MENIFEE -- Teaching students who come from non-English backgrounds the ABCs of, well, ABCs has always been a challenge for educators.

But a new program recently begun by the Menifee Union School District aims to help teachers make major gains in educating students who are still learning English.

The program provides teachers with chants, books, posters and colorful pictures, as well as suggested hand movements to go with songs, all meant to teach students the basics of English.

Teachers are also given elaborate lesson plans for each day of the week.

The program is broken down into monthlong segments. Each segment has a theme such as the Earth, animals and their homes, and health. What's more, the themes are directly tied to state academic standards in science and social studies.

Even though about one-fourth of the district's pupils are Latino, not all of those students have trouble speaking and writing English.

The district enrolls about 8,840 students. About 1,443 students -- or about 16 percent -- are dubbed by district officials as "English language learners." About 96 percent of those students come from Spanish-speaking backgrounds.

English language learners must take a state development test each year until they are reclassified as fluent English speakers.

The district has always provided special instruction during the day for those students, and the new program is the latest attempt at improving their skills, officials said.

Quick to praise

Implemented districtwide in February, many teachers in Menifee are quick to praise the comprehensive program, called "On Our Way To English," and published by Rigby-Harcourt Achieve.

"The kids love it," said Menifee Elementary School first-grade teacher Janet Thomas. "They have been totally enthralled with it. I'm kind of glowing about it at this point."

Angela Bonnell, a first-grade teacher at Menifee Elementary, said the program also puts educators across the district on the same page in terms of instructing students who are still learning English.

"Before, it was like, 'What are we doing? What can we use?'" Bonnell said of lessons. "With this, everything we need is in the kit. It's much more structured than what we did before."

The program cost the district $227,000, and is being used a half-hour a day at each school for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, officials said. They added that a big part of the reason it was purchased was to help teachers raise standardized test scores for students still learning English.

Students who don't have a firm grasp of English have traditionally posted lower scores on standardized tests than their English-speaking counterparts, a situation commonly referred to by educators as an "achievement gap."

Menifee's 'gap'

Such is the case in the Menifee district, in which students who have grown up in homes where English was the dominant language outperform peers who did not.

For example, the district's Academic Performance Index score for white students was 796 on the most recent round of standardized testing on a scale from 200 to 1,000. English language learners at the school posted a score of 679.

District officials and teachers are hoping the new program boosts the latter score.

"We felt it was something we could easily incorporate in our classrooms," said Katey Hoehn, director for categorical programs with the Menifee Union School District. "We liked its ease of use."

Only students who are still learning English participate in the program. Students who are fluent in English concentrate on other subjects and lessons while their counterparts receive the supplementary instruction.

On a recent Monday, Thomas used a variety of tools and learning concepts that come with the program to complement her daily lesson plan.

First, she read from a large book with big, block writing. The students could clearly see the words from their seats on the ground in front of her, and she pointed to several words as she read.

Then, she tied hand movements in to a lesson on definitions.

She asked her students to show her a tall mountain, and they raised their hands. She asked them to show her a taller mountain, and they raised their hands farther. She ask them to show her the tallest mountain, and they stretched their hands up as far as they could.

Likewise, she asked them to show her a long river, and they spread their hands wide. She asked them to show her a longer river, and they stretched their hands out farther. She then asked them to show her the longest river, and they spread their hands out as far as they could.

Visuals stick

Similar exercises were conducted with words such as few, fewer and fewest, large, larger and largest, and deep, deeper and deepest.

Using those same words, the students sang a song about the tallest mountain, the longest river and the deepest ocean, all the while incorporating the hand movements they had just practiced.

At the end of the lesson, students chose their favorite adjective, and wrote out its conjugations.

"They like the visuals," Thomas said. "It sticks in their minds more. And when you combine movement with learning, it reaches the brain through more modalities. Kids learn through different channels. Some listen better, some do better through visual aids, some through movement."

Anahi Mojarro, 7, said it's the songs and gestures she likes best about the program.

"It's like I am in a show," she said. "It makes me learn better so I can go to second grade."

In addition to the lessons, the program also provides teachers with a list of concepts the students should know at the end of each segment. The assessment outline is great for teachers to use to ensure each student has learned thoroughly the lessons of the last four weeks, Thomas said.

Moreover, the program provides prewritten letters addressed to parents that teachers can send home with students at the start of each themed segment. That way, parents can work with their children at night in conjunction with their school lessons, Thomas said. The letters provided are offered in numerous different languages, including Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Korean and Cambodian.

Another aspect of the program is "newcomer" books, Thomas said. Those simplified books include short sentences and colorful pictures, she said. They are meant to help students who can barely speak English get the basics down pat, she said.

The thoroughness of the program, and the amount and depth of its tools for teachers and students alike, has made the learning process fun and effective for all involved, said Elaine Giron, the district's project specialist for English learners.

She said a committee of educators had tested out three English language development programs before settling on "On Our Way To English." The decision to go with that program was unanimous, she said.

"It's easy for teachers, it's engaging for kids," Giron said.

- Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com.