Teaching English Language Learners

by Elizabeth Towne, KAEYC Board Member

This is my third year of teaching 3- to 5-year-olds. It is my first year experiencing English language learners. It has been a challenging learning opportunity for both the children and me while working through the receptive skills needed for understanding both languages. I find myself stretching back to my three years of Spanish in high school for the few words and phrases I scarcely remember.

Here are some tips for teaching English language learners.

1. Help them feel welcome and supported in the classroom. Children and adults understand body language and physical cues. They will understand that you care about them and are happy to see them. A positive relationship is a great start to comprehension.
2. Learn some words and phrases in their home language. This will help with initial problems like seeing if they need to go to the bathroom. It will also allow the child to know their home language has value.
3. Have dual language children translate for the English language learners. This further gives the home language value and allows for peer coaching.
4. Model what you would like the children to do. Children are able to imitate actions and they will understand expectations if they are shown what to do. This will help them transition with the group and learn the routine of the classroom.

There are many resources to learning a new language. There are several free apps that can be downloaded that teach different languages (i.e. Duolingo, Memrise, Mango Languages and Busuu). I'm currently using the app Duolingo to refresh my Spanish. There are community classes that offer language courses that are reasonably priced. There are also college courses and learning software that can also be utilized, but are often more pricey. Remember to practice any new language so it will remain in your active memory. Seek out professional support and guidance, but also use the children's family as a first resource!

Make a Difference! Advocacy Made Easy for Kansas Early Learning Professionals

By Amanda Gress, Kansas Action for Children and Voices for Children Foundation, KAEYC Board Member

At Kansas Action for Children (KAC), one of the best parts of my work is helping Kansans across the state make a difference in the political process. Will Kansas commit to the investments that will help Kansas children thrive? Will state policymakers choose policy options that improve the quality of early learning experiences for all Kansas children? Engaged early learning professionals in a legislator’s home district can make the difference in the Statehouse when it counts the most.

KAC collected our experience and advice for effective advocacy in our “Intro to Advocacy” toolkit (if you’d like a hard copy, just give KAC a call). In a nutshell, here’s how you can make a difference:

• Learn what’s happening. Our toolkit shares an overview of the legislative process, and there’s a wealth of information available online. I recommend signing up for KAC’s email updates, following the hashtag #ksleg on Twitter, and exploring the state Legislature’s website at www.kslegislature.org.
• Build relationships. Once you’ve found the policymakers who represent you (you can use NAEYC’s Action Center), reach out and introduce yourself. You are an early learning expert, and you see how public policy choices impact children every single day. That makes you a valuable resource for lawmakers, and you can cultivate a relationship with them by getting involved in local civic events, like town hall meetings, and by keeping in touch. For example, if you see a new resource about why high-quality early learning matters, you might consider sending it to your legislator with a short note about how you see the impact of early learning paying off in your community.
• Take action! When you’re passionate about an issue and have an opinion about what decision is best for Kansas kids, it’s time to take action and let your lawmaker know. Whether you call, write or meet in person, it’s important to keep your message short and simple. Share your name and where you’re from (so they know you’re a constituent), why you’re reaching out, and a specific request. Whenever possible, personalize your message to your own story and your community.
• Get your message out. Many voices are stronger than one, and you can increase your effectiveness by getting others to share your message. You can reach out to your network of stakeholders with newsletters, social media posts or emails. You can also be in touch with members of your local media (for example, with a letter to the editor) describing your point of view.

Every year policymakers make decisions that affect Kansas children, and the 2017 Legislative Session will be an important one for Kansas kids. Let’s start now and work together to make a difference! Read through Intro to Advocacy to see if it sparks any new ideas for getting involved, and please feel free to be in touch with Kansas Action for Children (785.232.0550, or kac@kac.org) if we can be of help.

Program Administration Scale Review

A program director wears many hats. You must be prepared to be HR Director, Communications Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Public Relations Manager, and Risk Management Coordinator, among other things. But who prepares you for all those responsibilities? While taking accounting and other business management classes in a college environment is an option, a simple way to try to organize your responsibilities is to use the Program Administration Scale- Measuring Early Childhood Leadership and Management (PAS), by Teri Talan and Paula Jorde Bloom.

