Monday, January 17, 2011

Collaborative Teaching for ELLs: Are Two Teachers Better Than One?

Over the past few years collaborative or co-teaching has become more popular as school districts search for ways to best serve the needs of their English language learners. What is collaborative teaching? Does it work? In this blog I will try to explain how collaborative teaching works for English language learners.

In a collaborative or co-teaching setting, the ESL teacher "pushes into" the general education classroom to collaborate with the teacher. Collaborative teaching involves two credentialed professionals who are partners in the instruction of the lesson. One professional is usually a classroom or subject area teacher and the other is a certified ESL teacher. Ideally, co-teachers have equal responsibilities for planning instruction. Together the two teachers are lowering the student-teacher ratio and providing differentiated instruction in a manner that is not possible for one teacher.

Collaborative teachers are using the same physical space. Students are not pulled out of the classroom for one of the teachers to instruct. Although small heterogeneous groups may occasionally be pulled aside for reinforcement, I think that English language learners should not be isolated from mainstream students in the back of the classroom. In elementary schools, ESL teachers may come into the classroom for one instructional period each day.

Over the past few years collaborative teaching has become more popular as school districts search for ways to best serve the needs of their English language learners. If you ask ESL teachers who have tried co-teaching, you will hear both negative and positive responses.

Here is an example for a poor collaborative teaching situation. Paulo is a "push-in ESL teacher in a large school district in N.J. He teams with five different teachers each school day. He also teaches two classes of beginners in a pullout setting. Because of his work load, he is unable to plan lessons with his co-teachers. When Paulo goes into some classrooms, the teacher turns the students over to him and uses the time as a prep period. In others, he is helping a few ESL students at the back of the room while the classroom teacher works with the rest of the students. Usually, he serves as a classroom aide, roving around the room to help students who do not understand the instruction. He is not necessarily scheduled into a classroom when the students need him most. In one class, he comes in when kids are eating snack.

This is collaborative teaching at its worse. ESL professionals are not classroom aides. They should not be relegated to the back of the room with English language learners. What is the point of "push-in" ESL if students are kept on the fringes of the "real" instruction? Both teachers have a contribution to make. The classroom teacher contributes knowledge of the curriculum and of all the students in the class while the ESL teacher brings information about teaching strategies, second language acquisition and diverse cultures.

It is my experience that ESL teachers who are pushing into general education classrooms are generally more satisfied if they:

* have input into their schedule and whom they will be teaching with.
* co-teach specific subject and are in the classroom each time the subject is taught.
* have time to plan with the co-teacher
* enjoy equal status with the co-teacher.
* can discuss and decide their role and responsibilities in advance.

Here are some models that are used when co-teaching English language learners:

* Teach and write. One teacher teaches the lesson while the other records the important points on an overhead or chalkboard. ELLs benefit from this because information is being presented to them through different modalities. Station teaching. Students rotate through predetermined stations or activities. Each teachers works with all the students as they come through the station.
* Parallel teaching. The class is divided into two groups and each teacher delivers the content information to their group simultaneously. This allows teachers with distinctly different styles to work together.
* Alternative teaching. Teachers divide responsibility for planning. The majority of the students work in a large group setting but some students are pulled into to a smaller group for pre-teaching or other types of individualized instruction. The same students should not be pulled into the small group each time.
* Team Teaching. Teachers co-teach each lesson. This requires a great deal of planning and cooperation. Both teachers are responsible for all of the students.
* Lead and support. The lead teacher instructs the class while the supporting teacher provides assistance as she roams around the room. The supporting teacher may elaborate the important points or retell parts of the lesson. Ideally, classroom and ESL teachers should alternate roles so that one is not always the lead teacher. This type of instruction can be misused and the ESL teacher may find herself in a subordinate role.

There are many obvious benefits to co-teaching for students. ESL students have both academic and social benefits. They are exposed to the mainstream content but have the support of a second teacher. They are not pulled out of the class and learn with their classmates.

