IPC with My ELL Buddies

   Today, I had the chance to work with Mr. A, my buddy from last time, and with Mr. S, another ELL student who is new to the school. I asked Mr. A to right down an example of each, a chemical reaction and a physical reaction (revision from what he learned during our previous meeting). Meanwhile, I read the first paragraph of a text provided by the IPC teacher (the same one we used last time with the other buddies- about chemical and physical changes). As I read, I underlined the key terms, and then used these words to make sense out of the text: combustion, change in properties, burn, element combined with O2, energy released… After I finished reading, I explained to Mr. S how my strategy helps me take meaningful notes, and better understand the text. Now, I can define combustion, a chemical reaction, and give an example of it. After modeling, I asked Mr. S to read the following paragraph, underline important information, then demonstrate what he understands from the text on a piece of paper and explain it to me as if he were the teacher. After both buddies have finished, every one of them explained to us (the two) what they were doing. Mr. S taught us what he learned from the text he read, and Mr. A reviewed with us what we did last session.

   Now it is time for Mr. A to learn new information, since he has not done but revision so far. I asked him to look for the definition of a balanced equation from his text book. He did a very good job copying the definition from the glossary! Now, explain it to me! A smile on his face told me that he was not able to do that. I asked him to break the definition into parts, and try to understand it step by step; it was not an easy definition! After we broke the definition into smaller chunks, Mr. A was able to understand it; however, he was able to understand it better when I copied an equation from the textbook and asked him to find out if this is a balanced equation or not. In other words, I tried to make the job of understanding the definition easier by applying it on an example. Mr. S’s English language proficiency is higher than that of Mr. A, so he was able to understand the meaning of balanced equations just by listening to Mr. A reading it. I gave Mr. S another equation to find out if it is balanced or not. Both of my buddies did a great job on this assignment, and their answer justification was pretty reasonable.

   Today’s meeting with my buddies made me think of several critical aspects of teaching ELL students. First, modeling for them what they are expected to be doing on an assignment is very necessary, and I believe, that was the key to some of the success I found today with my buddies. Second, pre-assessing Mr. S’s proficiency in English today, and Mr. A’s last time, is very important, since it gave me an idea about where to start with each one of them. Third, I recognized how critical it is to build rapport with the students. The moment I told Mr. S that I understand and speak French, he started feeling more comfortable, and he started reacting more effectively to my instruction. Now he knows that when he fails to communicate with me in English, we can use French. He feels safer!

   In reflection, I learned a lot from today’s meeting with my buddies, and a shift in my point of view regarding teaching ELL students started to happen in my mind. I realized that it is critical to be able to at least understand your ELL’s primary language to be able to teach him/her the second language effectively. I am not sure to what extent this factor is influential in teaching a second language, but now, I believe it makes a difference.    

  

Challenging But Possible

   This morning, I had the chance to work with my ELL buddies, Mr. A and Miss R, on a chemistry concept: The difference between a chemical change and a physical change. Fortunately, Miss R. is on a higher level of English language profficiency than Mr. A, and the English/Spanish translations that were going on were extremely helpful. To begin with, I handed them a text (their teacher provided), which explained the differences between a chemical and a physical change. I made sure to give them explicit instruction about what we were going to do during our meeting: Each one of us is going to read a paragraph aloud and paraphrase it using simple English, Spanish, or drawing. Mr. A started by reading the first paragraph: COMBUSTION!

   As I previously mentioned, Mr. A is a ”novice” ELL student. He still cannot express himself in English; in addition, his reading comprehension performance is on the “frustrational’ level, especially when it comes to scientific terms. I intended to ask him some questions in order to focus his attention on the key words of the text: “What does chemical reaction means? What is combustion? What do we mean by combing elements? What is substance identity?” I asked him to underline these terms, and I asked Miss R. to translate some words to him like: candle, wax, smoke, heat, energy, light etc… Ok, now Mr. A understands the concept, he says, but as a teacher, how do I know that, and when do I move on to the next concept? I gave each one of my buddies an empty piece of paper and asked them to write or draw an example of a physical change. Miss R. wrote a paragraph about boiling water, and Mr. a drew a thorough diagram about gold recycling. Each one of them translated their learning process in a different language, but they showed me the same level of comprehension. But the question is: Does Mr. A’s teacher accept diagrams on her tests? Does the TAKS exam give Mr. A the chance to express his knowledge using diagrams? NO.

     In reflection, my meeting with the buddies was pretty productive. They were able to read, learn new concepts, and apply what they learned in different ways. Obviously, Mr. A needs extra support from his ELL teacher, other teachers, and peers to gain essencial English language skills he still lacks, like reading comprehension and speaking skills.  

 

Hello Awesome High School Inters,

I hope that you will spend a fruitful field-based experience learning from your professors, cooperating teachers, students, and each other.  

I am looking forward to working with you this semester!