Welcome to

The Help! Kit For Secondary Teachers of Migrant English Language Learners

Welcome to the Help! Kit for teachers of middle and high school migrant students. This secondary version of the Help! Kit is a comprehensive resource guide that provides helpful information to busy teachers who are seeking practical, research-based advice on how they can more effectively teach, evaluate, and nurture their limited English proficient (LEP) migrant students. It is important to emphasize that most of the strategies promoted are ones that are characteristic of good teaching and will benefit all students, not just English language learners.

In addition to the goal of providing teachers with a resource that helps them to boost the achievement of their LEP students, the secondary Help! Kit includes sections that address issues that are particularly relevant to the needs of migrant secondary students.

The secondary Help! Kit is designed to:

1. Provide mainstream teachers with instructional strategies and resources that will benefit all LEP migrant students, but can also assist them with other students who have varying levels of English proficiency and learning styles;
2. Introduce research-based teaching strategies that focus on the key content areas of language arts, social studies, mathematics, and science;
3. Provide cultural information to help teachers better understand and appreciate migrant students and their families;
4. Offer suggestions on how to encourage migrant parents, extended family members, peers, mentors and other significant individuals to play an active role in promoting educational excellence;
5. Identify fundamental as well as alternative methods to monitor the progress of and evaluate migrant LEP students;
6. Provide a wealth of current resources and references teachers can use to pursue more fully areas of interest covered in the Help! Kit;
7. Highlight approaches and types of programming that have proven successful in helping migrant students to graduate;
8. Feature creative uses of technology that help maintain instructional and curricular continuity;
9. Suggest options such as scholarships and financial aid that help to make continuing education beyond high school a possibility.

The Help! Kit is divided into twelve chapters. Resources related to the topics covered in a chapter can be found at the end of the chapter. The terms English Language Learner (ELL) and Limited English Proficient (LEP) are used interchangeably throughout the Help! Kit to refer to the same population of learners. As you make your way through this resource guide, keep reminding yourself that "limited English proficient does not mean limited Thinking proficient".

Download either the entire kit at once or choose the chapters of interest. The kit is offered here in Adobe's Portable Document Format (*.pdf). To open and read the files you will need the Adobe Reader available as a free download from Adobe. In September, 2001 single hard copies of the kit will be available from ESCORT. You may request a copy either by emailing to LaraAckley@escort.org or faxing (607.436.3606) your request - please include your complete mailing address, a phone number where you may be reached, your job title and the name of the school with which are you associated. Or you may phone ESCORT at 1.800.451.8058
Download Entire Kit This option is suitable for those with fast internet connections. The entire kit is approximately 2.7 MB
Introduction and CHAPTER ONE: What is the HELP! KIT? Glossary of Terms for Navigating the Help! Kit
CHAPTER TWO: Migrant Students, Schools, and Culture Who Are Our Migrant Students? What Do I Need to Know about Learning a Second Language? What Can I Do as a Teacher?	CHAPTER THREE: Strategies for Involving LEP Students in the Mainstream Classroom
CHAPTER FOUR: Making Language Arts Comprehensible to the English Language Learner	CHAPTER FIVE: Making Math Comprehensible to the English Language Learner
CHAPTER SIX: Making Social Studies Comprehensible to the English Language Learner	CHAPTER SEVEN: Making Science Comprehensible to the English Language Learner
CHAPTER EIGHT: Assessment and Evaluation: How Can We Be Fair and Demanding?	CHAPTER NINE: Fostering Home-School Partnerships
CHAPTER TEN: The Challenge of Meeting Graduation Requirements	CHAPTER ELEVEN: Postsecondary Options: How Can We Help?
CHAPTER TWELVE: Technical Assistance and Resources

This page was last updated September 25, 2001

Any questions or concerns about this page should be addressed to BobThomas@escort.org