Hi i'm currently studying to be an elementary teacher and i'm in my junior year of college. I was looking for some tips on how to teach kids who have language barriers. Nowadays many kids immigrate to the United States and have a hard time adjusting and learning a new language can be a lot for a child. I was looking for some guidance on how to ease them into the process!
Thanks,
Sol Jaurena
Hi Sol! i completely understand your concern to teach students of another lanugage. I must say as a bilingual indvidual that i am it is completely normal to feel the way you do. There are many things you can do to guide these students as they go trhough this process. One thing i would suggest you do is allow the student to sit next to another student who speaks the same language. Sitting the child next to someone who speaks he same language will allow them to be comfortable in enagaging with others. Another thing i would suggest you do is to allow the student to speak and write in their primary language while they complete assignments. The English language can be difficult to learn, allow the child to make connections and relate alike words on their own. This is how they will learn. Something else i would recommend is to have one on ones with the student to make sure they are understand what is being asked of them, when it is being asked. When the student feels comfortable and can see the effort the teacher is putting in to help them learn, willingly, they will slowy start to grasp the English language.
Hello Sol, I completely relate to you. I am studying to be a teacher too but I come from another country, so my English is not perfect. Now, I have learned some ways to teach by being a student in a classroom where I'm behind due to my language barrier. My first advice is that the most important and key action towards helping a student is creating a safe environment, where they feel confident to participate. The student will be open to learn he/she feels safe in his/her classroom. ESOL strategies are found everywhere on the internet there are many of them. I will mentioned my 3 favorite ones. First, using pictures while explaining the lesson can be a great guidance for ESOL students because they can understanding the picture in their language and then make a relation to the words. Second, reading along what the students should be reading helps them recognize a word by either the letters or the sound. Place them in a part of your classroom where you are most of the time so they can ask questions, or you can check on them constantly without interrupting the class. Hope this helps.
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