My Career Plan For Teaching English

When an educator walks into her classroom for the first time, she needs to be prepared to encounter students that come from a variety of backgrounds. The children will be in different stages of language development, and the educator must accommodate for each of these students. Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera (2013) state, “The US Census Bureau projects that by the 2030s, children whose home language is other than English will increase from roughly 22 percent to 40 percent of the school-age population” (p. 9). This increase in second language learners will cause the educator to accommodate for those needs. Second language learners “need teachers who welcome them and recognize their unique abilities, what they know, and what they need to learn” (Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera, 2013, p. 10).

I am Brianna Downer and my goal is to become an elementary school teacher. Becoming a teacher is not something that happens overnight. This is a process where you have to know the requirements, challenges, and also the pros and cons of being a teacher. My goal will be achieved at the end of my journey.

One of the U.S. educational challenges of today is meeting the educational needs of the English language learners. This growing diverse population of English learners has to simultaneously learn to build their English language proficiency and the content area within their grade level standard. This makes it a double challenge for them and their teachers. After observing a lesson based on a video simulation of a classroom, I will discuss five components: comprehensible input, ongoing specific and immediate feedback, grouping structures and techniques, building background and vocabulary development and student engagement that were integrated into the lesson. I will then discuss what methods and techniques should be utilized when

With the immigration population increase comes a language barrier increase. Therefore, English as a Second Language (ESL) tools in the classroom is essential. ESL was established in the 1970s when children of many mother tongues, crowded classrooms due to the immigration increase (Tomkins, G., 1981, p.

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

Everyone has an idea of what they would like to be when they grow up. Some say they would like to be a Doctor or a Nurse or a Mechanic, there are many types of careers anyone can choose from. I chose to pursue a Language Arts Middle School teaching career. Many people say that a teaching career does not make a lot of money, but money is not the main thing in choosing a career, picking what you like and being what you like is the main goal. I chose to be a teacher because when I was in Middle School I had a Language Arts teacher named Mr. Tomov, I never really liked him as a teacher due to the fact that he never made class interesting. The school year went along and one day he called me to the side and asked me what my purpose was. I asked him

My decision to be a teacher did not come easily to me. This choice was dependent on a reflection about what I was passionate about and how I could make a difference. I have chosen to become a teacher, as I believe teachers have the ability to provide future generations the stimulation for one of the most significant roles in life; to become a lifelong learner. Many teachers that I have had during my education have had a positive impact on my decision to grow and develop the skills that are fundamental to pursue a successful teaching career. My aim is to be a part of an honorable profession with the optimism that one day I will become an efficacious teacher who can provide future teachers with inspiration, as my teachers have provided for me. Through personal educational experiences and peer-reviewed academic literature, I am able to shape my approach to my pre-service teaching, as it will influence my future practice. As a teacher, there is not just one singular approach to educating students; there is a need for flexibility, diversity, adaptation and reflection.

A recent study on the implementation and effects of a balanced literacy approach in San Diego City Schools indicates that while all students may benefit from aspects of good instruction, ELL students require additional instructional supports. Instruction for ELLs should include the use of their native language, the use of differentiation to adjust literacy instruction, and a focus on Academic language development with the understanding that “one size does not fit all”(O’Day, 2009). Specifically, ELL students need more explicit language instruction, and teachers must have enough knowledge of second language acquisition to anticipate potential barriers to ELL students’ comprehension. In the same study, researchers found evidence of an overall decrease in the emphasis on biliteracy education. The study revealed that three out of the nine case study schools included in the study had no biliteracy classrooms after 2004-2005, and three of the remaining six schools drastically reduced the number of bilingual classes offered (O’Day, 2009). Teachers from the remaining three schools that continued to offer biliteracy programs reported an increasing focus on early transition and on English (O’Day, 2009). Students who were moved from biliteracy classrooms into mainstream classrooms presented a challenge to teachers. These teachers reported feeling unprepared for the instructional needs of ELLs (O’Day, 2009). Similarly, the study noted that approaches designed for ELL students, such as differentiation, are not effective unless a teacher has a background in second language acquisition, and understands how to tailor texts for literacy instruction. These teachers must be able to understand potential barriers to an ELL’s comprehension of the text as well as be able to analyze and monitor a student’s linguistic needs and progress (O’Day, 2009). Use of

