CULTURE and
ETHNICITY IN SEVIER COUNTY SCHOOLS
All teachers, not just English as a Second Language teachers, need to address the learning needs of ESL students and be prepared to adjust their instructional approaches to accommodate the different levels of English proficiency and different learning rates and styles of their students. ESL students who have been placed in a mainstream learning environment typically face a threefold challenge. They are simultaneously working to develop a grasp of knowledge, skills, and attitudes specific to various subjects, a better command of the English language, and the ability to interact with others and function within the social environment of the school. Research on second language learning indicates that ESL students in the English-speaking school system require appropriate English language support. Educators have the responsibility of promoting the equitable participation of ESL students in the schools. A clear understanding of ESL students and their needs is a prerequisite if the school system is to enable them to develop their individual potential. The following Internet sites will enable teachers to better understand the unique experience of ESL students and provide guidance for effective practices in real life, natural contexts that take into account obstacles such as child emotionality and time constraints.
http://www.mcpasd.k12.wi.us/~ESL/guide.html
ESL Handbook: A resource guide for regular education classroom teachers. Because it is necessary for regular classroom teachers to work productively with limited English speaking students in order to maximize the student's exposure to the English language and often to a new school environment. This handbook is a resource for regular classroom teachers who encounter the challenges and rewards of providing daily instruction to limited English speaking students in the regular classroom environment. It includes information on the following topics; a definition of an ESL student, general principles of language development, different language levels, myths and misconceptions, practical strategies, teaching in the content areas. It also provides advice for the evaluation and assessment, family involvement, understanding and respecting cultural differences, countries of origin and language and a glossary of terms.
http://www2.nau.edu/~les4/esl.htm
It is essential to deal with ESL students with understanding, compassion, and empathy based upon some frame of reference. This address proves to be an invaluable resource for classroom teachers, providing information to aid in sensitization, to consider the whole child, including the vast array of emotions they may be experiencing and obstacles to their learning and happiness we may not have considered. This site is written by an adult advocate for ESL students, as she describes her personal experience and struggle as a non-native English speaker. The direct experience being immersed in a new language and culture gives her the opportunity and personal understanding of the barriers and struggles that ESL students face in a new country via first hand knowledge. This site provides links to an Outreach and Technical Assistance Network, lesson plans, games, ideas and links, the Internet TESL Journal, English as a Second Language
http://www.sbcollege.com/TESL_info.htm
This Internet site is designed to provide needed information for teachers to acquire a wide variety of skills for teaching ESL. Although this site provides information specifically for certification, the information available here and the links provided through this homepage discuss pertinent foundations for classroom practices. Some of these include; ESL teaching methodologies, context teaching (across age levels, across proficiencies etc.), designing and implementing classroom techniques, learning strategy planning, integration of skills, grammar and vocabulary, how to plan a lesson and classroom management. This site provides a vast amount and array of information regarding ESL teaching, and its organization is clear, where navigation through the site is concrete. It is easy to find exactly what you are looking for, difficult to get lost and you are not overwhelmed when seeking specific information.
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/esl/policy/toc_specialists.htm
BC Education: ESL Specialists (Canadian site)
This Internet site is huge!! The amount of information available at this site makes it an invaluable resource. It includes an introduction, a section strictly dedicated to the ESL learner, including the adjustment phases for new ESL students. It also includes a link specific to the entry of the student into the school system, and pertinent advice, as well as programming goals, and principles for effective second language learning. This site provides information via links on addressing cultural differences, ongoing assessment and support ideas for the integration of the ESL student. The most helpful link here falls under the heading Teachers, which provides helpful hints on working collaboratively, instructional tips for classroom teachers and pages of available resources and references. The Appendix on this site provides an amazing model and samples for assessment tools. As a regular classroom teacher, it is important that we acknowledge that the ESL learner cannot be evaluated by the same standards, against the same expectations as our other students. Then, assessment strategies, and differing benchmark models, matrix and rubrics, specifically geared towards and created for the ESL learner prove to be an invaluable tool for the regular classroom teacher to get ideas, models and examples for assessment.
