Templeton Elementary

Templeton Elementary Language Policy

Templeton Mission Statement: The Templeton community is committed to the development of inquiring, knowledgeable, caring and globally minded learners.

Philosophy: Language plays an essential role in all learning areas. It promotes multicultural understanding while strengthening cultural identity. Language enables children to inquire across subject areas about themselves, others, and their world. All teachers must think of themselves as teachers of language. They are role models for using and learning language. It is best taught in a language rich environment through a variety of modalities including listening, speaking, reading, writing, presenting, and viewing. At Templeton the common language is English. We are committed to the development of an additional language for our students to promote cross cultural awareness. In order to maintain culture and facilitate academic progress, Templeton supports the mother tongue language while helping students acquire English language skills. Effective language learning will enable students to become fully functioning members of the global community.

Practices:

• English is the language of instruction at Templeton Elementary. It is a connecting element across the curriculum. Instruction in balanced literacy is fostered through guided reading, inquiry-based learning, language instruction across all subject areas, Readers/Writers Workshops, Benchmark and LLI (Literacy Liaison Instruction) Kits -the district adopted literacy programs, Daily 5, differentiated instruction, Indiana academic standards, and exposing students to a variety of genre and print resources. Teachers use a variety of assessments both formal and informal to inform and drive the language instruction and learning practices within the school. There are also opportunities for frequent student reflection.
• Additional language- Spanish – All students in grades K-6 will receive 50 minutes of Spanish language instruction weekly using a district-developed curriculum. The study of Spanish provides students an opportunity to develop cultural awareness and in turn understand the importance and value of learning an additional language.
• Mother-Tongue – Support for non-native speakers of English is provided at the district level. The office of English Language Learning (ELL) facilitates the integration of these children at Templeton. For the 2020-21 school year Mother-tongue languages of Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Kazakh, Mandarin, Marathi, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu, and Turkish are represented at Templeton. A Home Language Survey is collected from all families at enrollment which includes the native language of the student, the language most spoken by the student, the language spoken by the student in the home, and the language that families feel most comfortable receiving information from the school. Students are evaluated using the WIDA Screener for testing all 4 language domains (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) to determine their level of language acquisition and the type of instructional support, modifications, and accommodations they will need. The annual language assessment for English proficiency is the ACCESS 2.0. These are both based on the WIDA standards. We have a part time ELL teacher to assist these students as they become proficient English speakers. The ELL teacher works both in the classroom and in small group settings to assist the students with their language proficiency. They also work with the parents to ensure an understanding of school communication. Teachers are supported to implement an Individual Language Plan for each student acquiring proficiency in English as an additional language, and recognize their role as a language teacher as they implement accommodations and modifications to help make content comprehensible to them. The district provides bilingual family liaisons for Korean, Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin(the most-spoken languages in the district), as well as Language Line translation services for the other languages to facilitate communication between schools and families. Also provided is Talking Points, a text translation service for teachers and families. We understand that the mother-tongue of a child serves as the foundation on which English proficiency is built. We encourage parents of other languages to support their children in continuing to increase literacy and proficiency in their mother-tongue language as well. The library houses a collection of books (and electronic resources) in multiple languages that support mother-tongue language. We aim to have parent and community volunteers with diverse language and cultural backgrounds in our school to serve as role models for our students and to help develop international-mindedness in our students by giving them the opportunity to connect with these caring adults. We also have several resources at Indiana University that help us connect with mother-tongue tutors and volunteers, depending on what language needs we have each year.

Resources and Professional Development:

The school principal, coordinator, and leadership team work together to find professional development opportunities for staff to further their knowledge of best practices for guiding students’ language learning. These include district and IB training and workshops, leadership cohort, literacy cohort, collaboration with other schools, book studies, and the sharing of best practices through Professional Learning Communities. Building funds and grants are allocated for purchase of language learning and teaching materials for classrooms. There is an annual library budget, based on the number of students (on average $4,000), managed by the school librarian with input from staff, parents, and students. We often partner with parent volunteers and/or the local university to provide opportunities to enrich our students’ language learning. Some of these opportunities include Spanish Conversation Club, Latin American Folk Dance Club, and Bengali Club, but depend on the year.

Language Policy Access and Review:

Templeton’s language policy is stored in electronic format on the school’s server where all staff can access it. The language policy is also posted on the school’s website for parents to view. All staff are knowledgeable about the policy and can communicate this knowledge to parents. The state and district provide the school with language standards, curriculum, materials, and common required assessments. The IB coordinator provides staff with the PYP Standards and Practices related to language teaching and learning. They also promote the use of MyIB among staff as well so they can directly access PYP documentation related to language practices. The language policy document will be reviewed biannually by the principal and the leadership team and as the school community’s perspective regarding language learning evolves. Prior to this review teachers have the opportunity for input. This is shared by a representative on the Leadership team during the review process.

Last reviewed: May 9, 2022