ELL Strategies In High School
I have been contemplating the application of ELL strategies in the area of high school, particularly in regards to the College and Career Readiness Standards. Mostly we have been focusing on Head start, pre-school, kindergarten, and elementary ELL students. However, if these student do not reach proficiency by fifth or sixth grade then many fall behind and possibly drop out because the English language transfers from a social English to a more academic level of English. For a portion of my field practicum I observed a tenth grade English class which consisted of students who were from Korea, Nigeria, Philippines, and Nome, AK. In the class, they covered “Antony’s Speech” from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, plus Book 6 of The Iliad
which they are reading this year. Having read The Iliad I know the complexity of this poem and the challenges it brings to those whose first language is English. Yet what about the ELL student who’s English has not reached the academic level? Or whose schooling experience is not compatible to western civilizations.
How does this transfer to more technical courses like Chemistry, Physics, Anatomy and Physiology, Geometry, Algebra, or Computer sciences. Each of these have their own particular language that the whole student population needs to learn. Then you add the lack of proficiency of the English language and you have a double language barrier to overcome. For example if you ask a student “is their water a pure substance” they would say “yes”. Otherwise they would not be drinking it if the water was not pure. However, in Chemistry the answer would be “no, the water is not a pure substance” because a pure substance is define as “a substance that is made up of only one kind of particles and has uniform composition” (Batdorf, B. R. 2009 pg. 546). Therefore the water is not a pure substance. Tap water is not pure because the water treatment facilities adds fluorine and chlorine to the water. Likewise mineral water, mountain spring water and carbonated water are all impure. A word like “pure” becomes a new concept and idea in the field of Chemistry. Those who are English proficient adapt their definition of pure but what about the ELL students who are struggling with English on an academic level. Can they make this adaptation or do we lose them in interpretation. I guess the lesson is that all water are not created equally pure.
which they are reading this year. Having read The Iliad I know the complexity of this poem and the challenges it brings to those whose first language is English. Yet what about the ELL student who’s English has not reached the academic level? Or whose schooling experience is not compatible to western civilizations.
How does this transfer to more technical courses like Chemistry, Physics, Anatomy and Physiology, Geometry, Algebra, or Computer sciences. Each of these have their own particular language that the whole student population needs to learn. Then you add the lack of proficiency of the English language and you have a double language barrier to overcome. For example if you ask a student “is their water a pure substance” they would say “yes”. Otherwise they would not be drinking it if the water was not pure. However, in Chemistry the answer would be “no, the water is not a pure substance” because a pure substance is define as “a substance that is made up of only one kind of particles and has uniform composition” (Batdorf, B. R. 2009 pg. 546). Therefore the water is not a pure substance. Tap water is not pure because the water treatment facilities adds fluorine and chlorine to the water. Likewise mineral water, mountain spring water and carbonated water are all impure. A word like “pure” becomes a new concept and idea in the field of Chemistry. Those who are English proficient adapt their definition of pure but what about the ELL students who are struggling with English on an academic level. Can they make this adaptation or do we lose them in interpretation. I guess the lesson is that all water are not created equally pure.