Transcript for:
Teaching Strategies for English Language Learners

  • Teaching for English language learners is good teaching for everybody. - It is definitely about building their literacy skills but also their confidence. I have a range of students from beginners to high intermediate students. So I use the inductive strategy because it can meet the needs of everyone. Yes, making connections because she said the word, remember. This makes me remember. - The goal is to make the lesson accessible to all students. Wanna see my picture? (cross-talking) You do like or you don't like my picture? - [Student] I don't like. - Aw, that makes me feel sad. Background knowledge is not just what students bring to the class, what they've learned previously. It's also providing students with the information they need to be able to access an upcoming lesson. Also, the students in my class actually speak three or more languages. Okay, English just doesn't happen to be one of them yet, so they're learning. Write it, yeah, in your lan-- in Pashto or in Farsi. - Fair is not equal, you know. And it's true, if with differentiation too. I mean, not everybody will get the same exact text or use the same strategy, but it's fair because you're meeting every student where they are, and we're helping them progress to the next level. Okay. - [Student] We don't like it. - Sometimes I pair students by same proficiency. Other times I might choose a more difficult text but pair my beginners with a higher proficiency student. - [Student] Red tile, middle school the worst years. - An easy way to differentiate is to have put videos at slower speeds. It's not just a list of strategies that comes out of within relationships of students. When I was first starting Spanish, I was very scared. Being a environment where students are going to risk. Where people are gonna have a sense of humor. There's 2/3, it's two, four. I teach English, not math, two, four. - I think of differentiation more like a mindset, than on Tuesday I differentiate. You're constantly thinking how do I make this accessible to everyone? All right, last step.