Regardless of where you teach in the United States today, chances are you have at least a handful of students for whom English is not a first language. Indeed many schools have classrooms that are predominantly limited English proficiency (LEP) students.

For LEP students, school can represent a formidable daily task, both socially and academically. On top of the pressures that all adolescents experience, these students also experience a myriad of other strains: loss of identity, friends, and culture, an inability to express themselves in their native language, and familial expectations for academic success.

For mainstream content teachers without a background in English as a Second Language (ESL) pedagogy, determining appropriate teaching methods and goals for these students poses a significant and unique challenge. Classroom teachers facing these challenges will benefit from understanding some rudimentary information about the characteristics of the non-native speaker, the impact of LEP on classroom interactions, and finally a few strategies that can help students and teachers forge a successful partnership in learning.

Considerations for Teaching Non-Native Speakers

It is difficult to make generalizations about LEP students because they come from such diverse backgrounds. Some students will pick up English more quickly than others. The reasons for this rarely coincide with levels of intelligence or motivation but rather are related to a variety of different dependencies. Some of these are listed below with a brief description of how they affect the student.

• Age - Typically, the older the student the more difficult it is for them to assume the second language naturally. Research has shown that children younger than 12 usually acquire languages more quickly than older children.

• Native Language - A student's fluency in his or her first language directly impacts his or her acquisition of English. Also important are the proximity of speech sounds for oral communication and whether or not the first language uses Roman letters for written communication.
  
  
• Literacy of Parents - The level of literacy of a student's parents may also affect the acquisition of written language. Some students' parents are illiterate in their native language. The students of these parents may have a tougher time learning how to read and write in English.
  
  
• Reason for Immigrating - Gaining knowledge of why the student's family immigrated can help teachers understand the psychological implications of the move. For example, refugee status immigrants may be escaping violence, war, or political or religious persecution. These issues may surface in the classroom.
  

Specific Challenges in the Classroom
LEP students pose unique educational challenges to mainstream classroom teachers. It is worthwhile to be aware of several specific difficulties that second language learners face.

Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) versus
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
An important distinction exists between interpersonal and academic communication for all students, including those being schooled in their native languages. Who hasn't had a student who seemed to be successful in communicating on an interpersonal level, yet unable to apply those skills to an academic situation?

This distinction is more prominent with non-native speakers, however. Second language researcher Dr. Jim Cummins of the University of Toronto found that this difference had grave implications for the non-native speaker in academic environments. Researchers believe that, on average, LEP students may take two years to master BICS, yet up to five to master CALP. Thus, many students are released prematurely from ESL courses only to be mainstreamed into classes for which they are not yet prepared to succeed. Informal communication is not reflective of academic language skills.

Culture Matters - Cultural Differences
Cultural differences can be a source of misunderstanding for teachers and their LEP students. Each culture expresses itself in both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. Cultural cues in one culture may represent something entirely different in another. For example, in Western cultures, when a student smiles knowingly at the teacher, it often indicates understanding. However, in many Asian cultures, it actually indicates confusion or frustration.

Educate yourself about your students' cultures. This will help you communicate that you value their heritage, but may also allow you to connect academic content to a student's set of experiences and knowledge about the world. Ultimately, students whose native culture is valued have a greater sense of self-worth and higher academic achievement.

Teaching Strategies That Work

1. Use visual aids often.
Visual aids give LEP students visual cues that may help clarify meaning and solidify learning. Visual aids should be clear and reproduced for LEP students, when possible.

2. Incorporate hands-on activities to demonstrate concepts.
Where appropriate, hands-on activities help LEP students connect with classroom content. Processes that can be experienced or observed make learning more concrete.

3. Allow sufficient wait time.
LEP students need additional time to formulate their answers in English. Some may still be translating their first language into English, others may need time to find the appropriate words. By pausing after a question is asked, everyone, native speakers included, has time to think about the question before they respond.

4. Model spoken language.
Refrain from correcting your students spoken language. Instead, model the proper usage in a restatement. For example, if a student says "No understand." You might reply, "You don't understand? Okay." Students may occasionally ask to be corrected, but as a rule, it is best to leave corrections to the written word. In this case, be sure to balance positive feedback with corrections.

5. Prepare outlines for lectures.
Teacher-prepared outlines or notes can help LEP students follow along in class. Alternately, you may ask another student to share his or her notes with the LEP student. You may also choose to give the student information regarding the teaching plan and objectives so that they may have an easier time following along.

6. Encourage skim and scan reading strategies for textbook assignments.
Directly teach LEP students reading strategies that will enhance their reading skills. Skimming, scanning and even outlining chapters in the textbook are excellent pre-reading strategies that can help students preview material prior to reading. They can also engage in other strategies such as predicting chapter content from headings, creating vocabulary lists, writing responses, and summarizing.

7. Avoid forcing LEP students to speak.
Most second language learners go through a silent phase. Forcing a student to speak may make them embarrassed and overly self-conscious. In a worst case scenario, other students may laugh them at them. While your intention may be to give them practice, this technique very well may backfire.

Conclusion
The mantra for creating effective instruction is know your audience, that is, know your students. For teachers to devise effective instruction, they must first understand whom they are teaching. Because the presence of non-native speakers is a given in many classrooms, teachers need to have a rudimentary knowledge of the characteristics of each student.

English as a second language is a field unto itself. There are many resources available to help you find out more about second language learners and best practices for teaching in the mainstreamed classroom. The suggestions given provide a useful start for the teacher facing the challenges of working with LEP students.

Read More about It

Aardvark's English-Forum
http://www.englishforum.com/00/
This site is packed with information for student of English and teachers of ESL students. Here you will find a teacher's message board, links to activities and interactive Web sites, reference materials, grammar teaching resources, and other materials.

Dr. Jim Cummins
http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/
Read more about the BICS/CALP distinction on Dr. Cummins page. You will also find links to a variety of other resources.

Internet TESL Journal
http://iteslj.org/
This monthly Internet journal provides articles, links, activities, and lesson plans for the ESL teacher. In existence since 1995, the archives provide a wealth of information for your classroom.

Teachers
of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
http://www.tesol.org/index.html
TESOL is the primary professional organization of ESL teachers around the world. This site provides information about their organization, as well as

Texas Center for Bilingual/ESL Education
http://www.tcbee.org/ProfDev.htm
Developed by the Texas Education Agency, this site contains extensive professional development materials for teachers of ESL and bilingual education. Within the materials, you will find information about teaching LEP students in core competency areas.