Guest Discussion: Helping Adult English Language Learners Who Have Learning Challenges

Hello, Rochelle and esteemed colleagues and experts (Robin, Lauren and Miriam),

I've been lurking vs. participating on this discussion due to a heavy workload.  I'm sure I'm not alone in this. However, I had to take a moment to say THANK YOU!  Like a traveler in a desert who has just come upon a fertile oasis, I have been one of the many teachers who has noted a dearth of practical, research-based strategies for working with our ELL students with learning challenges.  Although I have gone to several in-depth trainings and even a "boot camp" on the issue, your comments have been quite specific and helpful.  As a PD specialist in Los Angeles for adult educators, I look forward to using and sharing all that you have offered us in knowledge and activities.  

Thank you for this amazing contribution!

Dave

Thanks so much to Robin, Lauren, and Alicia, for the wealth of information they provided us this week. To respond to Rochelle's excellent question, if I had to name one "takeaway" it would be the importance of always regarding each individual student as just that: an individual who has unique needs, goals, and ways of learning. The thing we have to do is to find the way to facilitate the journey for each individual as he or she pursues these needs and goals in his or her own way.

Thanks, too, to those community members who posted their questions  and talked about their experiences.

Miriam Burt

SME, Adult ELl CoP

I think Dave’s description sums it up!  This has been such a rich discussion to follow that it is difficult to single out just one lesson.  Here are some thoughts:

1. I was interested in the varying definitions of learning disabled and cognitively challenged.  I have a student who, I believe, suffered brain damage from meningitis during infancy – I realize that I was using both terms interchangeably in my own mind (I come from the British tradition).  He struggles to even copy words, but is able to write letters (sometimes his own version of them) in sequence if I say them and point out an example for him to copy.  This same student is better able to learn orally and visually, given enough practice and his own interest in the topic.  He can identify certain animals, fruit and vegetables from photographs or fake-real items (to my family’s amusement, I’m a collector of fake fruit and all kinds of other items for class).  This young man would not be very good for our bottom “performance” line in terms of State objectives in adult ed funding, but the rest of the students in my group, most of them from a different culture from his, embrace his presence and participation.  He loves to be included in activities, and yes, he can learn.  I just need to find better ways to help him with this.  My biggest objective for him is that he develop enough confidence and familiarity with English to respond to basic questions about himself for the citizenship interview which he will need to try to pass at some point.  My fear is that he has been considered incapable by his family and friends for so long that he is very shy and reticent when questioned directly.
2. I feel that Dr. Robin has completely nailed, with all the reasons she gave, the problems in trying to evaluate a non-English speaker for a learning disability.  Unless one has the resources of a large institution or school system, a diagnosis doesn’t really change anything – the student remains in the class, because there may not be an alternative for that person.
3. About two years ago I became aware of Robin’s teaching about the use of learning centers in the classroom, and I have been very slow to act upon the idea, mainly because the initial amount of work involved has seemed daunting – my thanks to Miriam for raising the question about that – but also because it involves a mental reorganization, too.  A big thank you to Lauren for explaining how she went about developing centers and for giving practical examples of activities, and of course thank you, Robin, for all the information about the rationale for using them.  I’m inspired all over again!  What is needed is to re-purpose existing resources as well as create new activities – a lot of the flash cards / items / worksheets that one creates over the years can be adapted.  Lauren’s description of the two types of class that she teaches matches the classes we have in our program – survival English for one set of students, and a much more diverse group in terms of oral v. literacy proficiency in our civics classes.  There are different external requirements for these two groups, and I am grateful that Lauren also spelled out the development of learning centers to enhance the use of text books.
4. The comments on self-advocacy reinforce what I learned in an excellent on-line course offered through LINCS on Self-Regulated Learning.  Helping students to organize and motivate themselves helps them develop long-term life-skills.  Time and again, the importance of making content relevant to the individual comes up in professional development, and we do keep trying to make our materials connect to students’ lives.  One very simple example was an aha moment for me:  a new immigrant came to class very excited about that fact that our work on the vocabulary of personal information had paid off – she exclaimed: “Yesterday - doctor office!  City!  State!  Zip Code!”  She saw the relevance of what we did in class.  Our challenge is to keep it relevant and make the relevance obvious to them.

Thank you so much!

Jane

I want to say thank you to Rochelle, Miriam, and Dr. Robin for the opportunity to be a part of this fantastic discussion this week!  I very much enjoyed having the chance to share what I have learned and discuss and share ideas with fellow educators around the country!  If anyone has any questions specifically for me, please feel free to contact me via the LINCS website.  Thanks again and happy teaching!