What is BELLA?
Bridging English Language Learning and Academics (BELLA) is a professional development program for classroom and ESL teachers to support language and literacy growth for their multilingual learners. The BELLA model has three key components:
- Collaboration between the ESL teacher and classroom teachers;
- High-impact instructional strategies for working with multilingual learners;
- Community cultural wealth in the classroom.
ESL and classroom teachers work together for a full school year with the support of an implementation coach.
Project Goals
The purpose of the BELLA study is to test the efficacy of the Bridging English Language Learning to Academics (BELLA) professional development program for improving instructional practices and students' language and literacy growth. The goals of the program are to support teachers in modifying their instructional practices to facilitate their students' academic progress.
Supporting students' progress in:
- Foundational literacy skills
- Language and writing skills
- Comprehension for literature and informational texts
- Vocabulary use and functions
Improving classroom practices through:
- Collaboration between the ESL and classroom teachers
- Implementation of high-impact instructional strategies
- Incorporation of the students’ community cultural wealth into the classroom