Unbeatable way to reach your LEP students - Limited-English Proficient

Instructor, July-August, 1995 by Jane Schall

Four teachers share their strategies for teaching second-language learners in the regular classroom

School opens and kids pile through your door: The exciting and tumultuous adventure of learning begins again. This year, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, at least one in six classes will have one or more Limited-English Proficient (LEP) students. And the number of LEP students is growing at a rate two-and-a-half times as fast as the general school population. These children contribute a great richness of diversity and cultural heritage to our schools and our classrooms, but at the same time they bring considerable challenges.

Faced with an increasing number of children who speak languages other than English, many teachers are asking: Can I help students learn when we speak different languages? Can I help them feel at home in my class? Can I have a positive impact on their lives?

Voices of experience from around the country respond with an overwhelming "yes." Read on for surefire suggestions from four teachers from a variety of classroom situations who have discovered how to meet the needs of their LEP students.

THE TEACHERS:

Rosa Quintana, multiage grades 1-2 teacher, and Marta Weiss, codirector of the ESL program; Sweeney Elementary, Santa Fe, New Mexico

THEIR STUDENTS' PROFILE:

Rosa teaches 23 students with mixed proficiencies in English (at least nine of them speak only Spanish) in the regular classroom. For some of the day, children go to a pullout ESL program. Marta and her husband team-teach 80 Spanish-speaking students with varying levels of English proficiency in the ESL classroom. The amount of time children spend there depends on their needs and proficiency level. Because isolating LEP kids can make them feel different - and make English speakers feel they're different, too - the school creates a community atmosphere where all feel at home.

THEIR WINNING STRATEGIES:

* Recruit native-speaking volunteers. "I speak my students' language, but if you don't," Marta recommends, "try to find someone from the community who can and is willing to come into the classroom. He or she can ask the LEP student questions for you so you can show interest in who the child is, and the volunteer can also speak to the class about the student's culture."

Rosa gets her English-speaking students involved in learning some words in the LEP child's native language. This heightens the sense of community and validates the importance of each child's language. "Two-way learning builds friendships," she says. "Children learn to speak to each other because they want and need to."

* Get to know children's culture and background. Marta recommends displaying books, pictures, and other objects that are familiar to the LEP children and all students. She has students trace their origins and involves families in helping each child mark where he or she is from on a large map posted in the regular classrooms. "The goal is for all students to understand that we all come from different places," Marta says. "We break down barriers."

* Make personal-history books. Students in Marta's class make personal scrapbooks of their lives that include pictures of families, photographs of where they live and used to live, sketches of their pets, and varying numbers of words in English. These albums, she believes, help LEP students retain their identities. Children work on their scrapbooks throughout the year and Marta finds that their entries improve along with their understanding of English. Periodically, students share their scrap-books and Marta talks about her personal history, too.

* Build understanding through role reversals. Marta recommends inviting into the regular classroom a volunteer who speaks a language none of the children speak - or only one LEP child speaks - to present a lesson in that language. "We give no explanation to the students and keep this up for about 15 minutes. Kids get blown away," says Marta. "Everyone is reminded how difficult learning can be. And if one child speaks that language, he or she can help others for a change."

When children find out what they were being asked to do in the lesson, Marta says they generally chime: "We know how to do that!" Then she replies, "Of course you do. Just because you didn't understand doesn't mean you're not smart."

* Enlist the aid of students who speak the child's language. Rosa asks a student who speaks the LEP child's language to help preview a story she plans to read with the class. The partner summarizes in three sentences what the story is going to be about, then afterward does a quick review of the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

* Set up mentor pairs. Where's the bathroom? What are the rules? To help LEP students figure out crucial basics such as these, Rosa pairs up students who may or may not speak each other's language. Being a mentor can be very rewarding for a child who last year needed a mentor him- or herself. "We work very hard to establish a mutual sense of responsibility" affirms Rosa, "and try to build feelings of looking out for each other."