Amber Shevin: Thanks, Mandilee. And hi, everyone. Welcome. I am Amber Shevin. I'm the deputy director for IRC's Economic Empowerment Technical Unit. And we are here today to talk about Strategies for Building Culturally and Linguistically Accessible Health Care Pathway Programs. This is our first webinar that we're doing with you. And so with that, I think we will dive right in.

So just by way of introduction, like I said, I'm a Amber Shevin. I'm joined today by my colleague Anne Petti and Carrie Cargo. You're going to hear from Anne and I throughout the course of today. I know you're all familiar with Meghan and Debi from WestEd. They are not with us today but Joy Lewis from WestEd is. And so we will all be here to answer your questions as we go. Next slide, please.

So for those of you that we've talked to before, who have joined some of our technical assistance sessions before this slide is going to look familiar to you all. But for those of you that haven't seen it, I wanted to just quickly walk through and situate where we are in terms of our work together before we dive into the topic. So you'll see towards that left-hand side ELL pathways. That's the start.

Then we have needs assessment interviews and fishbowl discussion, those two circles. So we talked to many, but not all of you, but many of you a couple months back conducting needs assessment interviews, just talking to you about your health care pathway programs, what's working, what's not, what challenges there are, how we can support. So that's that. Those are done.

The fishbowl discussion refers to our session at the CAEP conference a couple months back, just furthering that conversation of how we can support you all, what your needs are, what your challenges are, what's working well. We took all the information that we got from those conversations and have been doing an analysis on those. So results to be coming soon.

But that's really where we've pulled the topic today from, and where we'll be pulling future topics from for all of our engagements together. So moving along on that spectrum, the three blue circles, community of practice groups, special topics webinar, and virtual office hours. All of the topics, all of the information we got from you all from the needs assessments and discussions are going to be channeled into those three TA modalities.

So today we are doing a webinar that fits into that special topics webinar. We have already started those community of practice calls. Those will be ongoing. And we also have already started those office hour sessions. So those will be ongoing throughout the duration of our work together. The next square, ongoing technical assistance support.

So if you hear a topic today, if you hear Anne or I say something that you're like, oh, I'd like to dig more into that or I have questions on that or that made me think of something else I'd like to talk to them about, just reach out to us. Send us an email, we'll put our email up at the end, and we can meet with you all one-on-one. That's what that ongoing TA support is.

We can meet with you one-on-one. We can talk about your specific context, any specific challenges or questions you have, and support you with those needs there. Next, we have regional convening. So there's going to be four of those. We are working on planning those in collaboration with WestEd right now. Those are going to be in the spring.

That statewide convening is going to be next fall, most likely September, but we'll let you guys know as soon as we have all of that confirmed. So that is the pathway, the layout of all of our engagements together. Next slide, please. So just briefly as well, by way of further introduction before we dive into things, I think some of you are starting to know us here at the IRC.

But for those that don't know who we are, I think this is important as it really channels right into our topic today. The IRC is a large, global humanitarian organization. We have a big global footprint. But within the US, we are very much a refugee resettlement organization. However, we don't just serve refugees. We serve really diverse immigrant, new American communities, broadly speaking. We work with folks who are refugees, immigrants, migrants.

We work with folks who have never worked outside the home, maybe they're not yet literate in their first language, all the way to folks who have terminal degrees from their home country, but maybe they're working on their English, or folks who are fluent in English and really familiar with US culture and customs because they've worked with our troops abroad. So a really diverse spectrum of individuals, with the common thread being that they are new Americans here in the US.

We provide a whole host of services to these individuals. We have health and wellness programs. We have immigration programs. We have youth programs. The Economic Empowerment Technical Unit that Anne and I work on, our focus is really on all things workforce development, including vocational ESL, career pathway programming, basic employment services, skill building, like digital skills, like driver's ed, youth programming as well.

Our Economic Empowerment Technical Unit also specializes in small business development and financial capabilities coaching as well. So I'll list all of those things. I want to share that background. Just to share with you all, we have deep expertise in designing programs for the population that you all are serving with your ELL Health Care Pathway programs.

