Location

Irving School (K–5)
611 South 8th Avenue
Bozeman, Montana 59715

Contacts

Jim Bruggeman, Principal
Phone: 406-522-6600
E-mail: mailto:jbruggeman@bozeman.k12.mt.us

International School Provides Culturally Diverse Experience for All Students

Irving School is located in downtown Bozeman, Montana, a university town with a population of 30,000. The school has a "low incidence" population of English language learners (between 9 and 13 percent during the last three years); however, this percentage is relatively high compared with other schools in Bozeman and other Montana schools.

For the 2002–2003 school year there were 12 students in the ESL program: one from Russia, four from Korea, three from Mexico, one from Colombia, one from Israel, one from Poland, and one from Mongolia. Most were children of Montana State University’s international students and professors. As a result, many of Irving’s ELL students are highly literate in their native language. Because of the families’ transitory lifestyle many students leave Irving School after only a year or even mid-year to return to their home country.

Irving School has traditionally enrolled the largest number of Native American students in all schools of Gallatin and Park Counties (about 7 percent this year). Although some Native American students receive ESL and Title I pull-out services, many are also disproportionately enrolled in special education services. Classroom teachers have redoubled efforts to improve their academic performance with the assistance of Title I teachers who provide additional direct reading, writing, and vocabulary instruction.

ESL Services

Because the ELL students speak a variety of different native languages, bilingual immersion programs are not realistic options. However, the principal and staff are committed to providing the support they can with certified ESL and Title I teachers, as well as providing training to their mainstream teachers on certain strategies.

If newly enrolling students have a native language other than English, they are tested on their English language proficiency using the Woodcock/Muñoz Language Survey. The WMLS surveys a student’s likely ability to succeed in grade-level academic tasks in English. It addresses primarily oral Cognitive-Academic Language Proficiency (CALP); letter-word identification (decoding and sight words); and writing conventions (spelling, grammar, and usage) in the language(s) assessed. The results of this test determine placement in the appropriate classes.

Depending on the results of the assessment, a student will receive 30 minutes a day of instruction with the district’s ESL-certified teacher, Christine Jonsson. Jonsson, who has taught at Irving for 15 years, is the only ESL teacher for the entire district. As a result, she has limited time to spend with students, but she provides the most instruction she can in that period of time. One of her goals is to provide the children as much opportunity as possible to use conversational English in a small-group environment.

Among other resources, Jonsson uses materials developed for classroom teachers called Classroom Teachers ESL Survivors Kit by Elizabeth Claire and Judy Haynes. The kit provides practical ideas for all teachers, and explains culture shock and the various challenges ELL students face in learning to understand, read, write, and speak a new language. There are step-by-step instructions for cooperative learning activities, guided peer instruction, and helping newcomers make friends and maintain self-esteem during the long period of academic adjustment. The kit has reproducible content area activities for use in mainstream or ESL classrooms, with low-intermediate ESL students, grades 3 to 8. (For more information see www.elizabethclaire.com/books/survivalkit.html)

Jonsson explains that a key to her success with ELL students is to use more of her students’ native languages in the classroom. This not only helps them learn English but also eases their discomfort, especially if they have just recently arrived from their native country. "Adjusting to culture shock needs to be taken into account when teaching these children," says Jonsson.

Strategies and Programs Used by Irving Mainstream Teachers

During an all-staff meeting, Irving teachers shared with NWREL some strategies they use when working with ELL students. Fortunately, class sizes are relatively small at Irving (fewer than 20), so that teachers can provide more individualized instruction.

One teacher said that having the children work together in small groups and in pairs was very helpful for learning. Another emphasized that one should never assume that a student comprehends what is being said: "After you give instructions to the whole class, check with individual students to make sure they understood."

Communication with parents about teacher expectations for their children is very important, indicated some of the teachers. "It is helpful to make sure notes on report cards, or notes to parents are clearly printed so they can read it easily." The teachers try to connect families who speak the same language so that they have a support group. Some parents have taken leadership roles with other parents of ELL students. One parent of an ELL student regularly helps her child in the classroom, writing translations of English into Russian.

First-grade teachers have been trained to use an approach called Visual Phonics, a system of 46 hand signs and written symbols that help make the connection between written and spoken language less confusing. As the teacher says a word, she uses a sign to cue the student to the mouth movement of the phoneme. For example, if a student is having trouble distinguishing "d" from "b" letter, the teacher uses the hand sign for d, which is to extend the finger downward.

