Lisa Dione Booher and Dr. Julie Hartley, Anthropology
With an ever-increasing immigrant population, schools across the nation are being forced to mold their programs to fit the needs of students who do not know the local language and culture here in the United States. These students’ future rests on their success in these matters. If they fail in their new schools, this failure will set the tone for the rest of their lives. Where they work, live, or continue their education all depend on their success at their new schools. For this reason, I chose to survey students, teachers, and tutors/translators to gather their opinions on how to better facilitate this process for these new immigrants.
First, the students I interviewed had quite a variety of thing to say about the ESL program and their education here. It is interesting to note that the students who have been here longer, such as two or three years, had far fewer suggestions to make than students who have been here only a few months. The students who are still struggling often give us a fresh perspective on the problems and difficulties at hand.
The students noticed that several of their teachers are already practicing many effective methods to assist them in adjusting to their new educational environment. Some of these more effective methods are doing everything to explain clearly, having patience when explaining, not allowing students to speak other languages during ESL classes, preparing well, coming to class with activities that will interest the students, staggering lessons using the same words so that students can remember them easier, and helping the students fulfill teachers’ expectations. Students say that it is obvious to them when teachers care and want to help them, and they tend to perform better in those classes.
Students also offered suggestions on what could make lessons more understandable for them. They said that teachers can help them by writing down main vocabulary words for a lesson, especially in classes like algebra. Often these children excel in such classes in their native country, but in their new school, they can barely comprehend conversational English at first, much less algebraic English. One of the students interview said that she even competed in math competitions in Russia, and right now, she is failing her algebra class. Students also suggested writing down rules for playing games or other similar activities, especially in classes like P.E. In addition, teachers can help students by learning how to say often-misunderstood words in the native language of the students. Students also say it is more effective when teachers use simple words or pictures to explain ideas.
As well as learning from teachers in class, several students have all also had tutors/translators at Provo High School. I interviewed three tutors to find out suggestions on how they can better help these students. All of the tutors/translators stressed that as a tutor/translator, you should maintain a good relationship with the ESL students and show them that you believe in them. They also mentioned the importance of setting goals and following up on them to make sure the students have accomplished their goals. Along with that, tutors/translators can motivate students by to giving them a little incentive like a candy-bar occasionally. The tutors/translators also gave suggestions on how to most effectively translate: translate concepts, not words, ask a lot of questions, and don’t do their work for them.
In addition to the above interviews, I passed out a survey to several teachers that had ESL students in their classes. When asked what they (teachers) are doing to help ESL students, they came up with many different suggestions that they do or can do as teachers to help their ESL students comprehend more of their lessons. Again, this depended a lot on the subject taught and the teacher. One teacher explained that it is a lot harder for ESL students to follow oral instructions. Their solution was to use the board as much as possible by writing down key words that can help them understand more. In addition, it is helpful to double check before moving on to make sure they understand the explanation. Most of the teachers wanted to be able to help their ESL students more, but in class, they do not have enough time. For this reason, they have made it possible for these students to come in after school to get some one-on-one help.
The teachers were then asked how they felt the ESL students relate to each other and to other students. For the most part, the teachers observed that they do not interact very well with other students. The teachers have noticed that ESL students usually associate with other ESL students who speak their language. If the ESL students know English well, then they have more American friends. Many ESL students are embarrassed because they cannot speak English very well so they tend to interact with those who speak their language. This is a big problem, because in order for ESL students to do better in school, they need to know English. If they only associate with those who speak their native language they are not going to learn English as fast.
The teachers that answered the survey also gave some suggestions on what ESL students can do to understand more in class. Some of these suggestions were: be motivated, label things, ask questions and spend more time studying English. They also gave some suggestions to the tutors/translators. These include: be consistent, do not do their work for them–help them understand and know subject matter. I also asked the teachers to tell us what the parents of ESL students could do better to help. Many of the suggestions were: check up on grades daily, go to parent/teacher conference, make sure they are doing their homework, find ways for their children to interact with the English speaking community, and finally become generally more involved in their child’s education.
With the information gathered by interviewing and surveying these individuals who are in some way participating in the learning process of ESL students, I hope to provide an informative summary of our findings to teachers, administrators, tutors/translator, and ESL students. My hope is that teachers and students alike will realize the important role they play in improving human capital and begin to more actively seek to learn from each other.