Rough Draft
ESL Classroom
Struggles: Through the Teacher's Perspective
"Language is
the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where
they are going." - Rite Mae Brown
INTRODUCTION
It always appears that a student is
the one that faces the struggles in a classroom, whether it's learning a new
lesson, the work that they are given, conflicts with peers, or with their teacher. However, we
don't hear much about problems that teachers face in their own classrooms. Taking
on the role of becoming an English as a Second Language(ESL) teacher takes,
passion, patience, and a strong understanding of a person that may not share
the same cultural understanding as you. Having a student that does not speak
the English language causes language barriers between the teacher and the
student. In many cultures, students do not treat or look at their teachers the
same way we do here, in America. In the 1997-98 school year there were 3.5
million English-language learners (ELL)enrolled in the public school across the
nations. In the 2008-09 school year the number of ELL increased drastically to
5.3 million students. This means teachers need to be more aware and prepared to
work with students who they won't easily be able to communicate with.
As most ELL students struggle in
their mainstream classrooms, due to the language barriers, it is the teachers
job to modify their lessons to accommodate that child's needs. The most pressure is put on the teachers
to ensure that the students are successfully learning and meeting the standards
that the district holds for their teacher and students. What makes an
outstanding ESL teacher is one who understands her students' emotions, and one
who modifies her lessons and behavior to enhance her student's learning for
them to become independent individuals socially and academically. This research
study differs from many other studies that have been done as it focuses on the
teacher rather than the students. It also focuses on the teachers emotions and
the language she uses towards her students. Instead of focusing on her teacher
style, we focus more on her emotions and the positive relationships she builds
with her students in the classroom.
Conducting an interview with an ESL
teacher, an analysis is writing to explain the findings. The participant of the
interview is a kindergarten ESL teacher, who has been teaching in their school
district since 1996 and became ESL certified in 2001. I have conducted an interview with this teacher
to research how she deals with the challenges that faces and the techniques and
behaviors she uses to overcome those challenges.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In the article, Play and Literacy
Learning in a Diverse Language Pre-kindergarten Classroom, by Kyunghee Moon and
Stuart Reifel, the authors conduct a study on the benefits of using role play
in a classroom of diverse language students. The data for this study was
collected over a period of a year and a half through observations and an
interview. The participant of this study was a pre-k ESL teacher, Mrs. Joyce,
who taught students from ages 4-5 and of many diverse cultural backgrounds. This
teacher actively incorporated used play activities into her lessons to enhance
the literacy learning for her students. With Mrs. Joyce's warm attitude,
students felt comfortable and as if she was of their same culture. Not once did
these students need like they did not belong or as if they were not in a safe
environment.
Mrs. Joyce wanted to make the
learning experience for her students fun, manipulative explorative, and
enjoyable. The teacher understood that for students to be actively involved in
a lesson and to ensure learning is taking place, students must be interactive. Activities
included games, puzzles with pictures and words, constructive play, and
dramatic play. She created a new theme for each day, which she thought made it
more fun for students. Mrs. Joyce strongly believes that the use of playing
with toys encourages students to start conversations as they would converse
about the toys.
Mrs. Joyce assessed her students
during game time. She would answer questions wrong to see which students
recognized her mistakes. If they were able to pick up on her mistakes then they
learned the material. The research was able to prove that students learn
literacy easier when they are actively involved and having fun while doing so.
By the end of the school year, these ELL students were speaking the language
very well and were correcting their own parents English and grammar.
METHODS
An audio-recorded interview was done
to collect the data for this research. I will be referring to the participant
of this study as Jen. The participant
is currently an elementary, ESL teacher for the district that first began working at after graduating
college with a bachelor's degree in education and psychology. She began working
for the district 17 years ago and 12 years ago she received her master's degree
in teaching English to Speakers of other languages (TESOL.) Jen teaches three
kindergarten ESL class (she pulls these students out from their mainstream
classroom,) two Pre-K ESL class, and one bilingual class. In the kindergarten
classes there are 7 students, in the pre-k classes there are 10 students, and
in the bilingual class there are 16 students.
The interview was done in the
comfort of Jen's own home. We chose a quit spot where there wasn't any noise
and we both were able to take the time to focus on the interview and elaborate
on the questions. I used my cell phone to
record the interview, which I made sure it was fully charged prior to when the
interview began. Jen was asked a total of 14 questions which she was able to
answer in less than 12 minutes. Although the interview was quite short, she
gave great information and went into depth when explaining her responses.
The transcript was analyzed by focusing on Jen's tone of
voice, and her passiveness. We are able to see by her word choices, such as
"I" and "my" students, that she has developed proper
classroom management skills and control of her students. She also uses words,
such as they, when explaining the independence of her students. Jen described
classroom situations which allowed us to see how she handles her students
behaviors.
DATA ANALYSIS
Motivation/Understanding
Jen
was never pressured or told to become an
ESL teacher. Instead, she was inspired by her fellow coworker and she
automatically knew that was exactly what she was destined to do.
M So what inspired you to go into the ESL field?
M So what inspired you to go into the ESL field?
J
I was an ESL student myself, and in my second year of teaching I actually
taught a first grade and
second grade combined class and I had all the ESL students for the second grade and first grade. The ESL teacher would
come into my classroom, every afternoon during
my literacy period and she would teach the ESL students in a small group instruction and as the year progressed I
looked at her and thought “wow, that is really something
I would like to do” especially since I had the experience of being an ESL student; I would like to give back and
become a teacher to them.
