Planting Seeds For a Diverse Community

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Planting Seeds For a Diverse Community
Lets Be Ready! Sheryl
Ferguson, ESOL Teacher
Britt Elementary, Gwinnett
County
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As we become more diverse, we can choose for our
diverse population to become a burden or we can
choose to help them become an asset.
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When you get your ELL students

• Learn to pronounce their names.

-Learn about their

backgroundsWhy are they
here for a better life, for a job, business
transfer or promotion, for life?
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When you get your ELL students

• Pay attention to social and cultural customs.

• Use the same language We are going
  to the playground. OR We are going outside.

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When you get your ELL students

• Assign a willing friend and helper.

-Choose small groups rather than large groups.
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Remember how language develops!

• First Listening
• Second Speaking
• Third Reading
• Fourth Writing

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Where are your students?

• Level 1 - quiet, minimal comprehension
  listening!
• These students can
• listen, draw, point, copy, act, match, circle,
  color!

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Where are your students?

• Level 2 - Increased comprehension, 1-2 word
  sentences
• These students can
• -name, list, label, group, tell, say,
  respond, answer!

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Where are your students?

• Level 3 - Increased comprehension, simple
  sentences, errors in speech
• These students can
• -recall, retell, describe, summarize,
  role-play, compare, contrast!

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Where are your students?

• Level 4 good comprehension, more complex
  sentences, complex errors in speech, engages in
  conversation.
• These students can
• -analyze, create, evaluate,
• justify, support, debate!
• Theyre ready for transition!

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Teaching ELL students is simply good teaching!

• Tell me and I will forget.
• Show me and I will remember.
• Involve me and I will understand!

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Find your students and meet them where they are.

• All cultures do not think, believe, or learn in
  the same way.

• Home cultures may not have prepared students
  for interacting in their school community.

• Financial difficulties may interfere with
  home/school involvement.

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Children construct their own understanding of
the world.

• It is the teachers job to create appropriate
  learning contexts so students can construct, and
  take responsibility for, their own understanding
  of concepts.

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Teachers must be willing to

• Think flexibly.

• Explicitly connect school learning to childrens
  own life experiences.

• Differentiate between cognitive skills and social
  and cultural context in which the academic skills
  are set.

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ELL students ARE at risk!

• The challenge for teachers is to accommodate
  these students needs in classrooms where, in the
  end, all students must learn to work confidently,
  productively, and successfully.

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What are your students learning modalities?

• Visual

• Auditory

• Kinesthetic

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Students learn best in classrooms that are
student centered, with the teacher in the role of
the facilitator! You dont always have to be the
teacher!
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Make learning meaningful!
Story Retelling
Rich Illustrations or Photos
Hands-On
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Make learning meaningful!
Create!
Totally Physical!
Sing! Dance! Role Play!
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Teachers must

• Model Academic Language!

Think Aloud!
Love Your Children!
Scaffold Lessons! Introduce Key Vocabulary!
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NEP Parent Communication
Save your students work in a portfolio!

• Photographs tell a story in all languages!

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Planting Seeds For a Diverse Community.

• Accept our diversity!

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Planting Seeds For a Diverse Community.

• Celebrate our differences!

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Planting Seeds For a Diverse Community.

• These students did not chose to learn a second
  language. Plant their seeds so they may become an
  asset to our school,to our community to our
  country!

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Now go and plant your seeds for our future!