SNAP, or Summers Newcomers Academy Pilot Program, at Gullien Middle School is a three-week program designed to promote English Language Learning, according to the El-Paso Herald Post. This week’s article walks us through Gullien's middle school summer programed geared for incoming sixth graders to promote the fundamental math and science terms that they will encounter the next school year. During the first two weeks of the program, students are collaborating together and learning through graphic novels to learn new vocabulary. The visuals provided in graphic novels allows students to feel less pressure when learning new vocabulary by using context clues to help with the vocabulary.
Students are actively engaged in completing many different activities designed by teachers at Gullien Middle School. During Week 1, students focused on the testing buoyancy of a cardboard canoe and week 2 students performed an experiment to determine the trajectory of a plastic water bottle (Columnist). Students were responsible to use math skills to graph the trajectory of the water bottle.
Summer programs, such as those described in this article show the significance of using after-school resources to help maintain and reinforce language learning. This program allows ESL students to collaborate and perform practical experiments of content that they are learning. This process makes language learning interesting and fun, especially for middle school students. I think experiences like this need to happen more.
Resources:
Columnist, G. (2018, June 26). Via EPISD's 'SNAP' Program, English Language Learners Sharpen Their Skills. Retrieved June 27, 2018, from https://elpasoheraldpost.com/via-episds-snap-program-english-language-learners/
This seems like a great application of Project Based Learning, showing that everything we do in education, needs to relate to a real world situation. Students can use the myriad of technology to get an answer, but programs like this help all students know how to apply it and make leaning fun.
ReplyDelete