Jen shows that
she was inspired by her experiences which led her to become an ESL teacher. She
shows her respect for the ESL students and she felt that it was her duty to
give back. She understands what is it like to be an ESL student, therefore she
can easily relate to them. Having the experience of being an ESL student allows
the teacher to easily adjust her lessons when her student are not understanding
since she knows what it is like to face those same struggles
Lesson Modifications
J Sure, it’s
frustrating but you get by it. You know, you overcome it. Many times I say if
they don’t understand the lesson, look at him, look at her, look at what they
are doing. I’ve modified the lesson for this young lady because we are so
advanced in the classroom right now in what we are doing. I’m practicing the
writing with them on the topic—whatever the topic may be and she can’t do that.
So I'm reinforcing phonics with her. I'm starting with the letter “A” and going
through the phonics pages. “This is “A” this is the sound.” And I’m teaching
her vocabulary, basically. So I have to differentiate my lesson.
Jen talks
about how she differentiates her lessons to modify for specific students. Many
teachers can easily try to get by and make the student facing difficulties
struggle and model the other students but Jen purposely made a new lesson for
that student. Jen goes above and behind to ensure that her students are
receiving the proper attention and learning that they should get.
Effectiveness of a positive attitude
Teachers and students should treat their
classroom as a community. For the community to function, it is important that
everyone does their part. In the classroom, it is important that the teacher
understands her role and the attitudes she projects for her students. A teacher
must be able to understand each student independently to ensure their needs are
being met so they too can complete their role.
J I do a lot of
observations of their skills and I know how to communicate with them with the one who have more English opposed
who have less English so ill modify my vocabulary
for the ones who don’t have as much English. We are actually coming up right now it’s only the one major
evaluation at the end of the year. We are starting it next week and that’s the WIDA access ---
W.I.D.A. Access. We are going to test each student individually at the kindergarten level with reading,
writing, listening, and speaking. And we
get the results next year in September and that will determine if the students
have passed the ESL program. And
the test is very difficult because the student—if they do not pass the writing, they won’t exit
the program. I also do a lot of writing with them so I could see a lot of writing and phonics and all the other worksheets
so I see how they are progressing so I
can tell how much they are doing and I reinforce those skills, as well, continuously.
Jen
is constantly observing her students and testing to make sure they are learning
the skills and understanding the materials. She tests her students to see their
progression which also allows her to see if they are learning the skills and
are able to apply them. She doesn't express a negative attitude towards the
W.I.D.A. exam, the exams that determines if the student stay/ goes into ESL,
which shows that she thinks the exam is fair in evaluating the students.
Through her language and tone, she is confident that she knows exactly how to
communicate with each individual student and when it is appropriate to modify
her vocabulary. She makes sure to take it upon herself to modify what she is
doing rather than putting the pressure on her students. She also takes charge
when she says "we are going to test the students" and then
transitions to the students taking charge when she says "if they don't
pass the writing, then they won't exit the program." Jen is constantly
supporting her students for them to achieve and slowly transitions herself to
allow them to show their independence. She builds confidence and a positive
attitude for her students.
Student
Interactions & Independence
It is important for a teacher to be aware of his or her
students' behaviors and how they interact with each other.
M
How do your students interact with one
another and how do they interact with non-ESL students—so do they
like stick together amongst themselves or do
they talk to the non-ESL students?
J
They talk to all the other non-ESL students as well and they talk to
each other when
they are in class together. They get along pretty well together, you know they are five
year-olds, they are kindergarten students so they tend to tattle and just have regular
things that other kindergarten students who are not ESL students do. Even the ones who can’t speak
English that well, they still manage a way to tattle.
Or to tell me that something is wrong. They can figure it out. They can get their
point across when they need to.
Although the students are tattling on each other, Jen is
glad that they are able to express themselves when they need to. The students
are also showing their independence in an environment that they may not feel
completely safe in. Jen says "they can figure it out" she is respectful
that they don't need her help to be able to resolve their problems on their
own. These ELL students are building independent skills, communicating skills,
and social skills. Jen is there to help her students but they must be able to
explain themselves for her to help.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
The limitation to this study was
that an observation of Jen's class was not conducted. Due to the lack a time,
an observation of Jen's class was not possible. This would have allowed me to
apply the information that she gave me to my observation to better my
understanding of Jen's teaching philosophy. However, an observation was done of
Jen's students in their mainstream classroom. The data collected from that
observation is not relevant to this paper's focus.
CONCLUSION
Anyone can be a teacher, but it takes
someone who is dedicated, committed, and truly understands their students to be
an effective teacher. Throughout this study and through the data that was
collected, we see what makes an outstanding ESL teacher. It is one who
understands her students' emotions, and one who modifies her lessons and
behavior to enhance her student's learning for them to become independent
individuals socially and academically. Jen exhibits all of them characteristics
as we see through the data that was collected. Through creating a safe
environment for her students, Jen's students no longer feel anxious about
leaving their classroom to go with her. She prompts her students to feel
confident in passing their exam. Overall a teacher must be able to connect with
her students emotionally and understand their needs. A teacher should be able
to easily modify and transition her lessons to accommodate the different
learning styles of each student. Being an ESL student can be an overwhelming
and stressful experience for a child, but if they have a teacher who is
passionate and truly understands his or her students, then there is great a
chance for that student to succeed.
Works Cited
"Fast Facts." National
Center for Education Statistics . Institute of Education Science, n.d. Web. 1 May
2014. <https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96>.
Moon, Kyunghee, and Stuart Reifel. "Play and Literacy Learning in a
Diverse Language Pre-kindergarten Classroom."Contemporary
Issues in Early Childhood 9 (2008): 49