FBA Section 11: Professional Knowledge

In working with students at this school and through observations, I have come to
realize that the ELLs (Chinese) have different beliefs regarding education and
interaction with adults. The students were at first hesitant to use my name, instead
referring to me as teacher. This is a sign of respect that I first took for lack of
knowledge. The students have also told me about their school day in China, which is
more structured and rigorous. Adapting to American schools was quite an eye-opener
for them. These students have also been taught in their culture to keep their eyes
lowered when speaking to an adult, or listening to an adult, and we teachers usually
expect eye-contact as a sign of attention and focus.
Depending on the type of program a school has in place, there are many models and
methods that work in the ESL classroom. The most useful technique once an ELLs ELP
level is established is to adapt, adapt, adapt. Teachers have to be conscious of teaching
language acquisition skills as well as academic language. The most basic techniques
teachers can employ are activating prior knowledge so that students are able to see
relevance in their studies, and scaffolding techniques will allow teachers to help
students build their knowledge in attainable goals. Making learning meaningful to ELLs
should include nonlinguistic methods, such as visuals, graphs, gestures, modeling, and
demonstrations. Small group learning environment and pairings will help ELLs in their
skills acquisition and also in many cases, it will help lower their affective filters, which to
me is one of the most important considerations for an ESL teacher. Incorporating and
respecting cultural norms for these students is also a must.
There are many ways to facilitate relationships and communication between
ELLs/their families and school personnel. Teachers can construct a means of home
communication, which could include emails, newsletters, news sites, and visits to the
school. Staff can ask for information in the forms of meetings or questionnaires to better
understand the needs of the families and students.
To promote the school staffs understanding of sensitivity toward cultures other than
American and languages other than English, training must be provided not only on how
to effectively teach ELL students, but also to understand socially and culturally where
they stand. There are programs and websites that can mimic learning in another
language so that teachers may experience first-hand some of the difficulties ELLs face.
All staff must be educated on how to respect the differences of the ELLs and how to be
certain they are not trying to corral them into an American model.
I am aware that many of the ELLs that attend our schools have entirely different
family structures. Some cultures are father-dominated, some cultures normally have
multi-generational households, and some cultures value education more or less than
Americans. It is important to understand the cultural background of the ELLs in order to
know how to help: asking repeatedly to contact Mom when Dad is in charge of a
students education is futile. Teachers must also recognize that many structures of
English simply do not exist in many other languages: phonemes, articles, word order.
The demonstration of such different elements as respect and personal hygiene can be
different.