A resource guide for educators of limited English proficient students, grades Pre-K - 6
Introduction to the Help! Kit:
The first Help! They Don't Speak English Starter Kit was produced in 1989 by a task force of Virginia migrant educators who were getting an increasing number of requests from classroom teachers for information about and assistance with their limited English proficient (LEP) students. The Help! Kit has proved to be an excellent resource for teachers who are seeking ideas for recommended teaching strategies, lesson plans, and materials. This newly revised manual retains the original focus of providing helpful information to busy mainstream teachers who are seeking practical advice on how they can more effectively include, instruct and nurture LEP students. It is important to emphasize that most of the strategies promoted here are recommended strategies for all students, not just LEP students.
The quickest way to get the Help! Kit is to download
the kit in *.pdf format. Click on any of the chapters below to
download them. The complete kit has a handsome color cover, an
introduction with a table of contents, and nine chapters. The
files are laid out for back to back copying of the kit to save
paper. If you are not familiar with the *.pdf format you can check
it out and get a free
copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader by clicking on the Get Acrobat
Reader icon. 
The table below lists the chapter number and the contents. Download the kit entire kit in low resolution (~14 MB) or just the parts that interest you - 12 MB of this 14 MB is the articles at the back. Groups seeking multiple copies of the kit are urged to download it and copy it for distribution as needed within their schools. High resolution files are available if your print shop would prefer them. The high resolution files are very large and downloading them is a job for someone with a high bandwidth connection
Educators can obtain a free copy of this publication by phoning ESCORT at 1.800.451.8058, faxing ESCORT at 607.436.3606, writing to the address below or by emailing us at the address below. Please note that filling requests for the kit could take a few weeks for processing. The quickest way to get your hands on the kit is to use the download option. Funds for printing and mailing are limited. If you can manage to download the kit please do so, that way schools lacking computers and internet access can still get a copy of the kit.
Writing ESCORT at: ESCORT - Migrant Education
SUNY
College at ONEONTA - 304 Bugbee Hall
State
St
Oneonta
NY 13820-4015
Emailing ESCORT - helpkits@escort.org , please include your complete address with zip code. Also list your job title (ESL Coordinator, ESL Teacher, etc) and your school or agency affiliation.
If you or an educator that you know has trouble connecting to www.escort.org [some school districts take exception to the word ESCORT - in our case it is an acronymn derived from Eastern Stream Center On Resouces and Training - but you wouldn't want to type that, would you?] you may also download the kit from
http://employees.oneonta.edu/thomasrl
Acknowledgements:
The publication of this edition of Help! They Don't Speak English Starter Kit was a joint effort of the Region IV and Region XIV Comprehensive Centers and their subcontractors, ESCORT and the Center for Applied Linguistics. Staff spent a significant amount of professional and personal time formulating ideas, researching, organizing, writing, and editing.
We are indebted to the following individuals for their work in putting this kit together:
Maria
Derrick-Mescua, Center for Applied Linguistics and Region
XIV
Allene G.Grognet, Center for Applied Linguistics and Region XIV
Marvin Rodriguez, Region IV Comprehensive Center
Huong-Mai Tran, MAITRAN Associates
Pamela Wrigley, ESCORT
The kit can be used by educators throughout the country for all limited English proficient (LEP) children not just those of migrant/seasonal farmworkers.
This page was last updated September 26, 2003. Please address any concerns about this page to Bob Thomas.
