Location

Burley Senior High School (10–12)
2100 Park Avenue
Burley, ID 83318

Contacts

Yolanda Sapien, ESL Coordinator
Phone: 208-878-6606
E-mail: sapyolan@sd151.k12.id.us

Peer Tutoring, Alternative Assessments, and Vocabulary Studies Are Just a Few Strategies Used at an Idaho High School

Burley, Idaho, is a small farming town in the south-central part of the state. In recent years, statewide budget cuts and the closure of a local Simplot plant have brought difficult times to Burley and the surrounding area. Enrollment is down in the entire school district as many families have moved to Boise or out of state looking for work. Jobs have been cut and programs slashed in an attempt to stretch district funds to the limit. At Burley High School, one consequence is that English language learners, ready or not, are finding themselves in the mainstream classroom. We visited with two classroom teachers and the ELL coordinator to see how they were handling these challenges and what strategies they were using to help these students succeed.

Burley has both a long-standing Hispanic population and a small group of more recent migrants, mostly from southern Mexico and El Salvador. Many of the students come from Spanish-speaking homes, have received limited formal schooling in their native country, and have parents with limited literacy skills even in Spanish. Currently, more than 1,000 students in the district are designated as Limited English Proficient, with nearly two-thirds of these also designated as Migrant. In past years, the district supported a Newcomer Center in which students with little or no English skills were given a year of intensive instruction in both language development and content areas, using their native language for support. This program has also been a victim of recent budget cuts, but there are hopes of reviving it as soon as possible. In the meantime, several teachers have refused to use these hard times as an excuse, and have focused instead on developing effective strategies for delivering content and supporting language development in their classrooms.

Karen Christensen teaches both English and biology at Burley High School. She has taught in the district for many years, through bad and good economic times and in varying political climates. One often-overlooked key for working with ELL students, she says, is simply to have empathy for their situation. "There is a difference between having high expectations for all students and having unreasonable expectations. Everyone expects these kids to be up to speed almost immediately. They don’t seem to understand the difficulties that are there when Spanish is still spoken in the home."

Christensen addresses the needs of these students in several ways. "I try to demonstrate rather than simply discuss," she says. "I use a lot of visuals like drawings and charts, and a lot of hands-on projects." In her biology class, for instance, students recently constructed paper birds while learning about evolution and natural selection. "I try to make every lesson hands-on as much as I can, and to build in a language component whether I’m teaching biology or English," she says. "Any project that encourages them to speak English in a meaningful context is a good start."

Christensen also pays particular attention to the development of academic language skills. "We go over any specialized language, in detail, before we get into a lesson," she says. "In English classes I have a vocabulary study every morning. Two students work in a buddy system to make a presentation. They use pictures to demonstrate the meaning of words and they use the overhead projector a lot, so it’s very visual-oriented. They can also talk about the equivalent word in their native language if they are comfortable with that."

Another important strategy Christensen uses with her ELL students is alternative assessments. "I try to use assessments that aren’t totally writing-dependent," she says. "Student portfolios work well—they allow for more time and more individual attention. I also use open-book tests, where they look for the answers in the book. If you ask a lot of these students to sit down and pass a standardized test, they simply can’t. They just haven’t had enough time yet."

All seniors at Burley are required to make a Senior Presentation to a panel of community members. ELL students who are uncomfortable presenting solely in English are allowed to present in their native language as well. "That’s been very successful," says Christensen. "We have bilingual panel members, both Hispanic and Caucasian. It’s good for the kids and it’s good for the community. And it makes sense. The point with this is to assess the student’s presentation skills, not their English proficiency."

ELL Coordinator Yolanda Sapien is also a believer in alternative assessments. "Meaningful, authentic assessments show improvement," she says. "They don’t water down the curriculum, they show real student improvement, which keeps students interested and motivated, and that keeps them from dropping out. If these students are working hard, showing up every day, doing all their work, and then they’re forced to take an assessment that doesn’t register any of the improvement they’ve made, then they’re just going to get discouraged."

Another important strategy at Burley is peer tutoring. Math teacher Wes Nyeblade often pairs up students who speak the same (non-English) language and are only slightly apart in their ability levels. "It’s really important to match ability levels," he says, "or it just doesn’t work. If you have one student that is way ahead of the other, they’ll both get frustrated. But when you can make the right match it’s really useful—the student who is tutoring learns a lot by having to articulate what they know, and the other student has the benefit of learning from someone who knows their native language."

Nyeblade also stresses the importance of individualized and cooperative instruction. "We use block scheduling here, which gives you more time with each class, so you have more opportunities for one-on-one interaction. And I also try to make things as cooperative as possible—rather than me standing there lecturing. I give them examples and then I immediately have the students try it, while I walk around and help them individually as they need it. No matter what their background, students learn better by doing, but with ELL kids it’s absolutely imperative."

A key ingredient for student success is simply appropriate placement, says Nyeblade. "We evaluate over the first couple of weeks and try to get an accurate picture of a student’s skill level in the content area, not just in their language development."

Teachers at Burley also rely heavily on Sarah Pelayo, the full-time bilingual aide at the high school. ELL students receive a 90-minute tutorial every other day (one classroom period in the block schedule) as well as "impromptu pull-outs" as needed. Ms. Pelayo provides mainstream classroom assistance whenever possible and serves as a translator in testing situations. She also continues to monitor all students who have exited from the ELL program.

Yolanda Sapien is an invaluable resource for students and teachers alike. A tireless, enthusiastic presence at the school, Sapien is also a positive example. "I was these kids," she says while looking around her classroom at the five students who have shown up for after-school help. "I was a migrant kid; I was married at 15, and had my first child at 16. I was limited English proficient—you name the label, I was it. And I try to show these kids that it’s possible; that they can make it and have a good life. That’s why I’m here. That’s what keeps me going."

It’s obvious from the admiring and affectionate looks on the students’ faces that she is making a big difference. They are proud of her, they are proud of themselves, and they’re here in her classroom after normal school hours, ready to get to work.