Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Reasonable Expectations For my Methods for English Language Learners (ELL) course at the university, I was assigned to interview two upper-elementary students who were recent immigrants. I picked one Asian and one Hispanic student for the interview, both of whom had good English proficiency. Before talking to the students, I talked to the classroom teacher, Mrs. Morgan. As an experienced teacher, Mrs. Morgan really impressed me with her knowledge about how to teach English Language Learners. She said the most important thing in teaching ELLs was setting reasonable expectations for their performance. When I interviewed the students the next day, I learned a lot about ELLs' experiences. The Asian student said he was confused most of the time. The teacher gave him difficult tasks without detailed directions. He had to rely on his classmates to figure out what to do. The Hispanic student felt like the teacher did not think much of him. He said that especially in math the problems the teacher gave him were too simple for him. He also mentioned that the teacher never called on him. Mrs. Morgan asked me to share my interview findings with her. What should I tell her? What do you think is problematic about Mrs. Morgan's beliefs and practices? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) Tell Mrs. Morgan what the students have said. Although she may have a grasp about how to teach ELL students she may not be following her own train of thought. I think as teachers sometimes we can talk the talk, but walking the walk takes A LOT more effort then we thought and we don't follow through with things.(Lots of things sound good out loud, but when you get to the nuts and bolts sometimes it is way more work than you needed at the time.) Maybe you could suggest things that would help them or offer some tutoring time of your own to the students while you are in the building.I don't think Mrs. Morgan would mind you helping the students at all, because she might not have even noticed if they were getting help from others as long as their grades were good.