Anderson Village Elementary School, San Jose, California

DynEd Products used
New Dynamic English Let's Go

Linking ESL Learning, Teacher Involvement, and Community Education through Technology

The Anderson Village Elementary School in San Jose, California, is a DynEd Center of Excellence that has been using our technology-based solutions successfully to help students succeed in English.

Linda Levine, Anderson's Title VII and Technology Coordinator, was instrumental in setting up an English-language teaching program combining technology with English instruction.

Implemented for more than a year now, the ESL program developed from our partnership has achieved learning success.

Improved listening and speaking skills in English are building learner's fluency and communication proficiency

The School's English-Learning Challenges

Linda's goal of helping learners acquire English as quickly and effectively as possible was based on the challenges the school faced by the end of the 1998-1999 school year:

• high student- and parent-body mobility
• low standardized English-language proficiency test scores
• +68% of non-native English-speaking students (most speak Spanish and various Asian and Eastern-European languages)
• few qualified ESL teachers
• outdated technical equipment and a lack of teacher training in technology
• no appointed Technology Leader to make changes happen

In order to solve this, Linda researched different learning and implementation options. She was looking for a set of solutions that were consistent with the school's learning environment and individualized learning approach, articulated in the school's motto: Reach for the Stars!

She found the necessary resources to set up a well-equipped computer lab and chose DynEd's Language Learning Solutions to provide her students with the content they needed.

She found in DynEd all the pieces that she needed to make the computer lab useful for her ESL purposes: a unique skill-based approach to practicing English, effective and appropriate Content, a powerful Records Manager, Assessment Tools (Placement Tests and Mastery Tests), Teacher Training, and Consulting services.

DynEd's Language-Learning Solutions

DynEd worked side by side with Linda and the school staff to find the most appropriate solution to their English Language Learning needs. Anderson Village Elementary was awarded Center of Excellence status for its innovative and effective use of DynEd's Solutions and the successful results they've been getting since starting the program in 2000.

Higher learner motivation, confidence, and improved participation are some of the learning results observed.

These ESL children have been using Let's Go while ESL adults have been learning with New Dynamic English. Learners receive ESL instruction in class first and then practice their listening and speaking skills at the computer lab in frequent and short sessions. A big part of this success has been the frequent and strategic practice to achieve true language mastery.

Linda and her group of ESL teachers use the powerful Records Management System to organize classes, develop learning paths for students, and track individual study progress. They use the Placement Tests and Mastery Tests to place students appropriately in the content and decide when they're ready to move on to more challenging content.

The English-Learning Results

English-learning aided by technology helps children and adults practice their oral skills more effectively, which impacts their overall communication proficiency.

What we're seeing at Anderson Village Elementary School is:

• improved listening and speaking skills in English, which builds motivation and leads to increased fluency
• increased use of English in different contexts (e.g., with Speech Recognition, in simulations, and in role-playing)
• higher learner confidence and improved class participation
• increased and better use of technology by learners and teachers
• more accurate assessment of the students' real language abilities with DynEd's Assessment Tools and open consulting among the team of ESL teachers
• increased class-to-computer lab conjoined work among teachers that leads to better, more integrated ESL instruction
• active interest shown by other ESL and native-speaking students to join the class and the range of activities done at the computer lab

When using computers, ESL students are more engaged in learning and practicing English than when using traditional methods only.

Research shows that a better understanding of English as the medium of instruction impacts the students' academic performance.

... and other Encouraging Results out of this Partnership

Linda and her team of ESL teachers also noted additional benefits:

• many students have voluntarily given up playtime and lunchtime in order to study at the lab
• both children and adults have taken charge of their own language-learning process in new ways. For example, adults are developing an interest in learning keyboard typing to improve their employable skills. Children are interested in expanding their creative writing and literacy-development activities on the computer.
• children previously diagnosed as having language problems are finding joy in using computers to learn.
• teachers have noted that students who have gained confidence with computers and who have helped other students use computers to practice English, have also improved their own communication skills in English. This has also impacted the way they interact with others.

The school's partnership with DynEd has brought flexible and results-oriented English learning to these students.

Congratulations to Linda Levine and all the staff at Anderson Village Elementary for helping learners achieve English communication goals!

One Day at a Time, One Student at a Time.

Linda pictured with her students

Want to Replicate this Experience at your School? We work side by side with schools, universities, and training organizations to find the right Solutions to their needs.

Acknowledgments: We want to thank the Principal and the other staff of Anderson Village school for making this Success Story possible. Also thanks to Dawei Liu for his help in putting this page together. And Cecilia Gomez for her co-ordination and copy.
For more information on DynEd Solutions, please contact us at info@dyned.com.