Teacher Discussion Forums

I would be all for this in my distrcit, which has a high ELL population. Mainstream teachers with ELL's in their classrooms simply do not know how to educate them and get frustrated when they can not complete the work in their classrooms due to proficiency level. I think, at minimum, all teachers wi...

I just finished reading a case study in Negotiating Language Policies in Schools about an ESL teacher in Washington State who claimed the general education teachers questioned her worthiness in the classroom. I can definitely empathize with this woman as someone who travels from class to class as an...

I also support this notion, if for no other reason than possible erroneous ACCESS scores. I have seen firsthand some students being exited out of ESL due to flukey ACCESS scores, but are nowhere near proficient enough to pass the standarized testing they need to contribute towards AYP. The speaking ...

I recently read about Eastlake School District's official language policy, which states "All ELL's will learn at a high levels and all staff will take part in that responsibility." I currently teach ESL at the high school level and assume the role as co-teacher for half of the day and it is not a po...

I also love TPR and while I sometimes feel like a nut acting things out, the kids really seem to love it and learn from it. My ESL students are all Spanish speaking and while I do not speak Spanish, I did study it in college and have picked up a great deal of it from my students. I do find myself an...

I recently read that grouping ELL students by proficiency level instead of grouping the with proficient speakers could be detrimental to their learning. I'm very torn by this statement and have grouped my high school students both ways. I agree that grouping lower level ELL's with fluent English spe...

I teach ESL at the high school level and some of our core content classes are conducted in this fashion. Some lower achieving general ed. students are grouped with ELL's in differentiated instruction settings and in my experience with it so far, I feel that the ELL's are intimidated and unwilling to...

I recently read where English Language Learners were 63% more likely to be identified as learning disabled than general education students according to a 2005 study. I found this very interesting because in my district, which is heavily populated with Spanish-speaking ELL's, our child study team pre...

I agree that it's a disgrace that bilingual ed has been around for a long time and individual states and the country have yet to unify a plan to move forward and better educate our ELL's. The number of immigrants entering our country is growing by leaps and bounds on a daily basis and some type of p...

I recently read about California's Proposition 227 of 1998 in which schools conducted instruction "overwhelmingly" in English and placed students into SEI (structured English immersion). I was wondering if anyone who's taught ESL using English immersion could share some of your experiences doing thi...

I am currently reading Forbidden Language and learned of the increasing concern of gaps on high school exit exams in the United States among English language learners and non-English language learners. Based on those facts, some say to abandon the crutch of students' native language and instruct in ...

I teach ESL at the high school level and feel that showing movies can be very beneficial, especially when they supplement difficult reading. My students read Romeo and Juliet this week, which is not an easy task for someone learning English. We read the book one act at a time, summarizing each scene...