We work day in, day out on making these programs really align culturally and linguistically to this population. Next slide, please. So looping back to the needs assessment and how we got to the topic we want to dig in with you all on today. Some of the key takeaways from that needs assessment we have here. The top one being that your programs are all super popular.

You have waitlists. You have lots of folks who are interested in learning more about these programs and how they can participate in them, and enrolling in bridge programs so that they can really succeed and thrive in these programs. The next takeaway is that you're seeing an increasingly diverse group of new American participants. So not just folks who maybe speak Spanish, but folks who are from Afghanistan, who are from Ukraine, who are from Syria.

They're just given all the current events in the world. You all reported to us that you're seeing an increasingly diverse group of new folks entering your programs. Which brings me to my next point and our topic for today, just an increasing need to ensure that your programs are culturally and linguistically accessible for this diversifying immigrant community.

I think this is something that needs intentionality, needs thought around planning to make sure that both of those boxes are really checked. And so we're going to dig into some of the ways that you can do that today. Additionally, you all shared that some of your participants do have medical backgrounds, which is a big asset, but they don't have English.

And so that noncredit bridge programming has been a real big asset to you all in helping folks to be ready to succeed in these programs that you're offering. Of course, I would be remiss without mentioning the dynamic immigration context that we are all working in existing in today. That has caused challenges for many of your participants, just the uncertainty around different statuses and safety.

We're not going to dig into that today, but I think it's an important thing to acknowledge and perhaps table for a future conversation as well. The last thing I'll mention, starting new programs, it's hard. It takes a lot of collaboration, a lot of work with partners, a lot of work across organizations, across sectors. And it's just hard work.

But I think it's really worthwhile work, especially given how popular you all are seeing that your programs are today. So with that we can go to the next slide. The last thing I'll say before we dig into the meat and potatoes of today's session, I think it's important to have a little bit of understanding and a little bit of background on the new American experience.

So of course, I'm making vast overgeneralizations here, so forgive me for that. Everyone has a very unique and specific context and circumstance. But I think thinking through, to some degree, the journey, the path that your clients have walked before they are showing up at your door in your programs can really help us to think through how we can make these programs culturally and linguistically accessible and aligned for this population.

So many folks have undergone long and dangerous journeys to get here, through a variety of means. If they did not undergo a long and dangerous journey to get here, they're probably coming from a conflict zone, somewhere where they were exposed to violence, to abuse, smugglers, human trafficking, exploitation. These are all things that don't just leave somebody.

And there are things that we need to think of in terms of holistic wraparound services when we're trying to make our programs accessible to this population and set up a system where these folks can not only enter your program, not only access it, but stick with it and complete it all the way at the end. So new challenges these folks are facing.

I know this isn't new to anyone here, but I think it's just important to state the obvious as well. Many of them are learning a new language. We talked about that already. They are immersed in a new culture. Many folks may be navigating a complicated immigration process. And as I mentioned before, that is a very dynamic, complicated immigration process.

Statuses and pathways may be changing. And that is just frankly, very difficult. Many folks may be here separated from their families. They underwent that long and dangerous journey, leaving family behind. I think that's something to note as well. Same with those mental and physical health challenges related to their journeys here.

So all of that, that's a lot. But I think those are important things to keep in mind when we're thinking about how we can make our programs really accessible and effective for this new American population. So with that, I think we're going to move on to the next slide and launch a quick Menti for you all, and then I'm going to turn it over to Anne.

Anne Petti: Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Amber. And thank you all for being here. We're really glad to be here with you today to talk about this important topic. So before I dig into some of what we're going to talk about regarding creating culturally and linguistically accessible programming, I wanted to hear a little bit from you about, in what ways do you already adapt programming for new Americans?

So you can either scan the QR code or if you go to menti.com and use this code, you could just put in some ways that you've worked to adapt your programming already for new Americans. All right, I'm starting to see some results coming in here.

