Loving Literacy

I enjoyed the article by Cristina Gillanders about the teacher-child relationship on English language learning. She did a thorough job with her research-visiting the classroom 51 times! It sounds like the teacher she observed, Sarah, used great strategies in establishing an atmosphere in which her students felt comfortable and accepted.  I thought the concept of the “double bind”, in which ELLs must learn English to be socially accepted, but to be socially accepted they must speak English, was an interesting concept. I’d never thought of it that way before. Most of the time, I think of ELLs in terms of their academics, not thinking of the social impact it may have on them. It made me start to think that school psychologists could help ELLs in this capacity, at least until teacher education programs start to incorporate more traning on working with kids from diverse backgrounds. School psychologists could lead social skills groups with a mixture of ELLs and native English speakers, attempting to integrate them and realize that they have more in common than they might think. We could also hold in-services with teachers, in which we give them tips on managing a classroom with ELLs. I know I, myself, need to learn more about working with ELL students. Like the article says, a teacher can make a crucial difference in the success and adjustment of ELL students, and create that nurturing, positive environment, even if they do not speak Spanish (or other languages) fluently.