SIT Fields of Study

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800.257.7751

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802.258.3388

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802.258.3116

PO Box 676, Kipling Road
Brattleboro, VT 05302 USA
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Current and Recent Projects

  1. A Bi-national Center Seeking to Regain Market Edge
  2. An International School in Taiwan
  3. An Elementary School in Massachusetts
  4. Back To School: ESL Classes for the Parents of English Language Learners
  5. Implementing Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) and Improving the Academic Performance of English Language Learners
  6. Inquiry for Early-Childhood Educators
  7. San Francisco Unified School District: ALACASA
  8. Student Support for Developing Communicative English Ability

1. Instituto Brasil Estados Unidos (IBEU)

Instituto Brasil Estados Unidos (IBEU) approached the Center to help them regain their market edge in the very competitive English language-teaching environment in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They were seeking to work with cutting-edge teacher training to help bring them back to a competitive position.

Center staff evaluated the IBEU site in Rio and determined, together with IBEU staff, that teacher training alone would not address all that they were seeking. Both groups recognized that for changes in teaching to be sustained, the methods for supervising and evaluating teachers would also need to change. Placing the students at the center of the education process would mean changing practices at all levels of IBEU--from teachers in the classrooms to teacher trainers, local branch-level managers, human resource personnel, and upper management.

The project included four primary components.

  1. All teachers participated in a custom-designed version of the SIT TESOL Certificate Course.
  2. All managers participated in a custom-designed version of the International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM) course.
  3. IBEU teachers and managers formed two working groups with one looking at ongoing professional development for teachers, and the other focusing on new assessment practices and tools. Both groups worked together, both in-person and on-line, implementing the ideas and practices learned in the TESOL Certificate and IDLTM courses in every-day practices at IBEU.
  4. A management oversight group was formed to look at management practices and policies and ensure that they would align with the changes that were taking place throughout the institution.

2. Taipei American School

Taipei American School, a K-12 private international school in Taipei, Taiwan, with an enrollment of over 2000, serves many culturally and linguistically diverse students. The school contacted SIT seeking high-quality professional development to support its mainstream teachers working with English language learners. The training needed to be context-responsive and flexible enough for busy teachers.

SIT offered its ACCESS Graduate Certificate Course for a cohort of 12 teachers at Taipei American School, including elementary classroom teachers, middle school language arts/social studies teachers and upper school social studies teachers. The SIT ACCESS course was scheduled over a weekend with several after school sessions during the following week. This allowed the 25 hours of face-to-face training to be distributed evenly while working teachers were able to continue teaching without being overwhelmed. These teachers remained in dialogue with the instructor for three months via Blackboard™, an electronic learning platform, as they implemented new knowledge and applied practical strategies in their classrooms - since Taipei American School had adopted Blackboard™ as a backup system to provide emergency instruction in the event of a typhoon or other interruption, the teachers received an added benefit of learning to use this web-based tool.

One participating teacher from this group remarked: "I really enjoyed the variety of activities but most importantly I appreciated the 'participation and reflection' model. This made me accountable for my own teaching and once again feel as my students do. This has been a refreshing glimpse into my teaching. I realize now more than ever that second language instruction and mainstream content need not be mutually exclusive. I am excited to go back to my students with fresh eyes and a renewed vigor."

3. Jackson Street Elementary School

Jackson Street Elementary School is a public school in Northampton, Massachusetts, serving children from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade. Jackson Street came to SIT because its student body was becoming increasingly diverse and the number of students who are learning English as a new language had been steadily increasing. They wanted quality professional development to support teachers working with English language learners, but wanted it offered on-site in Northampton; they also wanted training which would work within the established school calendar.

SIT offered its ACCESS Graduate Certificate Course for a group of 13 teachers from Jackson Street School, including classroom teachers as well as a special education teacher. The course was delivered on four professional development dates which were already on the school calendar and distributed across the school year. The cohort of teachers met with SIT instructors on these release days for the face-to-face portion of ACCESS, and continued their dialogue on-line as they implemented new practices and applied new learning from the ACCESS course.

One teacher from this course said: "ACCESS has a hands-on approach to the learning of how to teach ELLs. Our seminar sessions are very helpful- I like the way each one is organized and balanced between discussion and cooperative activities. I wish everyone in the school could enjoy this experience."

