Kasper Lee

Professor Ogden
English 1A
6/19/2015
Cover Letter
Dear ESL teachers,
I recommend you read this article. I favor a few solutions help to
fix the problem of the ESL students poor quality in their educational
endeavors. A number of problems have found from this problem.
These points may benefit you and your ESL students, so this is a good
opportunity to learn how to teach ESL classes for some beginning ESL
teachers. I hope the problem will be fixed.
Thank you for reading my article. I would like to share this article
to others that wanted to teach ESL classes and are not sure how to
teach.
Sincerely,
Kasper Lee

ESL Education Problem Solving

There is a major problem among teenagers who do not speak
much English in the United States. Many immigrants are not good at
English, for the English classes of their native countries are poor in
quality or even lack English instruction. In the United States, there are
some education programs that can help immigrants to learn English,
called English as a Second Language (ESL). The intention is to help
immigrants improve their English skills quickly so that they can excel
in their career and life goals. However, American teachers lack the
necessary tools and overall awareness of how to teach immigrants
the English language and subsequent subjects that primarily utilize
the language for instruction because their education system is
different compared to the students native instructional system.
Because of this, many students experience widespread
misunderstanding, which lead to more problems in learning the basic
knowledge that is needed to get a strong footing in a competitive
workforce. Students might study harder at home if they encounter
difficulties at school, but usually this does not happen. Ultimately, it is
the responsibility of the teachers to help students learn English.
Overall, ESL students have a difficult time in high school because of
the poor quality of education.
People need English to become successful nowadays for English is
ubiquitous. In the video called Dont Insist on English, Patricia Ryan

said, Now can it be right to reject a student on linguistic ability

alone? Perhaps you have a computer scientist who's a genius. Would
he need the same language as a lawyer, for example? Well, I don't
think so. We English teachers reject them all the time. We put a stop
sign, and we stop them in their tracks. They can't pursue their dream
any longer, 'til they get English. Because many people desire an
English education, they immigrate to America or some other
developed country that uses English as a main language in their
studies. When immigrant students attend school, educators put them
in small groups and classes, so called ESL classes. Their teachers do
not know how to teach them properly, which creates more confusion
among students because it snowballs into a situation in which they
feel discouraged in pursuing higher education. More seriously,
teachers are not even attempting to know what the students true
level is. They give very simple work to the students who work alone,
away from the mainstream students who grew up with English.
Teachers should identify each students level of English and delve into
the areas in which they require assistance. Otherwise, there is no
further progression in the students language skills.
Since the United States has a number of immigrants entering the
country each year, ESL classes have been increasing exponentially.
Finding teachers who are equipped to teach ESL is difficult. I
interviewed a teacher who teaches ESL classes at Temple City High

School in California, and he stated that they meet other ESL teachers
at least one time each week to try to create more activities and
programs to help students and the teachers. One of the ways to assist
ESL students is by putting them in tutoring groups in which the
teacher and a few students who know English are grouped together
with ESL students. It is a good way for students to remedy the
problem. However, some students have stated that they must help
their families for financial reasons, so they cannot attend group
tutoring sessions after school. It is one of the main problems facing
immigrant students, so their education may not be easily fixed. Even
though there are students who cannot attend after-school programs
such as this one, it is one step closer in closing the education gap so
rampant among ESL students.
Because of so much cultural diversity, some instructors in the U.S.
are not familiar with how to teach students who come from different
backgrounds. Indeed, it can be a real challenge when an instructor is
presented with a large classroom full of ESL students who cannot
even speak with each other. The ESL program in many high schools is
lacking for a number of reasons, but they are improving. However,
with these improvements come an increasingly larger number of
immigrants filling these classrooms. Teachers do not have the skills to
teach ESL students, so there is an automatic learning barrier. In the
article called Multicultural Classroom, Monocultural Teacher, Terry

Dean said, With increasing cultural diversity in classrooms, teachers

need to structure learning experiences that both help students write
their way into university and help teachers learn their way into
student cultures. He explains that teachers need to be familiar with
students cultures so that they can provide a good education not only
in English but in other subjects as well. Teachers should help students
learn about American culture and the American system of teaching so
that they can attend college in the future. In another article called 5
Worst Mistakes All Beginner ESL Teachers Make (And You Too?),
sometimes teachers forget the cultural differences between
themselves and ESL students. ESL teachers should be required to
know the culture of the students during the classes. Teachers may
need to learn about students customs and greetings in order to
establish a somewhat intimate bond with ESL students, especially
because of the fact that language itself creates a relationship and
understanding between the two parties. Learning the culture and
greetings of ESL students may in fact cultivate a good learning
environment and motivate these students to learn more.
ESL students face many challenges in the classroom. Many
teachers speak very quickly and are unclear, which makes it hard for
ESL students to follow. Teachers usually do not realize that ESL
classes are not same as the mainstream classes. In addition, ESL
teachers lack the skills necessary to teach ESL, so much of the

material found in American textbooks are not explained well.

