When entering a BC classroom, teachers should consider:
- Who are ELLs?
- What kind of program support is available for ESL?
- How does your school community provide a welcoming environment for ELLs?
- Who is responsible for initial and ongoing language assessment?
- What is the difference between program modifications and accommodations?
- What are the graduation requirements?
Common Considerations of BC Teachers:
1. There is great importance in retaining a student’s sense of self and culture
BC schools are multicultural communities that have populations of people from all over the world, who come together to share the classrooms and participate in activities together. The Ministry document English as a Second Language Learners: A Guide for ESL Specialists, page 22, outlines three goals of the ESL Service Delivery as:
2. Consider the use and the importance of adaptation when addressing individual students.
Just as if a classroom only had English speaking students, there are different types of ELLs with different abilities, personalities, and experiences. Administration and teachers “should recognize the objective of integration into the regular school program based on students’ readiness, so they can achieve the learning outcomes of the curriculum. Adaptations may be required to address the student’s level of English language proficiency and prior educational and cultural experience” (page 9, English Language Learning: Policy and Guidelines ).This means that professionals need to identify the needs of each student and what supports they need, and then work on development from there.
When assessing a student for placement and integration, the English Language Learning: Policy and Guidelines tells that “assessment should take into account the fact that students may have differing levels of proficiency in relation to different aspects of language (e.g., they may have more advanced oral language proficiency than written language proficiency)” (page 2). This can be a challenge for classroom teachers and specialist teachers to address because it means that they need to teach on many levels. Therefore, teachers need to take this into consideration in their planning.
3. Make the work that students complete meaningful
Myths and Delusions: English Language Instruction in Canadian Schools claims an ESL myth to be that students will learn language alongside content instruction. It references David Corson’s argument that “a monolingual system of schooling serving a multilingual society unjustly requires all children to possess the dominant language (for learning and tests) but fails to guarantee that children can acquire that language to an equal degree” (page 32). This consideration also supports a principle that underpin ELL services in BC, which is that “students require both social and academic language competence in order to participate fully in educational programs. Academic language competence, often called by teachers ‘Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency’...is more difficult to acquire and takes more time to master than social language, often called by teachers ‘Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills’” (page 5, English Language Learning: Policy and Guidelines). I agree and think that this is an important consideration for ELL educators; further, I think that educators need to look beyond teaching language in context, but also making it valuable. This means using history that is relevant to learners’ background, or giving mathematical situations that the student relates to, or teaching recipes that would be taught in their culture. When educators integrate familiar culture into lessons, learning happens easier. The positive aspect of this consideration is that it connects well to my Consideration #1 of valuing and encouraging culture.
4. Teachers need to have the ability, knowledge and resources to support ELL students
A goal of ESL delivery is to “become oriented to those aspects of methodology, curriculum, and extra-curricular activities that differ from those of the student’s previous experiences” When a teacher is given a class that has a large number of ELLs or a large variance of levels of ELLs, but has no education on how to support these students, the achievement of the students is lowered. Teachers need training and support to effectively teach their students; it is not something that they will innately know how to approach. It is important for districts, administration, and individual teachers to consider how the equip themselves to approach a classroom with one to many ELL students.
This idea is especially important to me because Myths and Delusions: English Language Instruction in Canadian Schools tells that “teachers in upper grades experience the greatest difficulty meeting the language needs of students due to limited time periods, a rotary system, a defined curriculum, and a lack of professional development” (page 32). I myself am an “upper grade” teacher. I agree that the limited time period is a large barrier. You see students for 80 minutes every day, or every second day, for one specific subject. Upper level teachers cannot bring the skills that were taught in one subject over to another subject because they do not know if those skills have been taught. Therefore, language and rules may be taught many times in different ways, which can create confusion, or not taught at all, which can create holes. I think a school’s ELL specialist should consider this when approaching a school, perhaps creating a conversation about this with the classroom teachers.
5. Language development is a community commitment
Teachers need to remember that language development isn't all on them. Sometimes teachers can feel frustrated and overwhelmed when student language development does not happen easily or fast as they wish; at this point they need to remember that language development takes time and the support of many people. The family and friends of the student, the administration, the teacher specialist, the classroom teacher, and the individual student forms the community for language development. There is a goal for ESL delivery to “develop competence at a level commensurate with the student’s peers, according to the full extent of the student’s potential, in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing” (page 22, English as a Second Language Learners: A Guide for ESL Specialists). This is the reminder that each student is an individual with different needs and abilities to be considered, but that a network of people need to communicate and work together to create learning growth. The Ministry document English Language Learning: Policy and Guidelines reminds teachers that “parents play a vital role in the education of their children by working in partnership with educators. Parental support is an important component of an English language learner’s education. Parents should be encouraged to actively participate in the learning process” (page 6). This is idea stands even when the parents are not English-speakers themselves; to have parents encourage their students to practice their English is a huge support for the teacher. And although, as Myths and Delusions: English Language Instruction in Canadian Schools points out “The lofty ideals of our Canadian Multiculturalism Act are sullied by the bungling of overly prescriptive, rigid regulations for graded curriculum, policing of standardized tests, and literacy initiatives unrelated to ESL”, student success is still possible.
