My HS ESL classroom

[Sarah Russell]

One of the advantages of teaching ESL is small class sizes. I have between eight and fourteen students in each class every year. My students are mostly from Mexico and Central America, but we have a growing South Asian population: several Urdu-speaking Pakistanis and Punjabi-speaking Indians. My school, Hug, is divided into four small schools. When students enter Hug they are assigned to a house (for incoming ELLs that means assigning them by level) and they stay in that house as long as they are at Hug. I am the ESL teacher for House D. The students who were newcomers last year and to whom I taught Beginning English and Reading, I have this year for Intermediate English and Reading. Next year I will have the same group for Advanced English and Sheltered English 1-2. I also have a new group of Beginners this year to whom I will teach Intermediate next year. Tracking with students is a treat; I am lucky to be able to forge the relationships that I have with students and parents. I also teach a literacy skills class to students with below third grade literacy (or below third grade academic skill) in their native language. Next year I will teach a class to support the intermediate students who are taking Biology.
I love working with students from all over the world. I love that I am teaching something as fundamentally vital as the language necessary to communicate every day. I love that I am working with a population often dismissed and overlooked to help them discover the opportunities that await them in their adopted culture.
In my classroom we spend a period on reading and composition and a period working on English Language Development. We have a repertoire of strategies we rely on that get students ready for mainstream classes. My students are expected to take and pass the four proficiency exams and all regular classes for graduation including science, math and social studies classes and I need to prepare them with a variety of strategies.