Back in the late 1990s, many teachers in my school did not want to have ELLs in their classrooms. They often sent the students to me asking me to "fix them!" It was almost impossible to collaborate with teachers with this kind of mentality. I'm hoping that those teachers have since retired and a more open group of educators took their places.
One family came into my suburban Chicago school from India. They were a traditional Muslim family who came to America for a better education for their children. Two of their children were enrolled in the sixth grade. They were embarrassed, however, because their eldest boy, Mohammad, had a disability. When he started at the school, he could not figure out the pattern to put his chair on his desk as the other twelve year students were all doing at the end of the day. His sister, Tahoor, quietly helped him with these activities, knowing that he was mentally incapable of following the basic directions. Shortly thereafter, we called their parents in for a meeting to find out more background knowledge, so we could figure out how to provide assistance for Mohammad. It turns out that mom home schooled him when they lived in India because they were scared that Mohammad would get sent away to an institution for the mentally handicapped. Before the first semester was through, he was placed in a self-contained special education classroom that best suited his needs.
Advice for Content Teachers:
1. Focus on improving academic language. This will help them understand your content.
2. Look beyond vocabulary by focusing on the "bricks and mortar," multiple meaning words, and cognates.
3. Plan for purpose and products: Use academic language to write a lab report, orally explain a math problem, listen to and compare two famous speeches, and compare a scene from a novel and a movie.
Breiseth, Lydia. Academic Language and ELLS: What Teachers Need to Know.
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