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An Integrated Computer-Art English to Speakers of Other Languages Curriculum (CAEC): Limited-English-Proficient Students Improve English While Developing Computer Proficiencies and Visual Literacy

Acknowledgements
The author wishes to extend gratitude to young speakers of English as a second language. English to speakers of other language students work four times as hard as native-English speakers in hopes of attaining passing grades. They are eager to please their teachers by producing the best possible work.

Their enthusiastic cooperation and diligence made it possible to experiment with the Computer-Art English to Speakers of Other Languages Curriculum. Student participants and their teacher had fun in the process.

This applied project was developed to encourage teachers to experiment with a new critique process curriculum that integrates technology and various art forms in English classes. The Computer-Art English to Speakers of Other Languages Curriculum, also known as the CAEC, enables its participants to become proficient in computers, writing, illustration, and classroom discussion in the form of critiques. Students develop self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment by publishing books, expressing themselves verbally, and making Web sites.

The writer initially developed the CAEC lesson plans and learning activities to help students acquire conceptual vocabulary to which they would not otherwise have been exposed in the foreign language in the home environment. CAEC helped students develop a sense of pride and empowerment when they discovered that their voices could be heard through publishing and art.

Although the CAEC was designed for beginning language learners, the writer concluded that similar, portfolio-based curriculum models could successfully be implemented in regular English, foreign language, and arts classes. An analysis of data in the form of tests and portfolios revealed that the CAEC improved students’ self-confidence, language fluency, and independent initiative.