Multilingual Learner Coordinator
Janna Brown
janna.brown@sageintl.org
Sage has a linguistically diverse student population. We currently have over 25 languages represented in our school community. Our multilingual learners(MLs) bring diverse perspectives and add so much to our international classrooms. We receive funding from the state and federal government to ensure that our multilingual learners have the support they need to gain English fluency and meet academic grade level standards. This funding also goes to support the role of a qualified ML coordinator who works to meet the diverse needs of our ML students.
Our multilingual learner program strives to help our students live successfully in an English speaking culture and in a multilingual, multicultural world. Each ML student comes to Sage with different English language proficiency skills and a different set of academic knowledge. Every year, identified ML students participate in WIDA’s ACCESS for ELLs assessment which is mandated by state and federal law. From this assessment, students’ English language proficiency levels in the domains of listening, reading, speaking and writing are evaluated to help determine what students can do and what supports are needed. Our teachers accommodate and differentiate to support students at their language proficiency level while maintaining a high respect for each students’ culture and heritage. The ML coordinator also provides push in and pull out English one on one or small group support as needed. To the extent possible, we also provide our multilingual families communication in their language and have translation services available for parent teacher meetings.
Our ML services are coordinated by Janna Brown. Ms. Brown has a B.S. in Elementary Education and Intercultural studies as well as a M.A. in English Language Learners. She taught multilingual learners in Jakarta, Indonesia for four years before teaching at Sage International Schools in 2019. Please reach out to her at janna.brown@sageintl.org with any questions or for more information.