Practices of Successful Teachers of ELLs

Practices of Successful Teachers of Language Minority Students

-Use a variety of activities and learning opportunities for students (e.g., visuals, physical activity, and nonverbal cues).

-Encourage students to use their native languages as needed to facilitate learning and participation.

-Modify the complexity and content of the English you use so that students can understand and can participate in classroom activities.

-Encourage interaction among students; bring in older and younger, more proficient and less proficient students from other classes; and involve paraprofessionals and community members in classroom activities.

-Encourage authentic and meaningful communication and interaction about course content among students and between yourself and students.

-Hold high expectations of all students, challenging them to tackle complex concepts and requiring them to think critically, rather than eliciting one-word responses to factual questions that do not require higher order thinking.

-Build English language development into instruction, but maintain the focus of instruction and assessment on the content itself, not on English.

-Recognize student success overtly and frequently.

From The Help! Kit: A Resource Guide for Secondary Teachers of Migrant English Language Learners