When my children were babies, I was blessed to teach ESL to adults who were not literate in their first language. At this time, I had a high level class for students who were interested in getting into the GED program. We had a conversation about the importance of learning your social security number and not sharing it with other people. Then, all of a sudden, one student asked, "Which one?" This particular student was undocumented and had two different social security numbers she was working under.
One word of advice when working with adult ELLs: speak slow and use simple English.
Also, don't assume they have background knowledge when teaching a new concept. For example, on St. Patrick's Day, my students did not understand why they were being pinched.
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