About

Hello! My name is Alison Krzenski and I am a K-8 English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher from rural Minnesota. This website was designed as my Capstone Project, to help my district create a more equitable ESL program model for our Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE). During my time as an ESL paraprofessional and ESL teacher I noticed a critical lack of programming in our district that benefited our SLIFE. This is why this project focuses on determining what a good program model for Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education is.

The district that I work in has seen an increase in the population of Latinx and Hispanic English Language Learners (ELLs) over the last decade. Right now, our district (three elementary/middle schools and one high school) is made up of 14% Hispanic students with 8% of students receiving ELL (English Language Learner) services. However in the particular school that I work in, 29% of students are Latinx/Hispanic and 19% of students receive ELL services (MDE Report Card, 2020). Among these ELL students, there has also been a steady increase of SLIFE. For many years, the program model we have been working under has been efficient for providing services to our English Language Learners. Although, we are finding that it is not well suited for our students who come in with little knowledge of Westernized Educational backgrounds.

SLIFE students bring a unique skill set, yet often have different needs than your “typical” ELL student. Some SLIFE are preliterate or not literate in their home language, or have had very little exposure to speaking, reading, and writing in academic settings, while others may have had more language instruction. This can lead to a variety of academic and social gaps. Regardless of their background, these students have their own diverse stories, situations, assets and abilities to be used to inform our practices and programs as they transition to an unfamiliar academic setting. Many of these students have also experienced trauma and been exposed to war or conflict. This can lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed and anxious about the new language and environment (Trujillo & Raducanu, 2021).

Currently, our program model is a mixture of both pull-out and push -in instruction, and collaboration with teachers allowing most students thirty minutes of ELL time. However, newcomers who come to our school who have a background in education receive about an hour of services each day. We are finding that our SLIFE need additional time to learn the skills required in order to participate fully and be best supported in their classrooms. The reason our district needs to update their program model is because, as of right now, it is not well equipped to handle the new types of students (SLIFE) we are seeing enter our district. These students have many assets and wonderful backgrounds to share and bring into our community so we need to be supporting them in the best way possible during the educational journey and beyond.