EESL 690: Mentoring Report

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Recommended: Importance of informal education to formal education

A. Putt
EESL 690
Mentoring Story

Our textbooks throughout this program often have had a scenario of one teacher speaking to another teacher about an ESL student having more English ability than they exhibit in the classroom setting. This situation presented itself this semester. Two colleagues engaged me in conversation about our ESL population, due to the fact that I am taking ESL coursework. They inquired about a few students in particular. These two educators questioned the students’ academic understanding and ability compared to their social interactions with other students.
This situation gave me the perfect transition into the differences of BICS and CALPS. I was able to explain the differences between social and academic language. Many educators do not take into considerations the variety of acquisitions that may occur within learning a new language. The next day I provided them with this link: http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/cummin.htm. I felt that if they focused on the first two sections, they would have a better understanding of their ESL population. We often expect particular ability levels that are not realistic of many of our pupils. This conversation led me to explain the length of time that is …show more content…

The United States considers formal education a fundamental. In many areas of the world formal education is out of reach for the majority of the population. I even suggested that they might want to look at a presentation about multiculturalism. I provided them with our multicultural QR code man. I, personally, doubt they looked at the presentation, but it was a positive interaction to be able to provide them with the opportunity to view the information. I also felt confident that my colleagues would come to me again in the future and even refer me to others: teachers, parents, and/or community

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