Looking for teachers in inner-city schools, other countries

Nina,

Maybe someone will write back. However, it is likely you will get LOTS of
back and forth by various people here if you put forth a question or even
just talk about your experience. Try to word something specific “are there techniques that are helpful in teaching reading to non-English native speakers” something like that.

Many of us have no doubt worked with high risk, non-English students, etc. I had an interesting year working with high risk high school students
at a charter school.

—des

I work in a bilingual-plus area — 80% French, 10% English, surrounded and overwhelmed by English input from rest of North America, 10% other.

I spent yesterday with a friend I met at the Quebec national festival, a Moroccan who speaks Berber, Arabic, and French in that order, was educated in the French lycee system, and just started English classes. And you know you are in a multicultural city when the national festival features a black latino guy from the Caribbean doing New-York-originated break dancing to a tune based on Celtic fiddle music while the band sings about working in the far north woods and mines and the workers’ revolt.

I would be happy to discuss any and all aspects of this with you — hey I’ll talk the hind leg off a donkey any time anyone gives me the chance.

I teach French to English-speaking students, English to French and others, reading in both English and French, reading in French to English-speaking kids in immersion classes, and math to anyone who asks. Think that covers the ground …

It’s hard to put this tactfully, but please take this as an honest effort to help, I somehow get a negative vibe from your posts, as if you feel something is wrong with your situation and/or your students.
I used to have some really good films to show to driver’s ed classes, one featuring the inventor of the seatbelt, engineer from Volvo, doing a hilarious demonstration with a miniature car and some eggs; he spoke with a rather strong Swedish accent. After some very nasty rude comments in a couple of classes, I used to start off by telling the students before they made fun of him they should ask themselves “And how good is my Swedish?” Amazing how things change when you switch your point of view!

You can talk to me here or send an email to advance.tutors @sympatico.ca
It’s easier in this format if you have more specific questions on what to do and when and how and where your students are at the moment.
If you just want to talk have cheap long-distance (very long and check costs for the 514 area) just ask and I’ll give you the phone number.

I work in a bilingual-plus area — 80% French, 10% English, surrounded and overwhelmed by English input from rest of North America, 10% other.

I spent yesterday with a friend I met at the Quebec national festival, a Moroccan who speaks Berber, Arabic, and French in that order, was educated in the French lycee system, and just started English classes. And you know you are in a multicultural city when the national festival features a black latino guy from the Caribbean doing New-York-originated break dancing to a tune based on Celtic fiddle music while the band sings about working in the far north woods and mines and the workers’ revolt.

I would be happy to discuss any and all aspects of this with you — hey I’ll talk the hind leg off a donkey any time anyone gives me the chance.

I teach French to English-speaking students, English to French and others, reading in both English and French, reading in French to English-speaking kids in immersion classes, and math to anyone who asks. Think that covers the ground …

It’s hard to put this tactfully, but please take this as an honest effort to help, I somehow get a negative vibe from your posts, as if you feel something is wrong with your situation and/or your students.
I used to have some really good films to show to driver’s ed classes, one featuring the inventor of the seatbelt, engineer from Volvo, doing a hilarious demonstration with a miniature car and some eggs; he spoke with a rather strong Swedish accent. After some very nasty rude comments in a couple of classes, I used to start off by telling the students before they made fun of him they should ask themselves “And how good is my Swedish?” Amazing how things change when you switch your point of view!

You can talk to me here or send an email to advance.tutors @sympatico.ca
It’s easier in this format if you have more specific questions on what to do and when and how and where your students are at the moment.
If you just want to talk have cheap long-distance (very long and check costs for the 514 area) just ask and I’ll give you the phone number.

Yes, I am curious to know how much a teacher has to go above and beyond their normal teaching day to include second-language learners.

I know that it is important to have pictures, words, and hands-on material for these types of learners to participate. But what kind of assessment can be done for this type of student if you are a fifth grade teacher and you are teaching social studies.

For example, I am going to begin teaching about the New World Explorers and I don’t see how these kids will come close to being able to answer questions about this topic once I’ve taught it. Is the best thing just to hope that they can recognize things like a compass, ship, sails, etc. ????

I may be thinking the wrong thing about this one particular student- he may have a learning disability because he is an intermediate english language speaker. This particular student that I am concerned about has consistently done very poorly in school so far. He has been promoted to the fifth grade, but he is testing very low at math, vocab, spelling, etc.

thanks,NIna

>I know that it is important to have pictures, words, and hands-on material for these types of learners to participate. But what kind of assessment can be done for this type of student if you are a fifth grade teacher and you are teaching social studies.

