How to Make Your Class Less Stressful for English Language Learners
When students feel like they鈥檙e in a safe environment, it becomes easier for them to acquire language and learn course content.
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When thinking about a trauma-informed approach, restorative and mindfulness practices usually come to mind. While those are very important to a trauma- informed classroom, instructional practices that teachers use also support a comforting space. Working to make these practices more intentional for a nurturing classroom climate not only can increase students鈥� sense of safety and belonging in the classroom, but eventually can support their academic growth.
In taking English language learners (ELLs) into consideration, it鈥檚 important to remember that learning a new language in general can increase anxiety. The , which surfaced in the late 1980s, informed educators about how stress can increase the 鈥渁ffective filter.鈥� This means that when students are in a high-anxiety environment, it blocks their potential to learn language.
My aim with this article is to support teachers in understanding how to strategically utilize ELL practices in order to create a community for students that gives them access to learning in a way that is nonthreatening. When considering this, it鈥檚 important to highlight the (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol), which was developed by Jana Echevarria, Mary Ellen Vogt, and Deborah Short. This is a set of strategies that was recommended to create a language 鈥渟helter鈥� to make content approachable for ELLs, but what we don鈥檛 always talk about is how this shelter contributes to a聽low-stress classroom.聽
Lesson Planning That Conveys Consistency
Content and language objectives or targets support English language learners in knowing where learning is headed. Think of it this way: If you鈥檙e in your day-to-day activities, but you don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen next, it may make you nervous. When students know what鈥檚 expected of them, it decreases anxiety, and they have an understanding of where learning is going.
Posting targets and objectives with a class agenda in addition to explaining all of it to students helps facilitate predictability and comfort. Doing this decreases the 鈥淲hat鈥檚 next?鈥� question. Content targets help students understand the 鈥渨hat鈥� of the lesson. The language objectives give English language learners guidance in knowing what language the lesson will support and how their language needs are valued. It鈥檚 important to remember that when you set structures in the classroom, students who need emotional support really value consistency.
I make it a point to intentionally plan time in our lessons when students can get in touch with their voices. This gives students a space for creativity and to feel validation. In my classroom, we鈥檙e devoted to journaling. At first, students were reluctant. I found that this was mainly because they wondered, 鈥淚s my writing good enough?鈥� (especially when English is their second language). I gave students the simple option of writing three sentences or one to two with a picture. I also demonstrated what my own journals look like. Students were given paper journals donated by a community organization that they got to collage and take ownership of as 鈥渢heir writing space.鈥� They write daily and love it when I respond to them.
Creating Student Experiences for Collaboration
When students work in structured teams that they鈥檙e comfortable with, they gain oral language. I learned about academic teaming through staff development centered around the text , by Michael Toth and David Sousa.
As I planned for structured academic teams, I learned that I can strategically place my English language learners in teams with other students who become language models. I work in Illinois, which is part of the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium. Looking at students鈥� ACCESS () scores and using my own observations of their progress, I placed them in flexible teams where they could get linguistic support from other students.
I placed English language learners with others who could be language models but weren鈥檛 too far away from them level-wise so as to limit the possibility of intimidation. Not only did this help increase language acquisition, but also my students were less anxious in participating in groups because their peers supported them.
The Importance of Building Background and Comprehensible Input
When we connect content to what students know, we give them a sense of familiarity that can help lower their stress levels. This isn鈥檛 new information, but we can keep this in mind as we鈥檙e planning lessons鈥攏ot just from a social and emotional learning standpoint, but also from a language perspective.
Comprehensible input is language input that supports students when they don鈥檛 totally understand the content. An example of this is giving English language learners language scaffolds such as word walls and sentence stems. Lately, I鈥檝e been allowing my students to use artificial intelligence (AI) applications to help them understand content. is easy for students to use to look up content they don鈥檛 know. Even Snapchat鈥攚hich my students use often鈥攈as an AI feature.
My students use AI in research and even in class discussions. It does build confidence. I highly recommend teaching students what these apps are for (and your expectations and guidelines for use in class) before having students use them.
4 Considerations for Your Lesson Delivery
- Allow time for relationship building and grounding in the classroom. This can be through something simple like asking students about their 鈥済ood things for the day鈥� or taking collective breaths together.
- Recognize your tone. We might not notice that we speak in tones that students can find intimidating or scary. You may want to check in with your student population about this by addressing the issue in an anonymous survey or through journal entries.
- Give space for student movement. Sometimes I utilize walking carousels where students walk from space to space to complete a learning activity, classroom scavenger hunts, and World Caf茅 strategies to have students move around as they learn language and content.
- Find unique ways to review and assess content. Move away from paper- or pencil- driven activities. I review with students through games, class discussions, and team-created anchor charts.
The strategies I鈥檝e discussed are wonderful when used to support English language learners, but they can really help all students鈥� language learning. When we鈥檙e providing a 鈥渟helter,鈥� we鈥檙e providing a space that allows students to find comfort as they learn a new language. Beyond strategies, our joy is what centers a student鈥檚 ability to focus and learn in a safe space. When we put love and happiness into our work, the strategies we use become even stronger and are reflected within the learning of the community that we built.