Maya McFadden Photo
Evelyn Robles-Rivas: "ESL services are a tier 1 support."
Don’t underestimate your students — especially those who are working to learn English as a second or third language while also trying to keep up in the classroom.
The district’s new director of multilingual learner programs, Evelyn Robles-Rivas, shared that message to new teachers in the runup to the first day of classes.
Robles-Rivas hosted a multilingual learners-focused workshop for over 100 new-to-New Haven educators during a three-day orientation last week. During a presentation on Friday at Barack Obama School on Farnham Avenue, she emphasized to the groups that all educators must learn strategies to work with multilingual learners because of the district’s increasing population who speak a language other than English at home.
“ESL services are a tier 1 support,” she said.
As reported in this June story, the number of enrolled multilingual learners in New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) grew from 4,199 in October 2023 to 4,626 this past March.
During a portion of her workshop — which took place roughly a week before the start of the school year, on Thursday, Aug. 29 — Robles-Rivas explained that “while learning the English language, students still should have access to a high-level curriculum.”
She spoke about multilingual learners’ basic interpersonal communication skills and cognitive academic language proficiency skills. She also said that, while some multilingual students may have the ability to talk about objects or experiences in English, they still may struggle with comprehension or writing. That’s why it’s important to understand students’ complex levels of proficiency, Robles-Rivas said.
Robles-Rivas concluded her workshop with a video that educators watched to get an idea of what some students may experience in classrooms. The educators noted how much more work the multilingual learner student had to do in the classroom in terms of using context clues and the intimidation that could come with participating when learning language with so many polysemous words.
She provided the educators with a Google Drive folder full of files containing classroom resources to support students. “As a teacher you don’t need to speak their language. Use these strategies and knowledge,” she said.
During Friday's special education workshop.
While half the group of new educators attended Robles-Rivas’ workshop, the other half attended a workshop focused on teaching strategies for all educators to know when working with special education students. The two workshops were the final ones hosted on the final day of the new-staff orientation series on Friday.
Kara Buontempo, Monica Abbott, and Flo Constantinople of the office of Special Education & Student Services led Friday’s workshop. They each noted that while some special education students’ abilities are obvious, there are also many such students who fly under the radar.
A portion of the workshop provided the room of educators with social-emotional learning (SEL) skills to support students and themselves during the work day. They encouraged educators to use three signature practices in their classroom: an inclusive welcome, engaging strategies, and intentional closings.
The group practiced breathing techniques to use throughout the school year. NHPS also provides its educators with a free subscription to the Calm App, when they sign up during the first two weeks of school, to have access to guided meditations both personally and in their classrooms.