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Hello I work with bilingual students. I sometimes have a hard time getting them to participate during lessons because Science is taught in English and they are usually taught out of a textbook. I would translate for them, but we are trying to keep the English because their test are in English. How can my CT and I encourage them to participate and feel comfortable in talking English.

Hello Itzel! I am currently student teaching in a first grade bilingual class and I have found the following to be helpful: 1. I think students learning a new a language greatly benefit from visual aids, providing them with graphs, drawings and pictures, of concepts that they need to know helps them really visually the information, even more so when that information is important and relevant to their lives. 2. I think it also helps for them to talk to their peers in the language that they feel most comfortable. As the year progresses, they can be asked to construct their thoughts in English with the help of a peer. There's many ways in which you can integrate discussion in your classroom and it also gives you the opportunity to assess student learning. 3. I think the most impactful way in which you might see more engagement is to include more interactive lessons in which they have the opportunity to carry out experiments. I hope this helps! Anayeli

Hii Itzel I am a Early Childhood Education student and I have learned a few things in my classes that could help you and when I was in Middle School I was leaning english as well as your students so I might have a few ideas that could work for you. The first one is peer mentors, I always found it very helpful when one of my class mates helped me during the lessons and activities. The second one is have hands on/interactive activities, this is because they help the students be engage and participate more. Lastly, visual aid are great too.

Hello Itzel, I am currently taking TSL 3080 which teaches how to efficiently instruct English Language Learners. I would agree with the prior two posts that visuals are highly effective to encourage students to participate. Also, rather than having them write or orally say their answers, you might want to allow them to draw out what they want to say. I would also suggest implementing cooperative learning in the classroom since it requires everyone in the groups to participate equally.