5 Strategies for Increasing Engagement with ELL Families

As educators around the country know, the percentage of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools is growing at a brisk clip. Recent figures show that ELLs make up close to 10 percent of the total student population — 4.6 million students by some estimates. With schools adding as many as 100,000 new English language learners each year, educators need to get strategic not only about the way they teach students, but about how they communicate to families as well. Parental involvement is one of the key drivers of student success, and research has shown that income level and ethnic background do not, by themselves, impact levels of family engagement.

How Listening to Podcasts Helps Students Read and Learn

High school English teacher Michael Godsey’s favorite work by William Shakespeare is Hamlet. But a few years ago, he stopped teaching his students about the centuries-old classic in favor of a story that was unfolding in the fall of 2014: Serial, the podcast.

The story of Adnan Syed, Hae Min Lee and the community at Woodlawn High School captivated podcast listeners around the world, including Godsey. The story was so engaging, he made listening to Serial in real time an assignment for his students and eventually made podcasts a regular part of his English class. He also teaches with episodes of This American Life, RadioLab and Serial Season 2 that cover subjects relevant to the lives of students.

Something universal occurs in the brain when it processes stories, regardless of language

New brain research shows that reading stories generates activity in the same regions of the brain for speakers of three different languages.

Transferring Language

Ana Albir describes the development of a digital tool to help English learners in both mainstream and ESL classes

One of the most common arrangements for English language learners (ELLs) at schools in the U.S. is for them to take subject classes (e.g., math or science) in English, together with non-ELLs at grade level. ELLs are then pulled out of class for separate English language development (ELD) instruction. Existing software-based solutions are specific to ELD or ELA instruction and focus on targeting either foundational or linguistic requirements via computer-adaptive curricula.

Foundational and linguistic skills are essential for students. However, these challenges remain:
1/ Existing ELL tools are taught solely in a separate ELL class and receive support in a small portion of the day.
2/ Existing tools are curriculum dependent, leaving the majority of ELLs in core subject classes unsupported, to sink or swim.
3/ Existing tools do not incorporate the most recent best practices highlighted by the U.S. Department of Education, such as leveraging native-language proficiency (L1) to acquire English proficiency (L2).

ELL programs planting “Seeds of Hope” across the state

Intercultural Mediation

Ian Akhbar stresses the importance of appropriate cultural education

How shall I talk of the sea to the frog,
if it has never left its pond?
How shall I talk of the frost to the bird of the summerland,
if it has never left the land of its birth?
How shall I talk of life with the sage,
if he is prisoner of his doctrine?
Chung Tsu, 4th Century B.C. (Fantini n.d., 26)

Teacher shortage: 24 students, 5 languages, 1 ELL teacher

By the numbers: Arizona teacher shortage

• 22 percent of teachers hired between 2013 and 2015 were not teaching in Arizona after one year.
• 42 percent of Arizona teachers hired in 2013 left the profession within three years.
• 52 percent of Arizona charter school teachers hired in 2013 left within three years.
• More than one-third of Arizona teachers have been in the classroom for four years or less.
• When adjusted for cost of living, Arizona elementary school teacher pay is the lowest in the nation. The pay for Arizona high school teachers ranks 49th in the U.S.