Meeting with ESOL/Bilingual Specialist 1

Meaghan Sherer

Seton Hill University

Multicultural Practicum

January 2016
Meeting with ESOL/Bilingual Specialist 2

Observation Report #3: Meeting with ESOL/Bilingual Specialist

I met with Mrs. Marceleno because it was a unique opportunity that not everyone
will get to experience. She informed me that she used to be a third grade teacher at
Fellsmere Elementary. In each school district (which in Florida is a whole county) there
is an ESOL Specialist. The Specialist for Indian River County at the time had the same
number of cases in Fellsmere Elementary alone as she did in all other schools in the
district combined. So the district decided to place an ESOL Specialist in Fellsmere solely
for the multitude of Spanish speaking students. Mrs. Marceleno applied for the position
and has been in that position for about 12 years. So I took the opportunity to ask her, first
off what she does, and some additional questions about ELLs and multiculturalism in
general and in the school. I first wondered if you needed to be bilingual to be one of the
ESOL assistant teachers that come into the classroom because at Fellsmere Elementary,
all of them are bilingual. She said that Fellsmere is a special case that they only have
Spanish-speaking students because of the community. But, if you go into other schools
they have students who speak Creole, French, etc. and those assistant ESOL teachers will
not speak every language that comes through their doors. She informed me that whenever
a new student applies to enroll in a school a survey is sent home about language, whether
another language is spoken at home, if English isn’t the first language, etc. If any of the
questions are answered yes, an in house test in given to see if the student should be
admitted into the ESOL program. If they are admitted, they are ranked emerging,
developing, or fluent. Being in the ESOL program for the student means that they receive
extra help from the specialists that push in to the classrooms and the two teachers work
with one another to try and get them to test out of the program. Each January through
March the “Access for ELLs 2.0” test is administered to everyone in the ESOL program.
This test is part of a program called the WIDA Consortium. About 2/3 of the United
States use this for their ESOL program is schools; Pennsylvania being one of them. It’s
great that states use the same program because if the student moves to another state
where WIDA is in place, they pick up instruction right whether they left off because all
of the data transfers over. The “Access for ELLs 2.0” test is given in addition to the FSA,
which is the Florida Test equivalent to the PSSAs. Testing out of the ESOL program can
take several years. But sometimes students seem to struggle testing out of the program.
This is when they wonder if the student should be in the special education program.
MTSS, Multi-Tiered System of Supports, look at the child’s tests scores and benchmarks
and review behaviors and decide if it would benefit the child more to be solely in the ESE
program and out of the ESOL program or be in both. She said that if the child mastered
Spanish at home it would be easier to master English quicker because they know that
there are rules and grammar to follow. Then I wondered if it is common or uncommon to
have students on the opposite end of the spectrum; gifted. She said just like it is hard to
tell if they should be in the special education program, it is also hard to determine if they
are gifted. The child could be gifted in Spanish, but making that transfer over to English
is difficult and might not come across so it is, unfortunately, uncommon. She said the key
thing that factors into a child’s success of overcoming a language or cultural barrier is for
them to be willing to learn. We as teachers need to help that drive and develop a good
student teacher relationship. Without a good relationship, the student(s) will not feel that
Meeting with ESOL/Bilingual Specialist 3

they are able to ask for your help and will not thrive as quickly as a student with a good
student/teacher relationship.
Once she felt that she had told me all that was relevant and had answered all of
my questions, she showed me the homepage of WIDA Consortium. The site has so many
resources, videos, articles based on grade level and general information. I am so thankful
that go was able to speak with her. I learned so much relevant to education in general but
also for when I return home to teach how things are done. I believe observing in the
district you wish to teach in is crucial because not only do you develop important
relationships, but also learn how things are done and what is to be expected of you.