And so we have, providing tutoring sessions outside of class time to help those who struggle with the English language. That's great. Promoting the international student office to provide support, providing tutoring sessions online to assist those with financial and family barriers, employing strategies in the classroom and ensuring that navigators or counselor contact for support and resources, we offer in the summer a week-long class for various levels in ESL American culture through film.

That's great. So these are all great responses. I'll give a few moments to see if anyone else is adding anything else in here. We offer a learning center where students can get individual tutoring and help with the use of technology, student portal, et cetera. So I'm seeing a lot of either outside tutoring sessions, extra classes, different strategies and supports, providing resources.

Let's give just another minute or so to see if anyone else is adding anything, and then we'll move on. I wanted to first get a sense from all of you of what you're already doing because I know you all are experienced teachers and administrators as well. So I hope that you all will be able to refresh your knowledge or get some new tips today.

But I know that you all have already been working in this environment, and already been doing many things to give your students the extra support that they need. All right, Carrie, maybe if we can move on to the next slide. So in this presentation we're going to talk about some best practices in culturally and linguistically accessible programming.

So then the next slide. And before we get started, I want to share just a brief video with all of you that shows culturally and linguistically responsive teaching, just to set the stage for what we're going to discuss next. So I'll share my screen and play that video. All right, just a minute here.

[video playback]

- My energy bill dropped from $150 to $50 by doing this. My friends laughed at me when I spent [audio out]

Anne Petti: All right, sorry about that. I was practicing, making sure that I could pull it up right and I accidentally closed down the page. So now I should have that back up here. It checks out. OK, share sound. All right, here we go.

[music playing]

Can everyone hear that OK?

[music playing]

- What we're doing is demonstrating how culturally and linguistically responsive teaching looks in the classroom, validation and affirmation of home language and home cultural behaviors through instructional activities for the purposes of building and bridging the students to success in academia and mainstream culture. That really starts with four general areas of instruction, classroom management, academic vocabulary, academic literacy, and academic language.

- Can you find more than one meaning for each sentence? You guys read.

- Nancy fed Tom the big gray cat.

- It adds engagement to math because sometimes a subject is not highly favored by the students.

- We got to be open to try new things because obviously, the ways in which we have worked in the past don't work for all kids.

- It's really important to me that we all see each other as a team because when things get really hard in this class, I want them to be able to know that they can depend on each other. And so CLR, for me, works really well, both with accessibility and with that idea of community building and validation for who they are and where they come from and what they bring to the table.

- C, C--

- SImple!

- Now, I look at culture through different eyes. It's made me a better teacher. It's made my students more engaged every day in the classroom. The students just seem like they're getting it better.

- And it really gels it for them. And they realize at that point that this belongs to them.

- And it helps you to keep that energy you want to have with them.

- It's amazing how well they're able to retain.

- Using the different strategies and letting the students guide my teaching, that helps me to be able to relate it to them.

[end playback]

Anne Petti: Let's dig in to culturally and linguistically responsive teaching strategies. So we're going to talk about mainly five main points on creating culturally and linguistically accessible programming. So the first will be centering diverse voices and experiences, adopting a strengths-based approach, providing linguistically and culturally accessible materials.

And we'll go into that in a little more depth, using a trauma-informed approach, and fostering community building. So first, centering diverse voices and experiences. Why do you want to do this? So within your classroom, you may have students who come from different backgrounds, or maybe many who come from the same background, but it's different from yours or different from some of the other students.

So doing this, first of all, can empower students, giving them a voice, and help them connect with what they're learning in class. If they feel empowered, if they feel like they have a voice, and they feel like they belong, then it's easier for them to let down their guard to be able to really learn and absorb what's happening in the class.

You can also strengthen your programs by allowing for a broader range of ideas. And then building trust and understanding between your students and their communities and the educational institution and employers in the community in general. How do we do that? So some different strategies you can use, regularly gathering student feedback on programs and services, and using their input to make improvements.

One thing that you may notice, people from different backgrounds, well, they bring their own different experiences, or they may have different things that they respond best to. So gathering their feedback and their input and incorporating that into your class can really be helpful.

