Essay on English Language Learner

As our nation shifts towards a more culturally diverse population both educators and families have to find a common ground to ensure that English Language Learners are academically successful. All stakeholders must carefully consider the social cultural impact on an ELL education. The process of raising bilingual learners take more than a language a school and a language learned at home. The transition must have a purpose and a goal.

ELL continue to rise year after year. In EDUC 628, the class delved into the rise of ELL in America and how the best teaching methods to approach each learner with. Every ELL student is unique and has different learning process. Although the semester covered a wide variety of topics ranging from dialects to teaching methods, every module served its purpose in providing a framework for future ELL teachers. Learning about how to teach ELL was significant to me because when I first entered the school system in America, I was placed into ESL and I have gone through the process of many of these teaching methods. EDUC 628 main focus was preparing students whose goal in the future was to educate ELL. The articles and readings assigned in the class provided a funds of knowledge going into each new lesson. Coupled with the readings, hands on activities such as the mini lessons and designing lesson plans provided each student with experience that will reflect on their teaching abilities in the classroom. In my paper, I will be provided a step by step synthesis of what was learned and accomplished every week along with a brief summary of the readings. I will probe deeper into the modules and lessons that piqued my interest the most and that also challenge my mindset.

One way to address challenges that come with educating ELL students requires that culturally responsive educators “expose themselves and their students to each other’s cultural worldviews” (Banks & Banks, 2013, p.17). As described in the article, the study videotaped three different classrooms when learning was taking place. Then later analyzed by interviewing separately, participating teachers, newly arrived immigrant students and their parents, and cultural bridge persons. Even though all participants expressed the

A full range of services are provided to meet individual needs. One of these services, English as a Second Language, provides support in general education classrooms for students whose first language is not English. The English Language Learning (ELL) Program utilizes various instructional models where students work within a classroom setting, in small groups or individually

It is not impossible for schools to involve the parents of their ELL students, they must demonstrate to the parents and students that they are valued members of the school community. There has been considerable amounts of research on the importance and benefits of working closely with the parents of ELL students and how income and social class are strong predictors of how families relate to schools. For example, low income or non-English speaking parents may leave big decisions regarding school up to the teachers because of their expertise and the parents potential lack of. In a study

In the article, Involving Parents of English Language Learners in a Rural area. The author explains how ELL have increased in public schools over the years. The author makes note that many of the barriers for ELL include the lack of parental involvement. In addition, the author explains how the lack of parental involvement can hinder a child’s performance and impact collaborative efforts between parents and teachers. Furthermore, this article explains how the cultural divide between parents and teachers can lead to parents feeling inferior.

Preparing students who are ELL to succeed in the general education classroom requires an understanding of the language and pragmatic skills they are likely to encounter. The lack of understanding of the language and pragmatic skills of the general education teachers and ELL teachers is a major contributing factor to poor instructional practices used with ELL students (Brice et al., 2006). According to Alt (2014), success in schools depends heavily on children's ability to understand and use the language of instruction to learn. However, there is much to learn about how language proficiency can affect academic performance. Studies show that preschool age ELL students that have a strong language base either in English or in Spanish perform better in class discussion. They also show that explicit vocabulary instruction, either in English or Spanish, with preschool age students can show tremendous gains in student performance (Gorman et al., 2012 ; Lugo-Neris et al., 2010). Ultimately, pre-reading skills development for Spanish-speaking ELLs should emphasize strategic scaffolding in which teachers are knowledgeable of orthographic, phonemic, semantic, and alphabetic similarities between Spanish and English and can mediate instruction by making instructional decisions that facilitate the development and transfer of skills across the languages (Cardenas-Hagan et al.,

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

Many of their learning needs are similar to those of other children and young people learning in our schools. However, these learners also have distinct and different needs from other learners by virtue of the fact that they are learning in and through another language, and that they come from cultural backgrounds and communities with different understandings and expectations of education, language and learning”. (NALDIC, 1999).

What surprise me was that in 2013 there was a total of 5.3 million ELL students throughout the country. This number is shocking, there are many ELL students in our classrooms settings and yet there are not enough resources and not enough prepared teachers that can work with ELL students in an effective way. It makes you think as a future teacher what should I be doing to better perpare myself for those studetnss? What kind of strategies should I used that would be effective to them. Not only that but as teachers we should also think about on how can we explain to ELL students that they need to maintain their home language while learning English? We, as teachers, see the importance of maintain both languages, of not only speaking it fluently

Many English language learner students have experiences and socialized outlines that are diverse from the mainstream body. Each student, whether or not they are labeled as an ELL, come from a different set of backgrounds, personalities, families, and beliefs. All three educators have recognized the trend in their classrooms and have embraced the multicultural teaching using culturally responsive instruction. This type of teaching method inspires educators to adjust their instruction to meet the learning standards of all students. They believe that students should have the experience to use both their native language and the second language to draw real-life connections. Teachers that support the background of both languages are helping student’s link together vocabulary and word development to strengthen language development. All three educators believed in the variation of reading; including materials, text books, supplementary programs and fictional books. The adaption of numerous reading styles can assist diverse students to become more effective and competent users of the English language. They also reported that not only is it

English language learners (ELL) are one of the fastest growing classifications of students attending schools in the United States today. They represent a diverse group of students typically coming from homes or backgrounds where English is not the primary language spoken. Additionally, ELL students experience difficulties communicating or learning academic instruction in English.

There are many challenges that ELL students face; from the academic performance to poverty and social inequalities. Most ELL students don’t have access to the basic educational resources and opportunities. (LaChat, 2004) “In school, the greatest difference between English language learners and their peers is the magnitude of learning expected.” (LaChat, 2004) As noted the ELL students have started the educational race in the negative, with out the basic monetary and educational push as their counterparts.

Current teachers don’t know where to find this new information and research on ELL instruction. It is important that we develop an understanding as educators to understand completely how ELL students learn. There are 5 Principles and their instructional implications for ELL students: Teachers need to scaffold their instruction, use a variety of methods, and promote the use of student interaction; Teaching academic language; instruction that has ELL students making state content standards; instruction compatible to the students’ cultures; assessment is used correctly. Lastly, lesson 5 is “Build a bridge to families and community members.” Students learn best at home and the same is said for ELL students especially when it comes to speaking in English and other things. This can be done by the use of multilingual staff that are available when interacting with parents so they know about their child’s education. Offering family literacy programs are a great way to involve parents in their child’s education as ELL

Another challenge educator’s encounter is the cultural gap that is between students and teachers. It is important for educators to understand that some culturally diverse children may need things explained to them in a different way for them to gain an understanding.