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According to the National Council of Teachers of English, English Language Learners (ELL), also known as ESL (English as a Second Language), are the fastest growing population within the student community. Learning English can be a tough endeavor so we asked experts across the country what their top tips are.
1. Be patient and adjust expectations – Learning a new language takes a lot of time. Not only are students learning grammar and vocabulary, they’re learning a new culture and way of doing work, says Dr. Anne Pomerantz of the Penn Graduate School of Education Educational Linguistics division. Frustration hinders progress and the best thing to do is simply adjust your expectations and trust that your child will soon become proficient.
2. Shop around for schools – Not all schools are well equipped for ESL students. Many public schools do not have the resources to work individually with your child. However, says Dr. Pomerantz, “public schools tend to be more diverse than private schools. Some private schools don’t even have ESL staff.” Pomerantz says that U.S. schools are very uneven when it comes to ESL support.
3. Be your child’s advocate – Unless you’re lucky enough to have your child go to a school well equipped with ESL resources, you’re going to have to fight for your child’s own English learning education. “Some parents come from places where they may not be used to the parent-teacher involvement and they don’t understand that they have the right to join a PTA, or they might not realize that they need to speak up on behalf of their child,” said Dr. Pomerantz.
4. Expose your child to ask much English as possible – The best way to learn is still the way we all learned our first language as a child – through practice. Thomas Dalton, owner of English in Denver, LLC, and a professor at the University of Denver says that he focuses on primarily encouraging kids to stop feeling self conscious and practice as much as possible. “In order to learn something, you have to be free to make mistakes. Just blast through and make mistakes,” Dalton said.
5. Make it fun – Vanessa Wade, a private ESOL tutor in Texas encourages students to speak as much English as possible. She has a game where she picks a word and tries to get a student to say anything and everything about the word for 3 minutes. This helps students get over their self consciousness and forces them to talk as much as they can. “When it’s fun, they forget that they’re learning,” Wade said.
6. Help them be good observers of their environment – Making mistakes also requires that you learn from them and Dr. Pomerantz emphasizes the importance of observation. She encourages parents to ask kids about the specific details about their day and asking questions about why certain things happened rather than making assumptions. “Take an inquiring stance rather than an evaluative stance,” she said.
7. Take risks yourself! – Parents set an important example for their kids, said Dr. Pomerantz. It’s important for parents to take risks and be willing to make mistakes. Dr. Pomerantz also encourages parents to make an effort to speak English to their children, no matter how limited it is.
