Developer of ESL Model to Address Symposium About Teaching English-Language Learners

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Socorro Herrera developed the programming model that University of Arkansas personnel chose to use when they received a $1.3 million federal grant in 2007 to train teachers in English as a second language instruction. Later this month, the University of Arkansas will present Herrera, a professor of elementary education at Kansas State University, as the keynote speaker at the third-annual ESL Symposium Feb. 25 in Fayetteville.

The symposium at the Clarion Inn is designed to provide continuing education to teachers, administrators, counselors and other school personnel who work with children whose native language is not English. Educators can earn six hours of professional development credit through the Arkansas Department of Education. Cost and registration information are available at http://cied.uark.edu/5627.php. Registration deadline is Friday, Feb. 18.

The symposium brings renowned speakers and publishers to Northwest Arkansas, where 50 percent of the state's English-language learners are located, said organizer Judy Hobson, formerly the ESL and migrant program supervisor for Springdale schools. This allows districts in the region to send a large number of teachers without the added expense of traveling, she said.

Carmen Chong Gum, consul general for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, will speak at lunchtime on partnering efforts and educational resources that the Marshallese Consulate in Springdale offers to teachers.

Andre Guerrero, director of programs for language minority students at the Arkansas Department of Education, said the symposium helps the state meet its obligation to teach children who come from homes where the primary language spoken is not English. This year, the department identified 90 languages spoken across the state, he said.

"There is a civil rights requirement that children who don't speak English at home be afforded the opportunity to learn and that includes having instruction that is comprehensible to them," Guerrero said. "If they are not proficient in English, that's not possible. And, it's not just teachers of English who need to be able to teach these students. If teachers of the core content areas including math and science are not trained in teaching English-language learners, we are not providing those students equal access to the curriculum."

Herrera heads the Center for Intercultural and Multilingual Advocacy at Kansas State.

"Dr. Herrera is the co-creator of the CLASSIC Model that we are replicating with Project Teach Them All," said organizer Diana Gonzales Worthen, about the university's federally funded project that delivers instruction to teachers in Springdale schools for ESL endorsement. Herrera also recently published a new book, Biography-Driven Culturally Responsive Teaching.

An important feature of the model Herrera developed with Kevin Murry, an associate professor at Kansas State, is the professional learning community. Forming such communities allows teachers to strategize together and share what methods are working in their classrooms.

Herrera's presentation at the symposium is titled "Fidelity Meets Differentiated Instruction: Strategies in Action for ELLs!" She described it as being designed for educators who may have attended a professional development session and wanted to try the methods explained but felt paralyzed because they did not align with a current school initiative.

"This session will be an interactive, informative and fun session full of strategies for use across all content areas," according to Herrera. "Participants will take away ideas for increasing oral language development and increasing academic achievement without losing the 'fidelity' of other school programs. Through hands-on activities, video clips and discussion, solutions will be explored and documented for meeting the needs of all learners."