At the United Nations International School (UNIS), we constantly refine our understanding of effective practices for teaching language learners. As in many international schools, the majority of students at UNIS come from bilingual or multilingual families. Our approximately 1,200 students speak as many as 70 different languages. As a competitive New York City private school, we are held to high academic expectations.
This environment, admittedly special, is nevertheless not fundamentally different from that of many other private and public schools. Even as we seek to make a difference for language learners, we face the common issues of overall program design, state mandates, budget restrictions, and classroom space. The guidelines and questions that guide the UNIS program and make it successful (see “Making a Difference for Language Learners,” p. 66) also apply to other schools. The following stories of UNIS students provide insight into what language learners need from and bring to any school.
Provide Direct Support for Second-Language Acquisition
Pierre's family had traveled a great deal during his early school years, obliging him to change schools and languages frequently. When he arrived at UNIS at age 12, he had not yet learned to read or write fluently in any language. He needed to master the English alphabet, introductory phonics, and letter formation even though the other students in his classes were already reading novels and writing essays.
To glimpse what students like Pierre face, imagine a young person with no prior swimming experience. Some individuals with physical gifts or early sports experience might learn to swim in the deep end of the pool by imitating the swimmers around them. Other individuals might shiver on the edge of the pool or flounder in the water.
Language learners at all levels of ability need structured language lessons with extensive feedback to promote their skill development. They need specific scaffolding to build vocabulary and knowledge of language structures. In addition, such students need advocates for their general progress (Salend & Salinas, 2003). Students who arrive in the United States without basic reading and writing skills in English often experience an initial sense of frustration and failure in mainstream classes, finding themselves unable to cope with even simple texts and written assignments. They need regular English language lessons at their particular level of skill development.
After evaluating Pierre's academic reading and writing skills, we assigned him to attend the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class conducted by a specialist during his foreign language, English, and social studies periods. In his ESOL class, he studied a parallel social studies curriculum and received language instruction and support in other subjects. In the safety of the ESOL room, he began to take pride in his beginning English progress, which eventually translated into progress in the larger school context.
Help Students Adapt to New Teaching and Testing Styles
Muna spoke English with deceptive fluency. Having been required to learn, retain, and repeat facts in her previous school, she prepared to the best of her ability for the 8th grade final exam on Colonial American history. But when she was required to answer a “compare and contrast” question in essay form, her skills in remembering dates and definitions were of little use to her.
The main teaching method in some schools previously attended by English language learners focuses on memorization and repetition of texts (Flaitz, 2003). These students become frustrated when their best efforts to memorize information and then repeat or copy it word-for-word are not rewarded in schools that use a more personal, open-ended approach. They become even more bewildered if they are reprimanded for “plagiarism.” They may wonder why they must restate in their own limited vocabulary information written in good English by masters of the language. To encourage individual success, teachers need to understand the instructional style of each student's previous schooling.
Working with an ESOL specialist, Muna created practice outlines and sample essays directly related to her mainstream classroom work. She was given additional feedback on her practice and began to understand what to expect on written exams. In addition, she developed strategies to use her gifts in memorization within the new system.
Respect Cultural Diversity and Individual Learning Styles
Hiro made himself unpopular among students and teachers by insisting on raising his hand to answer every question, showing off when he earned a good grade on a test, and smirking sarcastically when someone else made a mistake in class. This behavior was perhaps not unusual in the competitive school system from which he had recently come.
Cultural values are part of every language learner's profile. Some types of behavior considered unacceptable in the dominant culture are not only acceptable but even encouraged in the student's home culture. When teachers and administrators acknowledge, understand, and value different cultures, they can help ESOL students adjust without losing the home culture traits that make them special (Moore, 1999).
Through extensive work with the ESOL specialist and firm yet gentle messages from mainstream teachers and counselors who really listened to him, Hiro began to function and participate in a more appropriate manner for his new school culture. He maintained a clear identity with his home cultural values and style, however, and used his competitive spirit to win individual awards for excellence in science.
Address Learning Problems and Emotional Needs
Olga experienced frequent fits of rage. In addition, she avoided reading at any cost. Even looking at the page seemed to take too much energy. Her teachers, after conferring with her parents, finally learned that she had also had a difficult time learning to read in her first language.
