As teaching professionals are welcoming more English Language Learners (ELL) into their classroom, it is essential that these teachers’ have greater awareness, understanding, and acceptance. Teachers’ need to be aware of their students’ cultural and academic needs, have an understanding on how to accommodate those needs, and provide daily instruction that is inclusive (accepting) for students’ who are categorized as English Language Learners (ELL). Teaching professionals also need to understand that in order to be an effective teacher, they need to promote classroom community and create a culturally responsive classroom. As a teacher, some things that needs to be accomplished initially when welcoming and teaching ELL students’ is to learn about the students’ culture, traditions, prior knowledge, any special circumstances that may affect their learning, etc. …show more content…
4). This information will help the teacher to fully meet students’ needs, address any challenges that may arise, provide a welcoming classroom environment, engage both the student and the family, increase students’ confidence, create opportunities for classmates to learn from each other, allows teachers to build up students strengths and weaknesses, assist with classroom management, understand “interactions with the student as certain behaviors are explained and understood (such as not looking a teacher in the eye out of deference and respect)”, etc. (Breiseth, n.d. para.
The purpose of this study is to figure out which ways experienced teachers work best with culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study illustrates which strategies experienced teachers have found to work best. The diversity in school in the United States has increased each year. This means that there are an increasing amount of students who are learning English, English language learners (ELLs). This article comes from the perspective that each child should be taught to their specific needs. All students deserve a fair chance to learn. Fair means that every student is treated differently, not equally. Every student learns differently. In order to give every student a fair chance at learning, you must teach them according to their needs. An experienced teacher, Tiffany, describes her experiences working with culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study watches her methods and discusses what works based on data analysis of the success of her students.
I was interested in how ELL teachers connect with their students of diverse backgrounds and cultures. Each said that they try to learn about the students’ cultures. The teachers all felt it was important to make a connection. They suggested taking interest in the student’s native language and home life, or having students share language, holiday traditions and foods. ELL teachers can also try to incorporate the different cultures to enrich their lessons.
Within this paper we will take a brief look at the Language Acquisition Principles and how they work on the behalf of ELL students. We will see how these principles can be applied within our own learning environment. There is much information from Walqui article that gives a brief overview of ELL students and how things looked in the past for these students. Now that times has change we will see how educators can make the requirements for ELL students better and more effective for teacher and students. Hopefully, as we look at ways of changing learning for our ELL students we must remember that every student learns differently. Even if you follow the principles from 1-8 we must keep in mind that everyone is unique and process things within their own time table.
racie Allen of the comedy team of Burns and Allen was once asked how one should speak French. She replied, “Well, you speak it the same way you speak English; you just use different words.” When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation, building background, and comprehensible input, we can indeed teach our future English language learners all the right moves with all the right words.
Because America is such a diverse country, public schools are faced with the challenge of providing students from all over the world with a quality education. As Chen points out “public schools have embraced the linguistic challenge presented by immigrant students” (¶1). Then, No Child Left Behind law was approved, and it required every public school should have an English Secondary Language (ESL) program that will provide the “academic support” for English Language Learners (ELLs). ELL parents are happy that their children are getting education help from the school, but it has raised the question of how successful are the ESL programs? Do ESL programs provide enough “academic support” to all ELL students? Do ESL programs have enough tools to help students learn English? Some ELL parents complain that ESL programs do not help their child learn English. A successful ESL program is not based solely on the test scores, but also the ability to connect parents, teachers, and students together to strengthen tools that will help ELL students to learn a new language in reading, writing, and speaking.
Communicating what we want to say, how we want to say it is the goal of expressing ourselves linguistically. For English Language Learners (and their teachers), the ability to do that successfully in their new language presents a challenge. In the content areas of instruction, it is especially important to draw out the information that a student already knows in their native language – even when they do not have the linguistic ability to express themselves in English – in order to assess their level of understanding and engage prior knowledge. Using non-linguistic representations provides a way of bridging that gap between actual understanding and the ability to express that understanding for English Language Learners. For teachers, non-linguistic cues or representations are an effective alternative method in the process of delivering language and content instruction. In this essay, I will discuss why non-linguistic representations work differently than linguistic methods. I will also evaluate selected Teachscape video to discuss how some teachers use these methods, tasks that allow English Language Learner students to develop authentic use of their new language, and the difference between a student-centered and a teacher-centered classroom.
