How does ELA correspond with ESL?
English Language Arts works really well with English as a Second Language since they both incorporate English Language skills, and creating meaningful conversations and discussions. However, this does not mean that there are not challenges associated with learning English while working in an English Language Arts classroom. The most challenging aspect of teaching English Literature to English as a Second Language students is that most of the novels and short stories are not comprehensible to students, and they often lack meaning that is valuable for ESL students. Many ESL students are just trying to get down basics of the language, and books are challenging to their comprehension skills. This challenge can be easily remedy though by building background knowledge, taking inventory of prior knowledge, chunking reading into sections, allowing students to work together, and using TPR or other strategies to act out and make sense of the novel.
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Why Might ESL Students Struggle With Content?
For example, in an English 10 classroom students might read The Great Gatsby, and if an ESL student is in this class they will have trouble understanding the message and work they are reading in The Great Gatsby because they don’t understand English fluently or even if at all. They also may not understand some of the places, traditions, and characteristics in the novel. This would be an appropriate time to inventory students and see their understanding of concepts and vocabulary being used in this novel. A teacher could use a KWL chart to help with this. During the reading, students could keep track of vocabulary in their journals and collectively, the class could make a word wall and character maps.
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Another challenge for ESL students in an English Language Arts classroom, writing papers considering grammar and mechanics are difficult for students adjusting to a new language. This can be frustrating for ESL students because they may be able to communicate and get their message across, but their grammar is not appropriate, or if they are very new to the language they may be able to say what they mean but not write it. While I do not really like the pull-out method, taking ESL students out to work in a small group, this would be a good assignment to use the pull-out method because it gives these students more individual time and resources to work on the assignment. It would also be appropriate for teachers to focus on content over grammar and mechanics, and then focus on one grammar issue they noticed and teach about it after completing the paper. It would also be helpful to students to breakdown the writing process.
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Despite these texts being difficult to understand at points, it is important that students have valuable input constantly, which is why it is important to include challenging texts like The Great Gatsby with critical discussions to help build their language skills. As Stephen Krashen theorized, "the input theory is saying that people learn language by understanding messages from people or text even if it contains words, grammar, or other language aspects not yet learned." This basically is saying that body language, pictures, and input are all extremely important in processing and acquiring language. This is important because students and people learning language need visual aides to help them, and they need to be active and participate in learning a language. I plan to allow many opportunities for students to work together, use visual aides, and act out important scenes to help them understand these texts and the target language better. It is important for students to have these strong comprehensible inputs to help build their language skills.
How do Educators Help Struggling Bilingual Learners ELA Classrooms?
These issues makes integrating ESL in English classrooms challenging. However, it is nice that both ESL students and English students can both work on vocabulary practice that can build both of their languages. Teachers can also assist all students in their understanding of readings by helping them interpret phrases, and going over summaries and in class analysis. It is also helpful for students to participate in writing workshop, so all students can get help with their grammar and content in their papers to improve their papers. There are some challenges with integrating language and ESL learners in an English classroom, however there are many ways to assist these students and help improve the learning environment of all students.
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