ESL vs.

BILINGUALISM

ESL programs help students who have limited English proficiency. The objective is to help
students who do not identify English as their primary language learn English. These programs
are extremely important, as the teacher strives to help students acquire English proficiency in
order to succeed academically in English-based curriculum schools.

It’s important to note that the students in the class may not all share the same native language.
For this reason, the teacher addresses the class only in English. The coursework in the program
focuses on teaching the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Many ESL students come from countries outside North America or celebrate different cultures.
ESL teachers also strive to help students integrate into society and understand local customs,
norms and values, while not replacing students’ own customs, norms, and values.

The importance of ESL is reflected in the fact that many districts even require all elementary
teachers to have an ESL certification. You’ll want to make sure to research your top choice
school to determine if you need ESL.

Bilingual Education teachers instruct in two different languages. The educator focuses on
teaching content in both languages, such as geography, history, math, etc. While English is used
as one language of instruction, students are not specifically taught English language lessons. By
incorporating both the use of English and the students’ native language equally, their English
language skills will continue to develop and strengthen.

The goal of bilingual classroom instruction is to help students become fluent in both languages.

Like ESL classrooms, students may also come from different cultural backgrounds. Teachers
should be mindful of this and help all students feel comfortable, respected and valued in the
classroom.
Both ESL and Bilingual Education teachers are in high demand. In a rapidly diversifying world,
the use of English is on the rise. Since 1965, the number of immigrants in the U.S. has
quadrupled; this means many students are entering our school systems without the simple tools
needed to succeed, such as understanding the language of instruction – English. One out of every
four students speak a language other than English in their home and our school systems are
struggling to provide every student with teachers they need. Every student is equally important,
and ESL and Bilingual teachers truly go above and beyond to meet the needs of all our students.

If you need more inspiration to become an ESL or Bilingual teacher, both of which promote
bilingualism, check out this list of qualities attributed to bi- or multilingual speakers:

 Increased chance of getting hired

 Higher salary
 Advanced cognitive skills
 Bridges cultural and heritage gaps
 Easier to learn additional languages
 Improved pragmatic skills
 Multicultural sensitivity

ESL METHODS OF TEACHING

1. Total Physical Response

Total Physical Response, or TPR, is a language acquisition method developed by psychology
professor James Asher. TPR uses a combo of language and physical actions to engage students in
the language learning process. Much has been learned about TPR from observing infants
throughout the acquisition of their home language.

Think about a time you may have interacted with your 6-month-old niece. Maybe her mom said
“Give your auntie a high five!” Your niece responded with the physical action of slapping your
hand. Can she fluently communicate yet? No, but she does pick up on a few verbal clues like
“high five,” and the hand slap is nearly an automatic response.

While the brain is generating this automatic response, it’s also taking note of things
like syntax and speech patterns. After enough exposure, your niece will eventually generate
language spontaneously. If it’s easy enough for an infant, why wouldn’t it be just as effective
with your students?
Total Physical Response is a fairly low-stress strategy, which is one of the keys to its success.
There’s no pressure for a student to speak when using TPR. Instead they simply listen and
respond in a physical manner. TPR can be a great pre-cursor to verbal communication.

There are many ways to use TPR within the classroom, but as a warm-up or transition between
activities are two great ways to get your students up and moving.

 It’s best to begin with simple, explicit instructions or commands, such as “sit” or “stand.”
It’s imperative that clear visuals are provided when introducing the concept. A physical
demonstration paired with the corresponding action is a most effective strategy when
beginning.
 Once the group has been familiarized with the terms and the reciprocal actions, it must be
revisited consistently. Meaningful repetitions will deepen understanding, as well
as provide familiarity with the language.
 Once your students have mastered these simple commands, you can move on to more
involved, multi-step verbal tasks like “Stand up and touch your toes” or “Sit on the
floor.” As the complexity of the tasks grow, so will your students’ confidence.

2. Introducing Items of Cultural and Personal Relevance

Where do you feel most comfortable? Most likely at home, among familiar things. When we are
in our natural environment we are typically secure and relaxed. Creating feelings of security and
comfort within your students can help mentally prepare them for successful language acquisition.
Though we usually can’t reach our students in their literal home environment, there are some
things we can do to create a welcoming and familiar classroom.
Just as your home probably reflects your culture and personality, your classroom should reflect
the background and interests of each culture represented among your students. Items of cultural
relevance might include books in a student’s home language and maps or flags from
their homeland. Of course, it’s always important to know your students on personal level, too.
Appropriate pop culture references and music can also be incorporated into your classroom.

Providing these items not only creates a feeling of familiarity, but it also sends the message
that your students are valued. It shows that you care about every part of them, culturally and
personally.

