12 Ways to Support ELs

1. What do you Think??  REFLECT: Strategies 9-12 (14:39 - 20:30) have a common thread around respecting and honoring a student.  Gonzalez cites, “They’re doing twice the job of everybody else in the class, even though the result looks like half as much.”  What do you think?

I think it's really important to know the student's background and where they're coming from. For ELs they're not only translating language, but they're translating and navigating culture. They're doing so many things at once, while also trying to fit in with other young people. That doesn't even bring up whatever they might be going through at home. Unfortunately, they have to do all of this work to give them more opportunities for the future. While we don't have a national language, having a strong command of English makes things a lot easier.

2. Now What??  From the 12 strategies Gonzalez offers, which do you already use consciously? What are the results?  Are there any strategies that you connect with and plan to use?  How will you know if you are successful?  Please explain.

The strategies that I already use consciously are "make it visual," "build in more group work," and "learn about the cultural background of your students." I started my career as an EL teacher, and I've carried the idea of making things visual along with me. I like having a visual up because it allows me to provide additional support for a student if they need more time with the language or if they zoned out and want to know what's happening in the classroom. For the most part, I've had a reduced amount of "What are we doing?" or "Can you go over it again?" when I've had the information displayed on the board, and with technology, students are actually able to take a picture of the text (I usually have instructions typed with images) and translate it if need be. I really like building in more group work as well because being collaborative is an important soft skill for students to have as they move toward adulthood. One thing that I've noticed about group work is that it isn't common or even preferable in every culture. That ties into "learn about the cultural background of your students." In order for me to know what grouping is most effective and how to support my students to the best of my ability, I need to find out how they interact in group settings. In some cases, a student's culture may not encourage collaboration, and I need to accommodate for that.