English Language Learners: raising awarenessAuthor: Nadejda Taylor, M.A.EdEducational AidVogelweh Elementary School

Why Misconceptions The most at-risk ELL are those with proficiency levels of 2 and 3 These students can communicate seemingly with ease.

Why we are fooled:

you only need a vocabulary of approximately 2000 words to get by in a

new language

to compare: an adult uses approximately 13000 words per day

children exposed to a new language before the age of five imitate the

accent successfully

Dangerous Assumptions It appears like…

He is listening/understanding She speaks English just fine

or He just refuses to do the work She said she did not know it was

due today, but I said it several times

He constantly talks to his neighbors and then lies that he was trying to get clarification on the assignment

ELL are often treated as “reluctant” students

A foreign accent undermines a person's credibility in ways that the speaker and the listener don't consciously realize, new research at the University of Chicago shows.

Experiences of an ELLMost of the time I doubt that I

understood oral directions correctly

I am hesitant to speak to ask for clarification out of fear to be

ridiculed or simply not understood

There is this helpful and kind student in the class but the

teacher does not allow us to talk

How you can help Great news: you do not have to change

the educational materials just for one student -

Universal Design for Learning: these methods work for all students and most of them you use already

Present information orally and visually

Encourage clarification questions

Conduct frequent checks

Allow help of other students/assign helpers

See appendix A for additional guidelines

Use technology: www.rewordify.com Copy/paste texts to adjust difficulty of

vocabulary Use Classics database to add old

favorites to your students’ reading repertoire

Customize difficulty level Use suggested changes to create flash

cards/vocabulary/spelling words lists

Use technologytranslate.google.com Copy/paste text to help students

translate a word/sentence/paragraph Listen to the text in any language

Use technology: www.clas.uiuc.edu

Appendix A

Source: McGill University, Canada