Making sure students from different backgrounds have their voices included in program design and in classroom discussions and decisions, and including input from diverse communities. So being culturally appropriate is not just about language. So many times when people think about culture, they think of someone speaking a different language or maybe dressing in a different way or eating different foods or listening to different kinds of music.

And those definitely are all aspects of culture, but there's also the more nuanced aspects of culture in terms of how people are used to, for example, what was their educational experience? And what are they expecting? Or how are they expecting to interact with the instructor or with other students? There are some of these cultural experiences that people from different backgrounds may have, a different experience or different expectation, and we may not be aware of that.

So really trying to learn about where they're coming from, what cultural barriers they may have, what beliefs and values they're bringing when they come to the classroom is really important to helping them to make the most of the experience. And some examples of ways that you can center diverse voices and experiences.

Student feedback surveys is one way. And when I taught ESL, I would often give surveys. And I think many times I found that students when they were writing on the survey, they maybe didn't want to say anything negative. So I might have a student who told me something in person, but then when they did the survey, they didn't mention that.

So surveys are one thing, but I think putting that together with, say, focus group discussions where you're trying to get their verbal feedback, needs assessment. Also, if there's the opportunity to have a student advisory council trying to get students from different backgrounds to serve on those, it can be really helpful, whether it's for a program or the educational institution as a whole. Workshops or community stakeholder events.

And then some things that I'm sure all of you as instructors do, holding in-class activities that address diverse learning styles and needs, and inviting guest speakers who share the students' background. For example, if you're in a health care pathway class and you would like to invite someone who's currently working as a CNA, for example, to talk to the class, maybe having someone who comes from some of your students' backgrounds can be really helpful, both for them to see that, oh, I can do this.

I can complete this program. And I can get a job and work in this area, but also for them to feel that sense of belonging and that they're a part of the class and the experience. And here are just a couple of pictures that show some of the things that I mentioned on the previous slide. So the first picture is an example of a focus group or a conversation with diverse students. And then the second one, incorporating different learning styles and different types of activities.

Many times, especially for English language learners, hands-on activities, such as the one pictured here can be really helpful because maybe they understand the language, but they may not completely understand everything because of the language barriers. But when they can also see it and see a demonstration and try it themselves and practice, that can really help to cement the learning.

So the next topic, adopting a strengths-based approach. So I'm sure many of you have heard this. And you know what this is already. But just to make sure that we're on the same page, a strengths-based approach is focusing on people's strengths and abilities, and using those to support personal growth and learning and positive results rather than only looking at problems or barriers.

So why do we do this? First, to motivate students and show them how they can change and really make the most of their learning and their future. So all of us we have strengths, and we have our limitations. But if you focus on strengths and letting students understand that there are certain things they need to do to get there, but they can do it, that will help to motivate them more and help them to achieve their goals.

Accentuating the positive and building confidence with a strengths-based approach, and creating an environment for individuals to thrive. When people are constantly hearing about what they can't do or feeling like because of the barriers that they have, they're not able to do this, then they can get discouraged. And it's more difficult for them to continue moving forward.

When they are gaining that confidence and feel like they can do it, in spite of the limitations that they have, they're more likely to persist. So what are some ways that we can adopt the strengths-based approach in our classroom? So learning about individual students' experiences and barriers can be really helpful because then you know, first, what can they do well?

What are they able to do? And what are some of the things that might potentially hold them back? And then when you do identify some of these individual needs, trying to connect them to resources. So we're not saying that barriers aren't real or that the barriers can't hold you back, but let's try to help the students overcome those barriers.

Whether those resources are like some of you mentioned, holding tutoring sessions or additional sessions in the summer, connecting them with community resources to help with certain barriers that they might be experiencing if they have childcare needs or transportation or food insecurity or any of those. You may not have those resources at your school, but you may be able to connect them to something in the community.

Focus on students developing their own plans and goals for their work in education. And then having high standards, but with support. So providing resources and providing support doesn't mean that we're not holding students to a high standard, but it means that we're providing some support while they get to where they need to be, and then gradually take those supports away once we see that they can get where they need to be on their own.

