- Principal Janice Chen jumpstarted a new bilingual paraeducator initiative, resulting in a new Lynbrook staff member.
- Set to start April, the bilingual paraeducator will assist English Language Development students in selective sheltered learning classes.
- This is the first of many ELD-related projects that Chen is considering implementing for the future.
Starting in April, a new bilingual paraeducator will join Lynbrook staff to support English Language Development students in sheltered classes by acting as an assistant to the teacher and supporting students in hopes of easing the language barrier.
Prior to this initiative, Lynbrook had 35 paraeducators that all specialized in supporting special education students by instructing them daily and working in small groups with them. Bilingual paraeducators, on the other hand, will work specifically to guide ELD students by assisting ELD teachers with translation support.
“People are at different stages in their learning and English acquisition,” ELD coordinator Tania Yang said. “So ideally, a paraeducator would be able to provide more individualized support with repeating, clarifying, scaffolding.”
Inspired by her previous work experience at Monta Vista High School, Principal Janice Chen pushed to bring bilingual paraeducators to the Lynbrook campus. She felt that the ELD program was a student group that could use additional support, so she pitched the idea to staff at the FUHSD district office who work with the ELD department.
“The district was very supportive of it,” Chen said. “At the end of the day, everybody recognizes that the intention behind adding a bilingual paraprofessional at Lynbrook is to help provide additional support for one of our student groups that needs it. Everyone was on board, recognizing that it was a need, wanting to support that need for our ELD students and to make it happen.”
After a round of interviews conducted by Assistant Principal Yukari Salazar, one Mandarin-speaking candidate was selected for the position. Since Lynbrook’s ELD student population includes a large number of Mandarin-speaking students, Chen hopes that the new bilingual paraeducator will assist that subset of students. If the ELD program expands or the need for another bilingual paraeducator grows, the school could hire more paraeducators.
“It’s really important to have this support position for ELD students because there’s another person to provide academic support in the classroom especially if that person is able to speak their home language,” Chen said. “ It helps with understanding and communicating with parents and families too. It’s very helpful in classes, being able to support not just the students, but also the teacher.”
Beyond the bilingual paraeducator initiative, Chen has introduced a new shadow day on Jan. 23 for ELD students from Miller Middle School. Seeing that Cupertino Union School District lacked sheltered courses, Chen wanted incoming Lynbrook students to understand how a sheltered curriculum runs.
“We discovered that CUSD does not offer sheltered classes, so CUSD families didn’t really understand what sheltered classes were and the purpose of a sheltered class,” Chen said. “Families were trying to opt out because they didn’t know what it was, so the shadow day helped students see firsthand what ELD support looks like.”
Currently, around 50 ELD students participate in sheltered learning classes for subjects including social studies, english and science, which consists of scaffolded material to ensure that ELD students can optimize learning both content knowledge and English.
“Sheltered classes, for me, were good for gaining confidence and being able to talk with the teacher more because there are less students,” senior and former ELD student Jaewan Lim said.
Chen hopes that ELD students will feel more supported by having another person on campus to build connections with. Her future vision consists of an English Learning Center where ELD students have a designated safe environment to call their own.
“My vision, in a way, is a place where ELD students can feel like this is their home if they want to be there,” Chen said. “I see this new bilingual para position being heavily involved in that vision.”
