It is pretty typical to wonder how newcomer students who are just starting to learn English acquire the language in a mainstream classroom. Educators often ask: what will the student even learn in the classroom if they cannot understand what I am saying? How can I even assess this student?
Most professional learning about English language learners (ELLs), or multilingual language learners (MLLs) address this topic by focusing on program adaptation and instructional tips. I’m not convinced that those approaches have always been effective, especially since we don’t often think about language acquisition from the perspective of the learner.
This blog will first focus on exactly how students learn English, or the language of instruction, in Ontario. We will then explore practical ways educators can enhance language acquisition through instruction and program adaptations, using a student-centred perspective.
How do We Learn a New Language?
Language learning is something that most Canadian teachers are familiar with to some degree. Even if you haven’t invested time in learning an additional language, you still live in a bilingual country where everything from road signs and toothpaste labels are in at least two different languages. At this point, you have probably learned a handful of French words and phrases, simply by reading and re-reading environmental print.
As someone who has spent a considerable amount of time language learning and travelling in places where English is not typically the first language spoken, I can confidently say that a lot of the best learning I have experienced comes from listening, attempting to decode environmental print, and having to interact with others in practical situations like asking for directions or purchasing something.
Yes, explicit instruction makes a big difference. When you take time to learn a new language in a class, study and complete activities from a language learning activity book, or consult a phrase book or digital translator, you can enter a linguistically foreign context armed with much more background knowledge that helps you to navigate situations more easily.
It is no different for newcomer students (students that have recently arrived to Canada for the first time) that enter a new country, community, school, and classroom. Many students come with some background knowledge of English learned in school or through media exposure. Others may not, and will be exposed to English for the first time during the time they join your classroom.
In either case, you will want to consider the environment you work in and the content you teach to be two powerful pathways newcomer students can acquire English language skills.
A Quick Note on Content
It is important to note that much of the content you use will not teach English as a second or additional language explicitly, especially if you are teaching older students in the intermediate grades. Because you are teaching curriculum to a large and diverse group of students, it is important to reframe the way you think about how your teaching will land differently with a newcomer student.
One way to understand content based instruction to ELLs is to put yourself in their shoes. Find a piece of content on an academic topic in another language using a search engine. Watch a news report in a language you are completely unfamiliar with.
What information can you actually extract or learn from that text, or piece of content? What would you need to make that content more comprehensible?
We will explore how to reframe the content you teach by making it more comprehensible in the second part of this blog.
Language Acquisition through the Learning Environment
Let’s get back to focusing on the learning environment – how might a newcomer student acquire English by simply being in the classroom?
You have may have heard about the Reggio Emilia philosophy of peers being the “second teacher”, and the classroom being “the third teacher”. When an environment is set up effectively for learners with opportunities to explore and problem-solve, they can be active participants in their own learning.
While this concept has roots in learning in the early years, it can also be incredibly relevant to supporting language development in older, newcomer students that are acquiring English while learning alongside non-ELL peers in a mainstream class environment.
Perhaps more importantly, it leverages an additional teaching resource – the environment; in other words, your classroom is also doing some of the work! Consider “tweaking” your classroom for English language development by taking the following actions:
- Label common objects (ex. Whiteboard, clock, garbage can, computers, bins, etc.). You can even add labels in the home languages of your students if they have literacy skills in those languages.
- Include literacy materials around the class that address a range of different reading levels. For example, display non-fiction texts that have lots of features like subheadings, pictures, and table of contents. Have a selection of graphic novels and picture books that students can explore.
- Make a large scale timetable for students to reference, with visuals or symbols that support the subject being learned during a specific period.
- Provide opportunities for informal, low risk conversations among students in small groups or play games in large groups. Listening is a rich way for ELLs to acquire language, and all students benefit from activities that build community.
- Encourage all students in the class to use translation tools to bridge communication gaps in spontaneous conversation.
- Use the outdoors as much as possible, whether it is time for unstructured play and socializing or a guided walk through nature or the community. Language acquisition is powerful when the learning is experiential, and you are referring to concrete elements. The break from the classroom environment and tech also supports your students well-being.
- Have charts with common sentence starters and frequently used academic language (ex. transition words, mathematical vocabulary) posted around your room and refer to them frequently as you teach.
- Leverage phonics resources like sound walls in the classroom to help students, including ELLs, with their decoding skills.
The Learning Environment is Just a Starting Point
Setting up your learning environment to support language development for newcomer ELLs is just a starting point. The main takeaway is that you can support English language acquisition through “implicit” forms of instruction instead of relying solely on program adaptation and explicit instruction – which we will explore in this blog series!
