Unit 4
Blog 1
TIP OF THE WEEK
Check out this great site I came across while researching different video activities to get your ESL students' attention! https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-video-activities-lessons-clips/
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
Our Numbers Are Rising...Are We Giving Our Best?
The number of elementary students who are English Language Learners is rising in school districts across the country. One of the Google Alerts I set was "ELL in Elementary". While reading through the different alerts, I came across many articles that had various data showing the amount of ELL students and how those numbers are slowly increasing year after year. I was intrigued, so naturally this led me to reflect on my previous years with my students and within our school building alone.
Last year, we had 0 students in kindergarten who were considered ELLs. This year, we have 4 students. Three of which are in my classroom and one who just moved to America from Egypt, speaking no English whatsoever. The students I currently have speak two to three languages total, English not being their first obviously. This was a huge learning curve for me! Not only because it's my second year in kindergarten but because this is my first year with ELL kindergarten students. I am used to having ES (Emotional Support) students in each grade I have taught. This was so different for me. The resources for these kids were limited and I was left to find various tools for them to use. Yes, our ESL teacher is amazing but I am not the only teacher she works with. Plus, she is split amongst two buildings. It really challenged me to tap into various resources such as Google Translate, various communication tools that our ESL teacher offers us/uses herself and it really forced me to focus on clear and consistent language.
The amount of ELL who are coming to our school alone grows each year. After talking to my colleagues who have this population of students this year and years past, we've all agreed that this is one area where we feel there has been very little training. Administration needs to start focusing on adding more PD for their teachers so that we can feel more comfortable and confident when we are working with English Language Learners. Many of us feel that we know the "basics" but the "basics" aren't what these students deserve. They deserve the best, just like every other student. I'm so happy I set this topic as an alert because it validated the fact that many teachers feel that they need more training and resources to help these students be as successful as they possibly can.
I don't know about you but I want to be able to know that each of my students is receiving the absolute best resources, best tools and best education. Subpar isn't enough. Just OK isn't enough. We need to be better in this department.
Image fromSpeak English Today. (2015, September 21). Speak English Today. Retrieved from https://speakenglishtoday.org/blog/speaking-english-hot-tip-collaborate/esl-students-all-over-the-world/
As our EL population increases, teachers absolutely need the resources required to provide an equal education to all students. This includes not only material resources but also additional faculty and staff. Until the public and politics recognize our growing needs, ELD teachers are the primary advocates for change.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with you. Many districts are far too understaffed to adequately supply resources and support to our growing number of our english learners.
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