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As a teacher, I will expose my students to the different versions of English in society that they have likely experienced or will experience, specifically African American Language (AAL). A way I can explicitly instruct on AAL vs. standard English is through contrastive analysis. I can begin by reading aloud a story written in AAL, like "Flossie the Fox" (making sure to practice beforehand so I can read aloud correctly). I will read aloud the book, explicitly pointing out the differences in AAL from the typical English many students may speak. As a class, we will break the text up into chunks and explicitly contrast the differences in rules between the two versions of English. As a class, we will go over the five parts of language structure rules (phonemes, morphemes, syntax, pragmatics, and semantics), and how they vary within AAL throughout the story. Then, we will contrast them to the rules we know of standard English. Following the read-aloud and explicit instruction on the different rules, I will have students complete a worksheet like the example shown, translating AAL sentences from the story to standard English. After having completed the worksheet, I will review each sentence and connect the differences between the two versions to the different rules of AAL and standard English. Alternative forms of media that can be used are rap songs in AAL, student sentence examples in AAL, and bringing in diverse people to read/retell stories in AAL. The attached PDF includes additional AAL stories that could be used for contrastive analysis within the classroom.

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Ferlazzo, L., & Hull-Sypnieski, K. (2022). The ESL/ELL

teacher’s survival guide: Ready-to-use

strategies, tools, & activities for teaching all levels. Jossey-Bass.

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Building Strong Relationships with Students

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Building Strong Relationships with Students

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As a teacher, to create a supportive, low-anxiety classroom, I will focus on building strong relationships with my students. Having a low-anxiety classroom will allow ELL students to be more receptive to the information being presented to them, increasing comprehensible input. There are several strategies I can take part in as a teacher to increase these relationships. First, I will ask my students questions about their personal life to show interest and that I care. Second, I will make time for each student and communicate to them that I will "go the extra mile to help [them] succeed" (p. 267). Next, I will practice positive reinforcement and constant encouragement, showing that I will never give up on my students. Lastly, I will show my love and support through smiles, laughs, and supportive physical movements. If I have difficulty communicating with ELLs, I will use translator apps/models to make sure a strong relationship is built.

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As a teacher, while engaging in science lessons, I can utilize visuals to promote inferencing and language. There are several different activities I can use in the classroom with visuals. One such activity is "Tap and Talk," which consists of students working in groups and matching vocabulary words with given visuals. The students then explain their reasoning with sentence stems. A different activity called "Vocab Connection Web" allows students to write different vocabulary words, draw a line between them, and a sentence describing the "relationships between the words written along the lines" (p. 308). However, I will make sure not to entirely replace text with visuals, but rather use them as scaffolds for reading passages and writing in science, developing the students' science language.

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Within the classroom, ELL students may need modifications to be able to accomplish the same tasks as other students. When reading articles online, I can allow ELL students to pull up two versions of the article side-by-side: one in English, and one in their home language. Students can then go back and forth between the two articles to better understand and draw relationships between the two languages. The students can still feel "like they are reading the same text" as the other students (p. 435). After reading the article in both languages, I can check in with the students, ask what they have learned from the article, and what they learned about English in comparison to their home language in the process. In my classroom, I will use this strategy to differentiate the instruction for the students, while not lowering my expectations of what they can accomplish.

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As a teacher, during mathematics instruction, I will utilize language frames. Language frames "support students in using specific vocabulary while speaking in complete sentences" (p. 323). Depending on the level of my students and the content being covered, the language frames can be differentiated to support students' language development. Students have either been exposed to or will be exposed to language frames within reading instruction, so using them will be a familiar task. These frames allow students to illustrate what they are thinking and create viable arguments with extra guidance as to sentence structure. This is especially beneficial for any ELL I have who may struggle with confidence in the general classroom.

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As a teacher I can choose to do a read-aloud to model fluent reading, vocabulary, and prosody. I will pick short stories based on the units we are covering in class so I can relate it back to this content. This strategy is especially beneficial when you read through the story one time in a robotic manner, then another with "feeling and intonation" (p. 177). It is important to model good speaking, reading, and use of vocabulary, especially for ELLs who need to be exposed to this to learn English. In addition, I will think about what follow-up questions to ask after the reading to make sure students are understanding the story (i.e. What happened at the beginning? The middle? The end?). Whiteboards can be used so I can check on a one-to-one level what each student is thinking.

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As a teacher, I could create weekly reflections for students to fill out, either like a journal or through questions (i.e. “What classroom activity did they like the best this week and why? What are their weekend plans?”) (p. 32-33). Students can communicate how they are feeling about the information and lessons they are exposed to, as well as further connect with me the teacher. This is especially beneficial for ELL students. In addition, I can learn more about the students outside of school and use this information to tie into the lessons and personalize one-on-one instruction. If students do not feel comfortable expressing their real thoughts, the reflections can be kept anonymous. However, I will likely be able to make inferences about which student wrote which response due to their handwriting and writing style. Overall, this instructional technique will allow me to gauge how the students are feeling in the classroom as well as connect with them on a more personal level.

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Within the ELL classroom, it is important to expose students to complex texts within the content areas. These students still need to be exposed to these more difficult texts so they can "develop their comprehension strategies, communicatino skills, and confidence" but with support (p. 179). Within my classroom, when working with ELLs, I will not "simplify" this more complex text, but rather provide extra support such as images to help visualize concepts, smaller sections of text with headings, focus questions, and extra space within margins for student notes. As a teacher, I want to grow my students skills and knowledge in content areas, while also supporting their needs when it comes to learning the English language.

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Example of Hand-Written Annotations in Home Language

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Handwritten Annotated Text for Comprehension 

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Handwritten Annotated Text for Comprehension 

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As a teacher, I can implement hand-written annotations in their home languages for my ELL students. When reading an article or story, students will be able to apply their knowledge and thoughts using just their home language. Students process the text using English and their home language, however analyzing solely in their home language "can produce more than one year of linguistic growth" (p. 438). Although I will not necessarily know what students are writing and whether or not it is accurate, the most important aspect is that students participate in the annotations. I can verbally ask and confirm what they have learned or taken from the text, but students will receive enormous comprehension growth through their home language annotations.

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As a teacher, I will share basic test-taking tips with my students, especially ELL-specific ones for my ELL students. Before doing a quiz, standardized test, or even a project, I will share tips and give additional to my students. Familiarizing "students with the test format and types of questions" will allow the students to be better prepared and not caught off guard when beginning the test (p. 477). I can set time aside for students to take a practice version of the standardized tests they will be exposed to. This will be especially beneficial for ELL students who have likely never been exposed to this type of testing before. For intermediate and advanced ELLs, I can illustrate how there are different kinds of questions they may be asked: literal and inferential. For literal questions, you can find the answer on the page, in the text. For inferential questions, you have to infer the answer based on the text. In addition to these tips, I will set aside a designated amount of time to provide students with more test-taking tips such as always checking your work and crossing out answers you know are wrong.