Moreover, teachers write notes on the board with the assumption that
ESL students will understand what is written. For mainstream students
and teachers, simple note-taking is much easier and thus taken for
granted. For the ESL students, notes need to be reviewed multiple
times in order to understand the material. To solve these problems,
the book called The ESL/ELL Teachers Survival Guide offers methods
to overcome the common problems of teaching ESL classes. For
example, teachers must speak slowly and clearly pronounce each
word repeatedly. Because students think in two or more languages
simultaneously, teachers may need to repeat what they say to help
students translate. Teachers can find some supplemental tools to
explain the textbook instead of just reading from the textbook. This
strategy can help students understand the concept of the textbook. In
addition, notes and main lecture points should be written on the
board clearly and word for word. The material should also remain on
the board so that students may copy the notes down. In the end,
teachers need to realize that English is a new language for ESL
students, so it is their duty to undertake any methods or strategies
that will make it easier for the students to learn.
Besides the need for better instructional methods, many teachers
do not even try to become close with ESL students in order to learn
about their individual needs. According to the article called 6

Qualities of successful ESL Teachers, understanding the individual

needs of students is vital in order to teach an ESL class successfully.
Teachers could design lessons that are individualized to every student
in the areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing. In this way,
ESL students could be monitored for improvement and given
additional support in areas where they have opportunities for growth.
Overall, it is up to the teachers to devise better strategies for
individual ESL students. To complicate matters further, teachers lack
practical, research-based information, resources, and strategies
needed to teach, evaluate, and nurture ELL students, whether those
students were born in this country or elsewhere, or whether they are
the first, second, or third generation to attend an American public
school. According to this article called English Language Learners
Face Unique Challenges, the teachers' abilities are poor due to the
lack of education they receive in their own credential programs. They
do not recognize student needs which could assist them in elevating
student outcomes. They do not measure students' learning progress,
which inevitably leads students to fall off track. Teachers need to
make sure every student in the class understands what is being
taught. The teacher may give students a time to ask questions in
class which is related to the concept. The purpose of this is to
understand every students level and find out who requires more

instruction in learning the material, but to do so, teachers needed to

be educated about this first.
English as a Second Language is a huge problem in the United
States because the fact is clear--more and more immigrants are
arriving in huge numbers. Because the number of immigrants is
growing rapidly, there is not enough space or resources for teachers
to instruct them properly. Teachers have the responsibility of fixing
the problem. To fix this education problem, I believe teachers should
learn about the students culture so that they can understand and
identify the students problems with learning English. Therefore, ESL
students in high school can have a comfortable environment and
have the best methods to learn English.

Works Cited
"5 Worst Mistakes All Beginner ESL Teachers Make (And You Too?)."
Busy Teacher. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 June 2015.
http://busyteacher.org/4113-5-worst-mistakes-all-beginner-eslteachers-make.html
Anderson, Marc. "6 Qualities of Successful ESL Teachers." Teach
Thought. N.p., 12 July 2013. Web. 19 June 2015.
http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/6-qualities-of-successful-eslteachers/
Dean, Terry. "Mutcultrural Classoonm, Mnocultural Teacher." (n.d.): n.
pag. College Composition and Communication. 9 Jan. 2004. Web. 19
June 2015.
http://mjreiff.com/uploads/2/9/1/7/2917319/dean.pdf
Don't Insist on English! Prod. Patricia Ryan. 2010. Video.
http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_ryan_ideas_in_all_languages_not_jus
t_english
Ferlazzo, Larry, and Katie Hull-Sypnieski. "ESL Instruction: The Big
Picture." The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide: Ready-to-use

Strategies, Tools, and Activities for Teaching English Language

Learners of All Levels. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2012. 10-11.
Print.
Roekel, Dennis Van. "English Language Learners Face Unique
Challenges." SpringerReference (2011): n. pag. 2008. Web. 19 June
2015.
http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/ELL_Policy_Brief_Fall_08_
%282%29.pdf

Where I got my topic from

Language is another difficult aspect for me to overcome because
my main language is not English but rather Chinese. It is such an
obstacle when I have to form sentences that may or may not make
sense and may put the reader to sleep. When I am writing in my
language, I can write very well, but in my second language, which I
am still learning, I require more focus on grammar structures to
formulate sentences that do not necessarily fit who I am. I cannot
write much as a dialogue with the reader very well because elements
such as feeling and deeper thinking are sometimes skewed. I still
have not been able to overcome the language barrier, but I see a big
change in my writing. However, it is still one of the biggest challenges
for me to overcome.