Learning English as a non-native speaker is no easy task, and getting adjusted to the American public school setting as an English language (EL) student can be even more difficult. ELs face obstacles unlike those of native English speakers while juggling the same stressors that come with being a youth in American schools. But what can be done to get ELs better adjusted in educational environments? During these students’ time of need, it’s important that they can get support, and the best way to offer that support is through content teachers. To better ease ELs into academic settings, it’s important to take an active approach to their struggles. But what are these struggles, and how can teachers address them? Interviews with ELL Coordinator …show more content…
Osborn thought diverse cultural understanding was particularly important in welcoming ELs: “You want to encourage your students to have questions about other cultures. You want to encourage your students to share about their own culture” (Osborn, 2016). Being able to express their own culture gives ELs a sense of belonging. They get to become active members of the class. This can be seen in Mrs. Young’s classroom in Yoon (2007): “Mrs. Young used many intentional approaches to include ELLs in learning activities, to embrace their cultural differences, and to help them sustain their culture...She believed that prompting English-speaking peers’ understanding about other cultures was a way to help ELLs be a part of the community” (p. 222). Sharing in students’ interests and culture not only helped ELs learn, but helped them build peer relationships. It gave them a sense of belonging within the classroom. Exploring school relationships further, Osborn mentioned the importance of building relationships with ESL teachers to ensure ELs’ success. “When you take a team approach instead, you’ve partnered with them and you start going through strategies…You’re more likely to find success a lot quicker than you are if you take an adversarial approach” (Osborn, 2016). ESL teachers are a great resource to ELs. They know things about ELs that classroom teachers may not, and vice versa. Working together allows the ESL and classroom teachers to better provide for ELs. Osborn’s opinion would also be valued on these questions: Is there any particular classroom setup that you find benefits your EL students (decorations, seating arrangements, etc.)? Do you have any strategies for working with an ESL teacher that may not be easy to get along
Furthermore, Vonderlack-Navarro suggest another beneficial way to support English language learners is to involve parents in the students’ education. Because of the language barriers, education levels, and culture, this goal will not be a stress-free assignment; however, once the parents have “buy-in” and trust the school systems, the goal would be accomplished (Stover,
The author suggests screening native language and English language and literacy development from early education through the transition process, and then in English when students are prepared to leave and are no longer getting reading instruction in the native language. The author states that a team method to problem solving that considers many of these issues may ease the progress of a proper instructional plan. Plans and instructional routines such as repetitive language, rapid pacing, modeling, time to practice, and discuss school employees do not delay literacy instruction until student’s English oral skills are well-developed, but instead support Students benefit when school employees are focused on meeting student’s educational needs rather than on finding an outside source to explain the educational needs. Instructors, including the ones in special education, are worried that they do not have the knowledge and skills to properly teach English language learners. The author states how these teachers are scared that their lack of knowledge of the student 's native language makes them unable of providing valuable education. That 's why, it is important that teachers are provided with the resources required to support them in this process.
When trying to communicate diversity issues with parents about certain needs in your class for their child may be difficult. Especially, when trying to communicate among parents of ELL (English language learners) and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) students. Some of the difficulties you may run into are language barriers, misunderstanding of dialect, offensive gestures, and even frustration. As teachers when need to keep a cool head on our shoulders and approach this situation with a positive attitude, a plan, and a great expectation of the outcome.
All these strategies gives all students an equal opportunity to practice English, participation and involvement. ELLs students when it’s time to read or participate in class they may be reluctant to speak because of their lack of proficiency in English or feel uncomfortable in an environment where they have to share their ideas. ESL teachers must provide a positive and supportive environment that offers significant influence on student comfort level, success and participation that requiring ELLs to use the language in front of class without force them
“What it takes for English Learners to Succeed?” is an article written by Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher that illustrate concepts that will allow English Learners to become fluent in English. The purpose of this article is to discuss four accessible teaching practices that will allow English Learners in U.S. classroom to become academically successful and attain fluency in English. To clarify, the authors use access, climate, expectations, and language instruction as the practices that will eliminate education inequality and enable students to be able to fully participate in rigorous course work without excluding English Learners. Ultimately this provides an approachable school reform, creates additive integration of multicultural perspective and approach and lastly brings a way for language diversity to be seen in the classroom.
Reflecting back on my field experience, I was able to gain quality insight as well as a better understanding of the teaching and the learning process of ESOL in a mainstream classroom. My experience in Mrs. Little’s classroom has shown that the role of the ESOL teacher is to educate students in functional language skills, offer content that is academically challenging, and helps students acculturate to the new language and culture.
