Presentation bilingualism and home language for ell students
1. Bilingualism
and Home Language for
ELL Students
Leonnisa Williams-Harris
SEI 301
August 25, 2014
Lisa Kempton
2. English Language Learners
The education of English language learners (ELLs) is one
of the most important issues facing U.S. educators. ELLs
are a large and growing proportion of the school age
population. This situation is not likely to change because
ELLs are currently the fastest growing population in
United States.
3. English Language Learners Diverse Backgrounds
• English language learners in a mainstream classroom may have immigrated
from a far away place.
• Their parents may have immigrated, but the students may be U.S. citizens.
• The students may not have been exposed to English before arriving to school.
• Some may have learned English while also learning in their native language.
• Others may have begun to learn English at a time when their skills in their
native language had not been fully developed.
4. Bilingual Students in the Classroom
We should talk to our ELL students about their home
language asking questions such as:
How is their home language the same and how is it different
from English?
Are there words in their home language that sound the same
or mean the same in both languages?
Are there words in the home language and English that sound
the same but have different meaning?
5. Cultural Assets That Students Bring To The Learning
Environment
All students come to the educational setting with a
variety of cultural influences such as family culture,
neighborhood culture, and the cultures which may be
associated with their race, religion, or ethnic
background.
6. Cultivating Home and School Partnerships
Family involvement in education has long been considered
an essential component of children’s academic success.
When parents are all involved in children education, this
makes a significant difference as increased family
involvement boosts student attendance and attitudes
toward school. It also decreases students discipline
problems, and increases student achievement and
aspirations.
7. Effective Home and School Partnerships
Teachers should create a partnership plan for parents detailing
ideas and factors that are necessary for a successful partnership.
The plan should define our goals and outcomes and describe the
means that we will use to attain our goals.
The plan should outline the details of the roles each partner will
play in helping reach the overall educational goals.
The plan should anticipate potential barriers along the way and
formulate responses to them.
The plan should identify strategies to evaluate the success of the
partnerships in meeting the planned goals, and formulate a process
to advertise findings and regularly revise the plan
8. Conclusion If ELL’s are to be successful, then they must receive:
• bilingual instruction starting no later than first grade
• bilingual curriculum no less demanding than the
curriculum offered to monolingual students
• an additive education in which a new language is learned
while their native language is developed
• regular collaborative learning opportunities to foster
positive interactions among peers
9. References
Gonzalez, V., Yawkey, T., & Minaya-Rowe, L. (2006). English as a
second language (ESL) teaching and learning: Pre-K-12 classroom
applications for students' academic achievement and development.
Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon
Notes de l'éditeur
Bilingualism and Home Language for ELL Students
Leonnisa Williams-Harris
SEI 301
August 25, 2014
Lisa Kempton
The education of English language learners (ELLs) is one of the most important issues facing United States educators. ELLs are a large and growing proportion of the school age population. This situation is not likely to change because ELLs are currently the fastest growing population in United States. However, the importance of the issue goes beyond the number of ELLs, as ELLs are under achieving in comparison to English speaking learners academically and the achievement gap tends to increase the higher the grade level.
There are students who have immigrated without their parents and are living with relatives or friends. Others may be refugees who came from developing and/or war-torn countries where education was not available to any students, or to students of a particular gender, religion, or race. These students may be dealing not only with a lack of education, but they can also be dealing with traumatic experiences in their home countries which mainstream students and their teachers may have a difficult time imagining. Regardless of the level of English proficiency, all English Language Learners in the classroom will be in need of linguistic support.
To ensure our ELL students success in the classroom, as teachers we must encourage our students to see connections between their languages in order to better understand how languages are structured and organized. By using collective skills and knowledge of our students in the classroom, we can tap into valuable language resources that our ELL students have and with the confidence that these methods will promote their language development in both English and their home language.
All of these cultures are rich in traditions, beliefs, and values, and all of them are different. This means that all students have assets to bring to the learning environment. Seeing these differences as an asset to our classroom from which we can draw as a teacher will make each of our students feel valued and it will demonstrate to them the need for respect and appreciation in the presence of differences, even differences that are not as easily understood.
In order to ensure a successful partnership with our parents, it is important that we get them involved in their children education from the beginning. This can be done in several ways, such as through welcome conferences, regular communication, and home visits to name a few.
Welcome Conferences: The first school conference held before school starts. This conference is used to welcome the student and parents to the school and classroom, and is all about the child and planning his or her education. The teacher asks the parents to talk about their child including the things they like best about the child, the strengths of their child even if they don’t seem to relate to education, the ways their child learns best, and what their child needs from the teacher in order to have a successful year. The teacher also asks the parents to talk about themselves in order to find out how the parents would like the teacher to work with them and the best ways the teacher and parents can communicate with each other. Finally, the teacher tells the parents and student about the classroom and teaching philosophies, and lets the parents know simple ways they can assist the teacher and work with their child to boost their educational success.
Communicating Early and Often: Establish a routine of making phone calls to parents or sending personal notes home within the first month of school, before any issues arise, letting the parents know what is happening in the class, and telling parents something positive about their child. By the second or third phone call or note, most parents welcome hearing from the teacher, and are convinced the teacher is sincerely interested in their child. By this time, most of the parents have willingly become the teacher’s partner.
Home Visits: Home visits helps teachers to better understand their students and also helps teachers to connect with the students family. Many children act differently at home than at school, and it helps to see children in their own homes to really get to know their personalities, learning styles, interests, and strengths. Teachers have used children’s interests that were discovered on home visits as the basis of curriculum topics through which to integrate content areas, and for selecting books to read. For successful home visits, family members need to know that the visit is purely optional and must know the exact purpose of the visit.
Languages must also remain separated as teachers should use only one language at a time and avoid having too much combination within lessons. This forces students to develop their non native tongues and develop skills in one language at a time.
The way that a student feels upon entering a classroom will largely affect the amount that he or she learns in that classroom. Good teachers are like good parents, firm but caring. A positive classroom environment is one that fosters an atmosphere of mutual respect, meaning that the teacher respects the students, the students respect the teacher, and the students respect one another. However, a classroom environment needs to be more than just positive to meet the needs of ELLs. It also needs to be accepting of human limitations and be open to different cultures and ways of communicating and learning. Differences of all types must be seen as assets rather than as deficits.
