Teaching Students Who Speak Different Languages

Published by; Carma Lopez

Date; 10/12/2022

I entered the barely filled room, and the first thing I noticed was how nice it felt to be there. Lights were hanging on every corner, there were poster filled walls, and the kids were doing their work while having a good time. The teacher was sitting in the corner, working on her computer, most likely grading.

A photo of Ms. Kivett’s classroom.

Ms. Kivett is an ELL 7th grade teacher. She teaches ELA to students whose first language is not english. Before this though, she was a regular ELA teacher. She says she misses her ELA classes, where she could do more advanced things and get things done faster. But she also says she loves her ELL students and enjoys working with them. Most of her class periods do not have many students, in one of them, there are only three people.

Something you might be wondering at this point is, “how does she communicate with her students?” It's quite simple actually, phones. Let me explain, in her classes, the kids are allowed to use their phones to communicate with each other. They use google translate or other apps they have found. One of her students has multiple apps. They have one to translate writing, another for speaking, one for pictures, basically a translator for anything and everything.

Another thing I found interesting was the fact that even though most of the students weren't very good with English, they were learning quickly. Ms. Kivett said that there were a few students who knew multiple languages, one speaking 4 while also learning English. Some of her students are math geniuses while others wanted to learn things like engineering.

While talking, I learned that some of her students were from war torn countries. This has caused some confusion because they think they're in trouble when they're not. In her words exactly, “I would raise my voice and they would get scared.” Apparently when the class was messing around and she raised her voice to tell them to calm down, they thought they were in trouble. This is because some students didn't get to learn, for them, according to Ms.Kivett, “Schools a privilege where they come from, if you got in trouble you could get kicked out”

This has been a big culture shock Ms.Kivett says. It pains her when she thinks about what some of them went through. All of them are amazing students though. She says most of the kids do good because they are motivated. I met one student who I found very nice. His name was Yehor, and he was a sixth grader. He spoke Ukrainian and was very polite. It was nice how patient he was using the phone to communicate. If he sees this, I would like to say hi!

From everything I learned, it seems Ms. Kivett is an amazing person and teacher who loves her job. She is patient and makes sure her students feel comfortable. During her time with the students she has also picked up a few foreign words. She loves seeing them learn and grow, while also staying true to themselves. She is excited to see how far they can go.