Identifying and Supporting Your New ELL

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It’s exciting, challenging, and rewarding all in one! You’ve received a new student who is learning English and you’re looking for where to start. It’s helpful to know that you are not alone…In Ontario schools, over 25 per cent of students (over 3600 elementary students in TVDSB)  are identified as English language learners, a percentage according to Statistics Canada that will continue to increase in years to come.

You are probably reading this blog because you are welcoming an English language learner into your classroom and are looking for direction. The good news is that your school has an ESL/ELD teacher or a TOSA assigned to collaborate with you as you learn more about the new student in your class.

Prior to or in collaboration with a member of the ESL/ELD team, there are a few simple starting tasks to get things rolling:  

1. Locate the school registration form.  Often parents and guardians indicate their children’s first languages (L1) on this form.
   
2. Arrange a telephone or face to face meeting with your student’s parents or caregivers to learn more about their past education, language of instruction, and languages spoken at home. Please note that you can always request a face-to-face or telephone interpreter through MCIS whenever you need one. Look on the main page of the Employee Portal, under “Booking an Interpreter”.
3. Look in the student’s OSR for past documentation that may indicate that your student is an ELL. For example, if your student has worked toward modified expectations for ESL/ELD in the past, the box will be checked on the report card.  The student may also have an ELL OSR folder with an initial assessment summary if transferring from another TVDSB school.
4. Ask  your ESL/ELD teacher to check the ELL Tracker to see if your student was already identified as an ELL in TVDSB.
5. Arrange for your ESL/ELD teacher to spend time in your classroom to observe your student’s language skills. Through welcoming the ESL/ELD teacher or TOSA into your classroom, you will be able to collaborate and plan for an initial assessment if needed or brainstorm about resources that may be required. There are instructional strategies that can put in place right away too. For example, students with first language (L1) proficiency can often leverage their L1 reading and writing skills to support themselves with learning English.
6. If your ESL/ELD teacher/ TOSA completes an initial assessment, ask for information about your student’s STEP levels. These are the descriptors of your student’s current level of English proficiency. They will collaborate with you to develop a support plan based on student strengths and needs. Please note that you can adapt programming for an ELL by modifying expectations or providing accommodations where needed..no IEP required!                                                                         

It is important to note that there are many factors – from country of origin to home language background to community involvement in education – that contribute to the tremendous diversity of this student group. For example, TVDSB students may have interrupted prior schooling (requiring ELD support) or come with strong proficiency in their L1. 

Yet two, perhaps surprising, factors cut across the differences:
(1) most ELLs in Ontario classrooms are Canadian-born and
(2) Canadian-born ELLs are underperforming academically not only in comparison with their English-speaking counterparts but also with more recently arrived immigrant students (Coelho, 2007; Jang, Dunlop, Wagner, Youn-Hee Kim, Zhimei Gu, in press; Ontario Ministry of  Education, 2008).
Located below are several links for more information about supporting ELLs in your classrooms.

Supporting Links:

http://edugains.ca/resourcesLNS/Monographs/CapacityBuildingSeries/CBS_CdnBornELL.pdf

http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesELL/WebCasts_WebClips/Video/SupportingELL/01_UnderstandingEnglishLanguageLearners.mp4

https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2017/09/06/a-quick-start-guide-for-teaching-english-language-learners.html

Contributing Team Members: Jim Benincasa, Catrine MacDonald, Karen McRorie, Fadel Zabian