I have chosen to write about the topic of English Language Learners for the next couple of weeks because I feel like this is a topic that is extremely prevalent in California schools today, and as a future teacher I believe I must be aware of the fact that for some students in my class, English may not be their first language.
Who are English Language Learners? In the article, “English Learners in California Schools”, Christopher Jepsen and Shelley de Alth describe English learners as students who speak another language other than English at home. The authors go on to explain how English learner students make up one-third of the student population of California Elementary schools, and one-quarter of all California students, kindergarten through twelfth grade.
I was aware that there was a large portion of English learner students in California schools today, but these statistics really put it into perspective for me, and made me realize that as a teacher, encountering English learner students is something one can definitely count on. One of my fears/concerns when it comes to teaching English learners is that I will not be prepared enough to give them all the help, attention, and resources they need in order from them to thrive in an academic setting. I believe observing teachers who have English Language Learners in their class and hopefully being able to work with these students during my time in the credential program will help to better prepare me for this when I am a teacher.
Jepsen, Christopher, & de Alth, Shelley. (2005). English Learners in California School. 10. http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_405CJR.pdf
I too had the fear about working with English Learners. I worked for a summer school program that was for low income students and the majority, if not all, of the students were Hispanic and many of them only spoke Spanish in their home. I had one girl in particular in my geometry class who had trouble understanding English. Since I was also their tutor at night I was able to help her a little more. The barrier at first was extremely difficult. I felt that she couldn't entirely understand me and I was confused just as well. It took some getting use to and adjusting to different ways of approaching certain topics. In the end, i feel that it was a great learning experience and something that every teacher will face at some point in their career.
ReplyDeleteAs future educators, we will encounter many obstacles throughout our career. The goal is to learn from the challenges, and make ourselves better teachers. I believe that once you have the opportunity to work with an ESL student, you will gain new abilities and work with them to learn from each other. Just like anything in our lives, when given the opportunity to learn or do something new, we are able to learn from our mistakes, and grow.
ReplyDeleteI think these fears are common and glad you brought this up. This is an important subject in southern California because we have a lot of students that do not speak English as their first language. It is very scary for us as teachers but not as scary as it is for the students. I think it is good that you are observing and learning from others.
ReplyDeletePeople in special education do not like the term "English Language Learners." Instead, we are told to use person-first language. So we'd say something like "students who are learning English." They do make up a large portion in CA student population. But I don't think it is helpful for teachers to develop a stereotype about these students. We'll get to know more about how to teach students who're learning English throughout the credential programs at CSUSM. R-J
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