Empowering our English Language Learners
There are already so many ways in which newcomers and English Language Learners (ELLs) feel disempowered and devalued - how do we ensure that our lessons and interactions are a source of empowerment for our students?
Imagine you are a teenage newcomer. You’ve just arrived in a new country, new home, new school. Did I mention you’re a teenager? It’s hard enough trying to navigate the complex social hierarchy of high school and newcomers must do this while learning the language, culture and customs of their new home. Not to mention dealing with feelings of isolation, loss, nostalgia and loneliness that comes hand-in-hand with the immigrant experience.
Whether they are newcomers to the country or Canadian-born ELLs, the vision is the same and it strives for positive affirmation of identity, empowerment and of course, development of literacy. Here is our vision for the English Language Learned adapted from STEP (Steps to English Proficiency, Ontario Curriculum):
ELLs develop their English language proficiency while learning the curriculum
ELLs sense that their culture, mother language and past experiences are valued by the school community
ELLs feel empowered, not disadvantaged, by their identity
ELLs feel empowered to voice their thoughts and opinions respectfully
ELLs rise to meet the high expectations and goals they set for themselves and engages in critical, high-order thinking
ELLs develop an awareness of their strengths and interests so that they may pursue any opportunities that may arise
Now, the question is - how do we move towards this vision for our English Language Learners? Listed below are a few practical strategies that teachers can use in the classroom to support and empower their ELLs!
Build a positive rapport
The “constructivist” approach to teaching and learning recognizes that students do not arrive as empty vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge, but they arrive filled with their own knowledge and lived experiences, which are valuable. Relationships form when students realize that their teacher is genuinely interested in them and values their identity. A “getting to know you” survey at the start of the school year, casual conversations and questions about their lives, and taking a few minutes to research their background, culture or home country are all simple things that make a notable difference when starting to build a positive relationship with your ELL (and non-ELL) students. A greater knowledge and understanding of the students in our classrooms gives us the information we need to create culturally-relevant teaching material. When students feel comfortable, valued and represented in the curriculum, they gain a sense of empowerment and belonging.
Get to know your students with our Student Profile Survey available in digital & print
here!
Leverage cultural capital
Jim Cummins, educational researcher and professor at the University of Toronto, introduces the idea of “identity texts” as a way of affirming student identities and empowering them. Identity texts are “artifacts that students produce”. These artifacts (written, spoken, visual, musical, or a combination) tap into the student’s prior knowledge and personal identity. They create a text that reflects themselves and their experiences in a positive light. When shown to an audience, posted on the wall of the classroom, or when given feedback from the teacher, it affirms their identity and values their experiences, resulting in a sense of empowerment (Cummins 2006). For example, creating a bilingual story book based on their lived experiences, allowing students to use a song in their first language for a lyrical analysis assignment, or telling their family’s story when learning about immigration in a Social Studies class. Tapping into the student’s prior knowledge and lived experience helps to affirm their identity – where they came from, the languages they speak, the culture they associate with.
Leverage their first language
In 2015, the school I worked at took a strict English-only approach within the classroom. Teachers were required to monitor and discourage student use of their first language for the purpose of developing their English proficiency. Teachers had to police their students and were held accountable if they could not ensure the use of English in their classroom. Consequently, it left teachers feeling anxious and it left students feeling resentful. When we tell our students that they cannot use their first language in the classroom, what message does this send? How does this impact the way they view their first language, their culture, their family, and ultimately their own identity? Cummins reminds us that the classroom is a window into society and is reflective of coercive power relations within the larger society. He points to extensive psychological research which shows that “Students who come from social groups whose identities (culture, language, religion etc.) have been devalued in the wider society tend to experience disproportionate academic failure”. While schools may no longer physically brutalize students for using their native language (i.e. Residential Schools in Canada), ignoring a student’s first language and identity demonstrates a kind of “benign neglect” that communicates the same historic coercive relation of power. Cummins reminds us the classroom is where learning happens, but also where identities are negotiated through interactions between the teacher and student. These interactions either reinforce coercive relations of power that devalues student identity, or promotes collaborative relations of power that empowers and validates them (2013).
