Strategies for working with English Language Learners

http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/pigs/pig19.htm

This is a good website that offers strategies for teaching ELL students in Elementary and Middle school. It provides a description of who they are, understand cultural differences, understanding second language learners, instruction in the active learning classroom, etc. The site begins by describing how teachers may discover in the beginning of the school year that they have ELL students in their classroom. They may be unaware of how to handle the situation. The article mentions that teachers may have the question, "what do I do?" The site also provides answers to that question. Much of the suggestions that are provided are related to working within an active learning instructional model. You will find that working with ELL students can provide a resource to your classroom, aid the learning process for all of your students, and improve language skills and cross-cultural understanding for the entire class. The English language learners in your classroom will vary in their background, skills, and past experiences which will bring diversity into the classroom. First and foremost ELL students need to work on and build their English oral skills but that is not all. They also need to acquire skills to read and write in English as well. All of this cannot be accomplished at once; it needs to be done one step at a time. I like how the article stated that students from other cultures can have different views of how to be a student or to "do schooling." The example they used is that some students may not feel discussion in class is appropriate because in their culture it is disrespectful to ask questions to the teacher. This site ix useful and also provides information on building a home and school community, utilizing cultural diversity, and many more. I recommend this site to future teachers because it is very informative.