ELL in trade schools
I find it best to use hands on practical examples of the subject matter in conjunction with keeping the lecture portion of the class at a basic level, baby steps and drawings. as opposed to long winded verbage,big words and complex explinations. KISS/ keep it simple stupid works for me.
i believe in my field of teaching (culinary) and with our huge variety of different native language speakers it is a must to keep practical examples to a maximum level wherever the syllabus allows.
Hi Hans! Thanks for your observations. This is an interesting point in that practical and hands-on examples help to minimize the challenges with language barriers.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
I agree with you Hans very much. I also teach culinary arts and find there are some students with great skills and hands on experience but can hardly speek english. This is where it is very inportant to do a lot of practical, physical type demos as well as making use of dry erase bords as opposed to talking to get key notes across.
Hi Jason and Hans! Thanks very much for the comments! Practical demonstrations, backed up with visuals, greatly assist with the language barriers. Bravo for using different presentation methods.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
I teach at a culinary arts school, but am on the other side of the coin since I teach academic classes. Thus, it is my job to emphasize and help further those English language skills.
With many ELL, who need to work on their English skills, I find it is essentail to empahsize the value of learning English from a career perspective. For example, certainly you can work in a kitchen and find a job if you only fully speak Spanish. However, if you want to be promoted and expect to make contact with vendors, own your own place etc., solid English skills are a necessity.
For me, it helps when other chef instructors at my school also emphasize this point. Some of the chef instructors demand high standards in coursework, where some let those struggling with English pass due to the challenges an ELL can create.
I would like to see our school develop an ELL class that some students are required to attend.
There is even a third level of language challenge in culinary school: we are teaching a specialized vocabulary, most of which is French. Again and again we need to return to concrete examples and hands on experiences.
Jay,
Practical demonstrations only can go so far. Our students have to pass a hands on test as well as a written national certification. My ELL student is doing fine in lab, but what can I do to help her pass the national exam?
Hi Julie!
How about having someone to assist her with the reading/written portion? I would also check to see what is acceptable student assistance for the national certification?
Let me know if this is a workable solution.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
I feel your pain about throwing French vocabulary and terminology into the ELL mix. One thing that I notice is that the French Vocab often acts as a great leveler-- it puts the native English speakers on a level playing field with the ELL students. They all struggle with French together.
Another interesting point: Many of our ELL students are priomarily Spanish speaking, and this may help them in professional kitchen settings where they may have an advantage over native English speakers who have no Spanish at all. What works against them in an educational setting may help them in the real world.
We have someone help read the written test and reword the question if needed to have the ELL student understand it.
