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English Language Learners
Classrooms in today’s society are becoming more diverse each and every year. Teachers are becoming responsible for teaching students who speak a variety of languages at home. Students who speak a language other than English at home should be accommodated for in order for them to be successful. They should not feel discouraged to use their home language while they are school. Instead, they should feel proud of their family’s heritage and use this kind of pride to teach their classmates about diversity, so they are able to grow up and appreciate those who are not the same as them. In order to strive for this type of environment, teachers should accommodate each of their lesson plans, so their ELL students do not feel pressured to only use English in the classroom just because that is the majority.
Check out these two lesson plans to see a lesson plan I differentiated to accommodate for a student who speaks Spanish at home. Note the differences between the before and after lesson plans.
Before After
In order to accommodate for my student who speaks Spanish at home, I used two different high tech assistive technology tools that would help him be successful with the lesson.
1. Doc Cam
One objective of the assignment was for my students to listen to me read The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole. In order to accommodate for my student who speaks Spanish at home, I would read La Vida Marina by Dona Herweck Rice using the doc cam afterward. I would place the book under the doc cam so it would be projected on the smart board for the class to see and follow along. This book is written in Spanish, so every time I read a Spanish word of an ocean plant or animal, I would let the students, including my Spanish student, repeat it back to me in English using the pictures to help them. This way, I am making my Spanish student feel a part of the classroom community by reading a book in his home language while also teaching him about ocean plants and animals, which is the ultimate goal. I am also introducing my other students to Spanish vocabulary that will help them become global students that are aware of other languages.
2. Smart Phone
Another objective of the assignment was for my students to sit in a circle and tell me one plant or animal that lives in the ocean as I write their response on the smart board. In order to accommodate for my Spanish student, I would have him say his ocean plant or animal in Spanish into a smart phone as the smart phone translates the word in English for the class. He would write the word in Spanish on the smart board as I write the English word underneath. This will give my Spanish student an opportunity to feel like he is the teacher as he teaches his classmates, not only how to say a specific ocean plant or animal in Spanish, but how to write it as well. This accommodation also shows the class a way they can use an every day tool, like a smart phone, to help them translate words to and from Spanish to help them communicate with people who do not speak English.