And then having a coaching approach over just counseling. And some examples of this include coaching and guidance that help students to understand their strengths and weaknesses and set goals that focus on their strengths. As I had mentioned, empowering students with resources rather than gatekeeping. So helping them to be able to address the barriers that they're facing.

And then giving extra in-class help, for example, like vocabulary lists or outlines, to support ELL students. And I'll be talking a lot more about some of these types of supports as we go on. So providing linguistically-- well, before I go into this, are there any questions at this point? OK. So providing linguistically and culturally accessible materials in the classroom. So why do we do this?

One of the reasons, to increase access to programs and services for students from different cultural backgrounds, to better support students with different English levels in the classroom, and then to foster an environment that's conducive to learning and support. And a big part of that is, as we mentioned, for students to feel comfortable, to feel safe, to feel that this is a space that they belong in, and they can maybe see things that they can relate to culturally, or an environment that they feel comfortable in.

So some ways that you may do this, acknowledging diverse holidays and religious traditions and creating a space for these practices. And I know often in class there's a lot of material to cover, so you may not have time to focus on spending a lot of time on something like this in your class.

But even, for example, if you know that there's a specific holiday that some of your students are celebrating, maybe understanding that they may need to be absent that day or having them just spend a few minutes talking with their classmates about it or showing some pictures or bringing in some traditional foods, just a little something to acknowledge it, and for them to be able to share that tradition.

Respecting and valuing cultural differences in the classroom. And that could mean learning a little bit about the students' backgrounds, what were their educational experiences like? What are their expectations? And that doesn't mean that you need to adapt to all of those, but understanding where they're coming from and how the classroom here might be different from what they're used to.

Including ideas and visits from staff, students, or volunteers from different cultural and language backgrounds, and then using different ways to explain activities, assignments, timelines, or other important information to students. So some examples of this, can be providing sometimes access to interpretation or translated materials, as needed and appropriate.

And I will be talking more about this because obviously you're not going to translate or have interpreters for the whole class and students do need to learn English, but there may be some ways or some times when it may be helpful to include some interpretation or translation. Incorporating culturally relevant examples and images in the curriculum, especially for English language learners using image-heavy materials or audio visuals.

Now, if you're learning a new language, context is really important. I myself have learned a few other languages. And sometimes when I've been in another country trying to operate in that language, someone may say something to me, and I don't understand all the words. But if I already understood the context of what they're saying or what the topic was, a lot of times I can understand.

But if I had no idea what they were talking about, then it's a lot more difficult to understand. So the more you can support what you're saying or what you're explaining with images, with audio visuals that can help students to understand better what you're presenting. And creating vocabulary handouts for key terminology.

And that's something that could either be translated or you could allow them to take time to translate it. But sometimes with, for example, vocabulary words, it may take several minutes for you to try to explain in English what something means. But if they can just translate it, then it takes just a few minutes. So that can be a way where it can be appropriate to use the native language just to help with the understanding.

And then along those lines, allowing English language learners sometimes to use their first language when learning new concepts. And this obviously depends a lot on the level of the language the students have. For students who are pretty advanced with their English, this might be less necessary. But for students who are maybe at a more intermediate level, it may be something that you may want to incorporate occasionally.

So a few tips on implementing effective interpretation or translation. So interpretation being the oral interpretation. Translation being the written translation. So you might ask, the goal of my class is for students to improve their English. So why should I use interpretation or translation? So as I had mentioned, even if a student has an intermediate or higher level of fluency, it can sometimes be difficult to understand the nuances and complexities of what's being said in a new language.

So hearing the information in their native language, as well as in English can contribute to a fuller understanding. Now, you may say, well, I don't speak the students' language, or maybe I have students who speak several different languages. So how can I use interpretation or translation? I'm sure you're probably familiar with the phone or internet-based interpretation apps, such as Google Translate or Apple has a translation app or ChatGpt.

