Click below to hear the 3 things to stop doing with ELLs:
Whether you are an ESL teacher or homeroom teacher, you’re juggling a lot of things and are doing your best to support your ELL students. Sometimes the lines can get blurry when it comes to exactly what that support should look like.
Specifically, there seems to be a lot of confusion around what ELLs need and what is not really that beneficial to them. Some of your go-to strategies, even with the best of intentions, could actually be hindering their English language journey. For example, if you’re working with newcomers, you might immediately think that you have to translate everything into their native language. In reality, that’s not the case. While there are exceptions to this, we want students to be immersed in the language of their classroom.
If you’re feeling unsure as to what you should or should not be doing with your ELLs, I’m going to help clear things up. I’ll share 3 things to stop doing to support your English Language Learners, as well as what to do instead. These strategies will help your newcomers acclimate to life in your classroom, save you planning time, and increase student engagement
Topics discussed in this episode:
- Best practices to support our English Language Learners
- When to use a newcomer’s native language and when to use English
- How to use peers who have the same native language
- Examples of English “survival words and phrases”
- Why you should be reusing your existing materials instead of reinventing the wheel
Related resources:
- Close Reading Activities
- Freebie: To Translate or Not Chart
- How to use a QR Code
- Canva
- Pixabay
- FREE Newcomer Welcome Kit
- Equipping ELLs Membership
- ELL Strategy Academy
- Shop TpT resources that help with supporting your ELLs
Related episodes and blog posts:
- Episode 4, Advocating for Multilingual Learners with Brooke Boutwell
- Episode 3, How to Set Up Your Classroom to Welcome Newcomers
- How to Shorten the Silent Period in your ELL Students
- 10 Tips for Teachers That Are New to Teaching ELLs
- What to Do When They are New! Part 1: Before They Arrive
Connect with Beth:
- Join the Facebook group: Inspiring Young Learners Engage!
- Follow her on Instagram @inspiringyounglearners.
More about Equipping ELLs:
We all know that teaching isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be this hard. Equipping ELLs is a podcast for both ESL specialists and homeroom teachers who are looking for effective and engaging ways to support their English Language Learners without adding to their endless to-do list. Tune in each week to hear tips, strategies, and inspirational stories that will empower you to better reach your ELL students, equip them with life-long skills, and strengthen relationships with colleagues and parents.
Your host, Beth Vaucher, is the founder of Inspiring Young Learners. She is an ESL certified homeroom teacher with over 10 years of experience teaching in the US and internationally. Her background of M.Ed in ESL and Curriculum and Instruction combined with her experience has led her to develop a bestselling newcomer curriculum that has sold in over 90 countries around the globe. She brings a different perspective to teaching ELLs from her years teaching and living abroad and working with ELLs from around the world. You will walk away from each episode with the ideas and tools you need to transform your experience as a teacher and cultivate a thriving and welcoming environment for your ELL students.
3 Comments
One of the struggles I am having is that we do not have a program for my ELL student, my ELL learner does not read or write and has been placed in my 3rd-grade classroom due to his age on his birth certificate. I have been using your program which has been a blessing, but I am trying to teach a regular ed classroom with no support for my ELL student. I do not speak his language and spend an exhaustive amount of time planning and translating directions. I am not sure what expectations I should have for him for progress as he is more like a kindergartener in a 3rd-grade room.
Hi Beth!
This is the first podcast that I listened to. It really made me think about what I am doing in class that is worthwhile and what I need to change. I love the suggestions you gave. They are practical and helpful. Thank you! Karen
Hello there, this is my fist time listening to your podcast. I am a bilingual para-educator, I have been working with ELLs (now MLLs) for six years without the support of a teacher or any set curriculum! Listening to your podcast made me feel so validated! I am not going to lie, my first year, I cried a lot because of the sense of failure! I did tons of research. Collaborating with the general Ed classroom teachers has been my saving grace. I am that instructor you mentioned, multiple levels of language acquisition, multiple grades.
I have renewed the classroom library to provide books written by authors that represent my classroom demographics and that my students can relate. I have books in English and Spanish. I am using the strategies you had mentioned. I have to improve in the areas of “survival language” . It is my goal to have a set of school pictures, phrases and social greetings ready for my newcomers entering school this fall. I have a few but I need more. Love the qr idea!