Increasing English Language Proficiency One ELL at a Time
Help me give my students a classroom library set, a laptop for speaking and listening activities, a printer, and a variety of resources for engaging students in reading and writing activities.
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
As the only teacher of English Language Learners (ELLs) at my school, I work with students from a wide variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. While some of my students are at an intermediate English language proficiency level, my school's ELL population is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years, which means we will begin to receive more newcomers with very little to no background in English. Despite the struggles of learning a new language, and for most of them, living in a new country, my students have overcome an abundance of obstacles, bring a wealth of life experiences to the table, and are highly motivated to achieve.
On top of the challenges of being ELLs, my students also live in a struggling urban school system in which more than half of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch and are also reading below grade level.
The majority of them also do not have parents and/or caregivers who are proficient in English, so they oftentimes have little to no educational support at home. However, their strong work ethic and perseverance inspire me on a daily basis, and I am truly honored to be their teacher.
My Project
Since my school's library is very limited in the books it offers in students' native languages, a classroom library that includes high-interest novels in a range of languages will help promote independent reading and cultural diversity. Reading comprehension workbooks in multiple reading levels will also allow me to supplement our curriculum with fun and interesting texts that will help students improve their literacy skills.
Having a laptop and a printer exclusively for my students to use will allow them to engage in ongoing speaking and listening activities to help build their English proficiency and to print out their essays and other writing assignments since most of them have limited access to technology at home and in their communities.
Additionally, the use of whiteboards and sentence strips is a daily practice in my classroom in order to allow students to demonstrate their reading comprehension and writing skills. We also use them in small group activities to practice test-taking strategies and to promote collaboration and healthy competition with their peers.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Novalis and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
