Teaching English Learners

1. Teaching English Learners Essential Practices for the College Classroom

2. Teaching English Learners in Minnesota Today there are more refugees in Minnesota per capita than in any other state in the U.S. Every year, from more than 20 countries, 4,000 new refugees arrive and resettle to Minnesota because of its economic opportunities, public and private support and its generally welcoming environment. Source:

3. Essential Practices Multilingual learners benefit from the following practices. • Community-based Learning • Comprehensible Input • Cohesive Structures

4. Essential Practice #1Community-based Learning

5. Community-based Learning This essential practice provides support for students by creating a learning environment where students feel comfortable to ask questions, engage in discussions, and learn from mistakes. Main Ideas Get to know your students Help students develop working relationships in the class Create a safe learning environment Provide a support network for students

6. Essential Practice #2Comprehensible Input

7. Comprehensible Input This essential practice provides support for students by providing instruction and new material in ways that are linguistically and culturally comprehensible to students.

8. Comprehensible Input Main Ideas: Review lessons and check materials for language heavy sections. Provide visual/written support for lectures Provide writing samples/writing structure and expectations Allow extra response time during class Scaffolding does not mean lowering expectations Access to trained ESL specialists

9. Essential Practice #3Cohesive Structures

10. Cohesive Structures This essential practice provides support for students by aligning and organizing language and format of materials, exams, assignments, and syllabi in an easily accessible design.

11. Cohesive Structures Main Ideas: Review course materials to locate inconsistent language Teach text organization (how to get information from the text) Model language and format of exams Develop departmental or program policies which create cohesiveness Extra time on exams Student accommodations Grading practices and expectations Unified structure for course syllabi, outlines, and assignment information

12. What would you like Bethel professors to know about working with multilingual learners? “Have high expectations and show appreciation of the academic knowledge that these students might have”. “Always be aware of the cultural differences. EL students can be highly proficient in English and can have remarkable knowledge in content, but may be still developing pragmatic skills”. “Modeling in everything. Having examples of the expectations in the assignments and all the other projects really helps”.

13. What would you like Bethel professors to know about working with multilingual learners? “Group projects gave me the opportunity to communicate more with the other students”. “Class discussion and group projects are helpful to understand ideas and learn from others.” “Having rubrics and examples was really helpful”. “Tell students to go to Learning Center. ESL Specialist, (name) helps us understand what we need to do.”

14. What would you like Bethel professors to know about working with multilingual learners? “Outlines, unit objectives for each chapter, and study guides help to focus on main ideas and information we need…(to learn).” “All Bethel professors have positive attitude toward the students. I always felt that they appreciate having me in their classes”.

15. In conclusion Multilingual learners benefit from… Community-based Learning Comprehensible Input Cohesive Structures

16. THE END

17. Learning Environment How would you describe your “classroom climate”? a library, a coffee shop, a laboratory, or…

18. Classroom Environment 2. How well do students know each other? they might recognize another student, they know names of other students, friendships abound

19. Classroom Environment Do students (feel comfortable to) participate? How often do all students participate in class? How do you know?

20. Building Background This essential Practice builds from the first… knowing your students What do students know about the topic? How do you/can you find out? Building Background activities Goals on the board Handouts with key vocabulary, lecture outline, and main points students must know. Where do we begin? How do we assess student needs?

21. Comprehensible Input If students don’t understand what you are teaching them, they will not learn it…input must be comprehensible. Concerns for Multi-lingual learners Illegible writing on the board Lots of information given orally only Sufficient time to process in L1 Cultural differences which impede understanding (Math problem-multiplication from Reiss, or writing a paper- writing style differences, or an expression – use Australian English) Solutions-Activity examples- Access to comprehensible input; teach vocabulary, have lecture guides, post critical concepts and vocabulary on board or handout. Allow time to process in L1. Give visuals (PROVIDE EXAMPLES IN SESSION)

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