What I Learned To Write And Read In The ESL Classroom

My journey began when I was 13 years old and my father decided that it was time for me to move to the U.S in order to study. I arrived to the United State in September of 2013, I arrived in time for the begging of the school year. I attended Dover high school for my freshman and sophomore year, something that really stuck with me was the insane number of Hispanics in that town; at least half of the students were Hispanic or were of Hispanic descent. The first problem that I faced upon arriving was the language barrier; I had studied English in my home country, but my knowledge of the language was not enough to establish a conversation. I was put in the ESL, English as a second language, program. Most of the students in the program had been living in the U.S for a few years already, all of them spoke Spanish. However, all of the students had a heavy accent when speaking Spanish due to the lack of use of the language. At this point I realized that in order to learn English faster I would have to sacrifice speaking Spanish. However, I did not want to lose my connection that I had with my homeland. Therefore, I decided to take half of my classes in the ESL program and take regular classes for the rest. At first, my English improved quite fast, but my Spanish suffered as I notice that I was struggling in my Spanish class. Personally, I am not a very good writer, but the fact that I had difficulties writing my native language felt

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

Educators care more about if the student is learning English than academic training as a whole. This prevents ELL students from getting access to challenging academic materials or/and to academic preparation necessary for higher education. Ell students are enrolled into other

3). Some ELL students may start school without any English language skills, while others may have “limited language proficiency or dual language deficiency in both their native language and English” (p. 3). Just as native English speakers, ELL students also have different levels of intellectual abilities; however, their struggle with school in English may be related to background knowledge and not solely on intellectual abilities (Short & Echevarria, 2004). Samson and Collins (2012), purposes if school districts, administrations, and teachers want to see improvements in achievement for ELLs, “greater continuity in how general education teachers are prepared by teacher-education programs, certified by states and evaluated by local education agencies, or LEAs, is essential. By making sure that the special needs of ELLs are addressed at multiple stages of the teacher preparation process, schools may gain higher quality

Growing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, I truly was not receiving a proper education and I knew that my education was the only way for a more successful future. When I was young, my mother read a book to me every day until I was old enough to read by myself. She would purchase English and I would read them to the best of my ability. This is how I began teaching myself English. I came to the United States at the age of five years old because of all the violence, and was able to because of my status as a Canadian citizen. The court assigned my aunt legal guardianship of me, the reason being that it was not a safe choice for me to go back to Haiti, I became active in the U.S and attended school. My mother always pushed me to be and do better, this is

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.

For teachers, I believe they are lacking in having efficient data, practices, and resources. These three categories play an essential role in educating, evaluating, and caring for ELL students. Communication is a huge factor when it comes to instruction in the classroom. In the past research has shown poor communication between teachers, students and families. Schools often lack in providing differentiated methods and tools to teach ELL students. Schools in the past have failed to offer the correct assessments that were needed in order to diagnose each student's needs and measure their individualized learning standards. Educators can easily become frustrated because there is such a wide range of English learners. This means academic levels are different and the educators have not received the proper training or instructions on how to correctly educate ELL students.

Coming from a foreign country where english is a second language, I didn’t know how to communicate. How was I going understand the information in school? How will I create new friendships without speaking? All these questions plagued me. As I sat quietly everyday trying to avoid making a sound, hoping not to get called on to answer a question or speak out loud in the class, I was trying to make clear of what these people were saying. I realized that just sitting there and listening wouldn't help me better speak English; I had begun trying to speak english with my father so I can become more fluent. After months of dedication, I was understanding and speaking a language completely different to mine. That was by far the most difficult

