Personal Statement: Equal Opportunity For English Language Learners

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 &

If your students are English learners, learn a few key phrases in their native languages to model that it is acceptable to struggle with pronunciation and language learning.

The all too familiar situation of English language learners (ELLs) struggling in a classroom that is not meeting their needs is the theme of this short film. ELL’s present unique challenges for teachers given how the California educational system calls for only one year of English language development (EDL). After this time, English language development goals rest on the shoulders of the general education teacher with the additional requirement of infusing SADIE strategies into their daily lessons.

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).

She did this based on a belief that it would help ELLs and non-ELLs alike. The students in the second class reported that classmates were “friendly and nice” and the teacher “likes other cultures.” The results of this study indicate the very important role that a teacher plays in creating and modeling an atmosphere where ELLs are accepted, encouraged and participatory in a learning community.

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).

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.

be English Language Learners, (ELL) for them to benefit from this lesson or to meet state

The fact that ELL student’s are given the exact same educational services provided to native English speaker, seem to be very unfair for the ELL student’s and instead of helping the ELL students to succeed academically we are preventing them from succeeding in their classes. When I was reading this section I couldn’t stop thinking about the video that we saw in class, the student was very smart but the fact that he couldn’t understand the material being taught, this was preventing him from showing how brilliant and smart he is. Just imagine how many brilliant ELL students can’t succeed in class because they don’t understand the language of the instruction.

English learners are currently the fastest developing student population in schools today. This makes it extremely important to provide these students with the programs and services they deserve. Providing a strong education for ELL students is what I personally believe to be an asset in America’s future. Today there are many challenges I believe teachers and students face when it comes to instruction and assessments.

Grand Canyon University: ESL-434 Advanced Principles of SEI Instruction and Assessment Sep 24, 2012 (O101)

Teachers have begun to question the practices of ELL students in receiving services and the regular education they will receive in some content areas. Though there is often a negative perception towards these students it seems it is on the side of the teacher and the additional work and accommodations they will need to provide and alter to meet a student’s needs. I was happy to speak with the ELL teacher and gain some insight on the current efforts to provide high expectations for ELL students through the use of additional tutors and opportunities. However, if we are not careful and if we stop questioning our practices on responses to ELL students, we will ultimately allow these practices to become stable and controlling.

Education serves as the greatest gateway to advancement and progress in our society. However, not all students are provided a fair opportunity to reach their full potential. To address this problem, I founded the Herndon STEM and ESOL Academy in 2014 with the hope of meeting the unaddressed needs of unaccompanied young immigrants from the 2014 American immigration crisis to the Washington DC metropolitan area. The program seeks to aid non-English speaking students in their quest to master English and to connect them to resources that can help them transition to life in the U.S. while still celebrating their culture. Our ultimate goal is for students to reach far beyond their original dreams, onto a greater future.

An issue that has become very important to me is that of fair education, specifically, in regards to ELL programs (English language learners) . This issue is very important to me because I’ve seen the struggles that immigrant students/the children of immigrants face when it come to the education system. During my early school years, I grew up in a predominantly hispanic neighborhood in East Harlem, therefore the schools in the surrounding neighborhoods had many native Spanish speakers. I didn’t encounter any problems in school with language, since English was my first language, but many of my classmates has trouble. I would often see teachers get frustrated with students when they could not communicate effectively with them. Instead of

“What it takes for English Learners to Succeed?” is an article written by Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher that discusses 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 practices such as access, climate, expectations, and language instruction to eliminate educational 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 and transformative approach, as well as integration of multicultural perspective and lastly brings a way for language diversity to be seen in the classroom.