A Little Something about ELL Teachers

Sometimes the work I do is in collaboration with other classroom teachers, we plan and work together on projects that integrate art with other curriculum studies. In this residency I worked with several ELL teachers to integrate language objectives into content instruction to ensure that all ELLs had equal access to the curriculum even though some were not

fully proficient in English. Second language acquisition, particularly acquisition of academic language, requires opportunities for students to learn and practice language skills in a meaningful context. ELL teachers in this school had the expertise in helping me outline the types of language a number of my students needed to learn and use in order to accomplish the content objectives I had identified for the lessons.

Art making as an organic construct where the entire experience both sensory and conceptual can support English language acquisition in an academic setting is a very natural and harmonious way to reach ELLs. The ELL teachers in this school were a team of three dedicated teachers that spoke many languages including Spanish, Punjabi, and Farsi. They told me first language literacy development is strongly related to successful second language learning and academic achievement. ELLs who have not developed literacy skills in their home language apparently lack key language foundations on which language and content learning can be built. Bilingualism affirms ELLs' sense of identity and competency, characteristics that play an important role in learning.