Bilingual Education and ESL Standards for Grades PK-4
Developing the unit where students learn to hear culturally colored Latino voices and create their own voice reflective of their national identity, I capitalize on the two national goals developed by Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) that are shared by New Haven Public Schools Bilingual and ESL Programs:
effective communication
and
achievement in a variety of cultural contexts
.
In Content Standard 1.0 "Students will use English and their native language for effective communication," I particularly distinguish two performance standards: 1.1 "Students will use English and their native language to participate in social interactions" (sub points d, f) and 1.2 "Students will use spoken and written English as well as their native language for personal expression and enjoyment" (sub points a, d).
In Content Standard 3.0 "Students will use English and their native language in a variety of cultural contexts," I also find two performance standards that correlate with the goal and objectives of my unit: 3.1 "Students will vary language, register and genre according to audience, purpose and setting" (sub points c, f, h) and 3.2 "Students will vary non-verbal communication according to audience, purpose and setting" (sub point d).
I would also like to involve New Haven's unique goal -
achievement in more than one language
. Though I realize that my students won't probably use their native language to an extensive degree, such as expression in a written form, I would still encourage them to apply their knowledge of Spanish to some, even minimum, extent. Recent research has shown that competent speakers of more than one language usually demonstrate superior cognitive abilities in many areas. In this sense, I feel that arousing motivation for sustaining a native language and acquiring another one simultaneously becomes a necessary component of today's teaching of bilingual students. Besides, if language is an integral part of one's culture, then a person able to maintain his or her mother tongue living and functioning in a different culture becomes a representative of his or her native culture and an outstanding participant in society.
CMT Reading Objectives
I have striven for this unit for English language learners to be a substantial addition to the core curriculum for the fourth grade. It studies literature by Latin American writers; therefore the Connecticut Mastery Test's reading objectives (CMT, 4th generation) are integrated in the objectives of this unit. Thus, the following content objectives appear to be mostly correlative: B. Developing Interpretation: The reader will construct an interpretation and/or explanation of the text and connect the text to outside knowledge (strand B3); C. Making Reader/Text Connections: The reader will connect or associate the text with life outside the text (strand C1); and D. Examining the Content and Structure: The reader will elaborate on the text and make judgment about the text's quality and themes (strands D1 and D2).
