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This is my thinking for language diversity. With being at a school where over 90% of my class is NES or ELL has sparked an interest in me. I have created a mind map that helps organize what I learned and the strategies I can utilize with my students.

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This article is a simple breakdown of the do's and don'ts for teaching students who have a language barrier. It is just a basic guide that can help a new teacher to a ELL or NES student. Some of the important points that are in the article are not banning students home language. This mean encouraging them to continue to learn their home language. Another point is using different visuals. Multiple means of representing content is a great way to help ELL students. Visuals such as pictures, videos, and gestures can help students understand content. This article made me realize some of the practices that I have been using is not correct. I really need to step back and rethink how I am teaching ELL and NES students.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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This article reflects back on one teachers experience with ELL students. She recalls four different ways that helped her ELL students thrive in public education. The first thing that educators need to realize is that there are many different kinds of ELL students. The diversity within ELL can be more complicated than just their first language. For example, students who are ELL can carry on a full conversation in English, but can not transfer their knowledge to their academics.

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The majority of communities in the United States have English language learners (ELLs) and consequently, the great majority of teachers are engaged in identifying how to serve this group of students. Here are a few highlights of what I've learned ELLs really need from more than 20 years of working closely with them in public schools.

1. There Are Many Different Kinds of English Language Learners

Amongst the first group of students I ever taught-a group of high school students who were all English language learners-was a 17 year old who had never attended school and didn't know the alphabet. We started with how to hold a pencil. A young South Korean student in the same class spoke little English, but had a great deal of content knowledge in her first language.

Another student from Yemen struggled to learn English and-his older brother told me-was frustrated that he couldn't transfer his understanding of math into English given that our numbers are written differently. Finally, there was a student from El Salvador who had attended only a couple of years of school at home. She had experienced extreme violence in her home country, as well as on the journey to the U.S. She had constant headaches, stomachaches, insomnia, and other indicators of trauma.

There are ELLs whose U.S. born parents were ELLs, and whose grandparents, also born in this country, are lifelong ELLs. There are students who sound fluent in English, who can carry on conversations, but lack the fluency in English academic discourse to access complicated content or to express their understandings. Assumptions are often made about who ELLs are or what they need which leads to the next suggestion.

2. They Need to Be Known

A child who can't speak English may have academic knowledge in other content areas, and may have strong speaking, reading, and writing skills in their first language. It's our job as teachers to figure out what they are able to do when we remove the language factor. Understanding what the child brings to the classroom will allow us to affirm their skills and build on their strengths.

Beyond this, we need to know our English language learners-as we need to know all of our students-as full and complex human beings. We need to know what matters to them, what makes their eyes light up with joy, what they find funny, who matters to them, and what they dream of in life.

We also need to know their names-and how to correctly pronounce them. We need to know how to appropriately greet their parents or caregivers given their family's culture, and how to partner with the adults in their lives so that we can better serve them.

3. They Need Opportunities to Speak English

All kids need to speak in school, including English language learners. They need opportunities to speak where they feel safe and at least somewhat comfortable. This is the teacher's responsibility: to create a safe classroom where students can take risks and practice speaking in English-where no one will laugh or make fun of them.

In order to practice speaking English and feel somewhat successful, English language learners require scaffolds of many kinds. A scaffold such as sentence stems, for example, can assist ELLs as they practice speaking. For those who speak very little English, a visual depicting a handful of faces expressing emotions can also go along with the stem, "I feel ______ today." ELLs need to speak and speak and speak, repeating phrases over and over, in order to learn the language.

4. They Need Us to Be Learners

Many areas in the U.S. have had English language learners for a long time, while other regions are more recently experiencing an influx of immigrants and refugees. If you teach English language learners, and if you don't yet feel fully equipped to do so, your students need you to continue learning so that you can meet their needs. Check out the website, Colorín Colorado, which offers a variety of age-specific tools for teaching ELLs (articles, webcasts, videos, and various strategies and tips). What strategies and tools have worked for you in supporting students who are learning English? Please share in the comments section below.

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4 Truths About Teaching English Language Learners | Edutopia

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The majority of communities in the United States have English language learners (ELLs) and consequently, the great majority of teachers are engaged in identifying how to serve this group of students. Here are a few highlights of what I've learned ELLs really need from more than 20 years of working closely with them in public schools.

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This is a website that gives different resources for teachers of ELL students. Many of these resources can also be transformed and fit the need of NES students.

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Resources for Teaching English-Language Learners

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From literacy instruction to arts and technology integration, explore strategies for engaging English-language learners.

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This article gives a list of different strategies that can be used in an ELL and NES classroom.
-Make a lesson visual
-Link new information with prior knowledge
-Modify vocabulary
-Use cooperative learning strategies

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Video 1: Teaching English Without Teaching English

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Video 1: Teaching English Without Teaching English

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Robert Guzman is a professor of English at University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla Campus. His tactics are geared toward adult English learners. However, what he says can be adapted and reformed to be used within an elementary classroom. He talks about how each student needs to be able to ask questions. The who, what, where, why, and how are important to learning. Students need to detect and decode through critical thinking. Guzman talks about a three step process in which all teachers can use to help ELL students.

Coming into the teaching world I need to learn how to try and reach all my students. Students are naturally curious and helping them learn English through questioning is a great way to try and teach them content and form with something that interest them.

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Teaching English without Teaching English | Roberto Guzman | TEDxUPRM

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Whole Brain Teaching has been playing a large part within the education system. Without even knowing it, teachers are using movements the embody the whole brain method. Using hand signals and jesters can help students connect what they are hearing to movement and then to the brain. This video demonstrates using hand signals while teaching ELL students. I would like to apply this within my own classroom. I think it would be beneficial to connect the movements of the hands with words the students are learning.

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Thought starters

1. How can you build hand gestures into lesson planning?

2. How can you encourage your students to use hand gestures?

3. Why is this strategy especially useful for English Language Learners?

School Details

Glen Park Elementary School
151 Lippard Avenue
San Francisco CA 94131

Data Provided By:

Teachers

English Language Arts Math Science Social Studies Arts / 2 / Teacher

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Anna Dearlove explains how she uses hand gestures to clarify language. She says that this practice supports all learners, especially her English Language Learners. She even encourages the students to use gestures to explain their own thinking. This is an easy practice to start using right away.