Heartland Supported English as a Second Language Services

Several time-sensitive items concerning ESL services in your district are listed below:

1. The Iowa Culture and Language Conference is February 9-11, 2009 at the Polk County Convention Complex. Along with the main conference sessions, the pre- and post conference sessions offer several choices for one-day or half-day workshops that would be very beneficial to many of your staff. For more information, visit Northwest AEA’s Web site or click here.

2. Heartland AEA 11, in conjunction with Northwest AEA and the Greater Des Moines Partnership, is sponsoring an Immigration Forum featuring locally and nationally known panelists focusing on education. Registration is required. Information about this free educational opportunity for educators, administrators and Iowa legislators is available at Northwest AEA’s Web site or by clicking here.

3. The testing window for Iowa English Language Development Assessment (I-ELDA) is February 1 to April 30, 2009. All ordering and administration information can be found on the Northwest AEA Web page at www.nwaea.k12.ia.us. If you would like a DVD copy of the 2008 I-ELDA training to share with staff, feel free to contact Pat Latham, platham@aea11.k12.ia.us.

4. To correctly identify English Language Learners according to the law, many districts include the Home Language Survey in their Kindergarten Roundup packets. If your district does not have a Home Language Survey in your registration packet, you can copy the state approved version from www.transact.com.

Any time you have ESL questions please feel free to contact ESL/Diversity consultants, Stephaney Jones-Vo or Pat Latham at 515-270-0405, extensions 14680 or 14681.