English as a Second Language

ESL Learners: A Guide for the Classroom - Introduction

Students for whom English is a second or additional language (or dialect) are a growing segment of British Columbia's K-12 school population. Over the past ten years, the number of students identified as needing ESL services in B.C. has more than tripled. Lower Mainland school districts have been especially affected, and educators in those districts have had to develop skills and processes to address the growing need. With continuing growth in the numbers of ESL students provincewide, however, the need to provide appropriate ESL services is becoming an issue for districts in all areas of B.C. This guide, which draws upon recent research and the advice of B.C. educators with experience in this field, is intended to provide help for those who have become involved in working with ESL students in their classrooms.

Using this Guide

This document is designed for K-12 classroom teachers who have had limited experience working with ESL students. Produced with the input of both specialist and classroom teachers, this document reflects the view that while the ESL specialist should be involved in providing ESL services for any student who needs them, the classroom teacher also has an important role to play in educating such students. The ESL specialist is an important source of assistance for classroom teachers. Typically the classroom teacher is called upon to work with ESL students in a mainstream setting (i.e., with peers for whom English is a first or native language). While recognizing the very real challenges associated with this task, this resource book is designed to provide some useful orientation and some practical suggestions (based on the experience of colleagues) that can be immediately applied to undertake it successfully.

The primary focus of this resource is on grade-level classroom practice and on sources of assistance for classroom teachers. Information on characteristics of ESL students, on the goal and principles of ESL programming, and on identification of ESL need is also provided. Issues such as placement, provincial funding and policy, initial orientation for ESL intake, and school organization, which are of particular concern to ESL specialists and administrators, are not addressed here to any significant extent.

The basic premise underlying the suggestions provided in this document is that a student-centred approach works best with ESL students, as it does with all students. To convey some sense of the diversity within the ESL student population, a section on "The ESL Learner," has been included at the beginning and fictional profiles of individual students have been placed throughout the document.