It seems obvious now: the child who spends school days in a fog of semi-comprehension has no way to know her problem is not that she is slow-witted.
Teaching ESL is such a wonderful gift that was, figuratively speaking, dropped into my lap. After teaching middle school Spanish for about 5 years, the district decided to cut Spanish classes in the middle school, and I was offered a job as an ESL teacher. I didn’t hesitate, or think twice about taking the offer. Something inside me told me that this was where I was meant to be. And 6 years later, it was the best professional decision that I have ever made. I love my students and I feel so fortunate to be able to work at Jesse Carson High School teaching alongside some of the best teachers in the state of North Carolina.
So what is ESL? ESL is an acronym that stands for English as a Second Language. You might also hear it called ESOL. That is what the program was called until 2 or 3 years ago. This stands for English to Speakers of Other Languages. Another acronym (education is full of them!) that I love is ELL’s. It means English Language Learners. This is what we call a student whose first language is not English. But, isn’t it true that we are all English Language Learners? Some of us are just more advanced than others. And most of us are not as lucky as our ESL students. The majority of us are only fluent in English, while our ELL’s can speak at least one other language.
Teaching ESL students is not easy. Students come to us with all different levels of education in their native language. The phrase, “meet them where they are,” is usually easier said than done. Most of the time, it is difficult to determine exactly the amount and type of education a student has had in his or her home country. Although it might say on his transcript that he has taken English for three or four years in his native country, coming to a place where only English is spoken is an entirely different thing. Think of our own native English-speaking students who have taken three or four years of Spanish, French, or Chinese. How would they fare if they were dropped into a country where only that language was spoken? How would they do in a high school in Barcelona, Marseille, or Beijing? The struggles that these students face is understandable and incredible.
Sometimes it is difficult as a teacher to find the patience or the time to explain something in a different way, or to come up with manipulatives, find pictures, or differentiate projects, but this is an important part of our jobs as teachers. From Lola* who fled to the U.S. with her baby to escape the dangerous streets of Honduras, to Javier* who came to the U.S. with his family in 2nd grade, all of these students and their families have come to this country seeking what we are all after: a better life. Regardless of what your politics are, or how you feel about the issue of illegal immigration, isn’t that the endgame for all of us teachers? Isn’t that the goal of the entire educational system? To teach our students the things they need to know in order to have a better life? To give them an opportunity or an experience that they might not have had before? Our ESL students are the ultimate example of that. Most of them have truly come to us with nothing and we have the chance to paint their educational canvases with knowledge. It requires differentiation, hard work, and dedication to reach those students, but the results are SO worth it.
*Names have been changed.
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