Many families in the District are now better prepared to help their students improve their English language proficiency.  Those families learned some easy to use tips at the Dinner & Bilingual Information Family Night in early October.  Those tips came from some of the District’s administrators who, they themselves, have learned English as a second language or as a third language.  The strategies shared by the administrators were simple techniques they used when they were learning the English language.  For example, Camas Principal Irina Lupas showed families how using closed caption on television or videos helped her with learning nearly all the areas that are assessed by the annual ELPA21.  ELPA21 stands for English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century.  It tests students in four areas of proficiency.  Those areas are Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening.  Those students who do not show a high enough level of proficiency are required to take the ELPA21 each year.  Last year more than half the students in the District participated in the ELPA21.