Being an Advocate for Your English Learners

I don’t usually get to go to the TNTESOL conferences because I’ve got kiddies of my own and our schedule is a little hard to figure out, but I was so excited when this year’s mini conference came around to west Tennessee.

I love Unlocking English Learners Potential by Dr. Diane Staehr Fenner and Dr. Sydney Snyder. So when I saw that Dr. Staehr Fenner was a keynote speaker, I was ready. A colleague of mine said she attended one of her trainings a summer or two before and that she got a lot of great information. She focused on two things with us during the conference: being an advocate and academic language.
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Before starting my career as an ESL teacher, I had no idea how hard I'd have to go to bat for my students. And I mean fight for them sometimes. Really put my work relationships to the test. I had no clue that this was part of my job, but it makes it all the more fulfilling. Some ELs come with a little English, and some come with absolutely none. Even if they have a little, they still may not feel comfortable to speak out with any issues they may be having with things related to grades, teachers, class, friends, or home life. And if their school doesn't have a bilingual mentor there to help, they really don't have a voice. This is why being an advocate for them is so important.

One thing Dr. Staehr Fenner discussed was being the voice for them and their families. How can we do this if we don't have a bilingual mentor or translator available? What if you want to be the one to make contact with families? You may want to be the face they associate with making them feel welcome and cared about.

Some of the things I have used are apps such as Talking Points and Google Translate. Google Translate is a quick and easy way to communicate, and it's even quicker when you don't have to type! It has a conversation mode where you can just speak into the microphone in your native language, and it will immediately translate so you can converse. Talking Points is a way to communicate, but less in real time. It's a great way to send home messages and letters to families and it can translate in over 100 languages. It may not be perfect, but getting your point across is possible. More importantly, showing you are there for your students and their families is possible.

Along with being their voice, Staehr Fenner stated that advocating involves having a full understanding of our ELs and their families to know what they need. That's where Talking Points can come in more. Build that relationship with them first through the app. Invite them to come up to your school if they can for conferences or any other events that your school may be having. Just being there for them and being a resource will allow them to open up and let you know their needs.

Last, working for equitable education by taking action is where you can further be their voice. Students may come to you, or you may notice issues with the following:

• Grades. We check our failures by the quarter, but you may notice in between that the student may have a low grade. It's important to investigate and see: is this a teacher issue or a student issue? Is the student not turning in work? And why? Is the reason due to absences or due to not understanding the work? Time to look at the second bullet point- accommodations.
• Accommodations. Are they being implemented? Is the student getting the appropriate scaffolds in order to complete the assignments and master objectives? Some teachers may need assistance in understanding the student's accommodations, and also understanding that a lot of what can be done for our ELs can actually help all of their students! They may even already be things they are doing in their classes, but just not aware of it.
• Teachers. Honestly, some teachers are naturally better at scaffolding and accommodating our ELs. We all have our strengths. Some typical issues that we have with content teachers at our school are that they may talk too fast, or ask for students to complete an assignment but not give them enough time. Some may simply not have the ability to look at their ELs through a language learner lens. This is when we can step in and understand from both perspectives what may be an issue inside the classroom, and troubleshoot to fix it.

If there is an issue, first make sure you document it with my organizer here. Second, take a look at the 5 Step EL Advocacy (Framework National Education Association, 2015):

1. Isolate the issue

• Going back to an issue above- a teacher requires a student to complete an assignment, but does not give adequate time to finish it.

2. Identify your allies

• Do you have an administrator that will go to bat for you if needed? A counselor? Who is willing to back you up in your building? In your district? For example, in our building we have an administrator and counselor who are designated to our department. We also have an ESL Advisor within our district who we could contact as well. Identify your layers of support and take action.

3. Be clear on the rights of ELs

• In this case, extended time can be an accommodation that is listed on their legal document in our state. It is their right to equal education through accommodations such as extended time, and if that accommodation is not being honored, that is an issue that goes beyond your building.

4. Organize and educate others

• Sometimes, we need to give our content teachers the benefit of the doubt. We know that especially in the public school system, there is a lot that they are responsible for. Is it possible that your teacher did not know this student had a specific accommodation, or did not know how to implement it? It may be helpful to hold a professional development session that shows how accommodations can be easily implemented for the success of our ELs.

5. Identify your outlets for change

• How can the issue of not giving extended time be avoided in the future? What can be changed to make this more of a school-wide practice? For example, we started requiring teachers to enter in to the grading platform a comment for a failing grade. We requested teachers to add a comment about what accommodation was given before the failing grade.

Assets-Based Perspective

There is nothing wrong with ELs; nothing we need to fix. Dr. Staehr Fenner suggests:

1. Encourage storytelling

• Include these student's stories in the classroom's narrative. Let them share parts of their culture and how they got here. See how it can transform your classroom's culture and connect to the curriculum.

1. Spread the word about ELs' success

• We have had a couple of former ELs become valedictorians. This year, we've got one current EL who just arrived last year, and one recently exited EL who are on the top 10 in our whole school of 2300 for academics. You bet we spread this word around school! We've pointed this out during faculty meetings and hit "reply all" with emails.

1. Thoughtfully confront the EL deficit mindset

• Got nothing but negative, challenging comments about your ELs? Try these:
  • "If I buddy them up with another student, all they do is talk!" Shift to, "These students are supporting their native language while also teaching each other content!"
  • "I can't tell if they are understanding anything I'm saying!" Shift to, "Right now they may be in a silent period, but soon they will show you and also catch up to their peers! Have you tried Google Translate in conversation mode to check for understanding? What about gestures?"
  • "It just seems like so much extra work." Shift to, "It may seem like it now, but your work can pay off and actually help all of your students!"

And last, be a leader. Dr. Staehr Fenner and Lydia Breiseth recommends doing the following four things to show leadership for ELs:

1. Take initiative
2. Proactively serve as a resource
3. Communicate effectively
4. Continue your own PD and learning

There are plenty of opportunities to take action and be there for our students and content teachers. There are also a lot of resources for our own learning through different avenues and social media groups. Find a Facebook group (You are welcome to join our group at Supporting English Learners K-12), follow some teachers on Instagram or Twitter, or join a community through a website. Dr. Staehr Fenner's website, getsupported.net, has a wealth of free tools and professional development. It's an excellent place to get started.
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If you have a favorite resource or learning community that you are a part of, please share in the comments!

To learn more about strategies for incorporating language into your lessons, check out my course, My EL Mentor: Creating a Language-Rich Classroom! And if you are a high school teacher, consider joining my membership, My MLL Mentor, to discuss ideas like this with other high school ESL teachers!