Introduction

In British Columbia, many of our ELLs are fee-paying International Students and many more are
immigrant or refugee students. They all have different goals to fit in, to make friends, to develop
BICS, to graduate, to study at post-secondary. Regardless of their individual goals, affective factors
play an important role in their ability to learn. According to a needs-based model, basic needs are
defined as: survival, power, belonging, freedom and fun. Once the need for survival is met, one of
the remaining four needs will be of primary importance for different individuals. As teachers we need
to employ a variety of strategies (including, perhaps, a needs assessment) to try to make sure that we
are meeting the socio-emotional needs of all of our students.
Many ELLs have high extrinsic motivation (post-secondary goals) and have chosen to come to
Canada to study. Others, who may not be here by choice, or who are frustrated by their lowproficiency, may struggle to maintain motivation. Actions to promote positive attitudes about learning
English can include: increasing opportunities to interact with Canadian students (as ELLs start to
develop friendships which require the use of English, even if only on social media, their attitude
towards learning seems to improve), developing high-interest lessons (if the lessons are relevant to
students lives they will be more engaged in the learning) and valuing the ELLs respective cultures (if
they feel that their culture is valued and that we are not trying to change them or assimilate them,
they will be more likely to have a positive attitude towards learning).
Teachers of ELLs have the responsibility to work collaboratively to, with ESL Specialists and others,
to identify, plan and provide services to English language learners. We need to provide effective
instruction and assessment and report progress, as we would for any other student. Providing
effective instruction for ELLs requires knowledge of, an attention to, ESL pedagogy. Currently, the
most common approach to second-language teaching is the Communicative Approach. This
approach emphasizes a balance between speaking, listening, reading and writing tasks. It is useful
to keep this in mind when planning instruction and assessment, as ELLs are often stronger in some of
these skill areas than others. Another popular framework for ELL instruction, which includes many
opportunities for differentiation, is the SIOP Model. The SIOP Model isnt a specific set of strategies,
but rather a format for planning and working through lessons which supports English language
acquisition while learning content.
Best practice, in all areas of K-12 education, includes differentiation. Differentiation as a
methodology, typically allows for differentiation based on readiness, interest or learning style.
Teachers who differentiate in their classes regularly should not find it overly difficult to include
differentiation for ELLs in their planning. All of the activities described in this site can be used to
support a communicative or content-based approach and all of them can be differentiated to meet the
needs of all learners.