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| r•w•t™ Magazine
| Connecting with English Language Learners
Many teachers across the country work in classrooms of children with multiple languages and cultures. What challenges do they face, and what advice would you give them? A major challenge for the teacher is making the instruction comprehensible. Second-language learners need a context for instruction. They need to see connections to their own lives when they read stories. They need to learn the content vocabulary words with visuals to support their learning. They need practical hands-on applications to make content-area concepts concrete. The teacher's attitude is critical. Teachers need to be sure that, as they tell students how important it is to learn English, they do not minimize the students' own languages and cultures. Teachers need to invite the parents to be a part of the learning experience. Often a teacher will shy away from having parents visit if he or she cannot speak the parents' language. This should not happen. If the parents feel welcome, the children, too, will gain a sense of belonging in the school community. Another challenge is working with these children in an equitable fashion. Sometimes teachers say, "I don't want to put the ESL learners into separate small groups because they will feel isolated or their self esteem might suffer; I try to reach them through the whole group." When teachers do this, they are not providing the special instruction these students need—help with vocabulary and bringing their prior knowledge to the forefront to build comprehension. Equitable treatment means using comprehensible texts and one-on-one time with the teacher when needed. Helping the ESL learners succeed will make them feel good abut themselves, and they will continue to learn... How can a teacher's efforts to celebrate differences transform a class or a whole school? Often schools hold celebrations—a Chinese New Year or Mexican festival. This is a start and it does add validity to the cultures, but it may only foster superficial involvement. The more important approach is celebrating the multiculturalism within the students' everyday lives. Instead of setting aside a Piñata Day to celebrate the Mexican culture, it is more meaningful for the teacher to encourage a student to tell about the piñata he or she had at a birthday party. As the teacher builds rapport with each child, she or he learns how to draw these experiences from the students.
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Notes Interview conducted by Dr. JoAnn Cleland, Associate Professor Emeritus of Reading and Language Arts Education at Arizona State University. She also serves as a member emeritus of the r•w•t™ advisory panel. |
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