BC schools are multicultural communities that have populations of people from all over the world, who come together to share the classrooms and participate in activities together. The Ministry document English as a Second Language Learners: A Guide for ESL Specialists, page 22, outlines three goals of the ESL Service Delivery as:
- develop and maintain a sense of self-worth
- develop and preserve a pride of heritage
- develop an understanding of and appreciation for cultural differences and similarities
2. Consider the use and the importance of adaptation when addressing individual students.
Just as if a classroom only had English speaking students, there are different types of ELLs with different abilities, personalities, and experiences. Administration and teachers “should recognize the objective of integration into the regular school program based on students’ readiness, so they can achieve the learning outcomes of the curriculum. Adaptations may be required to address the student’s level of English language proficiency and prior educational and cultural experience” (page 9, English Language Learning: Policy and Guidelines ).This means that professionals need to identify the needs of each student and what supports they need, and then work on development from there.
When assessing a student for placement and integration, the English Language Learning: Policy and Guidelines tells that “assessment should take into account the fact that students may have differing levels of proficiency in relation to different aspects of language (e.g., they may have more advanced oral language proficiency than written language proficiency)” (page 2). This can be a challenge for classroom teachers and specialist teachers to address because it means that they need to teach on many levels. Therefore, teachers need to take this into consideration in their planning.
3. Make the work that students complete meaningful
Myths and Delusions: English Language Instruction in Canadian Schools claims an ESL myth to be that students will learn language alongside content instruction. It references David Corson’s argument that “a monolingual system of schooling serving a multilingual society unjustly requires all children to possess the dominant language (for learning and tests) but fails to guarantee that children can acquire that language to an equal degree” (page 32). This consideration also supports a principle that underpin ELL services in BC, which is that “students require both social and academic language competence in order to participate fully in educational programs. Academic language competence, often called by teachers ‘Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency’...is more difficult to acquire and takes more time to master than social language, often called by teachers ‘Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills’” (page 5, English Language Learning: Policy and Guidelines). I agree and think that this is an important consideration for ELL educators; further, I think that educators need to look beyond teaching language in context, but also making it valuable. This means using history that is relevant to learners’ background, or giving mathematical situations that the student relates to, or teaching recipes that would be taught in their culture. When educators integrate familiar culture into lessons, learning happens easier. The positive aspect of this consideration is that it connects well to my Consideration #1 of valuing and encouraging culture.
4. Teachers need to have the ability, knowledge and resources to support ELL students
A goal of ESL delivery is to “become oriented to those aspects of methodology, curriculum, and extra-curricular activities that differ from those of the student’s previous experiences” When a teacher is given a class that has a large number of ELLs or a large variance of levels of ELLs, but has no education on how to support these students, the achievement of the students is lowered. Teachers need training and support to effectively teach their students; it is not something that they will innately know how to approach. It is important for districts, administration, and individual teachers to consider how the equip themselves to approach a classroom with one to many ELL students.
This idea is especially important to me because Myths and Delusions: English Language Instruction in Canadian Schools tells that “teachers in upper grades experience the greatest difficulty meeting the language needs of students due to limited time periods, a rotary system, a defined curriculum, and a lack of professional development” (page 32). I myself am an “upper grade” teacher. I agree that the limited time period is a large barrier. You see students for 80 minutes every day, or every second day, for one specific subject. Upper level teachers cannot bring the skills that were taught in one subject over to another subject because they do not know if those skills have been taught. Therefore, language and rules may be taught many times in different ways, which can create confusion, or not taught at all, which can create holes. I think a school’s ELL specialist should consider this when approaching a school, perhaps creating a conversation about this with the classroom teachers.
5. Language development is a community commitment
Teachers need to remember that language development isn't all on them. Sometimes teachers can feel frustrated and overwhelmed when student language development does not happen easily or fast as they wish; at this point they need to remember that language development takes time and the support of many people. The family and friends of the student, the administration, the teacher specialist, the classroom teacher, and the individual student forms the community for language development. There is a goal for ESL delivery to “develop competence at a level commensurate with the student’s peers, according to the full extent of the student’s potential, in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing” (page 22, English as a Second Language Learners: A Guide for ESL Specialists). This is the reminder that each student is an individual with different needs and abilities to be considered, but that a network of people need to communicate and work together to create learning growth. The Ministry document English Language Learning: Policy and Guidelines reminds teachers that “parents play a vital role in the education of their children by working in partnership with educators. Parental support is an important component of an English language learner’s education. Parents should be encouraged to actively participate in the learning process” (page 6). This is idea stands even when the parents are not English-speakers themselves; to have parents encourage their students to practice their English is a huge support for the teacher. And although, as Myths and Delusions: English Language Instruction in Canadian Schools points out “The lofty ideals of our Canadian Multiculturalism Act are sullied by the bungling of overly prescriptive, rigid regulations for graded curriculum, policing of standardized tests, and literacy initiatives unrelated to ESL”, student success is still possible.