Academic English Mastery: Implementing a Program for Standard English Learners

Facillitator: Noma LeMoine, Ph.D.

October 20, 2009, 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Building the capacity of all students to master Standard English is dependent upon educators’ ability to understand the unique linguistic communities and cultures from which students come. Standard English Learners (SELs) as they have been coined among linguistics and language educators, include African American, Hawaiian American, Mexican American, and Native American students whose home language is of a non-standard variety. SELs are some of the most overlooked learners in American education and all too often their cultures are not viewed as a useful rubric for addressing their language, literacy, or learning needs.

This workshop is designed to help educators develop new paradigms for educating students for whom Standard English is not native. Participants will become knowledgeable about issues of language variation and learning in African American and other SELs reflect on beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions that surround this population, and build new schemas that view the cultural and linguistic differences of SELs as strengths rather than deficits.

The workshop will highlight culturally and linguistically responsive instructional methodologies that build on the language, learning styles, and experiences of SELs and that serve as powerful pedagogy for facilitating language acquisition, advancing learning, and eliminating disparities in educational outcomes for these traditionally low performing students.

Workshop Outcomes

Participants will benefit from the seminar in the following ways:

1. Participants will gain an understanding of the language and cultural differences of Standard English Learners and the impact these variations have on academic success.
2. Participants will reflect on the beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions that surround Standard English Learners and other students of color and begin to see their differences as strengths rather than deficits.
3. Participants will become knowledgeable of culturally relevant and linguistically responsive pedagogy that promotes learning in Standard English Learners.
4. Participants will become familiar with research-based strategies (MELD Instruction) that support language acquisition and learning in Standard English Learners.

Dr. Noma LeMoine is a nationally recognized expert on issues of language variation and learning in African American and other students for whom Standard English is not native. She has written and spoken extensively on the topic and is a highly sought-after consultant to colleges, universities, and school districts nationwide. For 20 years, Dr. LeMoine served as director of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Academic English Mastery Program (AEMP) and 10 years as director of the districts’ Closing the Achievement Gap Branch. Under Dr. LeMoines’ visionary leadership the AEMP became a national model for addressing the language, literacy, and learning needs of Standard English Learners. The Program, previously known as the Language Development Program for African American Students, has been featured on 60 Minutes, in periodicals including Education Week and Teacher Magazine, in the PBS documentary “Do You Speak American,” and has been lauded by the linguistic community as the exemplary instructional model for addressing the needs of Standard English Learners.

Workshop Information

New Location: Maplewood Community Center, 2100 White Bear Avenue North, Maplewood, MN 55109

CEUs: Continuing professional education clock hours for administrators and teachers are available for participants.

Fees: There is no registration fee for staff from ULA member school districts, all others pay $150 per workshop. ULA member school districts include: Minneapolis, Mounds View, North St Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale, Osseo Area Schools, Saint Paul, South Washington County, and Spring Lake Park. Requests for refunds must be made at least one week prior to the workshop date, otherwise fees will be forfeited.

Registration: Deadline - October 13, 2009
Partner District Registration | Non-Partner District Registration

For more information: Contact Vanessa Abanu at 612-626-5123