Math in ESL?

Hello colleagues, I've been hearing some buzz lately about addressing math in ESL classes. In fact, there were workshops focused on this topic at both the TESOL and COABE conferences this year. How are programs addressing this issue? Is this a new focus area for you or is math something you've always done as part of your ESL program? What are some of the unique aspects of teaching math to English learners?

By the way, Becky Shiring just posted a link to a math vocabulary app that some members might be interested in checking out. Thanks, Becky!

I'd love to hear from some of our math experts, too, so I'm cross-posting this message in the Math & Numeracy CoP.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition CoP

Comments

I found your post timely Susan as I just began co-facilitating Mathematizing ESOL I for the SABES Math and Adult Numeracy at TERC for Massachusetts ESOL teachers. What I am finding is that most ESOL teachers are masters at contextualizing their instruction and math is no different. What I am also discovering, however, is that most ESOL teachers don't feel comfortable teaching math concepts and don't know how to integrate them into their ESOL lessons.  Our approach is to show ESOL teachers how to teach math conceptually and contextualized. Most teachers discover how easily some topics can transition into their lessons and how valuable teaching these math concepts conceptually can be for the teacher's as well as their student's understanding. For programs not in Massachusetts, TERC offers sections through its partner World Education. Contact Sherry Soares: sherry_soares@terc.edu for more information.

When I taught at Portland Adult Education, our approach was different. We would place ESOL students into our math classes if they were intermediate level or above. Many ESOL students who were strong in math, used their skills to understand the English language through their familiarity with math. What we discovered, however, was they still struggled with writing math journals or understanding word problems. The irony for me was I was seeking out our ESOL teachers for suggestions on how to approach ESOL students in teaching math. So you see it is a two edge sword. Having facilitated the Mathematizing course, I, too, learned strategies ESOL teachers use like listening and speaking that I could incorporate into my math classes.

Hi Pam and all, Thanks, Pam, for sharing your insights. What you say resonates with my experience as well. ESL/ESOL teachers are masters at contextualizing instruction, and they understand how to scaffold to support learners around the content they are teaching. I've been saying for some time that ESL teachers have much expertise to share with their colleagues who teach ABE and HSE specifically related to providing supports for language learners AND that our ABE/HSE colleagues have much to share about ways to effectively teach content. It definitely goes both ways-- especially since more and more English learners are finding their way to ABE/HSE classrooms.

It would be great to continue the conversation by getting into some of the details about what this means for adult literacy education teachers who work with English learners at all levels and in all kinds of classes. Members, please tell us how you have approached teaching math. If you teach ABE or HSE, what are your questions about teaching math to English learners? If you teach ESL/ESOL, what practices can you share and what questions can you pose about math instruction with the learners you teach?

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition

 

   I would strongly recommend browsing through the resources at http://mathequalslove.blogspot.com/   and http://www.mathcoachscorner.com/   for really good bold images to plaster on walls or print smaller and get into notebooks.   The first blog has lots of ideas for "interactive notebooks," where students... well, looking at them is the best way to understand :)    Visuals can be a good bridge across language barriers and help me make it more likely that when I'm talking with a picture, that the student isn't assigning some entirely different meaning to what I'm saying ;) 

   https://gfletchy.com/   has some "progressions" which show how concepts develop.   Most that I've seen are pretty basic (as in, counting) but it might be worth exploring it as a search term -- I found https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/progressions   about fractions. 

    I hate, loathe and despise that so many of these resources are always reminding us exactly which grade they're "supposed" to be learned in.   Argh!   On the other hand, many of them are now Open Educational Resources so we can modify :)   

Hi Sue and all, These look like some terrific resources for scaffolding math instruction for all learners, and especially for those who are  learning English. Thanks for sharing the links! It's rather nice to see how the creators of the Math Equals Love site have put such a positive spin on learning math.

Many English learners come with strong math skills, so focusing on math can --in and of itself-- serve as a scaffold for language learning. That being said, there are still numerous aspects of the language of math that need to taught explicitly.

It would be great to hear more on this topic from ESL teachers and math teachers, too!

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition CoP

Thanks for sharing this app!  I opened the Web App on my computer--it covers MANY math content areas (and you can check which ones to include), which is awesome!  I also like that there is a visual example as well as a written definition.  It is possible to select "grades K-2" or "grades 3-5".  Don't be fooled by this; the language in some of the definitions is quite high-level and academic.  To me, this app would be good for a conversation starter with small multi-level groups.  Perhaps, to show understanding, students could create an additional example that fits with the vocabulary word.