ESL DEPARTMENT

Email: tstaples@mcssk12.org

Website: https://www.mcssk12.org/department/federal-programs/english-learners

Phone: 256-852-2557 ext. 62245

Hello and Happy March!

It seems as though the pages of the calendar are turning faster than we can keep up with these days! March brings so many signs of spring: Warmer weather, more hours of daylight in the evening, and flowers and trees beginning to bloom and bud. This season always brings a refreshing feeling to my soul and a time of new growth. While our ESL Specialists and students have been hard at work taking the WIDA ACCESS assessment for the past several weeks, we have also taken time to have some celebrations throughout our schools, both academic celebrations and cultural celebrations that usher in this Spring season.

As you all begin the final march towards Spring Break, please know that we are here to support you as you work with our ESL students. And please take a moment to celebrate and congratulate our ESL students as they wrap up testing and get a much needed break.

As always, please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need assistance. I am always here to help!

Tanya

Our Sparkman 9 ESL Specialist, Mrs. Adriana Henson, would like to recognize S9 ESL students who made the A or A/B Honor Roll for the first semester! Students who earned this distinction at S9 were:

Marya Al-Maliki

Jayden Chen

Alti Dawos

Christian Garcia Fernandez

Yesesnia Gomez-Perez

Emiliia Kuzmych

Ariya Patel

Alexa Perez

Rachel Pickett

These students worked hard to earn this recognition and Mrs. Henson is SO VERY proud of them! Congratulations to you all and always keep striving to do your best!

The March ESL Rockstars of the month are the administrators and teachers of Riverton Intermediate School! 🎉

RIS staff members were nominated by their ESL Specialist, Angelica Garcia, for the incredible support and encouragement they provided ESL students prior to ACCESS testing. On Friday, January 30th, Mrs. Garcia, was attending an AMTESOL session about strategies for encouraging students as they begin the ACCESS testing window. One suggestion was getting the staff to write encouraging letters for EL students. Mrs. Garcia immediately jumped on the idea, sent an email out to the staff, and RIS came through in a BIG way! Mrs. Garcia stated that several staff members gave her written notes of encouragement for students within hours of her email. Ms. McCutcheon, RIS principal, also turned in notes for all of the ELLs. On the first day of testing, the student's faces lit up while reading what their principal and teachers had written to them. It made their day and Mrs. Garcia's day!

THANK YOU Riverton Intermediate School for taking the time to make your EL students feel so special!

The WIDA ACCESS testing window is in it's final few days and ESL Specialists have been working hard to ensure that every ESL student has completed all four domains. This year's version of WIDA ACCESS is brand new, thus will provide a new baseline to measure growth against. We will not be able to compare scale scores from previous years to this years test scores. Proficiency level scores will reflect old proficiency level cut scores until the ACCESS Standard Setting event is completed in July 2026. Therefore, we will need to be cautious about how we read and use proficiency level scores until the event is completed and and new information is published by WIDA. New scoring rubrics for the Speaking and Writing domains will be used when scoring student answers this year. Additionally, the state moved to requiring students in grades 4-12 to complete the Writing domain online, rather than allowing them to write in booklets, unless they had a specific identified need for an accommodation.

When it comes to accountability/growth for Alabama schools, the current guidance we have been given is that the state is keeping accountability expectations the same and will make decisions about changes next school year. Due to the test being fundamentally different than previous years, we are not yet sure what that will mean for school report card accountability/growth calculations for ESL students. Once we have received our final WIDA ACCESS scores, we will share individual school data with administrators and teachers.

If you would like to view sample questions for the new WIDA ACCESS you can use this link.

The ESL students at Legacy Elementary School learned about two cultural celebrations observed by their peers. The first celebration was shared by LES student, Andy, who talked about the importance and significance of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year-Tet. Tet represents a fresh start, family reunion, and welcoming Spring. During the holiday, people visit ancestors graves, set up a five-fruit tray on the altar and reunite with family to share traditional meals. On the first day of the celebration, children receive Li xi, or lucky money, in red envelopes.

The second celebration was shared by LES students Suleiman and Mohamed who talked about the importance of Ramadan which focuses on spiritual reflection, community, and charity. During Ramadan, those who observe fast from dawn to sunset with no food or water during daylight hours with a focus on building empathy for the less fortunate, strengthening patience and focusing on prayer. The daily fast is broken at sunset after 29-30 days with a meal called Iftar, traditionally involving eating dates. Before dawn, a meal called Suhoor is eaten to prepare for the day. Ramadan concludes with a joyful three-day celebration called Eid al-Fitr, filled with family and friend gatherings, new clothes, and gifts.

In this strategy, students will respond to content prompt using the following short structured conversation format: Question, Signal, Stem, Share, Assess. This format will help students engage in more authentic academic interactions during small group and whole group discussions.

Are you looking for a translated document for your parents or students? Click on the picture below to access multiple documents that have been translated into several different languages in our shared MCSS Translated Documents folder. If you don't see what you need, please reach out to Tanya Staples at tstaples@mcssk12.org with your request.