ESL SPED Fact Sheet

Special Need: English as a Second Language
Characteristics:
An English as a second language student is a student who does not know English as their first language or even a student who is not fluent in the English language. That is why an ESL student who is 10 years old may do similar work to what a first grader may do. However this does not classify the student as mentally disabled. The language ability varies in fluency and comprehension for every ESL student depending on how much English they have been exposed to. The student may understand orally; however, not be able to understand written English. Younger students typically pick up English quicker than older students, but how much English they use or are exposed to at home can also affect how quickly a student learns. Think of how a new language is taught, one does not just learn it over night they need to build upon it and practice.
Misconception:
Teachers believe if a students are understanding what they are saying when they are not having problems with the written form of English. Teachers also tend to talk too fast when explaining things to a student. Teachers tend to overlook if an ESL student has any other learning disability since they feel that it is only the language barrier causing the difficulty in writing and letter recognition. People believe that the only way to teach an ESL student is in full submerge; however, this can be very intimidating and suppressing for the student. An educator can cover more ground by asking the students to write in their native language and to provide their homework in both English and their native language. This does take more time for the teacher to setup and plan for but it really helps the student adapt. Remember that if a child is stressed then their brain actually will retain less information so it is very important for a child to feel safe and comfortable within the classroom setting.
Accommodation:
Differentiated activities like, developing different homework, lower level reading books, voice record spelling words or a story can encourage students to listen to and follow along with the book are all great ways to accommodate students who are just learning English. Re-explain sentence structure and order to the whole class and incorporate a new vocabulary word everyday to the whole class. Playing word games can help ESL students but also help your native English speaking students learn new words and understanding how they are used in a sentence. The key is to make sure that the lesson is comprehensible to all the students.
Curricular Modification:
Within my internship my mentor teacher and I are able to provide bilingual homework with spelling words with the vocabulary they are working on, bilingual letters home, we translate the writing prompts so that our ESL students can write in English and Spanish. We encourage them to use English, but if they are not sure of a word but know it in Spanish we encourage them to write that word out. We also have a bilingual dictionary in the classroom. We prep the majority of our classroom activities so that we can translate the directions. Also, when there is a long reading we will have the student work on their own English packet of new vocabulary to give them extra practice. Also by using the SIOP Model within your instruction which is similar to the, “I do, We do, You do, model,” can really help aid the students in the understanding the expectations of the lesson even if there is a language barrier.
Resources:
The SIOP Model, Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol Model, a great instructional model that is a proven method for instructing students learning English as a second language. Look to this cite to learn more. (I highly recommend using this model as you can also use it for a native speaking English classroom too.)
 http://www.cal.org/siop/
Here are a few great websites to look into for helpful tools and hints when teaching an ESL student.
 http://esl4kids.tripod.com/ (great website to find helpful lesson ideas)
 http://www.canteach.ca/links/linkengsec.html (links to other websites with games, activities, enrichment sheets)
 http://www.teflgames.com/why.html (online and print-out game ideas)
 http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/ A website for mainstream teachers looking to learn more about ESL students.