Reply To: New Core Arts Standards

[nafmeadmin]

As far as ELA, think of focusing on the four areas of language acquisition: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Also, be aware of the language used in the music room: conversational language and content language. Our district has adopted Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). You may want to use a chart like this to discuss a folk song.

Click to access FlowChart.pdf

We also have an assessment administered to our ELA population to determine the levels of language fluency: beginning, intermediate, advanced, and advanced high. Annually, the district offers online training to bilingual and ESL teachers. As the music teacher, I complete the training so that I am more aware of student responses as my students struggle to communicate in my classroom.

And most importantly, learn a little bit of the culture and language of your students. They will feel more comfortable in your classroom, free to interact, and willing to teach you a few things.