Six Principles for Teaching English Language Learners in All Classrooms

Schools are not able to provide specialized classrooms for all English learners, especially when several languages besides English are spoken by ELLs. While the ELL population continues to grow, most teachers are monolingual and have little or no training on how to teach these students. This book uses a model that was designed around the five CREDE (Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence) standards for effective pedagogy: joint productive activity; language learning; contextualization; rigorous curriculum; and, instruction conversations. These five standards correspond to the authors’ first five principles.The sixth principle - engaging families of English language learners - has also been found to have a positive impact on students’ academic success. This book includes an array of powerful examples taken from a diverse range of K-12 settings. The examples provide clear illustrations of teaching strategies that support the authors’ principles. K-12 teachers will discover that while these principles are particularly effective when applied to English Learners, they will ultimately be of benefit to all learners.