ESL in subject area classes

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Home : 2002 : October : 14

ESL in subject area classes
By Julianne

I'm finishing my ESL endorsement this year. There are so many ways to help these kids succeed. One of the best things you can do is to have the students work in cooperative groups as suggested above. The group turns in
one finished project or paper as a team. Because they are older and have probably received schooling in their native language, these students need to transition that learning into English. Some ways of doing that might be:
Use graphic organizers to help them learn new vocabulary and organize their thoughts. This might include headings in their native language along with headings in

English so they will have some frame of reference when starting a unit of study. Use the resources you have at your school, any students who are bilingual, the Internet, bilingual dictionaries, anything you can think of to give them a clue as to what you are discussing.
Allow them to present information in their native language if at all possible. If you have anyone in your building who could read an essay or listen to a presentation in their language, use them!
Give them a task within a cooperative group that lets them participate in a nonthreatening way - recorder, illustrator or timekeeper might be a good choice.
When your students are working individually, allow these students to copy from the paper of an English speaking peer - even if you aren't allowing copying by other students. You won't be grading your ESL students by the same criteria anyway.
Help them learn new vocabulary and build upon the vocabulary they already know (in their native language) by bringing in as many pictures, photos and real stuff as you can. Label it in their native language and in English.

If you find yourself gesturing broadly, repeating every sentence in simpler terms, pointing to things in your room, and all but falling over yourself to get these kids to understand, that's just what you should be doing. I teach first grade in a school where a good 2/3 of our students aren't native English speakers. In a way, it's easier because we always have a couple in our classroom who are bilingual and can help us translate.