Some of those can be useful for certain things, for translating words or for simple sentences. There are also some AI-based, note-taking tools or apps. Some examples being OtterAI and Jamworks that can also help with interpretation or translation. Some of the video-conferencing platforms like Zoom and Teams have real-time translation tools if you have, say, a hybrid class or an online class.

And then PowerPoint also has some of the subtitle tools and voiceovers that can be used. And then depending on the context, this may not always be appropriate. But if you know of or if it's possible to get some volunteers who speak a student's language, that can be helpful. Not that they're necessarily there to translate for the whole class, but there may be certain times when you might use that additional support.

And so when should you consider using interpretation or translation? Definitely, we wouldn't want to use it for everything in your class. Obviously, if your students are already in a allied health or health care-based career pathway class, they're going to need the English to be able to not only to get through that class, to pass the certification exam, and then certainly when they start a job.

And even if they're in a bridge class or an ESL class preparing to get into the health care pathway, they still need to learn that language in order to be able to succeed in the class. So we're not trying to keep students from learning English, but just to provide additional support in certain circumstances. And some of the circumstances where that would be appropriate include, for example, if you're presenting complex or technical information for the first time.

For example, if you're going over anatomy and physiology and going over the names of different body parts, now you could use a diagram or a mannequin, but also that could be an example where you might have the students translate the words into their language so they fully understand the medical terminology.

If you're presenting important procedural or technical or scheduling information. For example, if you're rescheduling a class period or something along those lines, you wouldn't want students to miss the class just because they didn't fully understand what the change was.

And then sometimes when explaining grades or assignments. If you're giving students a complex assignment and you're not sure if they fully understand what they need to do, even though they'll be doing the assignment in English, you want to make sure that they really understand what it is that they need to do, so they have that opportunity to succeed in the assignment.

And some best practices for using interpretation or translation in the classroom. So one is to, and this is a good tactic even when you're working with English language learners, even if you're not using interpretation and just providing instruction or talking with students, to avoid jargon, slang, or idioms as much as possible because these types of expressions sometimes can be difficult to understand.

And they don't always have a direct interpretation, so they can be difficult to interpret. If you are using an in-person interpreter, providing that interpreter with some slides or materials in advance so that they can understand the context of the class and if there may be some technical vocabulary so they can be sure to be prepared before the class period.

Soliciting feedback both from the students and from the interpreters to make sure that they're understanding, and then paying attention to nonverbal communication. So do the students look confused? "Does the interpreter look confused?" And this could be relevant, even if you're using an interpretation app or something like that.

All of the interpretation tools have gotten much better over the years, but it's still possible that an in-person interpreter or one of these other app or tool could get something wrong. So if you see confusion or it seems like students look confused or if you have an interpreter and they look confused, be sure to double check to make sure that they're understanding everything correctly.

Does anyone have any questions at this point? So going over a few types of activities that can support culturally and linguistically responsive teaching. So one I had touched on this earlier, but acquire cultural knowledge about your students and your class. So for all of us, our cultural lens impacts how we process and how we learn information and what we expect in different circumstances.

So understanding where your students are coming from, what their backgrounds are, what their experiences and expectations might be, can help you understand how best to respond to them and maybe where they're coming from. And learning about the cultural background of students in your class. And if you're looking for information, IRC has some background information on several different populations. And there's also a lot of information that you can find online.

And also a great way to find out some of this information is to, if you have the opportunity, to talk with your students as well and learn a little bit more from them about their culture. Using language acquisition principles. And I know some of you may be ESL teachers or have an ESL background, others of you maybe you're not. You're teaching health care-focused classes, and you don't really have that background.

But some of the principles of language acquisition can be incorporated into any class to help, especially to support English language learners. And so some of those include providing some language supports for English language learners, such as what I've mentioned briefly, things like outlines or vocabulary lists or things like that can help give them the context and help them to better understand what you're going to be covering.

Connecting lessons to real life by giving students real-world problems to solve or even going on field trips, possibly, or inviting community members into the classroom. All of our students, they do bring life experiences and knowledge to the classroom. And sometimes connecting something to real life, something that they can see, something that they can touch can really help them to make those connections and to more deeply understand what you're covering in the class.

