ESL and bilingual teachers: roles and practices

ESL and Bilingual Teachers

In "Fulfilling the Promise of Youth" in education, teachers need to do everything in their power to make sure all my students receive a quality education. Increasingly, teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) students must be a team effort involving ESL teachers, parents and mainstream teachers to support the unique needs of these students. This paper explains the benefits this transformation will bring as well as suggestions for implementation strategies.

Many researchers have documented the benefits of parental involvement for children. "The evidence is clear that parental encouragement, activities and interest at home, and parental participation in schools and classrooms positively influence achievement, even after the students' ability and family socioeconomic status are taken into account." (Epstein, 1985) Specifically relevant to ESL students, Simich-Dudgeon (1993) studied the impact of the Trinity- Arlington project, a parent involvement program involving limited English proficient parents in home tutoring strategies, on high school student educational outcomes. These parents participated in home-learning lessons that included discussions for future careers. After completion of the tutoring program, the study reported significant gains on English oral language proficiency, English comprehension, fluency, grammar knowledge, pronunciation, vocabulary, and writing.

Strategies for parent involvement include monthly workshops to explain the curriculum, student activities and state testing requirements. Staff should make it clear to parents that they are welcome at the school anytime and would welcome them to stop by when they are dropping off their children and to attend classes when their schedule permits participation. Teachers should also reach out directly to parents through phone calls that would solicit their thoughts on their child's education progress and idea for future improvement. The teachers should also discuss the child's special needs and how the parent can help at home. In instances when English is an issue for parents, the school should use translators to reach out to the parents in their native language. In this way, they will not be left out of their child's learning experience.

Students and teachers in schools that have successfully implemented teaming consistently report more positive and productive learning environments (Dickinson & Erb, 1997). Further, research has shown that schools with teaming, common planning time, small teams, and advisory were found to have higher levels of student achievement and student self-esteem than schools that lack these characteristics (Felner et al., 1997). Relevant to ESL students and teaming between ESL teachers and mainstream teachers, the St. Paul, Minnesota. school district has replaced assigning ESL students to a full-day ESL track or having an ESL teacher regularly pull them out of class. Instead, mainstream and ESL teachers co-teach in the same classroom. With this approach, the school district has nearly closed the achievement gap between English-language learners and native speakers, based on state test results (Zehr, 2006).