Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1996

Publication Title

Connections

Volume

33

Issue

2

First Page

9

Last Page

12

Abstract

The international student population in the United States is growing by leaps and bounds; our need for teachers who specialize in English as a Second Language, therefore, also grows with each passing day. But everyone cannot be an ESL specialist, right? What we must also, consider is the fact that many of our students who speak a language other than English as their native language are actually born here in the United States. Surprising? Not really when we consider that the demographic composition of major urban areas today consists significantly of families whose parents and grandparents come from different cultures and who still do not speak ( or read or write) English in any way. As educators, we must prepare ourselves for the influx of nonnative speakers of English (NNS) who will come into our classroom and who expect and deserve the education that all people do. As difficult as this preparation may sound, there are some things that non-ESL specialists academic teachers-can do to ready themselves for this-change in classroom environment. The following list is divided into three main categories: 1) helping the NNS adjust to the environment of the class and to classmates; 2) helping the NNS with the content or subject matter of the class; 3) using the community outside the classroom to facilitate learning for the NNS. These tips are by no means exhaustive, and content-teachers would be well-advised to ponder them and to expand and modify them when the need arises.

Comments

Co-author Frank Bramlett's name was misspelled in the published version of this article.

Download

Share

COinS