Quick Tips

Useful References

Teaching Limited English Proficient Students

A Survival Guide for K-12 Teachers

Get to know your students and their abilities. Use as many graphic organizers as possible. Speak slowly and eloquently. Be patient: LEP students may require months before producing any language. Learn about the SIOP Model. It will help you create lessons that are engaging for both your English speaking students and your LEP students. Do not hesitate to contact your schools ESL teacher for help.

Educating English Learners: Language Diversity in the Classroom

by James Crawford

Teaching English Language Learners K-12: A Quick Guide for the New Teacher
by Jerry Jesness

Understanding your International Student: An Educational Cultural and Linguistic Guide

by Leslie Eckstein et al.

LEP, ELL, ESL What is it?

Limited English Proficient students count for 10% of the student population in the United States, representing 5 million individuals. It is therefore important for an educator to know who they are. LEP stands for Limited English Proficient. It is the acronym used in the No Child Left Behind act (NCLB). ELL or English Language Learner is more commonly used by education professionals. They both refer to the same group of people and can be used interchangeably. No Child Left Behind defines an LEP student (or ELL) as someone who is 3 to 21 years of age, who is enrolled in an elementary or secondary school and who was born outside of the United States or whose native language is not English. ESL on the other hand stands for English as a Second Language and does not refer to students but to a program used to teach English to LEP students

I have LEP students in my class. What should I do?

It is first essential to know as much as possible about your LEP students. They may come from very different cultural backgrounds even though their native language is the same. Getting to know their cultural identities will make it easier for you to create lessons and material to which they can relate. Every LEP student takes a language proficiency test in four areas: -Listening -Speaking -Reading -Writing Knowing your students abilities in each of those four categories is essential to properly accommodate them in your classroom. Do not hesitate to contact the ESL teacher at your school. He or she will be able to give you information concerning your students background and English proficiency. He or she will also be able to give you tips and advice to use in your daily lessons.

Language Acquisition
It is important to familiarize yourself with the different stages of language acquisition: Pre Production Early Production Speech Emergence Intermediate Fluency Advanced Fluency

Each stage includes a set of abilities you may expect from your students. Knowing these abilities will allow you to modify your lessons adequately and efficiently.

BICS vs. CALP Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) refer to the level of English necessary to interact in social situations. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) refers to the level of English necessary to perform in an academic environment such as a classroom. It is a common pitfall to believe that a student with good social English is completely proficient. Be sure not to overestimate a students abilities based solely on his or her BICS.