http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/index.html
This site is the most exciting, colorful, interactive, personable, hands-on database of information I found on the Internet. There are live chat lines, a bulletin board to post messages, or clever ideas that worked to share, as well as innovative, fresh, creative ideas for ESL integration. This is the first Internet resource that mentioned how to discipline in the ESL integrated classroom, how food can be incorporated into your teaching, a link strictly dedicated to tips and ideas on how you can become a better teacher. There are games, ideas and activities on group formation and paired activity (this is the first site to mention group work, and it is such an integral part of whole learning!). There are ideas for listening comprehension (this is also the first site to consider listening activities, which are a stated, and standard part of the curriculum that may get taken for granted with the ESL student). There are links for ideas on excellent computer software for the teacher, and also for students (another part of learning in the contemporary classroom environment that seemed to have fallen to the wayside and go overlooked in other considerations for ESL students). There are ideas and links for available videos and other media instructional ideas to vary the mode of teaching and maximize student motivation and interest. This is definitely an Internet site that you could easily get lost in, and lead you to finding many innovative ideas on ESL teaching and integration, it takes a fair amount of time to do this site justice and does not provide a quick fix for troubleshooting.
http://www.geocities.com/hummingbirded
"Hummingbird Educational Resources." This site had excellent ideas for emergent literacy ESL students, a good selection of lesson plans and on-line ABC books (printable). It was not entirely an ESL for elementary education web site, but I think it will be helpful for lessons and other resource links. The website was easily navigated, contained accurate information and I would definitely recommend this site to other professionals interested in both ESL and elementary education links. I don't believe a young student would easily navigate it.
http://members.tripod.com/~ESL4Kids/
"The EFL Playhouse" contains helpful teaching tips, chants, phonemic awareness activities, arts and crafts, tongue twisters, songs and other interesting web links for teaching ESL and EFL to young students. The site was easy to navigate, very colorful and musical ("A Small World" plays upon opening the home page). The lessons were straightforward and would be easily integrated into entire class activities, benefiting both ESL and English speaking students alike. I would definitely recommend this site to Elementary teachers, but probably not to young children. The audience focus is towards educators.
http://www.bced.gov.ca/irp/curric/apceng.html
"The British Colombia Education-Curriculum Branch" web site listed good information for teachers, whose class is mixed with ESL students and English speaking students. The headings include, 'Good practices to enhance the learning of students', and a general overview of what an ESL speaker in a mainstream class requires for optimum learning. Examples of these are the need to use 'regalia' in lessons, taking into consideration the cultural and experiential backgrounds of students and allowing students to practice and internalize information before giving detailed answers. This is definitely a teacher-focused web page and I would recommend it to other educators interested in balancing ESL students interests' with the rest of the classes. I will not bookmark this site or return, as the information was fairly limited. It is a moderately user-friendly site.
"English as a Second Language" site. It lists a great number of idea pages, and additional web links for teachers and students of ESL, with information on lesson plans, listening, reading, writing, quizzes, games, etc. It is a bit difficult to use, and doesn't only focus on elementary ESL, but displays interesting lessons to integrate into a regular classroom. I might recommend this site to other teachers for the web links, but it is very time consuming to look through. One excellent site found here is http://www.aitech.ac.ip/~itesls/vq/, "Easy Vocabulary Quizzes with Pictures." Printable worksheets for students to match vocabulary to pictures! Very useful! I would recommend this site to all elementary and ESL teachers.
'The' ESL link for ESL teachers. It focuses on, and receives feedback from people teaching in foreign countries, but the elementary education section entitled "Kids" has over thirty easy to follow lesson plans for a variety of topics that cover the major areas such as reading, writing, and speaking. I believe this site is very helpful to elementary teachers, as it offers a professional overview of teaching ESL. It is very user friendly and I would recommend this site to any teacher, as it has an excellent listing of teaching techniques, ESL links, discipline tactics, articles, and lessons to integrate the media into ESL.