Philosophies for Teaching English Language Learners

After school one day, I sat down with the reading specialist from my school to chat about our philosophies on teaching ELL students. We began by discussing the student population at the school where we teach, which is diverse socioeconomically, but not diverse racially or linguistically. Our school is 99% African American and we literally do not have a single ELL student in the building. There are many students in the area that speak multiple languages though, as there is a large Naval presence in Norfolk and many families have lived in places other than the US.

 

We talked about how teaching students of different cultures who spoke different languages could be especially challenging if we were unfamiliar with the cultures of the students or didn’t speak their languages. For instance, I know relatively little about French culture and the only French I know is, “un, deux, trois,” which would only get me so far when trying to teach an ELL student.  Not knowing the customs or socially acceptable ways to communicate could pose challenges and disconnect between the teacher and the student making it extremely important for the teacher to put in the effort to better understand the student’s background and culture. The teacher needs to be committed to researching the culture in depth and even finding someone who speaks English fluently from that culture that could help explain the cultural cues and socially acceptable practices, like how to order a meal, how to show respect for elders or how to write a business letter. Ignoring cultural differences will likely be frustrating for the teacher and also for the student as they may feel like their teacher, “doesn’t get them,” or like their teacher is on a completely different page than their parents or others in their home.

We also discussed how when teaching ELL the types of assignments should be as interactive and engaging as possible, just as they should be while teaching students who are not learning a new language. Students need to have opportunities to speak with their teacher, English speaking students and fellow ELL students. Dialogue gives the student practice hearing and responding to verbal words just as they will do in the classroom and in the real world and also to receive immediate assistance and constructive feedback. This led our conversation to the importance of creating a classroom environment for English Language Learners. These students must feel comfortable taking risks and trying new words and phrases with their peers as they are learning a new language, which at times could feel like a daunting task.  The classroom environment must be supportive, positive and productive where students can gain confidence that they will find success.