Reluctant ESL Students? 3 Tricks to the Rescue!

Before I even dive in, I have to say – I started writing this post and realized that there is SO MUCH I want to share with you on this topic. In order not to take up too much of your time, though, I have split it into two parts and the first one is for your review:)

So you got a job teaching middle school ESL. You are excited to meet the new students and cannot wait to share all the activities that you have prepared for them. You know that big changes are happening for them emotionally and physically at their age and you are secretly rejoicing that you get to play an important part in their lives. Except.. they don’t want to work with you.

If you are a pull-out ESL teacher your job is tough. Working with students in small groups or one-on-one first of all means that you will have to schedule them around the other classes and events in school. Therefore, if there is an assembly, or a two-hour delay, or an early release, or a guest speaker or extended lunch or a pajama day – you name it – you will have to be even more flexible in how you work than you already are.

 

Why do I need ESL in the first place?

Sound familiar? I be it does. It is hard to answer this question in a way that a middle (or even high) schooler would internally understand it. Because a language other than English was listed on your home language survey doesn’t quite cut it as an answer. Or because you scored xyz on your screening test?  Or because it is my job to teach you and you are on my roster? Nah. Let’s think of something else.

The students may not see you as the “real” teacher (because of this fluctuation in schedule) and/or may not understand why they have to work with you “I speak English fine, I speak it all the time, I don’t even know the XYZ language! Why do I need ESL?”

It truly is hard to rebuke such comments. I have been in situations like this and was wondering what to do. Some things worked, others didn’t. One of my former students even went so far that during our one-on-one time, she would come but would sit sideways and not look at me at all. It would be impossible to get anything accomplished in the half hour that we had together, yet there she was, “sitting it out”…

Create value for your ESL students

I know it sounds businesslike but we all wonder what’s in it for us. The ideas of higher education and how it will help your ESL students some time in the future are great but when you are 11, 12, 13 years old, all you really wonder if Suzie over there even notices you and if Tommy over here ever washes his hair because man, he stinks.

How do you create value? I have come up with a few tips on how to deal with reluctant middle school ESL students that have worked for me and I hope that it will work for you as well.

Create an ESL community

An ESL community between your and your students, that is. When you are just starting out, introducing yourself and taking the time to learn about your students is crucial. This is no news to any teacher, especially to an ESL teacher. But sometimes it’s one of the most difficult things to implement because the students may already know each other and you may be the new one in their midst. Sometimes you’ve worked with them for a few years and realized that you really hadn’t taken the time for them to get to know you and for you – them.

Even so, it’s not too late. Middle school students are looking for themselves and their acting out may be driven more by inner processes and experiences than by anything else. A good way to take a step back is to do an ice-breaker that you always planned but always forgot to do.

Two truths and a lie (here are instructions and a few ideas) or interviewing (some ideas here) each other opens up doors to communication. If your student is relatively new to the country, or joined you mid-year it is a possibility that no-one ever asked them simple questions that we assume are naturally known. For example, about school subjects and objects or behavior and electronic device usage expectations. Heck, they may not know what ESL stands for!  

Taking one of your allotted periods and making sure that they know that you are their rock in whatever they need – to clarify a homework assignment, to relay information from parents who don’t speak English to other teachers, or to ask about what a “spirit week” means – might just allow their outer shell to fall and them to see the value in attending your ESL sessions.

Be consistent

Children like to know what’s coming next. Middle and high school students, too! It helps relieve the stress of trying to figure out the entire day every day knowing that you consistently have a meeting with your ESL teacher and knowing what you will do during that block of time. Here are a couple of tactics that help in this:

• Letting students know that you have activities planned in case there is no homework/classwork/project they need help with and sticking to that allows students to see that this is not just a random person pulling them out for “I-have-no-idea-why” and that it is, in fact, a time allotted for learning.  
• work closely with a classroom teacher and be informed about class happenings. Let your students know that you are aware of what’s going on. Seeing you two as a team, will decrease time spent arguing and will likely increase productivity.

Competition

It’s funny how a person’s mind works. Writing lists of words or filling grammar worksheets or asking them to read a passage and answer the questions will be met with rolling eyes and forced sighs of indignation. But the minute you mention the magic word “game” or “competition”, they perk up and are ready to listen to your instructions. In one of my other posts I already mentioned an online game Kahoot! that I use with my ESL student but there are many other ways that do not require a computer.

Here is  a couple of games that are highly valued by my middle school ELLs.

#1 What’s my word?

If you have more than two students, you could play a guessing game. Divide students into two teams and give each team a list of 10-20 words from their content areas (could be science or social studies vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idioms, you name it). Each team writes their ten words on separate cards and the game proceeds as follows: a person from one team sits down on a chair facing the class and a person from the opposing team takes one of the word cards and holds it above his opponent’s head (or writes it on the board, if the board is behind the player) for everyone to see. The guesser’s teammate(s) are to explain the word to him/her in such a way that it is not obvious. Therefore, they cannot use the actual word in a sentence, point to it if it’s an object or draw it. They must use their ability to speak in English and to act it out, if necessary. If the team guesses the word correctly, they get the point. If not, the opposing team does. To make it even more competitive, time it (1 minute is usually enough).

#2 Good old Hangman

Got a board and marker? One, two or a group of students? You can make it a competition anyway!  The goal  is to review the vocabulary words that have been assigned either by you or their content area teacher. The rule is that a person gets points for each word they guess correctly. If you are playing with one student, you are his/her opponent. If you have more than one student, each take turns guessing a letter but the person who says the actual word gets the point.

Students love it and quite often are more willing to put in the work when they know that they will have fun.

Have you tried any of these techniques?

What has worked for you?

I have more up my sleeve and will share them with you in my part 2 of this post coming up!

 

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