I enjoyed the introduction of EdCamp this week! As we watched the EdCamp Victoria 2015 video, I recognized several educators and administrators from the middle and high schools I attended.
The format of EdCamp reminded me of a flipped learning classroom or a student-centred/student-led format. In connection with this, my mentor teacher for my upcoming practicum is implementing student-led conferences with families, and I am excited to see how those are facilitated. I am a big fan of this style of teaching and learning!
One of the topics discussed during the EdCamp session that resonated with me was ELL resources and support. Side note – one of my pet peeves related to education is when people say “ELL Learners” (lol); the acronym itself stands for “English Language Learners” so adding “learners” after it makes no sense. Anyway, one of the main reasons I enjoyed this discussion is because I have considered doing a certification in ELL teaching after this program. Also, my pod is doing our project on technology to support ELL students, so this discussion was extra valuable to us! It was great to hear input from other members of the class.
I appreciated Marieke’s perspective on this topic as someone whose first language is not English. In summary, she emphasized that it is not a bad thing for ELL students to continue speaking and learning their first language; in fact, it is extremely important they do because they may lose literacy abilities when we disrupt their progress in their first language. She suggested not necessarily using their first language for everything in class, but maybe for things that provide comfort, such as independent reading materials.
My own experience related to this topic is that when students are pulled out by an ELL support teacher, it is not just for practicing English; this time is also to celebrate their first culture, language, etc. I think this is a common misconception, which was supported by the surprised reactions from others in the class. A fun example I have seen is a potluck lunch where each student brings a dish from their culture and they invite a friend or two from their class to come to an ELL lunch celebration at school.
