Teaching ESL Students in the Mainstream Classroom

This program provides practical strategies for teaching ESL students using actual classroom examples. The narrator's Australian accent is understandable through the use of subtitles and captioning. Five areas of importance are discussed by professionals in the field. The first segment, "Best Practices in the Classroom," explains how to help ESL students through understanding the linguistic and cultural challenges facing them. The challenges that teachers face in teaching ESL students are also discussed. In the next segment, best practices in the classroom are provided, including learning about ESL students and their backgrounds, presenting the content in a variety of ways to accommodate different learning styles, and providing interactive learning. Next, a list of strategies for building learner confidence is provided. "Tools and Tips for Teaching Content" emphasizes the use of nonverbal cues, chunk learning, and paraphrasing to extend the language learning experience. The "Think-Pair-Share" strategy, which helps ESL students build confidence in their mastery of the English language, is introduced as well. This tool allows students to reflect on what they have learned, rehearsing their thoughts with a peer before finally sharing it with the class or a group. Finally, "Building Thinking Skills" for ESL students encompasses the utilization of mind maps and the integration of Bloom's Taxonomy (updated by Anderson & Krathwohl) to obtain higher order thinking. These skills are achieved by refraining from "dumbing down" lessons while designing tasks that support and address individual learning styles, preferences, and experiences. A suitable addition to professional school library collections.—Linda M. Teel, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC