When you know a student does not comprehend English well, what do you do to help them understand the material?
There are a number of ELL students in our school and I have had many in my classrooms. Some understand English better than others. How to you help the student who does not understand English very well understand the material without embarrassing them?
I teach in Dubai where for more than 60% of my students, English is a second language. The curriculum we teach is from Australia and in my feedback about the way the courses are written, I have raised the issue a number of times. The language needs to be transparent in unit guides. One way some instructors have dealt with this is by writing a simplified second set of instructions as a checklist that still maps to the outcomes of the assessment. We keep the checklist statements short and spaced out on the page. Also, if it is possible to use visual examples, students relate to pictures and illustrations easier.
This is very true regarding the many ELL students I experience many Asian students that struggle but this course will help me help them.
I have many spanish speaking students ( I do not speak Spanish). I have buddied them up with bilingual students and offer tutoring. I find that the bilingual student helps the Spanish speaker understand the material. It also helps the bilingual learn the material better. I have also noted that the ai (assistant instructor) learns to become more of a leader within their class/ peers/ group.
One issue I have noted is I am British and served 30 years in the US forces. I was raised by gens Vet and Boomers. We were low income in England and didn't get our first black and white tv untill I was 10yo. The problem I have is I am used to a Boomer Gen type of structure and my student drive me arround the bend with their tech withdrawl issues. How is a good way to address this or should I adjust to fit their gen reguirments?
sugestions?
I have found that the best way is through either a buddy system with other bilingual studetns and/or visual aides. I also agree that some extra tutoring may be very helpful to the student who may need more attention becasue of the language barrier.