With inadequate or incorrect knowledge, teachers cannot engage in classroom practices that are best suited for all learners. Research suggests that educational experiences and levels may make or break teachers when it comes to being open and effective in reaching ELL students. Byrnes, Kigler, and Manning (1997) surveyed 191 classroom teachers from Arizona, Utah, and Virginia in order to gage teacher attitudes about language diversity. 13 items were measured and there were five independent variables that assessed experiences with ELL students. Data from the survey was analyzed using analysis of variance technique (ANOVA). There were four positive variables that were found to be associated with positive language attitudes among the teachers surveyed, and a graduate degree (held by 24% of those surveyed) was one of these
As an educator one must understand that the children you will be teaching will all come from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different homes with different values. No one student will be the same, and no one student will learn the same. The role of a modern educator is to harness this idea of diversity and channel it into a positive learning atmosphere for children of all backgrounds. “I define culturally responsive teaching as using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Gay, 2013, p.50.). The hope for all teachers is to capture the minds of their children, as educators we must learn how our students learn, adapt to their skill set and channel our curriculum to their strength.
One thing I learned is the importance important of getting to know students and their cultural backgrounds. The practices used in the classroom should cater to the needs of students in the classroom. For example, I have several students who have been classified between Stage 3 and Stage 4 language acquisition. In order to serve these students effectively, I would need to know the stage they are classified at. Next, I would need to implement strategies to increase learning. The materials chosen to read in class should be interesting yet challenging for my ELL students. Knowing about my students’ background and using strategies and tools to support them is the most important lesson that I’ve learned in this course. This understanding applies to any diverse student that I may teach. Truly getting to know students and their backgrounds, as well as intentionally implementing strategies that will help benefit students’ academic growth are examples of best practices in teaching. This has been the most influential lesson learned in this class because it can be applied to every student that I will teach. I plan to implement what I’ve learned into my classroom and create an environment were all students feel safe and motivated to learn regardless of their
The purpose of this assignment is to explain the impact of English language learners in the classroom. As a foreign student, English language learner in the United States faces multiple challenges for achieving academic success. To successfully complete a task, they need to master both English as a language and how it is used in core content classes especially when they are an adult. When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation,
After viewing the panel discussion about how our local school districts have implemented English Language Learning in their school, I am very intrigued. From what I gathered the field of ELL is a growing industry in education, especially in Colorado Springs. We have ELL’s students coming from all over the world. Here in Colorado Springs alone, school districts have to accommodate for over fifty different languages spoken by ELL’s. I can only imagine the challenge that comes with such a diverse group of non- English speakers in our community schools.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). English as a Second Language (ESL). Limited English Proficiency (LEP). English Language Learners (ELL). All of these are programs for students who did not learn English as their first language. Every day, students face many different challenges while going to school. Some struggle to grasp the concepts of math. Some struggle to manage their time wisely. Many struggle to get up in the morning. Many also struggle to fit in. But many of these struggles would be a little easier for those who have learned English as their first language. Those who did not, juggle learning English while trying to learn new concepts that are taught in English. It starts to sound like a catch 22, which is part of the
A culturally responsive classroom creates an environment that is safe and accepting for children of all nationalities. An inclusive environment can include visuals that depict different cultures, inclusion of different cultures in the curriculum, access to bilingual dictionaries, sharing of family artifacts, field trips, and nonfiction picture books to teach key concepts in the content area. Knowing the principles of ELL instruction and characteristics of a successful ELL learning environment will not automatically create a competent ELL teacher. However, this knowledge will contribute to a better understanding of the factors that impact learning for ELL students and prepares the teacher to plan lessons that will result in maximum learning
Becoming a Language Teacher is a valuable tool, which provides a practical guide to the skills and knowledge needed by teachers to address the diverse needs of language learners. Today, mainstream classroom teachers work with learners with a diverse range of backgrounds and therefore teachers face multiple challenges; they need to teach content-area curriculum while at the same time supporting students ' language development. Thus, what makes the second edition of the book stands out is that it addresses both the academic and language needs of language learners, and it supports novice language teachers at the beginning of their teaching careers. Its goal is to help teachers become creative, competent, supportive and up-to date language teachers
In most institutions of learning today, the classes are made up of students from different ethnic backgrounds. These have different traditions and also speak different languages. In a typical classroom, the majority of the students will speak the same language. The teacher must then employ strategies which will accommodate all the students in the class. This will ensure that every learner gets the best quality of education. This will enable them to be better prepared for career and expressing themselves. In this paper, strategies to assist learners of the English language in their literal development for third grade learners. In the paper, three strategies that can be used by the teacher will be discussed. New strategies and research that will help the English language learners to gain in depth mastery of the language will also be discussed. Due to the widespread learning of the English language in most schools, addressing issues of the language learners is of vital importance. Teachers should have the understanding that cultures are what give someone identity and therefore no student should leave their culture for another. Instead, there should be the blending of different cultures so that students can appreciate and learn from each other.