Being an ESL teacher is not as easy as it looks. We cannot just pull out the textbook and teach a concept as is, there are countless modifications to make and I find myself pulling from many different sources. I have become an expert in making my own worksheets and figuring out what would work for my students. This takes lots of - TIME! Time is a luxury most teachers do not have and with some teachers having well over 100 students, modifying and figuring out how to help their ESL students can be a daunting task.
My job is not just to help the students in my class but also to help teachers with ESL students and help them find simple and effective ways to help their students. Here's how I used to give them information - I would copy lots of information about student levels and lists of modifications, staple it all together, and put it in the teacher's mailboxes. Guess where those papers went - on the pile with all the rest of beginning of the year correspondence, and eventually ending up somewhere on the bottom or lost. Then two weeks later I would get questions about things that were answered in that packet and it became apparent that it was not the best way to get information to the teachers.
So now I send a newsletter every month by e-mail, and I give them all the necessary information they need at different times of the year. It also serves as a reminder to the teachers that yes, they still have ESL students in their classroom and they shouldn't forget to give them support. Here are pictures of my first newsletter (names have been taken out for privacy).
I also put in names of any new ESL students who enroll in our school, strategies and interesting links for teachers. So far, I've gotten very positive feedback!
My next venture is using something I saw on Pinterest , ANGRY VERBS! I think my students will love it, I will keep you posted.
Amy
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