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ARCHIVED: May 2009
“A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher,
though, awakens your own expectations.”
—
Patricia Neal
Suggestions for Teaching English Language Learners (ELL)
According to the
U.S. Department of Education, in the last two decades, the
population of students who are limited English proficient has
grown by 169%, while the general population has grown by 12%.
That means 10.5% of the school-age population in the United
States has been classified as English Language Learners. Because
of this change in our classrooms, substitute teachers need to
work to increase their ability to teach English Language
Learners (ELL).
A unique challenge
in public education today is the wide variety of language
abilities that are found in the classrooms across America.
Imagine how difficult it would be to learn a new language, then
attend school and try to learn the new language as well as the
new material. As teachers, we need to be as accommodating as
possible for all of the students we meet.
Following is a list
of strategies to help the students who are learning English as a
second language:
• Facial expressions
are a helpful tool in communicating meaning.
• There is no need to
get over-excited when a student speaks correctly. "Good
Maria," or "That's great language Naki" will suffice.
• A student may not
feel comfortable speaking in front of people; do not
force them to speak to a group unless they feel
comfortable.
• Speak in simple and
short sentences to help those who are just learning
English.
By using a starter activity you will have time to take roll and
prepare so that you may smoothly and quickly transitions to the
first item on the lesson plan. The starter activity will also
get students busy, thus decreasing the amount of downtime.
Students who are on task don't have time to create classroom
management problems.
By adding these simple strategies while teaching, you will
better assist those students who don't feel as confident
speaking English. .
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