Teacher Discussion Forums

[carlyg]

Hello everyone. I recently became certified to teach ESL, and am working for a school district in PA. My experience so far has been very different from what I expected. The ESL population here is very small, I only have 7 students in the entire district, and all but one of my students speak English as their primary language. Most of them know very little of their parents' native language. They qualify for ESL services because their parents speak something other than English, and as a result, the children have some issues with grammar mostly. It's nice in a way, because I can communicate very easily with my students, but the students (and their teachers) have a difficult time understanding why they are being pulled out of the regular classroom for ESL. I'm just wondering if my situation is unique, or if others have experienced this also.

[Sally Olsen]

We have that situation in our schools as well. You might also find that they are low in vocabulary and teaching through various experiences and stories will help them in the long run. A lot of language use is based having experience in the culture and they might not have had the same experiences so when it comes to reading and writing, their answers won't be up to the standard. Of course, they will have other experiences and if you can translate those into English, they will be ahead.