English Language Learners

English Language Learners, or ELL’s, are students are students who are cannot communicate fluently or learn effectively in English. These students also often come from homes or backgrounds where English is not spoken. ELL students are provided accommodations and differentiation throughout all academic curriculum.

As teachers, we can make ELL students more comfortable by building relationships with them and being culturally responsive. When we build a meaningful personal relationship with ELL students it shows them that they are loved, valued, and cared for. When we integrate their culture into the classroom, it helps to make the student feel appreciated and comfortable in what may have previously been an uncomfortable setting.

One of the most important thing a teacher can do for ELL students is to teach language skills across the curriculum. ELL students should be applying what they are learning about the English Language to every area. This can be accomplished very simply, if you are teaching math then teach the language of math and so on. It is also crucial for teachers to incorporate ELL students’ native language and culture into the curriculum and classroom. There are many tools and resources to aid in this task. YouTube videos can be shown to the class that to share different aspects of the ELL students culture, books that contain characters that look like your ELL student can be read aloud and added to the classroom library, and Google Translate can be utilized in the classroom to help strengthen communication.

There are numerous differentiation strategies that benefit ELL students. One of the simplest, yet most effective, strategy is to increase the wait time by 5-7 seconds. This strategy is beneficial to ELL students because they think in their native language. By extending the wait time it will give the ELL students the chance to process and translate the information which will increase their comprehension. ELL students also benefit from explicit, systematic, teacher led instruction. Teachers should enunciate and speak slowly so that ELL students have time to process what is being said. ELL students should also be encouraged to participate in group discussions. This can be achieved by planning a lot of partner/group work into lessons. ELL students learn so much by simply interacting with their peers, this is where they pick up on social cues and break out of their comfort zone.

In my future classroom, I will incorporate all of the different learning styles not only for my ELL students, but for all of my students. Every child learns differently and it is our job as teachers to find out what type of learning best suits a child, and then to provide them with it. Learning styles that I may encounter are musical, visual-spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, logical-mathematical, verbal-linguistic, and bodily-kinesthetic. By meeting the unique learning requirements of each student I will be providing them a personalized education that is engaging to them; therefore, more likely to be remembered.