Advice for Teachers

[ohepler]

I teach students from Kindergarten through 12th grade.

[ohepler]

Content teachers are teachers of other subjects besides English language, and in this district, they don't have much experience working with students who don't speak any English. All of their instruction is in English. As one of the ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers for their district, I am a resource for them as far as how to work reach these students.

Modified instruction means changing the way they teach and possibly changing the content they teach to the non-English speakers.

I'm glad there are current or former language learners in this forum because I have never been one myself.

Has anyone received instruction in another subject (science, math, history, etc.) in English while you were just beginning to learn the language? What made the instruction comprehensible? How did you feel as you were assessed in these subjects in English?

[Tarheel]

I teach students from Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Where does that happen?

[Tarheel]

Say:

Content teachers are teachers of subjects other than English.

[Tdol]

I teach students from Kindergarten through 12th grade.

While I may be going against the grain here, I cannot see how someone can take 12th grade physics, for example, when they only have basic recognition of words.

[ohepler]

While I may be going against the grain here, I cannot see how someone can take 12th grade physics, for example, when they only have basic recognition of words.

It is challenging, but that is the expectation in some cases in American schools.

[ohepler]

Where does that happen?

I am certified for English as a Second Language in grades K-12, so I teach all ages as I travel to different schools.

[Tdol]

It is challenging, but that is the expectation in some cases in American schools.

They do it in many British schools, stating that the previous policy of trying to get people up to scratch in the language was exclusionary. I always questioned this approach, and still do.

[Tarheel]

It's a huge problem here that there are so many children going to school that don't know the language. So you have to teach them English before you can teach them anything else. (How you can be going to an American high school and not know English is beyond me.)