 

This is a comprehensive tool for early childhood directors that covers all of your responsibilities outside of cook, nurse, driver and nurturer (the duties that may come more naturally to us). The PAS, first written in 2004 and now on its 2nd edition, focuses on the importance of effective leadership and administrative practices. The tool covers 25 items in 10 subscales. Each item has 2-5 indicator strands scored on a 7-point scale. Very similar to environmental ratings scales such as the ITERS and ECERS, the PAS allows you to score yourself from an administrative perspective. In fact, some states even use the PAS as part of their quality improvement programs. Rating your center annually based on the PAS will allow you to set concrete goals based on the details in the indicator strands. Increasing your PAS score does mean your administrative practices are improving. This will help your center become a place families and teaching staff want to be.

The ten subscales include Human Resource Development, Personnel Cost and Allocation, Center Operations, Child Assessment, Fiscal Management, Program Planning and Evaluation, Family Partnerships, Marketing and Public Relations, Technology, and Staff Qualifications. Each of the 25 items not only include the scale ranging from inadequate to excellent, but also incorporates a "notes" section that defines certain words and phrases and includes examples to let you know you are meeting the criteria for that indicator. Finally, there is a column of questions to ask yourself that will aid you in scoring along the range. For example, "Are there regularly scheduled staff meetings?” “How frequently do scheduled center-wide meetings occur?” “What paid vacation benefits are available to all employees?” “Are they available during the first year of employment?” Your answers to each subsequent question determines how high you score in that indicator strand.

If you’re not a self-starter or you want more information, online coursework is available. You can enroll in a PAS course through McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership. This 8-hour course includes video clips and short quizzes to help you explore this instrument more deeply. I would advise working through the PAS with a colleague in another center, if possible. Oftentimes, it can be helpful to share policies or segments of verbiage with each other to fill in each other’s gaps. Use the book to assess your center, then set goals and deadlines for when you want to have improved each section. If you want to be sure you are administering the PAS reliably in your area, you can take Assessor Certification through the McCormick Center, too. The PAS is a solid tool for directors, giving us insight into best administrative practice, when all too frequently none of this material is covered in a director’s orientation. For a $20 investment, this is a book every early childhood director should have on the shelf.

Resources:

To buy the book, visit https://www.amazon.com/Program-Administration-Scale-Leadership-Management/dp/0807752452

The McCormick Center PAS training course can be found at http://mccormickcenter.nl.edu/program-evaluation/program-administration-scale-pas/

A PAS introductory video offered by Better Beginnings-Pennsylvania can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPbqhLlmZ-w

Amy Gottschamer, Executive Director of Googols of Learning Child Development Center

500 Rockledge Road, Lawrence, KS 66049 ● 785-856-6002

amy@googolsoflearning.com ● www.googolsoflearning.com

KAEYC Member-At-Large 2016-2018

Meet Jack! Why Investing Early Matters

By Amanda Gress, Kansas Action for Children and Voices for Children Foundation, KAEYC Board Member

At Kansas Action for Children, we’re always thinking about new ways to make the case for investing in our youngest Kansans. This year, one of my favorite pieces we worked on asked a simple question: What if all low-income children in Kansas had access to high-quality child care? The result was an infographic, with a character named Jack. (The “Meet Jack. See Jack Run!” books inspired us.) Check it out:

This infographic was released by the Partnership for Early Success, a grassroots coalition of early childhood stakeholders. You can learn more about the Partnership – and join, if you haven’t already – at www.kansaspartnership.com. 

Jack shows a lifetime worth of benefits starting early – when Jack is young and his brain is still growing. We all know a robust body of research shows early childhood education pays off in the long run. Children who receive high-quality early education are more likely to enter school ready to learn, which means the K-12 system avoids costs associated with special education or repeating a grade. Children who graduate high school are also less likely to generate criminal justice or public assistance costs as they grow up.

Kansas research confirms these results. A comprehensive study of the TOP Early Learning Centers in Wichita followed program graduates as they started elementary school. Every dollar invested in early learning saved $11 dollars in special education costs – an $11 dollar return on investment! You can read the full report here.

Over the course of a lifetime, with many children across Kansas, this investment really grows in size. By our calculation, investing in high-quality child care for all the low-income children in one class of children would save the state nearly $174 million dollars – and that’s not even counting the increased prosperity we all enjoy when our children grow up and become economically successful! I hope you’ll take some time to watch and share our video, and think about it as you’re providing high-quality early learning to the “Jacks” and “Jills” in your classrooms or your work. Click the following link to view the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-M86Bos1J4&feature=youtu.b