Prompt #6: Goldenberg

In my classroom there were many different races and ethnicities. Although there were a wide variety of students throughout my class, and the school, I never seemed to come across any linguistic differences that called for extra attention. The students in my classroom all spoke very fluent English, and none of them appeared to be English language learners. When observing my teacher, I didn’t notice any linguistic differences that she came across either.
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f I was a teacher in a diverse classroom that had English language learners there are a few steps I would take into account to make sure they are learning affectively, and are actually understanding what they are learning. These steps are based off of Claude Goldenberg’s key points on how to teach the English language development. First Goldenberg says that we need to teach the students vocabulary, syntax, grammar and pronunciation daily in order for students to learn affectively. The second key point in teaching the English language is the most important part; that we need to allow them opportunities to use what they are learning, in everyday life. Students whose first language is not English are going to have a hard time trying to use English words in everyday life, if they don’t know how to use them. They can sit down in class and write a list of every word they know in English, but it will mean nothing unless they know how to put them into sentences and use them. One final point that Goldenberg says is that teachers should actually have a block of time during school in which they learn all of these things. Studies have actually shown that just trying to pick up on the words and how to use them was less affective than when they actually had a specific time of day where they learned it, based on standardized tests.

Basically what I would do is I would take it really slow with ELL’s in my classroom. I would just work day by day with them, along with other students so they didn’t feel isolated, and practice their vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation repetitively until they started to make progress. Teaching ELL students is not something that will happen over night. The most important thing to remember is to have patience. You need to put yourself in their shoes and imagine how it must be for them to try to learn a language that is totally unfamiliar to you, like Chinese! Just remember when you’re in your classroom teaching that every student matters and no student can be left behind!