"This approach," explains Resource Specialist teacher Meg Cech, a certified trainer in Visual Phonics, "is wonderful for ELL students and for all students, because the physical movement and the kinesthetic sensations are ways for students to internalize the sound association of a phoneme. They learn to separate sounds that seem the same." Cech says that at first she was concerned that the approach would not be appropriate for students in a class who already knew the sounds; however, she soon noticed that the visual phonics also helped students write the correct sound on paper. "Children don’t necessarily understand how sounds are to be spoken," says Cech, "and Visual Phonics help children learn sounds faster."

First-grade teacher Shirley Handsaker, who has taught for more than 30 years, is also trained in this approach. She explains that many ELL learners may not understand the "silent e" in words. The visual hand sign for silent, putting two fingers to your lips, has greatly helped children learn the silent e.

Irving School first-grade teachers use Visual Phonics in conjunction with their spelling curriculum called Process Spelling. A lesson might proceed like this: the teacher says the word, using the hand signs for the sounds, and writes the word on the blackboard. The students repeat the word in unison, and write it on their individual eraser board. The students are then told to "cheer" the word, in which the students spell the word (Welding—W–E–L–D–I–N–G, Welding).

A program used for fourth-graders is the Title I HOTS program. Developed by Stanley Pogrow, HOTS stands for "Higher Order Thinking Skills." The program’s goal is to develop the types of thinking skills needed to process more complex and integrative classroom content found in grades 4–8. It combines the use of computers, drama, Socratic dialogue, and a detailed curriculum to stimulate thinking processes. The Title I teacher says that ELL students benefit because language learning is built into the lessons, and because students are able to work together in pairs. (For more information about the HOTS program, including evidence of effectiveness studies, see www.hots.org)

Another aspect of instruction that may assist ELL students is an embedded vocabulary program. All classroom teachers are required to teach Daily Oral Vocabulary, Daily Oral Language, and Daily Analogies. These involve 10-minute instructional sequences, usually at the beginning of every school day. These programs are published by Great Source, a branch of Houghton Mifflin. Word meanings taught in semantically related clusters and the eight to 10 fundamental analogical relationships among words are the core of the DOV and DA programs; DOL involves reading and proofing sentences. Although directed at all the students in the class, these programs provide an opportunity for ELL students—whatever their individual stage of English language development—for structured, systematic oral vocabulary instruction every day.

Supportive School Culture

Irving uses a comprehensive staff development model called the Montana Behavior Initiative that improves the capacities of schools and communities to meet the complex emotional, social, and behavioral needs of all students. Handsaker says the MBI has been integral to providing a nurturing environment for all children, and especially newcomers from another country.

The culture shock and acclimation to the new culture is most overwhelming for new students, says Handsaker. She is proud of the students who take newcomers under their wing, showing them where things and places (like the bathroom) are located, explaining rules and lessons, and making them feel safe and welcome. Her first-graders sit in small groups, and are encouraged to work together; she says helping each other out "is not cheating"!

Irving School celebrates its cultural diversity every year with International Day. Each classroom hosts a nation, such as China, Mongolia, Russia, and Venezuela. Students who represent each nation speak to other classrooms about the customs, languages, music, geography, and special interests of their cultures. The "globe-trotting" students also sample each country’s foods, travel to each country using a passport, participate in a parade of flags, and sing to international music in the gym. The event not only brings together students of different cultures, but also celebrates the unique spirit of the school.

Student Reflections

Three students in the Irving School District shared with us their perspectives on learning a new language. A high school student said that it was often hard to understand the teacher’s explanation of assignments, and that it would be helpful if the teacher could give him written instructions as well as verbal. He also said that although language arts classes were very challenging, geometry and biology were much easier, because the pictures and diagrams were easier to understand than words. Watching videos in biology class also helped. He also was grateful for the support of the ESL teacher.

A fourth-grader who has been at Irving for a year and a half told us that at first he couldn’t speak much English. "Once in a while I could understand what was going on in class," he said. "It was easier to read than to speak English." He developed conversational skills in his ESL class and by talking with other students. He also says that his classroom teacher used a dictionary to look up words in his native language. Now the young man is a voracious reader in both English and his native language—he has two shelves full of books at home. (His favorite books are the Lord of the Rings series).

A young woman about to graduate told us of her early experiences at the school district. She strongly emphasized that a newcomer’s experience, good or bad, on the first day of school can set the tone for the rest of the year. In her case at Irving School, her teacher and fellow students took the time to provide a welcoming environment for her.

Irving School is currently developing a five-year comprehensive plan in response to No Child Left Behind that will address the needs of English language learners. Although the plan is still in draft form, Principal Bruggeman is encouraged that the approaches the teachers use "serve them well" when he receives e-mails from former students, now adults living in places as distant as Israel, Qatar, and Colombia, who tell him how much they appreciated learning English at Irving. Furthermore, he has received positive academic reports of former Native American students who have returned to reservation schools.