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Strategies For Teaching English
Strategies For Teaching English
If you’ve ever tried to master another language, you know just how challenging it can
be. Perhaps you’ve ordered a meal at a restaurant and felt your face flush as you
fumble over a simple phrase, sighing in relief when the server nods and doesn’t ask a
follow-up question.
Now imagine feeling like this all day, Monday through Friday, while trying to adapt to a
new culture, make friends and learn the fundamentals of science, math, social studies,
art and literature. This is the reality for millions of K–12 English language learners
(ELLs) in the United States.
According to the National Education Association, ELL students will make up about 25
percent of the children in American classrooms by 2025. Teachers are tasked with
helping these students develop English proficiency and meet the grade-level content
requirements, in addition to all their other duties. Thankfully, there are many practical
strategies for teaching English language learners that benefit the entire class.
To help you enhance your lessons, we created this guide based on a recent
webinar presented by Dr. Nicole Schneider, associate professor at UMass Global. Keep
reading to learn how to tailor instruction and ensure accessibility for English as a
Second Language (ESL) scholars.
What is ESL/ESOL?
While the term “ESL” was the standard for years, many educators today prefer “ESOL”,
which stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages. This phrase is more
inclusive and accurately represents the fact that for many ELLs, English is their third or
even fourth language.
ESL and ESOL classes are designed to develop language and comprehension skills for
non-native English speakers. In practice, this is very different from teaching students
who grew up hearing and communicating English from the moment they were born.
Some ESL programs teach students separately until they reach a certain proficiency
level and can join mainstream classes, while other schools integrate ELL into
classrooms from the get-go. Data from the National Center for Education
Statistics shows that Spanish is by far the most common home language, representing
75 percent of all K–12 ELL students. Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese and Portuguese
round out the top five languages spoken in American public schools.
5 effective ELL strategies teachers should consider
While there are many ways for educators to tailor classroom instruction and support
toward English language learners, Dr. Schneider recommends starting with the
following five tips.
If we teach our students the content but never provide them with the language
scaffolding that they need to share about it, it’s like we’re giving them the bricks but
Dr. Schneider acknowledges that some instructors, particularly high school teachers,
may not have enough wiggle room in their schedule to allow for daily sharing in this
way. “Think about maybe doing this once a week for 15 minutes,” she suggests. “Even
though it takes away instructional time, you get so much more from it, that I think it’s
worth it in the long run.”
In order for students to deepen their understanding, and clarify and negotiate for
meaning, they must talk about what they are learning. Strategies for increasing
language output include:
Teachers should also provide ample opportunities for more structured classroom
interactions with a clear purpose and goal. There are hundreds of activities to consider,
but here are a few ideas to get you started:
Think-pair-share
Carousel or gallery walk
Book clubs
Student interviews
Pick a Side:
o What do you think/believe about…? Why?
o How would you convince someone to…?
An example of a high school-level lesson plan that emphasizes HOTS might be having
students learn about garment factory work in Cambodia, and then pairing them up to do
the following:
Discuss what it might be like to sew their own clothes
Review a video about the experience of a Cambodian garment worker
Compose a list of the advantages and disadvantages based on the video