ESL teachers, however, cite many concerns. They do not want to lose ownership of their students be relegated to the status of an aide. They feel that collaboration is a lot of additional work especially if they are co-teaching with several different teachers. ESL teachers are concerned about beginners, who they feel do not really benefit from learning in the large group setting.

I think the benefits of collaboration outweigh the drawbacks. When teachers share the responsibility of instruction, lessons are more creative because two people are planning them. It's nice to have another adult in the room to be able to provide a range of support to students and to share those "ah-ha" moments.
Posted by everythingESL at 4:38 PM

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Tips for Teaching ELLs to Write

Writing is the most difficult language skill for ELLs to master. Here are some of the challenges these students face in a writing class.

* English language learners have a limited vocabulary. They repeat the same words and phrases again and again. Content is restricted to known vocabulary.
* ELLs are reluctant to use invented spelling and content is restricted to words they know how to spell.
* Verb tenses are inaccurate. ELLs will usually write in the present tense.
* The chaotic structure and grammar of students' composition make their writing difficult to understand.
* When ELLs read their writing aloud, they have no sense of what sounds right and what doesn't.
* In many cultures, students are not encouraged to express their opinions. ELLs may have little experience with creative writing to bring from their native language.

What is Translated Writing?

The biggest challenge for teachers working with ELLs is translated writing. This occurs when English language learners develop their ideas in native language and then try to translate them into English. Even if they don't write this native language text down, they are thinking in native language first. When this happens, the writing is full of inaccurate verb tenses and unintelligible sentences. The chaotic structure and grammar make the writing difficult to understand.

Editing this type of writing presents insurmountable challenges for teachers. One strategy is to pick a skill, such as verb tenses, to correct. However, it is better to avoid having students write down their ideas in English through the filter of their native language. Once the student has written an incomprehensible passage, you are stuck with it.
What about Free Writing and Unscaffolded Journal Writing?

Should students be encouraged to free write? (Free writing is a method of writing where students write without stopping for a predetermined amount of time.) The idea behind this is that the more students practice, the better they will write and they will write without an internal censor. It is my experience that free writing and unscaffolded journal writing are not beneficial to beginning ESL students. Students will translate from native language when writing in English.

Teach nonfiction Reading and Writing

Here are some tips to help your students avoid translated writing and promote thinking in English.

* Teach nonfiction reading writing first. This type of instruction gives ELLs language chunks that they can use in their writing.
* More time should be spent in the pre-writing stage. It is better for ELLS to develop a topic orally with a small group rather than to allow them to choose their own subjects.
* Chart facts about a nonfiction topic. Strengthen the link between oral and written language. Have students read the facts from the chart aloud.
* Use graphic organizers to introduce the skill of arranging information for writing. Have students learn to write from this organizer.
* Use sentences on your organizer rather than phrases. ELLs sometimes find it difficult to go from notes to comprehensible sentences.
* Don't expect students who are not fluent in English to self-edit. They will not usually find their mistakes. Teachers will have to be more hands-on with the writing of their non-native speakers.
* When ELLs read their writing aloud, they have no sense of what sounds right and what doesn't. Working in pairs to edit work is good practice for social skills but it probably won't improve the beginner's writing.
* Specifically model good writing from texts at the learner's English language level. For example, to demonstrate a specific skill such as writing a good opening paragraph, have students examine opening paragraphs in books on the same topic.

Selecting Other Genre

Once students have written nonfiction pieces and you want them to move on to other types of writing, you will still need to carefully select the genre. You still want to avoid translated writing. Give students real reasons to write: Letters, invitations, postcards, lists and interviews with classmates.

When you are ready to teach creative writing, use a dialogue journal rather than having students write in their own journals.

Have students write about topics they find interesting. Reflect what they have told you in your response in correct English. If students write at home on their own, you will find that the work is not always their own and you risk having them revert to translated writing.