Competency 9- Internet

English Club.com provides resources for students and teachers learning and teaching English as a second language. http://www.englishclub.com/teach-english.htm As a middle school librarian, I would like to build a large bank of resources for my campus. This site would be an excellent addition. The highlights of the teacher's section include a specifically ESL forum, lesson plans, daily mini lessons and cartoons, and inter-school activities. The student section offers games, blogs, language tips, and history tidbits. I found the English news article in the ESL World section an interesting addition. In the interest of providing authentic language learning situations and mitigating the effects of the digital divide on this population, I found this site to have merit. This search was performed using Google.

Competency 8- Multimedia

As this my concern is providing for ESL students, we must look at the specific needs for this population. As the figure shows, border counties need to be especially prepared for the needs of the ESL learner, but all districts are obligated to provide a quality service to these students. Schools receive special funding for non-English speaking students and students who they fall below the poverty level. Sadly, many ESL students fit into both categories. What does this mean for the library? Though our district may receive extra funds, educating an LEP student classified as lower-income costs more than educating his native English speaking, well-off counterpart. Therefore the materials for these students in the library are critical and must be cost effective. We need to understand what the learners need for each stage of language acquisition, have at least an adequate amount of materials, and provide support for the classroom teacher. We need to be aware that this group learners will most likely measure behind their peers in technology skills and address this issue. Finally, we need to understand our districts ESL program and suit our program to these goals. I searched using Google Images.

Sharp, John. "Laying the Foundation" 39 Window on State Government. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. 12 April 2008 http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxforms/96-599/chap03.pdf