When I worked as an ESL teacher prior to becoming a kindergarten teacher, I probably heard "But he/she doesn't speak English! What should I do??!!" every time a newcomer was added to my caseload. If you are a classroom teacher, and not used to have English language learners, especially newcomers, having this student show up can be overwhelming and scary.
And it is hard! But by asking this question, you want to do your very best to help this new student- and that's awesome. First, take a deep breath and realize it is going to take time. Your new student is not going to learn English over night, most likely not even by the time she leaves your class this year. That's not a negative reflection on your teaching, just a fact that can sometimes help take the pressure off of you! With that being said, there are some things you (immediately) can do to ease the stress of this transition for your new learner.
1. Make sure she has some type of visual schedule of the day, either on her desk or in your classroom so she knows how the day will go. If it is late in the school year and your routines and transitions have gotten a little "sloppy" or faster paced, go back to the beginning-of-year-pace and explicitly reteach some routines. No worries- at this point in the year your other students probably need the reteaching and practice too!
2. Partner him up with one of your other ELL’s- someone patient who will be able to take a little time from their own work to help and doesn’t mind doing so. If you don't have another ELL, see if there is someone in the building who could be a peer tutor, or just pair him with a really patient student. (**Note: I usually find that this works wonderfully for the first few months. Then, sometimes they tend to get too comfortable/chatty with each other. When that happens, move their seats! Your helper did his/her job and now it's time for the newcomer to spread his wings and fly a little on his own!)
3. Modify your assignments as much as you can. Translating and using a bilingual dictionary can be an easy way to communicate, and it can seem like you're helping the student, but in the long run this will slow down her language growth. The Google translate app is good at times but be careful- long translations come out very jumbled. I tended to only use translation for essential information (bathroom, classroom/field trip expectations, directions, etc.) and not every day for content. This can be hard but the goal is to keep the content the same but lower the English language requirement. For example, can she label something rather than writing a paragraph? Think in term of one word responses right now and as many yes/no, visual, pointing, responses, sequencing picture cards to retell a story, etc. as she can give. There is so much more to be said on this, but for now use lots of pictures and gestures in your lessons. Give her credit in your gradebook (if you are at all able) for what she IS able to do. Let your ESL teacher know you want some help in modifications- they should be willing to help with this too! They are not content experts however- they are language experts. YOU are the content expert.
4. Get a blank journal. While the rest of the class is working on an independent activity that he may not be able to do yet, ask her a simple question in the journal. (Start with, ”what is your name?” for example) Have her respond, then write back asking another question, generating conversation. Draw pictures if you need to! This can be a great way to connect with the student, gets her used to seeing written English patterns, and helps you learn more about her home life and background.
5. I love using the language experience approach to help with reading. Have her tell a simple story about an experience she had (maybe just a few words or sentences to start!) type it out, and have her reread it to you, illustrate it, highlight vocabulary words and keep them in a box for her to practice, etc. After a few days, blank out some words and see if she can fill them in. She will relate better to this ”reading passage” because it is from her own experience.
These tips are by no means everything that could possibly be done, but are just a few of my "tried and true" and "what can I do tomorrow" favorite ideas! Are they useful to you? Would you like to discuss more ELL topics? Let me know!
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