On July 3, eight international schools from around Japan gathered in Shinagawa to hear Mike Shembarger of Michigan talk about using the GrapeSEED English curriculum with ESL students and native speakers.
Mr. Shembarger reported that teachers noticed changes in ESL students within two weeks of their starting the program. Teachers said that non-native speakers were more involved in class and had begun to speak out far more than with previous ESL courses. These improvements were backed by test results, which Mr. Shembarger presented at last month’s event.
Native speakers also showed accelerated growth in their language learning. At one of the pilot schools in Detroit, 99 out of 100 students got the highest score possible on the test measuring their mastery of grade level skills. This result is unheard of at a school with 100% “at-risk” children.
To learn more about GrapeSEED, please see http://www.grapeseed.com or email [email protected]. — JORDAN NOGAKI
