and the realities of social change toward increasing diversity
    •
  • the location of the institution of schooling along the social change continuum;
    •
  • the goals and benefits of third wave change
    •
  • perspectives on and typologies of pluralism and multiculturalism
    •
  • understanding culture
    •
  • understanding the culture-learning process
    •
  • the products, outcomes, and limitations on socialization
    •
  • variations in cultural differences; reflections on changing knowledge and changing reality
    •
  • notions of constructed reality
    •
  • the intersections of cultures in schools and classrooms
    •
  • frameworks for the analysis of intercultural interactions and their application to educational practice
    •
  • the internalization of multiculturalism
    •
  • the myths and false premises which lie at the heart of the underutilization of parents and community in the culturally diverse school environment
    •
  • curriculum transformation
    •
  • multicultural transformation
    •
  • the dynamics of ethnic growth
    •
  • reflections on the legal and programmatic foundations of second language learning models and modes in education
    •


EDEL/EDSEC 745
Practicum in ESL

Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to prepare educators desiring ESL endorsement with a critically-reflective, culturally-sensitive, capstone experience. The course will be grounded in the Guiding Principles framework for the quality education of culturally and linguistically diverse [CLD] Students (George Washington University, 1996). These Guiding Principles, as developed for the United States Department of Education by a consortium of academics, practitioners, and stakeholders through George Washington University, reflect both a strong theoretical foundation in basic and applied research, as well as, consensus about best practices in the ESL setting. These Guiding Principles were developed to provide a framework through which all stakeholders within an educational community could build capacity toward creating and fostering an environment which promotes success for all students. The activities and products of the ESL Practicum Experience will encompass:

  • A reexamination of prior learning in courses taken toward ESL endorsement toward reflective development of an Endorsement Platform for professional practice.
    •
  • The integration of the Guiding Principles framework, the Basic Premises framework for first and second language programming (Miramontes, Nadeau, & Commins, 1997), and a piloting framework for the synthesis of learning in prior ESL courses, will serve to integrate participants' knowledge bases in research, theory, and practice toward the development of a quality Endorsement Portfolio for professional practice with CLD students.
    •
  • The development of a critically-reflective and cross-culturally sensitive Portfolio of ESL Practice which reflects critical thinking about, decisions on, and actions taken, in daily practice with CLD students, English language learners, and their families.
    •

 

2. Professional Development:

Participants attend two to three professional development sessions for the course taken each semester. The Professional Development complements the distance education learning, and provides insights and connections to practice through topics centered around sheltered instruction and the Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol (SIOP) model.

3. Observations:

Participants are observed on a monthly basis or more by the project manager or peers trained using; SIOP. Feedback and debriefing are immediate so participants observed can begin incorporating suggestions into practice with ELL students.

4. Summer Institute:

Participants attend an institute each summer for two consecutive days. National speakers and presenters deliver sessions to enhance participant learning gained in courses and professional development.

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