When integrating items of cultural and personal relevance into your classroom, get creative!
Again, think about your own home:

 It has your favorite books. Create a classroom library comprised of your student’s

favorites, including books in their home language.
 It has photos of family and friends. Make certain the visuals in your classroom represent
people from varying backgrounds.
  If you like to paint, it has all the stuff you need to paint. Find out what your students
like to do and have some of that stuff for them, too.

By adding just a few items to their classroom environment, your students can feel “Homeward
Bound” regardless of how far away their home may be.

3. Using Authentic Materials

I have clear memories from my own time as a student in which the teacher requested that we
perform seemingly mindless and mundane tasks. I’m sure they fit neatly into the lesson plan, but
they didn’t seem to serve any real purpose. I remember a particularly bland piece of prose that
revolved around an older gentleman’s trip to the library and the books he selected.

The point of reading the selection was to check comprehension. Why would I care to read about
this fictional geezer, let alone prove my comprehension of his literary adventures by
regurgitating the tale? Your students feel the same way.

Learning can be much more meaningful and motivating if it actually serves a purpose. Would
you be in interested in reading this post if you didn’t think you’d take something away from it?
Probably not. Your students don’t want to waste their time on something without a “take-away,”
either. This is the true benefit of using authentic materials.

Authentic materials can be described as materials that have been created for native speakers and
are used as teaching tools in the ESL classroom. These aren’t necessarily manufactured
pieces from a classroom curriculum. It’s important to note that ESL considerations were
not made as the materials were being created. This could include books, directions and maps,
newspaper articles or recipes. It could also include videos or music.
Really, any source of language designed for the native speaker could be considered an
authentic material. As a student, I would much rather have the end product of a lesson be a
pizza I made following a recipe than a bunch of useless information about a useless subject (i.e.
Grandpa’s trip to the library!).
There are tons of ways to incorporate authentic materials into your classroom:
 Set up a makeshift restaurant in your classroom. Grab menus, recipes, signs and even
little notepads for writing down orders.
 Plan a trip to a local museum. You’ll need brochures, bus schedules (if you’re taking
school transportation—pretend!), maps and directions. It might even be fun to provide a
little history on the anticipated exhibits through written text or videos.
 Plant a class garden. You’ll need to start with gardening and plant research. This can be
done with books, videos and Internet resources. There are seed types to read about and
predictions to make. Once again, you can incorporate recipes using the fruits of your
labor.
This is just the beginning—all you need is a little creativity. In no time you and your students
will realize there “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.”

4. Displaying Visuals and Realia

I must admit that one of my biggest pet peeves is when people try to describe an episode of a
television show to me that I don’t watch. I have no background information on the plot or
characters, so it doesn’t really make sense. They’re talking and talking about this thing I don’t
really understand, with no reference, other than their wordy explanation.

I honestly feel like screaming, “I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t care!” But, I
don’t want to be perceived as rude or unintelligent, so most times I just smile and act interested,
all the while, mentally zoning out. Sound familiar?

This very scenario plays out daily in classrooms across the country with our ELL students.
Unfortunately, the stakes are much higher than choosing your new favorite TV show.

How can we prevent our students from tuning us out? Well, If I had had any familiarity or
background on that television show, I might have been more willing to participate in the
conversation. This is exactly what we need to provide for our students.

Visuals and realia are one of the most effective ways to provide a relatable reference for our
students. Visuals are just what you might think they are: a universal picture that accompanies
your lesson. For instance, if you’re teaching about elephants, have a pictures of elephants
available to share with students. Easy, right?

Using realia is just as simple. It just means having a tangible object that students can fully
“experience” to help deepen understanding. If you’re teaching a science lesson about trees, have
bark, leaves and twigs available. If you’re teaching an English lesson about plurals, have one
bean available to show the meaning of “singular,” and two or more beans available to show the
meaning of “plural.”

Remember that elephant lesson? A picture could be easy and helpful, but you can take it a step
further by adding small elephant figurines, or by providing a scrap of leathery material to better
describe their skin.

We’ve already talked about how realia can be used to help with an English lesson, and math is a
no brainer, too. Provide something tangible when teaching addition, subtract or any other
operation.
Visuals are invaluable when teaching routines and social emotional skills. Think about
those feeling charts or visual schedules. What a great way to reach not only your ELL students,
but all of your kids.

By providing just a few inexpensive and interesting items for your students, you’ll soon have
your students “Seeing Clearly Now.”

5. Remembering the Stages of Second Language Acquisition

I recall as a young teacher I had a Hmong student named Cindy. I was quite inexperienced and I
easily got frustrated with her silence, day after day. All the other kids greeted me with
hugs, laughed at my jokes and sang silly songs with me. Cindy just sat for months, stone faced
and silent. I honestly took it personally.

