School For ELLs

This year has been really eye opening to me for the troubles and hardships English Language Learners need to go through in their education experiences. I was starting to learn the last two years while attending Molloy for their amazing TESOL program, but when I began my first year at West Hempstead Schools I got a first hand experience myself.

I have six students who are listed as ELLs, but there are many who flirt with that borderline. The first thing I noticed is the obvious academic gap there is. They have no choice but to struggle in a general education track, even with the added resources they get. All my ELLs have iPads or chrome books and student resource rooms during the day. It is not enough. These students struggle in class because they call behind, they become disengaged due to these struggles, and end up almost giving up during class. I always go out of my way to create adaptations and make sure they are up to date, but I know not all of their other teachers do that.

Not just academic, but socially they are so behind as well. Most of my ELLs are "shy" and talk to a few bilingual students. I say shy with sarcasm because we don't actually know if they are shy. They are challenged to even talk to other students because of their lack of english proficiency. At this age in their life, students are already fighting their awkwardness and troubles of being social with people they don't really know. Now, throw in the fact that they don't know the english language well, its a very large hurdle for these students to climb.

I struggle everyday trying to find ways to get these students to be active and successful students not only in my class, but in the real world. Hopefully through experience, the schools resources for ELLs, and the strategies I learn at Molloy during my TESOL program, I can help these students achieve just that.

Important Vocabulary!

Hardships- Time of difficulty in life

Flirt- Tease or come close to a certain position/point

Academic Gap- A large difference in success rate in school

Disengaged- Not focused or lacks passion

Bilingual- Fluency of speaking and listening to two languages

Sarcasm- A humor of not being serious or literal

Hurdle- A obstacle to jump or get over

TESOL- Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages


Grammar Point: Modal Verbs (Must, Might, Could, Can't)

Use 3 out of the 4 given modal verbs and create 3 sentences using vocabulary from above

1._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________






Comments

  1. Teacher: JackieDecember 17, 2018 at 3:18 PM

    So many good pints about the struggle of ELLs. Every day is a challenge for them. I like the grammar point you have included.

    ReplyDelete

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