The two students in the study were shown to be given limited exposure to content knowledge. Although they were in mainstream classrooms with native English speakers, these ELL students were missing out on a lot of classroom instruction due to being taken away from the classroom for intervention. The author found that both students would be pulled away during the middle of one lesson and returned in the middle of another. She also discussed the ELL teacher’s viewpoint that the student should be really exposed to content area in social studies for the first grade, not fifth as she needs to “…put the language with that she is doing” (Somé-Guiébré.)

English Language Learners are children whose primary language is not English. This paper will include important topics such as: strategies for classroom teachers, How to adjust classroom instruction, and facilitating language learning. This will help guide new and existing teachers in the ELL process. I will discuss do and don’t with Ell’s and also different classroom strategies. It is not always easy to remember to be mindful of all students when planning instruction but this paper will help with all aspects of ELL learners and things that we must do when it comes to teaching these learners.

When completing the reading Chapter 6: Linguistic Diversity in U.S Classrooms the chapter was focused on the impact education can have in students’ learning more specifically language. Despite the hostility, bilingual education has ultimately proved to be an effective program for students. Still, teachers should take on the notion of additive bilingualism which is a situation where a second language is learnt by an individual or a group without detracting from the development of the first language. The reading emphasizes that a second language adds to, rather than replaces the first language. Students should embrace their first language as being bilingual is an advantage. As a pre-service teacher his reading informs me to give students the

ELLs face a series of adversities in their attempts to attain academic literacy and language development. For instance, they are exposed to curricula designed for monolingual English students. Another adversity is that teachers are not well prepared regarding the content-area they teach and consequently do not provide the needed explicit instruction (Ávalos, Zisselsberger, Langer-Osuna, & Secada, 2015 p.259). It is the task for teachers and school administrators to master the content of the area to be taught and to use optimal pedagogical practices which reflect such teachers’ knowledge (Ávalos, Zisselsberger, Langer-Osuna, & Secada, 2015 p.261). They should provide learners with favorable circumstances to attain English language and literacy

I think departments of American universities should think more carefully about traditional teaching methods and change them to new teaching methods which help developing practical skills and make students more active. Noam Chomsky, a professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, writes in “The Death of American Universities”, “You don’t expect students to copy it down and repeat whatever you say; you expect them to tell you when you’re wrong or to come up with new ideas, to challenge, to pursue some direction that hadn’t been thought of before. That’s what real education is at every level, and that’s what ought to be encouraged. That ought to be the purpose of education.” I agree to author’s general point that

Bilingual education is an academic approach followed by some instructors, which is using the native language for new English learners for instructions. Within the international context, bilingual education has become a necessity due to the high number of immigration, colonialism and the great number of local languages (Yushau & Bokhari, 2005). This approach in instruction has reflected back positively or negatively in many dimensions such as social, psychological, and pedagogical. However, bilingual instruction is an effective way of teaching English as a second language, in case of well implementation it can be seen as an educational advantage. This literature covers a wide variety of opinions that revolves around a topic that researchers find it controversial, this review will highlight the major question and findings which emerge in

Before an EMI period in the 1980s, Content-based Instruction (CBI) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) were the well-known approaches to teach subject contents through a second or foreign language (L2) in western countries. CBI is an approach to L2 teaching that focuses on the target language and content (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1989; Crandall & Tucker, 1990). Swain and Johnson (1997) pointed out that CBI is most often associated with the genesis of language immersion education in North America in 1965. They