Course Description:
This course will explore how to meet the needs of students whose native language is not English and how to work with students from diverse backgrounds. Topics will include emergent literacy, individual student differences and similarities, first and second language acquisition and development, emergent and experienced reading and writing development, multiple test sources, text analysis, process writing, assessment techniques, portfolio assessment, classroom organization and management, whole language classrooms, language arts materials, and effective instructional strategies.
In the fall semester of my senior year I got to do an independent study with Lane Clarke. The course was a perfect match for me with my internship in Portland. During my internship I was teaching English as a second language to adults. I had lots of exposure to child ELL students but not with adults and I wanted to take this course to help deepen my understanding of working with ELL students at every age and stage.
Pasted below is a student profile that I completed with one of my adult students. *Name has been changed*:
ELL Student Profile
Holly DeRusha
The Emergent Bilingual student that I decided to document is a student named Lisa from my adult English class. Lisa is from El Salvador and has been in the U.S. for 12 years and has never taken an English course before this one. She is married with two children and lives in an apartment in South Portland. Lisa has spent her time raising and caring for her family and finally decided to take the time for herself and learn English. Her very first class was also the same day that she dropped off her youngest child at his first day of school. To be in the U.S. for 12 years and not branch out enough to learn English past the very beginner level that she is at is astounding to me and I can only imagine how isolated she could be feeling. Lisa was extremely shy for the first few classes and seemed afraid to speak or answer questions in fear of being wrong. She quickly opened up however and made friends with another student who is also from El Salvador and has only been in the U.S. for two months. They help each other along in class and the class as a whole seems to be creating a tight bond as they are all within the very low to intermediate levels of English. Lisa has a great upbeat personality and has truly come out of her shell the last few classes. She has a very contagious laugh and has learned to laugh at her mistakes rather than feel embarrassed by them. She struggles with her accent and pronounces her V sounds as B sounds which frustrated her at first, but now is something she is starting to get the hang of and will giggle when she can’t get it right. I would say Lisa is quickly moving from a Beginner level of English to an Intermediate or Elementary level. She is willing to put in the work in class and at home to further her English and I think that she is feeling more confident in herself and her abilities. She told me she is even thinking about working towards taking her citizenship test soon and that she has more confidence in her ability to learn English than she had before.
The purpose of the assignment was to really zero in on one specific student and their learning process. I am a firm believer that a teacher and their students should have a firm relationship in the classroom and by getting to know your students on a deeper level will help them reach their learning goals in the long run. With ELL students, many of them have complex background stories and it is important to be aware and sensitive of this in the classroom.
