Blog #10 - Watch Your Language!

As our nation becomes more diverse, it is not uncommon to see students learning English as a foreign language. I am studying Spanish Education and English as a Second Language (ESL) Education, so teaching language learners is something that I care about immensely. The two biggest research papers I have written in college so far were both about teaching language learners. Teaching language learners is so captivating to me because I am a language learner myself. English is my first language, but I have been learning and loving Spanish since I was 5 years old. I have had both amazing Spanish teachers and terrible Spanish teachers; I want to be one of the amazing teachers that my students have, whether I am teaching them Spanish or English. As I was reading the different texts for this blog, I read a lot of information that I was already familiar with, so I want to use this blog to highlight the things (I’m using a list form because that makes the most sense to me) that I either learned/thought about for the first time or things that I have previously heard but that I think are extremely important when it comes to language learning.

1. It is important to hold all of our students to the standards set for the course, whether they are set by the teacher, CCSS, or another group. However, it is important to remember that ELLs are expected to meet these standards in their second language (Beers, 2007, p. 107). Because of this, it is normal for them to struggle; as teachers, we need to be ready to combat this by providing the necessary scaffolds for our students so that they can succeed.

2. ELLs often make more mistakes than students who are native to English when they are speaking or writing. This is taught in most classes that address ELL students, but most of these classes do not acknowledge why this happens, so this was new information for me. The first reason students make mistakes is that they are not familiar enough with the rules of English to follow the rules naturally. The second reason students often make mistakes is that they are using the patters of their first language when they are using English (Beers, 2007, p. 110). This means that students may flip nouns and adjectives or clauses in sentences. Once we understand why students are making the mistakes they are making, we can help to correct them.

3. The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) lesson is something that I have mentioned in a previous blog, and it is also something that I have studied in an ESL class that I have taken. The ides of SIOP is to provide the scaffolds necessary to increase the knowledge and the confidence of the students. Something that is mentioned in Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice is to have students write their answer down to a critical thinking question first, then talk to a partner, and then talk as a whole class (Beers, 2007, p. 118). SIOP focuses on using different individual and group environments to help ELL students gain confidence. I like this specific method because it encourages all students to think about their answers and talk about them with at least one other person.

4. Active (speaking/writing) vs. passive (listening/reading) learning is important to think about in every classroom; it is important to find a good balance. When you are teaching ELLs, you should encourage them to be more active than passive (Hinchman, 2014, p. 27). Students listen and read in every class they are in, so encouraging them to share their thoughts and come to their own conclusions may be a little bit foreign to them. Students need to practice applying and connecting knowledge between languages and content areas; this goes back to Blog #1 about preparing students to work in a flat world. In order to truly be bilingual, students must be able to function in both languages, and it is impossible to do this without being able to speak and write.

5. Both Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice and Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction mention the importance of explicit instruction when it comes to teaching ELLs. The most important thing that explicit instruction does for ELL students is define what is expected. This kind of instruction requires that the teacher creates clear guidelines and expectations; often this means written instructions are involved (Hinchman, 2014, p. 29). Using written instructions gives a concrete thing for ELL students to use as a scaffold to whatever they are working on.

6. In a classroom where multiple languages are represented, it is a good idea to incorporate as many universal elements as you can. Often, things like gestures, pictures, and other non-verbal cues will be the most beneficial in accomplishing this (Ferlazzo, 2016). Using universal elements in the classroom encourages students to feel welcomed and creates a sense of unity in the class.

Teaching language learners is something that I am very passionate about, so I hope that these things encourage you to think about the way you teach ELL students. To end, I want to touch on something that was not in any of the readings, but something that I have learned through studying ESL Education. What is good for ELL students is good for ALL students. All of our students need to be shown grace for their mistakes while being held to the course standards. All of our students should share their ideas and learn to create connections through speaking and writing. All of our students benefit from explicit, written instruction. All of our students benefit from both verbal and non-verbal cues in the classroom. It may be true that not all of our students are learning in a language that is not their native language, but all of our students are learners and should be treated as such.

References:

Beers, K. Probst, R.E., & Rief, L. (2007). Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.

Ferlazzo, L. (2016). Do’s and don’ts for teaching English-language learners. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/esl-ell-tips-ferlazzo-syphieski.

Hinchman, K.A., & Sheridan-Thomas, H. (2014). Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction. New York, New York: The Guilford Press.