Program Newsletter

“In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”

– Maya Angelou

Thank you to all the families, community members, interpreters, liaisons, and EL teachers who came out for the Multilingual Affinity Group/Portrait of a Graduate meeting to discuss the skills students should have when they graduate. Groups with a language in common worked together at tables. There were great conversations while younger children took a break to have snacks and play in the children's section. Photos can be viewed here.

EL teachers are now in the process of administering ACCESS tests to EL students. For 2022-23, the ACCESS Test window is from January 5th, 2023 to March 10th, 2023. Please keep in mind that students going through ACCESS testing may be tired, the testing can be pretty exhausting for them. A pep talk, snack or a little wiggle room can be helpful.

Jaqui Prado is our new daytime Spanish Language Interpreter/Translator in addition to Begoña who will still be available after school hours. Welcome to the EWSD Multilingual Program Jaqui! If you need Jaqui's help with interpretation or translation, please reach out to an EL teacher to be connected.

Are you an educator who needs to have a quick conversation with a family member in a language other than English?

TalkingPoints is an online tool that allows teachers to communicate with families easily in the language they are most comfortable using. Each free account allows up to 200 students and 5 classes per account.

• Sign Up for a Free Individual Educator Account in TalkingPoints

• TalkingPoints Getting Started Guide for Individual Educator Accounts

TalkingPoints can support up to 145 languages.

TalkingPoints is FERPA compliant and compliant with state-level regulations and it has been cleared by the EWSD IT department.

Thank you to Stephanie Segretto for continuing to bring great ML software ideas!

Thank you to everyone who gave feedback about the videos regarding the SysAid ticketing system, and for asking the SysAid representative detailed questions. We are now moving forward with the ticketing system and should be able to begin configuration in the next few weeks. While we hope to do a soft rollout over the next few months, the full rollout is planned for the beginning of the next school year. If you have any questions, please contact tparks@ewsd.org. A big thanks to Noor Bulle for collaborating on the informational video!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our Vermont Reads speaker has had to postpone her talk scheduled for Monday, 1/30, at 4pm. We hope to reschedule at a later date.

EL Teacher Marina Brzostoski would like to share the sign-up link to very engaging workshops for students in grades 7-11 that will be happening at CTE in February!

The experience can be very enlightening for newcomer students and parents, as they would be able to visualize some career paths available in this corner of the world. The interactive workshops where students cook, build, and create in the CTE program spaces, can also serve as an introduction to tech careers. More information can be found here.

Please share with your students and email Marina at mbrzostoski@ewsd.org with any questions.

The Heavenly Food Pantry, located at the First Congregational Church on Main Street in Essex Junction, will be open to families residing in Essex, Essex Junction, and Westford on Monday, January 9, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. More information can be found here. Please share this information, thank you!

Thanks to a generous grant from the Vermont Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Burlington School District will bring together educators of varied roles, expertise, and interests to explore equitable and effective ways to reach, teach, engage and learn from this diverse group of students who bring so many assets to our schools and communities. The conference, titled We All Belong, will be held in Burlington area schools and the DoubleTree Conference Center on May 5th and 6th, 2023.

Please take a moment to review our all-in-one Save the Date, Interest Survey, and Call for Proposals (located on the flyer linked above). Also please note that this conference is FREE to Vermont educators and their collaborators. The two days will feature school visits and nationally recognized experts in the education of refugee and immigrant background students as well as frontline teachers and multilingual students. Please SHARE this information widely, and look for periodic updates from our department and the conference planning committee. Registration materials will be available in early March.

The ML Advisory Council meets once a month and is currently in the process of reviewing the EWSD Equity Policy and setting goals for this year that align with the policy. If you or someone you know is interested in being a part of the ML Advisory Council please reach out to an interpreter or liaison, or email tparks@ewsd.org.

Young Dual Language Learners: Understanding Normative Development and Developmental Disabilities is a series of 2 workshops offered by the Vermont Higher Ed Collaborative. If you are interested in joining Tamara, Wendy and a few teachers here is a link with more information.

In this document from the US Department of Education, you will find charts that can help with conversations about whether a student is experiencing an issue due to a learning disability or if the challenge comes from the process of acquiring the English language.

Here are some short videos and a memo regarding landmark cases and legal obligations for ELL programs:

• US Department of Justice/Office of Civil Rights Memo
• Lau v. Nichols
• Castañeda v. Pickard
• Plyler v. Doe

Email: tparks@ewsd.org
Website: https://www.ewsd.org/Page/2518