I wonder about that as well. I haven’t worked in these “inclusion classrooms”— except for briefly this year. Supposedly you are supposed
to be able to teach them at a fifth grade level in English with some supports that may or prob. aren’t there; assess them using multiple assessments (oral reports, portfolios, etc.), not water down your curriculum for them, etc.

But just how many hours in the day do you have?

>For example, I am going to begin teaching about the New World Explorers and I don’t see how these kids will come close to being able to

Yes, I’d rather they spent some intensive time with them in bilingual or intensive English classes and really got their English up to speed. The same as I feel about kids who can’t read. They make them limp thru school, not really remediating them, when a year or two of really solid intensive remediating would get many of them out of special ed and reading. Same problem I think.

>I may be thinking the wrong thing about this one particular student- he may have a learning disability because he is an intermediate english language speaker. This particular student that I am concerned about has

Well he may be ld. There is no reason the two aren’t together somehow.
In fact, maybe a higher percentage are, what with possible higher poverty and all that goes along with that.

The Navajo student I have worked with, I always wondered just how much was the second language that he didn’t really speak but was always exposed to and how much was ld. Bit of a fascination to me I think, as I like complex cases. However, not sure I would like them so well if I had 26-33 other kids and they all had to be worked with and taught certain things.

I guess we’ll just have to wait til the pendelum swings again. ;-)

>thanks,NIna

—des

A lot of students (and other people) *appear* to understand more than they do. Just because he can pass a formulaic test with limited vocabulary and standardized type questions does not mean that he can understand daily conversation or a fast-paced class discussion or a fifth-grade text.
He may give you sensible answers by modelling his answer on your question — a good skill but may cover up a lower degree of fluency than you thought.
My *adult* (all university grad, half PhD) intermediate and advanced second-language learners from China found fifth-grade reading terribly challenging; they were OK with grade 3-4 level.
*Most* second-language learners have a real challenge with English idiomatic expressions. So it is less likely to be an LD and more likely to be being swamped by the language. Of course yes it could be both, but work on the language and see what develops.
— Intermediate learners are just learning past and future tenses and haven’t mastered them yet. History being concerned with the past, he may have trouble with a lot of the verbs.

The idea of placing second-language students in the classroom is that they are supposed to learn naturally by immersion. How long has this student been in English school and community? If one year and he has reached intermediate, very good. If two years, slow progress but OK. If more than two years, either he may have a language-learning problem or more commonly he may have been sidelined for so long he may have given up.
Some things to do:
— Actively teach the vocabulary. Teach things orally as much as you can. See if you can find materials on your topic aimed at grades 2-3 with pictures and/or explanations in basic Grade 2 vocabulary. (You can also make up materials of your own on computer but it is amazingly time-consuming and you may not be able to keep it up long enough.)
— If he reads better than he understands by speech, often true because you can read slowly and go over things, give him reading material to take home and work on. Not a lot, and try to keep it at Grade 2-3 level if possible but something for each topic.
— Seat him near the front, keep eye contact with him, and speak very clearly.
— Try to include him in classroom discussions. Ask him a simple question that can be answered with one word or phrase by using an illustration at hand or something you have written on the board. Once he is more used to participating, extend the difficulty very slowly.
— As you speak, think of how often you use idiomatic expressions — cover up, being swamped, keep it up, eye contact — we use so many of these so much of the time. By Grade 5 most of your native English speakers have caught on (oops — there’s another one) to the fact that these things are metaphors or images. See if you can take a little time to talk to him individually, and explain things in direct terms; also when you can tell him what the idioms you use mean.
— Try to get him to write. While everyone else is writing a paragraph, at least he can write a sentence or two. While everyone else is answering a list of questions, he can answer a couple of factual ones with your help, and he can copy a list of vocabulary. If he is intermediate level he should be able to copy and do simple factual from a text in front of him. As he learns more language he can do more complex work.
— Of course he needs to know English phonics. This is sometimes a huge gap. If he can’t sound out simple English words or spell what he wants to say, he may be totally frustrated. If this is the case he will need tutoring somewhere. You can do a very good deed helping him find the help he needs.

I’m not sure about evaluations. If you can get him to participate and write at least something, then you can grade him on that.

Both answers were very helpful!

Thanks for all your input, I really needed it.

Until Next Time,
Nina