I have been teaching ESL since August 2015.  I began 1/2time with 7 students.  I taught gifted support the second half of the day. As the year went on, my class size increased to 18 students.  By the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year, I was hired as the full time ESL teacher because of the increase in students.  I had 30 ELLs on my roster. In April 2024, I currently have 99 students on my roster. 

My day is very hectic, and I love it. It is exhuasting, but the ELLs love to help each other so I am blessed that they are so kind to each other. I absolutely LOVE seeing how the ELLs progress over the years.  They seem to have everything click all of a sudden.

The student I am most impressed by came to the United States in 2nd grade (2016-2017). She did not know the alphabet because she spoke Japanese.  In two years, she tested out of ESL! That takes some serious hard work on her part! I am still in communication with her and love to get all her updates about school in Japan.

The student I am most proud of is one of my first ELs. She came from Uzbekistan and she was my very first newcomer. The attitude she had always made my day. In the beginning, she had no idea what was going on, but she ALWAYS came in with a smile. I remember the joy I felt when I first realized she was speaking a complete sentence to me. This joy is now brought to me everytime I see one of my newcomers progress. Just the other day, I was down because I felt I was getting nowhere with one of my students. She could not get over just saying, "bathroom please" no matter how many times we tried to drill it into her. Then, when I am doing three things at once, she comes over to me and says, "Can I go to the bathroom?" I was shocked! I had to stop all three things I was doing because I was overcome with so much joy! I think she thought I was crazy but it was just the pick-me-up I needed. Moments like these are what I love so much about teaching ESL. I hope to always be as positive and hard working as these children. 

 

I have been really focusing on getting better at helping our newcomers succeed in all areas of school. I always keep this in mind: What if I were in a fully inclusive Russian speaking school? How would I need help? How would I feel? What would I like my teachers and friends to do to help me?

This year, we are prioritizing the newcomers more than ever. 50% of my students are Level 1. We have a new series, OUR WORLD by National Geographic that is fantastic. I have a periods blocked out to have just level 1 students instead of other students as well. I think this really helps me focus on what they need. I am also faciliating ELA and math teachers and we are having the level 1 and 2 students work on meeting language standards instead of academic standards. The ESL paras plan with me once per roation to help support the students better in the classroom.  

 

My level 1 and 2 fourth and fifth graders have really enjoyed reading the book, "One Good Thing About America". I discovered this book in the summer of 2023 while I was on maternity leave. I immediately knew it was a book I had to incorporate into my class. The book begins with many language errors. The students love to find the errors! They really relate to this book and the experiences the student has in America. At the end of each letter, we discuss what our one good thing about America was for the day. I think this really helps with the attitudes the student have towards being in school in America. I think it makes them focus on the good when the rest of their school day is pretty challenging. While reading, we discuss all the things "crazy Americans" do and talk about vocabulary in which they're unfamiliar. 

All of my teachers are sent this link at the beginning of the school year to help with any adaptation needs. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BEv_q_m-0bhNVWPaYM_WCPeo4EnibhkLOtu-5is7Yok/edit?usp=sharing 

I have also been handing out a name chart that has what the teacher should expect of the students at their language levels in each domain. This chart has discourse level/linguisitic complexity, sentence dimention/language forms and conventions, word phrase/vocabulary.  Below is a snapshot of what it looks like for Reading.