As a lifelong student of foreign language (twenty years of Spanish and two in Cantonese and Mandarin), I consider teaching ELL students a tremendous privilege. The hard work of being a good student is one thing, but to tackle a new language while attempting to soak up all the other knowledge is a tall order for a child. Since some ELLs are also working to adapt to life in the United States, it's important to identify and honor the cultural learning curve families face as well.
All this to say, planning a lesson for ELL kindergarteners helped me reflect on all the ways this is such sacred work. In my lesson I planned for lots of visuals, which is essential for improving communication as children acquire English. In an act of new-teacher eagerness, I would design and print the plural/singular picture card activity myself using fun and colorful illustrations. (This might be overkill, but I will maintain my earnest hopefulness until further notice!) I'm enjoying the process of imagining how to serve these students, and I think that is the biggest takeaway from this assignment for me.
I also picked a book, Pete the Cat, that is as delightful as it is useful. I firmly believe the literature used in early childhood programs should be well-written and fun to read--not only age or reading-level appropriate. Pete the Cat meets all these standards, and the accompanying song will help kids remember the point of the entire lesson: Add an "s" to a word when there is more than one of something.
Planning this lesson, reading about exceptional students every week, writing my peer-review paper, and discussing it all along the way with my teaching husband has deepened my understanding of how to properly support students with special needs in my classroom. I look forward to applying my knowledge and continuing to grow as an educator as I work to help them learn.
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