Inspiring English Language Learners
A few days ago, this image was trending on my twitter feed and it immediately made me think of my newcomers. I hold a very special place in my heart for newcomers. I understand how they feel! As a newcomer student, I remember the fear very vividly! Fear of the unexpected. Fear of the new language. Fear of the what ifs...What if they make fun of me? What if they don't like me? What if I need something and I can't ask? What if they think I'm not smart because I don't speak English. What if...the list could go on and on! But what I also remember very vividly, are the smiles from the school staff as I entered the school building for the very first time.
You see, you don't need to speak you newcomers' native language in order to welcome them into your school or classroom. Your smile goes a long way! Read about providing a safe and affirming environment to lowering the affective filter for language learners. Now, the purpose of this post is not to provide tips for your newcomers in general. You can find that here! This post is to highlight a specific newcomer...Brayan! I posted this tweet about him and thought I would share more about his success!
Brayan was born in Mexico. He started with us in March of 2016. His age placed at a second-grade level and on his first day of school, I had to explain to him that I needed to administer not one, but two tests. I needed to administer the W-APT which is the assessment that determines the initial program placement for services, and the ACCESS (since he enrolled during testing window ?).
It didn't take me long to learn we had a lot in common: Love and passion for learning and a very similar childhood! It amazed me how quick he was to learn new information and how well he could read and write in Spanish. For the remainder of the school year, Brayan received double ESL services. He received one-on-one session for Newcomer foundations with Mrs. Tirado and pull-out services with me and the rest of his second grade ELL peers. In May of 2016, his teacher administered a state mandated assessment (Dibels Next Reading 3D) to determine his end of year reading level. He placed on PC (Print Concepts) which meant he had acquired enough English to demonstrate this list of skills at a proficiency level! In 2016-2017 school year, Brayan began 3rd-grade. This grade level to me is crucial because is when students make the leap from learning to read to reading to learn! Even though Brayan didn't speak English, I didn't want him to just sit in class and not learn a thing. Luckily, his 3rd-grade teacher, Ms. Sams, is a very supportive teacher. We discussed ways to support him so he could be part of core instruction. We decided to start taking advantage of his ability to read and write in Spanish. So he was granted the use of google translate, he was provided books in Spanish, he would complete retells in Spanish, he would do research in Spanish...he was even allowed to do presentations in Spanish!!! He would come to my ESL class time and say, "Mrs. Francis, can you help me translate this paper so I can turn it in?" See, he knew that google translate tool would translate the document for him...but he also knew that in many occasions, google doesn't translate correctly. He needed to make sure his translation was correct! Here is an example of a personal narrative he wrote in October and here is a retell about the book "Emmanuel's Dream". The reason we were allowing him to read and write using this native language was because we truly believe in studies focusing on L1 transfers to L2. By January 2017, when the middle of the year reading assessment was administered, he was a level D! Now, the only reason why he didn't score higher was because at a level 'F' is when the written component is required. For students to score a level 'F' or higher, they must accurately respond to a written prompt and they must do so in English. In order to develop his writing skills in English, he was encouraged to begin proving assignments in the targeted language! This is the first assignment he presented in English and he understood every single sentence! Watch this video as he courageously presents his research to his class!
Brayan was also a participant in our first Annual Spanish Spelling Bee! Not only he helped his peers learn the words but he was also a runner-up the day of the competition!
Brayan's motivation and passion for learning, coupled with the support and opportunities we were able to provide for him, empowered him to soar academically and linguistically.
So what is the result to all if this, you might ask?!? Well, just this month, his teacher administered his last reading level assessment of the year and he placed on a level 'J'!! THAT'S 10 READING LEVELS, my friends!! ? And I have no doubt he scored very well on his ACCESS too. I will be updating his information as soon as I get his scores. My objective in sharing Brayan's story of success with you is because he is proof that allowing students to use their native language to learn and show knowledge is imperative. If you want newcomer students to be part of their everyday learning, you must allow them to use the language they master. Research favors the use and development of native language to better and faster acquire the second language. If you teach newcomers and have a success story you'd like to share, please email me or posted on twitter using #ELs_CAN. We would love to highlight and share as many newcomers' stories as possible...because English language learners CAN!! Thank you for reading! 
10 Comments
Dora
5/22/2017 08:01:44 pm
What a beautiful and empowering story! Ever since you tweet it about Brayan and his success I have been thinking about him. It was great to watching present in English and lead the class in Spanish! Thank you for sharing I feel inspired and empowered myself! Many blessings! #ELs_CAN
Emily Francis
5/27/2017 09:30:40 am
Dora, 5/22/2017 09:04:37 pm
I am right thee with you! Brayan is such a powerful example of why we need to respect the place a child's first language has in learning their second. Your work with him is evidence that we need to let our students shine and use the inherent skills they have to learn and grow. This is an inspiring story of what ELs can do with the help of really great teachers!
Emily Francis
5/27/2017 09:33:00 am
Hi Bret! Hi, Emily! What a wonderful story! Brayan is lucky to have someone who sees the vlaue of his home languge. I like the many ways you allowed him to engage with content. These ways developed comprehensible input so that he could engage with the tasks and feel confident that he wasn't doing remedial work. He was actually learning language while engaing with the task!
Emily Francis
5/27/2017 09:35:26 am
Thank you so much Tan for your wonderful comment! AND thank you for supporting the opportunity we provided for Brayan. Yes, the use of his native language to engage in content allowed him to feel CONFIDENT and always be engaged in task! 9/5/2022 12:49:03 pm
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