4. Back to School

In the summer of 2004, SIT partnered with the Denver Public Schools, who sought to offer ESL classes to the parents of English language learners. In a collaborative program called "Back-to-School," SIT administered the SIT TESOL Certificate Course for eleven retired public school teachers, retraining them to teach ESL classes for the parents of English language learners at Fairview Elementary School in Denver. The purpose of the program was to strengthen the English-language ability of parents, thereby supporting a stronger learning environment in the home helping English language learners improve their performance in school.

Approximately 40 parents—who represent 50 current or future Fairview students—attended 4 hours of ESL classes each week in the first semester. Classes were offered twice a day, either for two hours in the morning, with parents dropping off their children and remaining for the classes, or for two hours in the evening, for parents who work during the day. In addition to teaching English, the program has also fostered a strong sense of community and commitment, with parents supporting each other, as well as their children, in their learning. Three parents have even decided to continue on to get their general equivalency diplomas.

5. Implementing Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) and Improving the Academic Performance of English Language Learners

Massachusetts Department of Education

The Office of Language Acquisition and Academic Achievement at the MassDOE approached the Center to collaborate in the design of a two-year initiative to help Title III districts in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts meet the needs of their English language learners most of whom would be entering content classes instead of bilingual programs.

The Center put together a team and worked closely with the MassDOE to create a two-year project that would, in Year One, provide the educators and administrators participating with the project the knowledge, skills and tools they would need to conduct their own needs assessment and planning processes culminating in district plans that had clear goals and objectives. In year two they learned how to monitor and evaluate the implementation of their plans.

6. Inquiry for Early-Childhood Educators

The Windham Child Care Association in Vermont approached the Teacher Knowledge Project with the idea of developing an offering that would bring together home- and center-based early-childhood educators with primary-grade educators. These educators have much in common but have few opportunities to work together professionally.

The Teacher Knowledge Project provided two alternating Inquiry Seminars, one each semester, for two years: one focused on early literacy, and the other on family and social issues. The seminars were an opportunity for educators to come together and work through issues that confront them in their practice. The mix of pre-school and primary-grade educators allowed for a rich exchange of ideas and the creation of numerous professional connections that are already being used to build bridges for students between pre-school and primary school.

Participants were very enthusiastic about their experience. Having time and a process for reflection were the highlights for almost all participants. They have readily applied their understanding of and experience with the inquiry process to their own work, and some are thinking about how it can be used in their teaching practice facilitate the identification of pragmatic, realistic steps of action in dealing with issues that arise.

7. San Francisco Unified School District: ALACASA

The San Francisco Unified School District asked the Teacher Knowledge Project (TKP) to participate in the Academic Literacy Across the Curriculum for Achieving the Standards (ALACASA) Project, which aimed to increase the academic literacy of English language learners in middle and high schools. District teachers received professional development from the school district in pedagogy and materials adaptation; TKP trained and supported facilitators to lead Inquiry Groups, which helped teachers integrate academic literacy practices in their day-to-day teaching.

TKP-trained co-facilitators led Inquiry Groups that met monthly from October to May in ALACASA schools. The groups used their experience and expertise in a structured inquiry process to explore issues in their teaching and suggest meaningful changes. Data from statewide testing has showed that students of teachers who received literacy training and participated in a TKP Inquiry Group earned higher scores than students whose teachers received no project training or received literacy training only. A three-year model provided sustainability, as co-facilitators from the first year began working as Trainers of Co-facilitators in the second year and took increasing responsibility for the training in subsequent years. By the fifth and final year of the project, the Trainers of Co-facilitators had taken full responsibility for all phases of the project.

8. Tokyo Jogakkan Junior College

Tokyo Jogakkan Junior College (TJK) in Tokyo, Japan, approached the Center with questions about how to best support their students in developing communicative English ability. This two-year college for women found that even after years of English language education, their students were unprepared to engage in even the most basic spoken interactions in English.

We created a two-year, integrated, proficiency-based English language curriculum for the TJK. The College then asked us to implement the curriculum for the intensive English program for the next five years. Center staff, many of them recent graduates from the School for International Training's Master of Arts in Teaching program, helped the students make significant strides in their ability to communicate comfortably in English. Several graduates of the program, who had not previously planned on continuing their education after graduation from TJK, went on to complete bachelor's degrees at North American universities and colleges.