With this in mind, there are many ways to leverage a student’s first language in order to help them develop their second and validate the importance of their mother language, culture and religion. Strategies include pairing them with a same-language partner who can help clarify task instructions or discuss challenging concepts, allowing students to complete brainstorming or outlining tasks in their first language, or providing the opportunity to produce dual-language assignments. Encouraging students to utilize their first language in order to improve their English proficiency not only validates their identity and helps them preserve the connection to their culture, family and heritage, but research also shows “that language skills and conceptual knowledge are generally transferable from one language to another. First languages, therefore, provide a foundation for developing proficiency in additional languages” (Many Roots, Many Voices 16).
Use multimodal instruction
If you’ve ever travelled to a country where you were somewhat familiar with the language, but not fluent, you know the struggle of keeping up with a native speaker as they talk to you in what sounds like rapid-fire gibberish. They wait for your response, but all you can do is offer a blank stare and a sheepish grin then ask, “Can you say that again… slowly?” The same goes for our English Language Learners when listening to verbal instruction in the classroom. Making a cognizant effort to communicate instructions slowly, clearly and repeatedly helps ELLs who need more time to process what you’re saying, translate it into their own language and internalize it, before they can even formulate questions or a response. But verbal instruction itself is often not enough. Providing multimodal instruction in the form of verbal instruction along with written direction, visual exemplars and requests to repeat instructions back to the teacher orally benefits not only the ELLs, but all of the students in the classroom, especially those that require extra processing time.
Incorporate technology
While oscillating between online, in-person and hybrid learning during the pandemic gave me digital whiplash, it did give me the push I needed to implement more technology in the classroom. The normalization of devices in the classroom gave us (myself and my students) the opportunity to use it to our advantage. For example, eBooks gave my students the chance to easily look up the definition of unfamiliar terms within the text by simply double-clicking the word. Google Translate was another big go-to. Whenever a student asked for help because they didn’t recognize a certain word, instead of providing them with a definition, I’d say, “Use Google Translate - you might already know it” and sure enough, they’d type it into Google Translate and say “Ahhhhhh!” while vigorously nodding their head in confirmation - no further definition or explanation needed. This taught me two important truths - technology can be used to make my job easier (most of the time!), and technology can be used to foster success in the classroom by helping students connect new English words to a pre-existing understanding of their first language.
Use low-risk activities
For many English Language Learners, speaking in class is risky. The fear of making a grammar, word choice or pronunciation error prevents many students from participating in class. Providing students with low-risk opportunities to utilize and practice their oral speaking skills empowers them to take bigger risks. Simply allowing students to discuss answers with a partner before sharing with the class, providing sentence frames to structure their answers or incorporating more small-group activities can help provide students with the scaffolding they need to feel comfortable speaking without fear of judgement or embarrassment.
Share materials ahead of time
A few years ago, I began sharing lesson materials on Google Classroom ahead of time, typically posting presentation slides, videos and worksheets at least a day in advance - at most a week in advance if I could manage it. This habit formed after an ESL student in one of my mainstream classes made the request. She wanted the opportunity to preview the material ahead of time and translate vocabulary words she was not yet familiar with. She came to class with questions about the material and her learning was reinforced when we completed the lesson as a class the next day. It was such a simple, yet effective way to empower the English Language Learners (as well as non-ELL students!) that take advantage of the opportunity to preview the lesson material.
The cross-curricular approach
While it takes an English Language Learner 1-2 years to develop language skills for social contexts, it takes them 5-7 years to bring their academic language proficiency to the same level as their peers. Building vocabulary is a process that takes time and we as teachers cannot demand our students to magically acquire the knowledge or skills that are beyond their reach, but we may remove some of those barriers, helping them to acquire vocabulary in an effective manner. In order to make meaningful and significant progress, students need the opportunity to engage in authentic academic discussion across the curriculum. They need to hear and produce academic and subject-specific language within the context of meaningful discussion if they hope to catch up to their English speaking peers. Therefore, vocabulary acquisition, along with the opportunity to put it into practice, should be implemented with intention across all subjects including math, science, art, technology, business, not only English.
SOURCES:
Cummins, Jim & Bismilla, Vicki & Chow, Patricia & Giampapa, Frances & Leoni, Lisa & Sandhu, Perminder. (2006). ELL Students Speak for Themselves: Identity Texts and Literacy Engagement in Multilingual Classrooms (1).
Cummins, Jim. “Multilingual Education for Social Justice (Part 3): Pedagogy for Empowerment.” YouTube, 20 Jan. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJajycotf5M.
Many Roots, Many Voices. Ontario Ministry of Education, 2005, https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/manyroots/manyroots.pdf
