What are "TESOL", "ESL", and "ELL"?

        When I say I minored in "TESOL", this means I am a Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Perhaps the more commonly used term is "ESL", which stands for English as a Second Language. Students who are in our TESOL and ESL classes are "ELLs", which stands for English Language Learners. The reason TESOL is often used in education is because we recognize that many of our students are not learning English as their second language, but have many other language backgrounds as well!
       

Personal Philosophy:

        Getting through middle and high school is hard enough, and learning about a new culture and language can make the process even more complex. To me, it is especially important to be a teacher that English Language Learning students can be comfortable with, and let them know that in my classroom they will always have a strong support system for all aspects of school. This sense of comfort will come from knowing that I am not a teacher who sees ELLs as deficient; students who can learn more than one language are extremely gifted, and I greatly respect their ability to do so.
        It is also very important to me that my English Language Learning students receive all of the opportunities other students have access to; language should never be a barrier to student success and achievement. In my classroom, ELLs will never be separated or excluded from lessons. It is my philosophy that the teacher must modify the approach of the lesson to best suit each individual ELLs learning needs, not the content- this way, students have the opportunity to learn the same material, but in different ways.

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Students at the Refugee Development Center in Lansing, Michigan