Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) is something I was thrust into when I wanted my old job back. I was at this wonderful school for at-risk students but became disenchanted. I made a move that I thought was "moving up" but ended up revealing to me that my calling is where the at-risk kids are, not in an affluent public school where everyone is very religious and pure and perfect. I lasted two years before I had to get back to my old school. Luckily, they accepted me with open arms and asked me to teach ELL.
Teaching ELL was the scariest thing I have ever been asked to do in my job. I've been the student council advisor, which forced me in front of 1.000 kids many times per year, and it didn't phase me. But teaching English to Spanish speakers is daunting. It takes patience, understanding, and lots of preparation.
One issue I ran into right away was two-fold: some kids were not only ELLs but also Special Ed or Genius-level in their home language. This is when I made my higher-ups aware that I needed someone more fluent than I, to assess their home language levels. Out Special Ed coordinator doesn't speak Spanish, so together we rallied for help.
Help came this week. After two years of asking, we received the help of a bilingual speech therapist. Reina has so far identified two of our ELL students who have speech impediments that may be hindering them to learn english as quickly as they could. Those poor students! They waited for four years in ELL classes before someone was able to help them! Their impediment was keeping them from passing their exit exams from the ELL program.
Now, thanks to Reina, these kids will receive the speech therapy they need so they can learn english faster and move on with their other high school courses.
I am so thankful to have Reina as my partner. The one day a week that we'll work together will be so useful and helpful.
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