Cobb County ESOL

McEachern Novelists

November is National Novel Writing Month. Eight of Ms Owen's ESOL students at McEachern high school participated in the Youth Writer's Program and completed their word count goals using the NaNoWriMo virtual classroom. These students will now have the option of having their novels printed/published for free! Congratulations to these young novelists!

Resourceful Cheatham Hill Parent Liaison Promotes Family Engagement As Key To Student Success

Resourceful Cheatham Hill Parent Liaison Promotes Family Engagement As Key To Student Success.

Check out the link above for what one of our ESOL Parent Facilitators is doing at her school!
Way to go, Shara! You are awesome!

Carlos from Sprayberry

Carlos, an ESOL student from Sprayberry High School, shares his thoughts on ESOL. Carlos came from Ecuador to Cobb in 2007 and was placed in the IEL (Intensive English Language) Program for newcomers. For the past two years he has been enrolled in Honors and AP courses and is now poised to graduate high school with a 3.93 GPA. He is a remarkable success story.

Carlos unveiled this video during a Leadership Luncheon with GaDOE staff, ESOL coordinators, and local school administrators from around the state at the KSU ESOL Conference on February 9, 2011.

 

Coming soon! Spanish Version (Carlos is currently working on a version in Spanish that teachers may share wit their ESOL students and parents.)

We are quite sure that you are as impressed with this young man as we are, so sign in and post a comment for Carlos and all other ESOL students who work hard to achieve their dreams!

Teachers of the Year from ESOL

Congratulations to our ESOL colleagues, Kim Barker (Chalker Elementary School) and Kathy O'Hara Rosa (Clarkdale Elementary School), who have been selected by their respective schools as Teachers of the Year for 2011!

Cool School, Cool Teacher and Cool Students! (Cool Lesson, too!)

On October 23, 2009 Campbell High School was selected a "Cool School" by CBS Atlanta. Our own Jennifer Aldama (avatar pictured left), local school lead ESOL teacher for CHS, was interviewed as were her students. To see the footage, go to http://www.cbsatlanta.com/video/21403389/index.html.

Ms. Aldama and her students have given their permission to post the Lesson Plan used to create their "I have a Dream" Vokis. Go to Ms. Aldama's Blog and see their Vokis! What is a Voki? It is a cool Web 2.0 tool that allows the user to create an avatar and record their voice or use the text to voice feature. A great way to get students to practice their English! For additional cool Web 2.0 tools that focus on Speaking, go the the FL/ESOL Technology Integration Blog.

Do you want to try this lesson plan with your students? Click here to download the Lesson Plan and the Powerpoint: Download J_aldama_voki_siop-lesson-plan

Download J_aldama_Voki Power point

Literacy and Langauge for Families Program - City of Acworth

Lisa Redmon, ESOL teacher at McCall Primary, has been working with Mayor Allgood, the mayor of Acworth, to develop and implement a Literacy and Language for Families Program for the parents of the students at McCall Primary School, Acworth Elementary School, Barber Middle School, Awtrey Middle School, and North Cobb High School. There are fifteen volunteer teachers and about fifty adult students who are taking the classes to learn how to speak English. The Rotary Club and the Acworth Business Association have donated money to the program for the textbooks and picture dictionaries. The classes are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 - 8:00 PM at Roberts School.
Future plans include expanding the program with reading classes and classes that will help adults (who are English Language Learners and native English speakers) prepare for the GED exam. It is truly a community project that benefits the students and their families in the Acworth area.

Mission Statement:
The mission of the Literacy and Language for Families Program is to provide a culture in the community that is sensitive to the needs of its diverse citizens. Adults are offered educational opportunities that include learning how to read, learning how to speak English, and help preparing for the GED. Citizens, government, businesses, and schools in Acworth are collaborating to create, implement, and monitor the research based literacy and language community program. The goals of the program are to increase the number of literate adults, increase the number of adults who speak English, and increase the number of adults who have high school credentials.

For more information about the program, contact Lisa Redmon at lisa.redmon@cobbk12.org or visit her blog at http://mccallprimary.typepad.com/lisa_redmon/.

Norton Park ES Students

The ESOL students at Norton Park are creating wonderful projects!

Check out the work that Ms. Sayler's students are doing! 

Ms. Sayler's students learned about sequencing and created original stories. Here are their wonderful results:

(To be loaded shortly)

For teachers...here is Ms. Sayler's lesson plan: Download SaylerSequencing
Download SequencingSaylerStory

Wheeler HS Writing Test Results

Congratulations to the 11th Grade ESOL students at Wheeler HS and to Gale Lyons, ESOL teacher!

Below the ESOL students at Wheeler HS celebrate their !00% pass rate on the GA High School Writing Test.

Writing Test Results

Congratulations to the ESOL students and teachers of Cobb!

Cobb County’s population of English Language Learners (ELL) performed particularly well on the writing test. Seventy-five percent of ELL students tested in Cobb County met or exceeded expectations, compared to just 65 percent across the state! In Cobb, the meeting and exceeding percentage for ELL students jumped a substantial 20 percent over last year.
The performance of the ELL subgroup across Cobb County has been an ongoing concern, as well as a primary focus of the district’s coordinated plan to make Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act.

A passing score on the High School Graduation Test is one requirement for all students pursuing a high school diploma. The writing portion of the test was administered in September to Cobb County 11th grade students who were required to write a persuasive paper on an assigned topic. The GHSWT is two hours in length, with 100 minutes of student writing time.

Griffin MS Newsletter ESOL article

Congratulations to Griffin Middle School and the amazing progress made by its ESOL students. Check out the article from the school's PTSA monthly newsletter. I have highlighted the article in yellow to make it easier to find. Way to go Griffin! Download GriffinPTSANewsletter_Sept08.pdf

Smitha International Center

This fall The Smitha International Center opened at Smitha Middle School in Marietta. The brainchild of the principal, Sharon Tucker, the program has transformed how ESOL students are being served at the school. Gone is the existing ESOL program, where students were provided only reading and writing support. The program now provides students both content and ESOL support through a sheltered instruction model. The sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students are taught language arts, math, and social studies by teachers certified in their content area and ESOL. All of these classes are located in one pod at the school. With the exception of science classes, students move within the pod to their respective classes. In order to provide further support for the program, The Smitha International Center even has its own office and administrator.
Smitha International Center
Sharon Tucker, principal
Mark Lang, AP/ SIC Administrator
Elizabeth Bruner, Social Studies/Local Lead ESOL Teacher
Garlfar Andrews, Math
Rebecca Kelly, Language Arts
Melinda Allen, IEL