General education classroom teachers are responsible for providing the primary instruction for English Language Learners (ELLs) development in English literacy skills (Thompson, 2004). Supplying ample resources to accommodate ELLs inside and outside of the classroom are essential as the number of ELL students has grown steadily. According to research, “one out of four of all children in the United States are from immigrant families, and in most cases these children speak a language other than English at home” (Samson & Collins, 2012 p. 4). Further research suggests, “students from a non-English speaking home and background account for the fastest growing population of children in the kindergarten through twelfth grade setting (Short &
ESOL teachers should ensure that all learners are treated equally and have equal opportunities regardless of their race, sex, cultural background and abilities. During the observed lesson, the teacher treated the learners with equal respect, he gave them equal opportunities to participate in the activities and discussions, he listened to everyone and respected their views and opinions. The class was conducted taking into account the multicultural nature of the class and different backgrounds of the students.
Recently, as the schools in the United States become more diverse in cultures, the needs for new English learners to learn the basic of English and grow in fluency has expanded. Nevertheless, a major of English learners receive insufficient education and have low achievement at school. Therefore, the approach of the schools for English learners might not be sufficient for them to unchain themselves from the boundary of differences in language and culture. As a result, the article “What It Takes for English Learners to Succeed” from Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher provides a guideline for teachers to help their English learners by using the four practices of “Access, Climate, Expectation, and Language Instruction.” The four practices can be divided into two categories. Access, climate, and expectations focus on educational settings, while language instruction focuses on teaching contents.
Austin Community College (ACC) has many campuses located around Austin, Texas. Highland campus is one of the newest campus located at Highland Mall and was officially opened on 2014 fall semester. This campus is also one of ACC’s largest campuses, with capacity to serve 6000 students in its first phase. The Highland Campus is located near the north junction of Interstate 35 and Highway 290. The location provides convenient and unparalleled rail and bus access as well as ample parking for students, employees, and visitors. As a student of ACC Highland Campus, I have toured the whole campus more than a dozen times. There are only two floors but each floor has its uniqueness. The two floors are connected by stairs and elevators. One of the highlights
Teachers must learn about their student’s cultures if they want to educate them to the best of their ability. Many of the students in culturally diverse classrooms will want to learn in different ways. Some will want to learn in pairs, groups, as a class, or just alone. If the teacher is educated in their culture then lessons can be adjusted to appeal to every student as much as possible instead of forcing some to forget about their culture and learn like others. Students from
The article Principles and Practices of Sociocultural Assessment: Foundations for Effective Strategies for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms, is written to inform the readers about different types of practices that teachers can take into action when working with ESL students. In this article, it mentions how different principals help to accommodate the ESL students. One of the principals that was mentioned was is that learning is social. In the article, it was mentioned that learning is social because it helps students to understand and use interaction with others to share meaning in a social setting (Smith, Teemant, & Pinnegar, 2004, P. 39). In the article, another principal that helps ESL students is that teaching is assisting. The meaning
Through my bibliographic search, I was able to learn the specifics of what scholars were discoursing on in regards to this topic. Current debates began with the teachers themselves. One article found that ELL teachers were generally “unwelcoming” (Reeves 2006). Reasons for this were the concern that there’s not enough time to address all the students’ needs, too much work for teachers when students are also enrolled in non-ELL classes, and feelings of unqualification to teacher ELL students (Reeves 2006). Another area of discussion is whether ELL programs should take an inclusion approach vs exclusion (from normal school curriculum) approach. Inclusion is when students are mainstreamed for most of the day, with some specific ELL classes. If only in ELL classes, students may not have access to the mainstream education needed to succeed (Reeves 2006). One article stressed the importance of education at home as well. If English is not also spoken at home, acquisition is slowed (Allen 2011). Pride also affects the rate of learning, students will often claim to understand, even though they d not, to avoid the perception of being ignorant (2011).
As an ESL instructor, I teach a diverse classroom full of migrants with a variety of backgrounds. It’s as multicultural as a classroom can be! I try to incorporate my students’ cultures into our lessons. After all, everything we know and understand comes from the lens of our culture. Take for example our own education. Think about how much influence our point of view had on our education. Now, how much is our point of view affected by culture? I try to be as culturally responsive as possible. However, I know that there is always room for improvement.
During the 1990s the immigrant population expanded quickly and by a large amount. According to Eggen and Kauchak (2007) “experts estimate that by the year 2020 two thirds of the school population will be African American, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American. This means there will be great cultural diversity in our society and in our schools.” Educators will need to be educated on how to teach in a diverse classroom. Teachers will need to have an understanding for English-language learning children and the way they learn. All educators must be able to teach ELL students while encouraging them to continue to use their native language while learning to speak English. Teachers must also remember to try to keep all families