When language learners arrive at a new school, they are not blank slates, wiped clean for the inscription of new linguistic and cultural messages. They bring with them their own physical, emotional, linguistic, academic, cultural, and personal traits, which may either ease or inhibit their transition to the new culture. Some students arrive in a new home and quickly adapt; others extensively grieve the loss of their old home. Teamwork among ESOL and homeroom teachers, guidance counselors, resource specialists, and parents can provide the emotional support and individual instructional interventions that these students need (Abrams, Ferguson, & Laud, 2001).
After consulting a learning specialist, Olga's teachers implemented specific strategies to help her relearn the sound-letter system in a sensory format. In addition, she began to build oral reading fluency by rereading short passages aloud in a timed format. This helped her in ways that traditional vocabulary building and literature-based language teaching never reached.
This eclectic, collaborative approach made a difference for Olga. When her class read aloud a poem about a man who had lost an arm containing the line, “And where the arm had been torn away a wing grew” (Cassian, 1976), Olga's hand shot up. “That's just like us learning English!” she exclaimed. She was beginning to experience hope for her own learning.
Provide Hands-On, Active Instructional Support
Anita was making excellent progress in her ESOL classroom and her mainstream math class, but during almost every science period she burst into tears. Experiments, lab reports, symbols, and projects requiring hands-on application of scientific theories were totally alien to this gifted 8th grader. In her native country she would not have studied science subjects until she reached high school.
Science and social studies texts can be the most difficult to read in the school. Some students making satisfactory progress in an English language program may still find it difficult to understand subjects that they have never studied before or that they studied in a different format. Their understanding may lag behind the pace of the mainstream curriculum.
Students need in-depth vocabulary instruction at all levels of language study. They are never too old or sophisticated to learn the relevant use of concrete objects. Language learners need constant review of their comprehension of instructions as well as clearly written handouts and board work—supports that will benefit the entire class. Because academic language is interwoven with social and cultural contexts as well as experience, students need multiple forms of scaffolding for this learning with both specialists and mainstream teachers (Wrigley, 2000).
Previewing new scientific terms prior to her science lessons helped calm Anita's anxious reactions. She worked with the ESOL specialist to practice writing lab reports. In addition, the mainstream teacher began to use more concrete objects in lessons. He also made sure that Anita participated in multilevel peer groups that included more confident students who spoke her native language. Anita's parallel study of the science concepts in her own language also increased her competence in science in English.
Make Time to Develop Linguistic Fluency
Lazar began studying English at age 11, when he came to live with his father after his mother died in his home country. In two years' time he had made fair and steady progress in gaining communicative proficiency in English. Relatives and family friends began to pressure Lazar's father to move him out of the ESOL program.
Age, language background, and learning style all play a role in language learners' different learning paces. Young musicians learning the skills required to play an instrument are not expected to become brilliant performers overnight or even within a few years. Neither should language learners be left without continued intervention or instruction when they have acquired basic communicative competence in a language. It may take many years to acquire native proficiency in certain language skills.
After asking the ESOL specialists for advice, Lazar's father decided to allow him to remain in the ESOL program for one more year of academic preparation. Lazar continued to receive extensive reading and writing practice at his English language proficiency level. He read authentic novels and rich excerpts from the English curriculum, moving him toward closer integration with his peers. He received supplemental supports, such as vocabulary review, guided reading, and note-taking practice, as well as parallel texts to scaffold his learning for mainstream social studies, science, and math. Lazar's eventual transition was much smoother because he was given extra time.
The Gift of Language Learners
Language learners in our schools continually remind us of basic principles that we cherish for all our students (Edmunds, 2000). Their own intelligence, ability to concentrate, perseverance, cultural identity, high expectations, and organizational skills all play an important role in determining the ease with which students learn English while continuing to develop their first language (Cummins, 2000). To accomplish the amazing task of acquiring a new language and culture, these learners need the support of culturally sensitive teachers, counselors, and administrators.
At the United Nations International School, education professionals do not try to create a “melting pot.” Instead, we work cooperatively to create an intricate and strong patchwork quilt. Each student's piece of the quilt must remain unique and strong in itself as it becomes part of the pattern, adding beauty to the interconnected whole.