She didn’t appear to like anything about me or our classroom. I was constantly in her face,
prompting her to repeat after me and “use her words.” I thought if I could just make her speak it
would mean she liked me and I was doing my job as her teacher. Obviously, this was useless and
I eventually just gave up, and so did she—before she even started. Cindy will forever be one of
my biggest regrets as a teacher.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but Cindy was simply going through the stages of second language
acquisition. She was stuck in the first stage, the silent or receptive stage, and I was doing nothing
to help move her forward.

There are actually five stages that your students might go through on their language acquisition
journey:
1. Silent or Receptive Stage: During this stage students may be silent or use non-verbal
communication, like pointing or nodding their head. The focus is on building the confidence it
takes to actually speak and on learning basic vocabulary. There’s no language fluency at this
stage in the game.
2. Early Production: Students might begin speaking in one- to two-word responses or short
phrases and could acquire upwards of 1,000 new vocabulary words during this stage. Confidence
grows even though a student might not be comfortable with the language yet.
3. Speech Emergence: This is where the real communication begins. Sentences and phrases
become longer and more complex, though the rules of grammar might still be foggy. Greater
comprehension is gained in this stage and students might begin reading or writing in the acquired
language.
4. Intermediate Fluency: Learners begin thinking in the second language during this stage.
Take, for instance, a French student to whom you’re teaching English. Previously when they had
encountered a small, fury rodent gathering nuts they would think ecureuil. At this point they
might see that same fury rodent and think “squirrel.” Comprehension and
fluency greatly increase at this level.
5. Advanced Fluency: This is full mastery of the language. It can take between two and 10 years
to get to this stage. The work doesn’t stop once the language has been mastered, either. There
must be ongoing opportunities to engage in the language to keep sharp.
It’s fairly easy to determine which stage your students are in. Language acquisition charts and
checklists are widely available. You might display these around your classroom or work area as
a reference for reasonable expectations during each stage. It’s also a good self-reminder to relax.
Don’t take it personally if your students aren’t getting it just yet. You truly have to let nature take
its course on this one.

It’s of great importance that we remember to never push our students through these stages, or
expect more than what they’re ready for. We must observe students, catch them where they are
and work with them from there.

Though my intentions were good, all of my urging with Cindy certainly caused anxiety, which
resulted in a complete shut down. This could happen during any stage if you neglect to take time
and pick up on the needs of your students. As we guide our students through the stages of
language acquisition, always remember: “Time Is on Our Side.”

These five methods can be used with your students at all levels and stages of acquisition. Each
method can practically be adapted to fit all classrooms, across the curriculum, within every
lesson.

They’re clever and memorable—just like that catchy eighties tune. Time to put ’em on instant
recall and rock it out in your classroom!
 

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-teaching-methods/

BILINGUAL METHODS OF TEACHING

Bilingual Method Prof. C.J. Dodson Wales (1967) developed the bilingual method of foreign
language teaching, as a counterpart of the audiovisual method and he set out to make
improvements to the audio-visual method. In this method, there are two revolutionary principles
based on the results of scientifically controlled experiments in primary and secondary schools.
This method allows the teacher and pupils to use two languages; one is the target language to be
learnt and the other mother-tongue which is used to achieve the target language English. The
teacher frequently reads and transforms the text into mother tongue of the pupil. In bilingual
method there are three main stages of any language lesson, or the traditional three P’s:
presentation practice production
Principles of the Bilingual Method
• Pupils can understand the words and sentences in foreign languages easier by the use of
mother tongue.
• In the classroom the teacher doesn’t need to create any artificial situations while teaching or
explaining the meaning of words and sentences of the target language.
• Bilingual method is the combination of the Direct method and the Grammar translation method.
Advantages
• This method emphasizes on speech practice and provides greater practice in speaking English
• It suits both rural and urban schools and makes use of linguistic habits formed during learning
mother-tongue.
• It makes Pupil learn two languages at a time and saves time, energy and labor of the teacher.
• It facilitates even an average teacher of English to teach the lesson successfully.
• It does not require any teaching aids and is suitable to all kinds of students.
Disadvantages
• This method is still in an experimental stage and ignores other aspects like reading, writing.
• It neglects systematic teaching of grammar and makes students passive listeners.
• It makes pupils unable to think freely and they become dependent on their mother tongue.
• It is sometimes rather impossible to provide a correct mother-tongue equivalent.
• A contrast between the features of the two languages is likely to confuse students.
http://jrspelt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Satya-bilingual.pdf

Answer.
1. What is ESL? Why is it important?
2. What is Bilingual Education? Why is it significant?
3. What are your insights in this lesson?