Chapter 8 - Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English

If anyone plans to move outside of Maine to become a teacher, Chapter 8 is arguably the most important chapter in this book. We, as future educators, must understand that not everyone in our classrooms are going to be first language English students. If we accept a position in the Midwest and certainly down south the majority of our students will more than likely not speak English as their primary language. This presents many challenges as outlined in the chapter, the first being simple communication, ensuring that the teacher is being understood and the students are being understood when they have questions or concerns for the teacher. This issue is critical when considering the overall comprehension of the section by the students and tying the information into a previous lesson as well as being able to interpret the information and utilize it in future learning. If the students can not demonstrate an accurate knowledge of the information that leaves the teacher with the even bigger challenge of making sure that student has that knowledge. There would most certainly be a higher level of stress in a classroom with ESL students and students who speak English as a first language. It will be our challenge to ensure that the ESL students are not ridiculed or looked down on in the class, but rather the teacher should empower the English speaking students to provide peer assistance to the ESL students.

As a person that has lived in the southwest section of the United States, the ESL students are more of a reality than here in small town Western Maine. After spending time around that demographic it is a challenge that I look forward to being a part of. I think that it is as important to reach out to these students and ensure that they are given the same educational opportunity as students that speak English as a first language. In the classroom it would be much easier to pass these students forward and not spend much instructional time with them, but that would be the biggest disservice that we could do to our students. As an educator we need to ensure that every student that enters our classroom gets every opportunity to achieve the same feeling of success that we will feel as we cross the stage at our graduation ceremony.