In order to make life in America a reality, we had to sell most of our stuff and send the remaining to America. Making the move was not easy, and there was a lot of pressure on my parents, but we finally settled down in Syosset, Ny, America. Of course, getting used to the western lifestyle was not easy and the language was a barrier. Renting a house, Buying a car, enrolling in school, and purchasing new furnitures were the first things that we had to do in America, just as we had to do in China. I taught English would be difficult to handle, but since I had already mastered a language besides my native language, I was not scared of taking the initiatives. Thus, I enrolled in the ESL program in Syosset High School. My ESL teacher was very strict and a harsh grader, and I did not enjoy being in her class. However, by the end of the year, when I took the ESL exit test, and passes it with excellent results, I saw the influence that my ESL teacher had on me. To this day, I’m thankful to her for not only helping me with my English, but also for making me a better student. When I finished ninth grade and started tenth grade, I tried to challenge myself a bit more with the academics; however my counselor did not recommend me to take Advance Placement classes, nor did she recommend me to exit ESL history (Even though I was enrolled in regular English). At the time I had a few japanese friends who introduced me to Japanese culture and food, thus to speak Japanese I took one year of Japanese. My japanese class taught me the japanese alphabet, basic conversations, and above all Japanese culture. Since Syosset High School did not have any Chinese language or Chinese club, I joined Japanese club in order to be with my other Chinese

On September 1, 2012 I moved to Virginia, United States. Many can say that, but to me it is one of the greatest things I have done in life. Being born in Puerto Rico, an island in which Spanish is the main language, the wish of learning English was constantly in my mind. As I grew up I started to take English courses in school; however, the courses were not as effective, since I only learned the basics of English. Later on after graduating from sixth grade I was enrolled in a bilingual private school. The fact that the school was mostly in English and that it was private challenged my learning even more than in a public school. Although the school was a great one, I was doing badly accademically. It wasn’t until the school year was over that I decided to move to the state of Virginia in order to begin with my journey. A journey in which I learned many things from life and because of this experience I am preapared to overcome anything that comes between me and what I want.

As I began elementary school I was in ESL and in regular classes. My first language was Spanish but I also spoke the minimum of English. However, my speaking and understanding of English weren't sufficient enough to comprehend in class. Elementary school was hard for me because I was still not comprehending a lot even though my English improved. My parents tried their best to help me with schoolwork. It was until middle school my mother started to work. Without both my parents being there to help me I didn't know what to do. I knew that they would not always be able to help me. In order to take care of my

My first encounter with English was at my mother’s workplace. I picked up some words when my mother spoke to customers, but had no idea what each word meant. When school started, I didn’t talk to anyone since most of them spoke English so I felt like an outcast. Still, I tried my best to do well in English, however in fourth grade kids found it humorous that I struggle when I spoke English and they would bully me. When they teased me I would get frustrated and would sit there sobbing and feeling morose for hours and hours. Finally elementary school was over and its time to go to middle school

the day and English at night, but my transition was harder due to my poor foundations of the English language. I now had to speak, write, and read in English, when I preferred my native language, Spanish. Immaculate Heart Elementary School provided a tutor to help me read from the textbooks in my third grade class. I had difficulty communicating with the teacher and classmates. I felt embarrassed for not understanding English, and sad knowing that it was hard to speak with my Spanish accent. Even though I was placed in such an unfamiliar and difficult situation, I enjoyed the educational atmosphere. I felt safer in an environment where I had some individual attention. I began to write essays about various social studies related topics such as the 41st President of the United States and the Statue of Liberty. I recall spending a lot of my time thinking about the ideas I should mention in those essays, but I spent even more time trying to get those thoughts on lined paper. I wondered whether I was saying things the correct way. I felt behind compared to the other student in my class. I didn?t know the basics of grammar, like when to use ?is? and not ?are?, when everyone else had mastered that area of study. I struggled thinking in Spanish and

When I was six years old my parents decided to move to the U.S. I was placed in first grade after taking two placement exams. For approximately six months, I attended the Newcomer Center in White Plains, NY. I remember sitting on a red carpet and spending a lot of time listening to the teacher read stories. I also remember doing phonics every morning. I excelled in math, but struggled in language acquisition. After several evaluations I was assigned to a public elementary school within the school district. In second grade, I was placed in a monolingual classroom. I was later assigned to a pull-out ESL program, which I benefited from immensely. I started to enjoy reading in English when I was with my ESL teacher, Ms. Cello. Learning a new language

ESL students are students that speak English as a second language. Presently, there is many different system to characterize this type of students (qtd in Shi, Steen 63). For example, they can be seen as “English Language Learners (ELL), English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), English Language Development (ELD), English Language Service (ELS), and