The
ELL Info Brief discusses the challenge of improving academic achievement for
English Language Learners in the classroom and provides detailed instruction on
how teachers can make these improvements. It is explained that there are two
primary challenges for educators when teaching ELL students at the secondary
level. The first being the issue of ensuring that ELL students on the secondary
level have an educational experience that includes both content and English
language instruction. The second is that educators must assess ELL students in
valid and reliable ways. The brief goes on to list various ways in which
Educators of ELL students at the secondary level can face these challenges and
differentiate their lessons.
One
strategy that stood out for me on how teachers can differentiate their lessons for
ELL students was under the category of differentiating instructional techniques
and strategies to deliver content. In this example it is suggested that
teachers use non-verbal tools such as pictures, demonstrations, charts, and
graphs to make the content understandable for students. (p.3) I saw an example
of this while observing a Special Education and ESL class where the teacher was
having students look at various pictures from Ellis Island then describing what
they saw. She allowed students who were not fluent in English to write what
they saw in Spanish first then translate it to English. I thought this was a
good example of differentiation for ELL students and saw it as a tool that I
might be able to use in the classroom someday.
Below is a powerful picture of Susan B. Anthony getting beaten and arrested for trying to vote in 1872 that might be useful in teaching ELL students in a Women's Suffrage lesson.
I too iek the idea of using non-verbal tools. Pictures especially can be a very powerful teaching tool for both the ELLs and maybe even students that are not ELLs but maybe at a different level of learning. Some students just learn better visually. I even remember for myself a time back in an astronomy class that I was just not getting a concept on orbits. The formulars were just a b it too much for me. When the teacher saw that many in the class were struggling he showed a small film, on 8mm reel, yes I am that old, that visually explained orbits and how the fomular was applied. It made the biggest difference for me for that lesson. Pictures, videos, charts, comic strips and others can be a huge help to ELLs and other students.
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