Incorporating interactive and collaborative learning activities that draw from students' prior experiences. So oftentimes, hands-on or interactive activities give students more time. And instead of just listening to what you're saying, they can really spend more time digging into it and understanding it. And then I'm sure you're all familiar with this, but using classroom activities that address different learning styles, such as visual, audio, or kinesthetic, or hands-on activities.

And then providing opportunities to work in pairs and small groups. Sometimes that can give students a chance to slow down and to work a little more in depth and maybe even ask for help for some of their classmates or if they're one of the students that understands really well, to be able to explain a little bit to their classmates, and that can help them to strengthen their own learning.

And then employing instructional scaffolds for English language learners. And I'm going to talk a little bit more about that on the next slide, but that can be anything. Some things that we've already mentioned, incorporating vocabulary lists, outlines, audiovisuals for supports. And really important, to create context for students. The more context they have about what they're going to be learning about, the easier it will be for them to be able to fit what they're learning into that context.

And then providing effective feedback. So if there are specific areas that they need to work on or where they seem to be struggling, the more you can really talk with them about that and maybe provide some specific actions that they could take to help them improve will be really helpful for them. And scaffolding. I'm sure that most or all of you who are teachers are familiar with scaffolding.

But I want to just dive in a little bit, specifically as it relates to English language learners. And if you think of scaffolding, like in construction, for example, they have scaffolding to hold the building while they're doing construction or while they're doing some renovations. And then when everything is strong and in good shape, then they remove the scaffolding. So I think you can think of scaffolding in education in the same way.

So it's a strategy that provides temporary support to students as they develop new skills and understanding. And then you gradually remove that support as they become more competent. So it's not a way to be-- you're not dumbing down the curriculum, but just providing them a little bit of extra support while they get up to where they need to be, and then gradually pulling that away.

So some scaffolding tips for English language learners. One is reducing the number of objectives or key concepts. And that doesn't mean that you're necessarily removing material from the curriculum, but narrowing down what you're focusing on. And focusing on 2 to 3 key ideas is easier to grasp than if there are a lot of complicated objectives.

Providing visuals, such as graphic organizers or diagrams or timelines can be really helpful to have that visual that goes along with what they're learning. Providing hands-on exercises, demonstrations, and activities, or providing study guides or outlines at the beginning of a chapter, and making connections to students' background.

So some of this is repetitive of what I've mentioned on other slides, but I think that providing the scaffolding, the extra materials, and then the context and making connections to students' background is really important. And before I move on to this next topic, I'd like to just take a moment to see if anyone would like to share some of the strategies that they use, either for scaffolding or for incorporating culturally and linguistically responsive materials in your teaching.

So if anyone would like to share, you could either raise your hand and come off mute, or if you'd like to add something in the chat, I'd like to hear from some of you. Like I said, I'm sure that many of these topics are not new to all of you. So I'd like to hear some of the things that you've used that have worked with your students.

Martha Clayton: I'll go since everybody's being quiet.

Anne Petti: Thank you.

Martha Clayton: Hi, my name is Martha. I teach ESL at Los Angeles City College. I'm also the department chair for Noncredit, Adult Education. We integrate the ELP standards for adult education leading people up to the CCR standards. And that's our main trade with regard to educational standards for scaffolding. And it's great.

We also, when we have our cohorts, we use the IET model. So going back to what you were talking about language, like translation and interpretation. Students are usually studying English career ESL, simultaneously, or taking aspects of their IET, possibly in their heritage language.

Some of them like to take it in their primary language, and then also in English. We do not use translators or interpreters. I can't imagine us moving to that, but we do offer the support courses and things like that. So that way the language scaffolding is there, as well as any academic skills.

Anne Petti: Yeah. Great. Thank you so much, Martha.

Martha Clayton: Sure.

Anne Petti: Is there anyone else who would like to share some of the strategies that you've used that have been successful? We'll move on to the next slide then. Thank you. So another area that I want to cover is using a trauma-informed approach. And I'm sure most of you have heard about this.

