Project MORE Introduction

Making, Organizing, Revising and Evaluating 
Training Materials and Resources for All Teachers

Background: 

The number of students for whom English is not their native language is increasing dramatically in North Carolina.  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System (CMS) serves over 100,000 students and has seen this growth.  In CMS alone, the number of these students has increased from 7,607 in 1998 to 9,328 in 1999-2000 (North Carolina Statewide Report of Limited English Proficient Students 2000).    Of this population of students, a large number were deemed to be limited English proficient (LEP) on the basis of a language proficiency test.  The enrollment of LEP students increased from 4,339 in the 1998-1999 school year to 5,570 in the 1999-2000 school year.  This represents an increase of 28% of the LEP enrollment in CMS over the past school year.  All data indicate that this trend will continue.

Three trends are primarily responsible for the substantial increase in the LEP student population that CMS is experiencing:   

1.      an influx of first-generation Hispanic families, largely Mexican American, and newly arriving Southeast Asian families seeking employment opportunities,

2.      the almost geometric increase in Southeast Asian refugees who are relocating to this area from elsewhere in the United States and

3.      the rapid internationalization of Charlotte’s business community, in particular the banking community.

These trends are expected to continue for at least the next decade.

The state of North Carolina does not require public school teachers to receive specialized training or specific coursework that focuses on the needs of second language learners.  The University of North Carolina-Charlotte currently only offers coursework in teaching English as a second language (ESL) for teachers who will become full-time ESL teachers; there are not any courses for mainstream teachers who wish to learn about teaching second language learners.  Teachers working in CMS have not received the necessary training to effectively serve second language learners.

Program Aims:

1.   Improving the training of pre-service mainstream teachers at UNC-Charlotte by creating at least one new course, for both undergraduate and graduate students majoring in Education, which focuses on identifying and responding to the needs of second language learners.

2.   Improving the training of in-service mainstream teachers in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System by producing teaching and training modules based on narratives that are representative of the language minority students who attend Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools. 

1.  Course Development:

One or more new courses, intended for pre- and in-service teachers with little or no background with second language learners, will be developed at UNC-Charlotte to help these prospective and current mainstream teachers better address the needs of LEP students. In addition, subject-specific courses taken by Education majors at the university will be revised to contain activities and projects addressing multi-cultural issues.

2.  Training and Teaching Modules: Each module will consist of two integrated parts:

A.   One or more narratives from students and family members representing the different cultural and linguistic groups found in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System.

Community Narratives – The Charlotte Narrative and Conversation Collection (CNCC) contains over 600 interviews in English and other languages and features Charlotte-Mecklenburg residents telling stories about their lives, family history, local history, customs and other topics.  These diverse narratives are catalogued according to the primary language, age, gender and other relevant information about the speaker and interview. We are extending this collection by interviewing language minority children and/or their families.

Bilingual community interviewers are presently holding conversations with children and family members to elicit and record narratives about: favorite childhood books or stories, relatives, pets and animals, courage, friends, frightening events, humorous events, folktales, ghost stories, national heroes, local heroes, favorite teachers, family members’ occupations, cooking, proverbial sayings, dreams and wishes, house plans, family feasts, typical daily activities here and in the former homeland, favorite writers, and the like.

Currently, narratives from Spanish and Hmong speakers are being collected.  As the project continues, additional narratives will be solicited from members of the following communities in Mecklenburg county: Arabic, Bosnian, Chinese, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Liberian, Russian, Vietnamese, and others.  The bilingual narratives will be translated into English. These narratives, along with the other interviews in the CNCC, will help current and future educators to:  

·    Understand the cultural and linguistic heritages of language minority students through the familiar genre of narrative.

·    Acquire the skills necessary to learn about different cultural and linguistic heritages.

·    Provide instruction and student services based on students’ cultural and linguistic heritages. 

·    Break down instruction into pieces that are manageable and culturally relevant for all learners.

·    Supplement lessons with appropriate materials for both NS and ESL learners.

B.    Sample instructional strategies and/or activities based on students’ proficiency levels, cultural/linguistic background and the North Carolina Course of Study.

Sample Instructional Strategies – These strategies are designed to help educators:  

·     Shelter content.

·     Provide opportunities for independent learning.

·     Provide opportunities for cooperative learning.

·     Assist students to build on their cultural heritages and those of their peers.

·     Assist students to develop learning strategies.

·     Support student negotiation of different academic styles, including tests.

·     Teach students to successfully express themselves orally and in writing.

·     Understand the latest research supporting the featured strategies.

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