Being a teacher of English language learners (ELLs) is complicated. As a writing workshop teacher in India, I witness multilingualism at its best in everyday life. At the same time, I find I am grappling with ways to honor my students' home languages within my English classroom. I'm learning how to match effective pedagogy with a deep understanding of the politics of language and the oppression of English on students from non-English-speaking homes.
Mentor texts can be highly effective instructional tools in the writing classroom. In fact, my work is grounded in such lessons developed by great teachers like Nancie Atwell, Donald Graves, Georgia Heard, X.J. Kennedy, and Carl Anderson. At the same time, mentor texts can create more barriers for English learners if we are not mindful of how we align texts with instruction. With that in mind, I have found that it is useful to classify writing mini-lessons into three categories from the perspective of ELLs:
- Language Dependent: Lessons that are valid only in the English language. For example, Homonyms; Four Capitalization Confusions; and Suffixes: To Double or Not?
- Language Agnostic: Lessons that are valid as good writing principles in any language. For example, Writing Leads: Begin Inside; Cut to the Bone (on economy of words in poetry); and Considerations in Creating a Main Character.
- Language Sensitive: Lessons that require basic proficiency in English and a familiarity with the way words combine to produce an effect on the reader. For example, The Power of I; The Rule of Write About a Pebble; and Using Repetition.
In my experience as a teacher, "language-sensitive" lessons present the most difficulty for ELLs. This difficulty is further exacerbated if the mentor texts are poems. Michael Lewis points out in his book, The English Verb: An Exploration of Structure and Meaning, that "poets sometimes put together words which do not normally belong together or use unusual syntax." Learners need at least a basic proficiency in English to know the usual ways in which syntax and words belong together to be able to recognize and appreciate the deftness with which poets "dislocate language into meaning" (Lewis quoting T.S. Eliot's 1921 essay, The Metaphyscial Poets).
To expect an English learner to "get" the mentor text, be affected by the words, and then analyze its effectiveness—all within 15 minutes—is often unreasonable. It also makes such lessons, however carefully designed, esoteric, resulting in ELLs feeling like, I understand what you're saying, but I don't get it.
Fortunately for us ELL educators, language-sensitive lessons are almost always language agnostic. That means I can teach the same writing concepts but use a mentor text that is in my students' home language, which will increase the likelihood that they will get the objective of the lesson. Here's an example from my classroom in India, using Nancie Atwell's lesson, The Power of I.
The Power of I
When I read Nancie Atwell's lesson, The Power of I, I was blown away both by the principle itself and how she masterfully orchestrates the learning experience for her students in the lesson. Atwell writes in Lessons that Change Writers, "First person experiences need a first person. Make sure your 'I' is present and is thinking, feeling, seeing, acting." Basically, she encourages students to create and use the first-person voice and presence in their poetry. Much to my disappointment, my ELLs didn't appreciate it as much as I had expected them to. Their "I" poems were just that, poems with the word "I" in them. They could not exploit the power of I because they understood the lesson as simply "change all occurrences of we, you, and they in the poem to I."
The recent Hindi movie Gully Boy, a movie inspired by the lives of Indian street rappers, came to my rescue. In an interview, director Zoya Akhtar describes how the most important song of the movie, "Apna Time Aayega" ("My Time Will Come") got written. Initially, the song was written by Indian street rapper Divine as "Sabka Time Aayega" ("Everyone's Time Will Come"). But then the director's dad told Zoya to change "sabka" to "apna" because "apna is what you own. Apna is more personal. Apna will make you feel something."
When this L1 example is used as the first mentor text, it takes all of 15 seconds for ELLs to nod, smile, and for their eyes to show me that they get it. Once they do, asking them to engage with Atwell's selected mentor text, Wind by Ceysa McKechnie, becomes possible. The L1 mentor text builds a bridge to instruction with L2, in this case English, mentor texts.
It is easy to conflate this idea (use of a more accessible mentor text) with the value of bringing pop culture into the classroom, with the example shown. Although I have nothing against pop culture in the class, such a misunderstanding will undermine the power of L1 in an ELL classroom. "Apna Time Aayega" worked because my students could immediately notice the power of I and its effect on them because of the writerly choices Zoya and her father made.
My approach is heavily based on the fact that I am multilingual myself. I speak and read in many of the languages that are also home languages of my students. However, if I was teaching in another Indian state and did not know the main language, I would try to develop basic conversational knowledge of my students home languages—enough to watch movies or listen to popular songs in that language. I would also ask students to suggest mentor texts in their home languages. They may not be readers of sophisticated poetry, but they will almost always be cued in to the contemporary music scene. Many poetry lessons can be taught using song lyrics. Finally, I'd reach out to native language teachers for ideas and help.
Asking students for help sourcing mentor texts creates opportunities for balancing the power dynamic, given the hegemony of the English language worldwide. It paves the way for building authentic relationships with students, which has the potential to lead to more learning, for both you and the students. Additionally, L1 mentor texts not only support your multilingual students, they are an authentic way to introduce native English speakers to the languages and cultures of their classmates.
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