So why would we use a trauma-informed approach? One reason would be to understand and respond to the fact that many students may have faced serious trauma or harm. And this, as Amber had mentioned in the beginning we don't want to paint with a broad brush. And this may be applicable to students who are English language learners, as well as other students as well.

We don't know the backgrounds of all of our students or what experiences they've gone through. But many of our students who may be new Americans may have gone through many really difficult things coming here or on the way here or before. Maybe the reason that they came here is because they experienced some really difficult conditions where they came from.

So understanding that. Avoiding retriggering or causing further trauma or harm. And then within our classrooms, and within our programs to provide stabilization, to reduce stress, and to allow students to focus on learning. If we can create an environment where students feel safe, where they feel comfortable, then they're more able to focus on their learning. So how do we do this?

As I mentioned, creating a safe and calm learning environment, providing structure and outline to ease anxiety and promote safety. Some people feel better if they have an idea of where they're going. So in your class if you have a syllabus for the class, or if in the beginning of each class you outline what you're planning to study during that class period, what the objectives are for some students, that will help to make them feel more secure and know where they're expected to go during that class.

Empowering students by providing choices as often as possible. That doesn't mean that they're necessarily directing everything in the class but if there's a possibility of providing choices on certain things, that's a good approach for students. And then providing positive reinforcement over negative, and creating a supportive environment whenever possible.

And some examples of this include giving clear directions for activities and assignments so students know what to expect, and so they understand what it is that they need to do. Taking time to clearly explain systems and rules to reduce stress from cultural and language barriers. For many students, whether they're immigrants or whether they're Americans, but they're first-time college students, all of the systems and the processes that you may have to go through for certain things within the college can be really complicated.

So helping to break that down and letting them know what they need to do can be really helpful. And then within your own classroom, setting clear expectations and being consistent about that. And then the final topic in this area, fostering community building. And this relates back to many of the other points that I've made previously. But why would you want to do this?

So cultivating resiliency and building community connections, as I've mentioned before, fostering a sense of belonging and support to combat isolation. I know many of the students that I've talked to when I was teaching, maybe they hadn't met a lot of people from their communities, or they came here, they didn't know a lot of people.

And so coming into the classroom was a way for them to meet other people, to feel part of the community, and to combat isolation. So creating that environment where they feel welcomed, where they feel comfortable can really be important for them. How do we do this? So providing some opportunities for relationship building between students, whether that may be some icebreaker activities.

Sometimes having students work in pairs or small groups can give them the opportunity to connect a little bit. And then also having interactive classroom activities that foster discussion and identify areas of commonality. All of those things can help them to become more comfortable with each other, to get to know each other, and to feel a sense of community in the classroom.

And what are some ways that you may do this? One, holding activities for the whole class to celebrate a holiday or a special event, as I had mentioned before. And we'll have some pictures that show some classrooms where they were doing that. Incorporating outside or community activities when possible, and creating an interactive curriculum where students can learn from each other.

The more time that they can spend interacting with each other, helping to support each other can help to create that comfortable environment in the classroom. And then these are some pictures of some examples of activities that you might do. Now, I know that depending on what your class is or what your program is, you may not have the time to do an activity like some of these cultural exchanges. But just as a few examples.

So the picture in the very bottom is a picture of students sharing food with each other. And often food is something that always has the capacity to bring people together. If there's maybe a special occasion or the last day of class or maybe the last day before a break where you have some students bring some food from their country and share with each other and explain what it is and allow them to try different foods.

Sometimes that's a way that some of the students who may feel like English is not their native language, maybe they're struggling and the class is difficult for them, but they're a really good cook. So if they have the opportunity to maybe bring some food from their country and share that with their classmates, then they can feel like that's something that they can contribute and something that they know a lot about.

And I think people always like to try different foods, and to be able to share with each other in that way. And then these other pictures are some examples of students wearing their traditional dress or doing a traditional dance or singing a song, their national anthem, perhaps. So things like that are all ways that students can show a little bit of themselves, where they're from, and also build community with each other.