- April 2011 -
Submitted by Laura Wittmann and Ina Demers
While several private high schools in Maine (notably, George Stevens Academy in Ellsworth, Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine Central Institute in Waterville and John Bapst in Bangor) have tuitioned international students before, both Millinocket and Orono High will tuition international students in Fall 2011. The reason behind this is to boost student numbers and to tap into the Chinese market of students who wish to improve their English and attend an American university. Millinocket hopes to have between 20 and 60 international students, mostly Chinese, next year. Students would pay a total of $27,000 (tuition and room and board) for the year. One potential problem is that current federal law states that international students can only attend public school for one year, so students will have to change schools.
Check it out! Announcing the launch of the new “ESL in Maine” Blog and Twitter: www.eslinmaine.blogspot.com Welcome to the new ESL in Maine Blog! Discussion has been floating around the State since the NNETESOL conference last Fall about having a Blog that allows teachers (and others) a means of direct sharing of ideas, best practices, troubleshooting with peers and answers to questions posed through our ESL Educators listserve. Well, Bloggers-R-Us! Nicole Lesperance from up in Strong and Ina Demers from down in Portland are online and ready to go! Nicole has been working extra hours to set up the Blog site and make it live and welcoming. Nicole and Ina will be co-moderators for this Blog. There are already 8 topics posted (some already with comments), awaiting your input and exchange. The “How to Post” section gives directions for participating. Straightaway simple! And please, spread the word! This blog will be a great resource to many! NOTE: For you Tweeters, you can also Twitter – just scroll down the home page. www.eslinmaine.blogspot.com Questions? Nicole at nlesperance@msad58.org or Ina at demeri@portlandschools.org
Take a look – “Study Island.” Go to www.studyisland.com: A computer based NECAP practice program. Check it out!! This summer, Ina attended a workshop at the Governor Baxter for the Deaf and learned that most of the strategies taught at that school are applicable to our students. In her opinion, ESL kids might as well be “hard of hearing” because majority of them are not “hearing” the academic vocabulary at home.
Received from Kathleen Hiscock, Adult Ed. Portland, Maine
Kathleen teaches 3 classes with about 30 students in each class, mostly from Africa and the Middle East. She is thinking of presenting for this fall conference. She uses Wilson Reading System and obtains books from the Maine Humanities Council.
Received from Deborah Howard, Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, Portland, Maine
Deborah presented for the Portland Public Schools a workshop called “Unique Learning Styles and Needs of Deaf and hard of Hearing Students in August – it was great!
Received from Nancy Jacobson, ELL Tutor and Coordinator for SAD 22
She provides regular services from K – 10th Grade. Her students come from India, Greece, China, Hairi, Dominican Republic and Columbia. She just screened three K students with families from Greece, Chechoslovakia, and Arabic nation. She is also interested in what we have to offer.
Received from Margaret Peacock, ELL Coordinator and Teacher at Washington Academy
There are 11 towns in Maine that are boarding students in town academies. They are Freyburg, George Stevens in Blue Hill, Washington in East Machias, Lee in Lee, Guold, Kent’s Hill, Thorton, and others, who have international Boarding Students from all over the world especially Asia. Their needs are somewhat different from many of the public secondary schools. She wants to have some resources and conference sessions to meet the ESL teachers in these town academies. She spoke for herself in her need to have assessment that would give her immediate results to drive her curriculum. According to her ACCESS does not meet her needs to place students at the appropriate level while TOEFL is too difficult as a placement test. She is looking for computer based assessment program/s and for the time being she is using SLEP, Secondary English Proficiency test. Ina Demers attempted to assist her and wrote to Maria Wilson-Portuondo at Brown, received an article, and a note from Dr. Ying Hui Michaels, who wrote about his experiences learning English. Maria Wilson-Portuondo, although she has retired from Brown, she is still working as a consultant at Brown. She gave us the Massachusetts Association for Bilingual Education (MABE) website for specific tools to meet the needs of ESL educators. Maria and her crew hosted a forum on RTI and ELLs with Janet Klingner as keynote speaker. The website: http://www.massmabe.org She ahs done some work with the EDCO Collaborative in Waltham, Mass., who received a grant for an Institute titled “Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Assessment for ELLs: An Equitable Approach,” which she started teaching with Phyllis Hardy and Dr. Ying Hui Michaels.
2 comments
Jean Fahey says:
September 15, 2011 at 11:39 pm (UTC 0 )
My husband was born and brought up in Millinocket and so was very surprised to learn that Chinese students would be studying there. I wish them success and a smooth transition to this rural community and hope it will be a boost to the town, which has suffered economically over the past few years with the closing of its paper mill. My concern is lack of cultural activities-the closest city with a theater, mall, or museums is Bangor, 70 miles away.
Kathy Dorko says:
October 5, 2011 at 2:34 pm (UTC 0 )
Maine Central Institute ( MCI) is located in Pittsfield, Maine, not Waterville. It is about a 1/2 hour north of Waterville.