AEF Track and Field

Microphones Help English Language Learners

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Mandie Cline is the Instructional Coach at Maya Lin Elementary School. She requested an AEF Mini Grant to fund headphones so multilingual learners could use the AUSD provided language acquisition programs - Lexia English and Imagine Learning (designed specifically for newcomers to the USA) . These students need to work on their speaking and listening skills, but older school headphones did not have a microphone for the student to ba able to engage in the speaking portion of the lesson. These headphones will be passed on to another learners in the future.

Here's what Ms. Cline wrote after receiving the Mini Grant:

"I’m totally floored in gratitude! Acquisition of accommodating headphones for our Multilingual Learners has been a mountain for two years that AEF has now leveled. I really am so unbelievably grateful that you processed our grant request and deep relieved that this is a deficit has finally been filled.

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Our Multilingual students have been using these headphones since they arrived in October and it has been going so well! The kiddos using the microphone headphones span from Kindergarten through our 5th grade classrooms. We even have a few for our master Librarian to access for library usage for two of our newcomers that needed another pair for there as well...This has been such a game changer for our Multilingual Learners. In the past, these kiddos had to go out in the hall to not only hear the programming but to be able to speak back into the program for those portions of the lessons. This was a frustrating process of 'otherizing' them and teachers not being able to support with them out in the hallway working. Now, these learners are able to do the speaking part of the program right in the classroom without detracting other students. The microphones are clear and pick up the quiet voice of the learner easily. The teachers are all impressed with the quality of the headphones as well as how seamless they work for the ELs in their room community."

Impact: 56 English Language Learning students