Final ELL Goal Post

As the semester comes to a close I am reflecting on the ELL goal I set at the beginning of this school year. On Tuesday, December 2^nd I was able to participate in one more lesson at Brigham Elementary School. This lesson was with the kindergarten class—which is the class that consists primarily of English Language Learners. We taught a lesson on wheels and how, in order to be work properly, they need to be round. There were four teachers for four students.

Looking back, the goal that I set at the beginning was to gain experience and confidence in working with English language learners. This lesson did not necessarily impact my confidence, but it did give me a little bit more experience. All four students were native Spanish speakers. One student in particular did not appear to be as fluent in English as the others. This child was difficult to communicate with and she did not seem to fully understand anything the teacher said. The other students spoke to her Spanish. I was able to see how the language barrier affected her overall engagement and participation. She was distracted by the other teaching groups throughout the lesson and got out of her seat a few times to see what other groups were doing. The groups that drew her attention were doing more hands-on activities. This supports what we have learned in class about engaging ELL’s. Using manipulatives and visuals within a lesson helps keep their interest and increases the chance that they will learn something from you.

Because our group of students was so small, and there were four teachers, I was not able to really interact with the students the way I would if it was a full-size group of students. Normally, I would be able to float around and talk with students as they are doing activities, but with this lesson I was not able to do that. The students were at a small group table and it would be distracting if more than one teacher were speaking at once. Although not related to my goal, I think that this lesson gave me some experience co-teaching as well. Finding a balance with more than one teacher is not easy. It was pretty difficult to get equal talking time across all four teachers.

On a broader scale, over the semester I believe that my confidence has increased when it comes to working with English language learners. I know for certain that I have gained experience. Prior to this semester, I had no experience directly working with students who were not primary English speakers. This class has given me several opportunities to communicate and work with students who are English language learners. I have been caught off-guard, not sure what to do, and survived the confusion of a language barrier. I know that I will never be 100% comfortable and confident working with students that I can’t fully communicate with; however, I think that gaining experience will definitely help me become more comfortable and confident in my abilities as a teacher. I look forward to more opportunities to work with diverse student populations, including English language learners.

Exceeds: I related my experience back to content learned in class.