This year, at the MS,  my assignment is a little different than in years past.  On 'B' days (every other day) I go into a teacher's class and observe so that I can then assist with creating classroom modifications to help students better acquire the content being taught.  This helps the teacher help my students but the teacher can also use these techniques with other students who might need help.

In the past I've given advice on what can be done....give fewer words as vocabulary, minimize work, allow extended time, etc.  They are all sound strategies but given each teacher has a different method of teaching, it's hard for me to help more than handing them a list.  Now I am able to give very specific ideas.  

The teacher is a Language Arts teacher.  He starts each morning with word building work.  Learning prefixes, suffixes and root words.  My students have limited vocabulary so I expect them to learn the meanings but not to be able to generate words from these items.  They will also not be able to participate in the fill-in-the-blank sheets applying the learned word parts with words and making it fit.    They can participate but this shouldn't be counted against them.  

Next the class works on grammar and sentence diagraming.  Again, my students lack the basic vocabulary so identifying parts of speech in a sentence is problematic.  I expect them to learn what a subject, predicate,  verb, noun, adjective, adverb, article, conjunction are.  They can do basic diagramming and follow along as the class does the more advanced parts of speech.  Also, since copying the sentences takes so long, because the students doesn't know the basics to copy quickly, I ask them to do the first 2 or 3 to prove basic understanding.

We are working on getting reading assignments completed.  Reading logs and journals are ok since they are allowed to pick a book at their level and attempt to complete journal entries.  However textbook readings are problematic.  Antiquated English is antiquated English whether read to one's self or read aloud by a teacher.  It takes too long to explain each sentence of a story.  Therefore chunks of classwork are missing.  Certain standards are missed. 

This is where the ESL teacher needs to realize what the student will be missing in class and build lessons around that.  Without the cumbersome language.  Never an easy job.  We also have to do this in Math, Science, Social Studies, Technology classes and all the 'enrichment' classes.  An ESL class is usually about 45 minutes long.  In Elementary schools of large numbers, the students might be lucky to go to ESL every day.  Many rural schools have 'pull-out' classes 1-3 times per week.  We have a huge task.  I am fortunate enough to see my students every day.  It's still not enough.

Helping new-comer students is daunting, especially in HS.  We are supposed to teach the ESL curriculum but....the students get nothing out of class...teachers ask for help, some want me to teach their curriculum.  I try to do what is best for the student.  Thank God language acquisition is pretty much, inate and a survival need.  They will get the basics on their own and I try to focus on the academic.