Differentiation for New ESL Students: Resources and Supporting on Chinese Learning

Shaojun Bai

The Need of Differentiation for New ESL Students

After noticing the condition that learning Chinese at the same pace as the whole class is very

challenging for new students, I chose Differentiation as my project center. The main goal is to do

differentiation on new ESL students. The new ESL students mean those children who just moved

to the US and do not speak English. The reason I select this group is they are the most

challenging students for me in the classroom. These students not only have difficulties in

learning Chinese but also difficult to follow directions. In this case, the decrease of self-

confidence and interest in learning Chinese results in behavior problems, which creates a vicious

circle. I believe solving this issue could help new ESL students being an achievement in Chinese

learning.

Description of the Project

Name:

“Differentiation for New ESL Students”

Content:

My project focused on the second grade ESL students not only because I am responsible for

second grade curriculum with another teacher this year but also because second grade has the

most ESL students with a total of 12. The native languages are Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and

German. Meanwhile, I tried the differentiation strategies on other grade levels at the same time

in order to obtain a wider range of data. There are two main areas in this project: first is applying

various strategies to engage new ESL students in Chinese class and build their confident on
learning Chinese. Second I would like to do pre and end test to see the development of their

language learning.

My original timeline for this project is:

Stages Timeline Purpose To do list

Stage 1 1.27-3.8 Preparation Implement different strategies depending on the
& curriculum and learning content. Write a journal
Attempting each week. Collect the data and evidence of the
improvement of Minion.
Stage 2 3.9-4.7 Summary Do a summary and highlight the most effective
& differentiation strategies. Apply these strategies
Attempting as main teaching methods in the classroom.
Keep writing the journal.
Stage 3 Around 4.7 Assessment Do an assessment in Minion’s class with all the
prior language before she came at the end of the
project. Collect the result and see the gap
between Minion and her classmates.
Stage 4 4.7-4.21 Organization Organize the data and evidence.
&
Prepare the final
report.

However, there were some unexpected situations happened so parts of my schedule had been

changed. Some situations can be predicted such as time conflicts, some were harder to foresee,

such as the coronavirus and the close of school. I could not complete my project under this

situation with having an end test. In this way, the main content is applying various differentiation

strategies into classroom to engage the new ESL students into Chinese learning. Here is the real

timeline:

Stages Timeline Purpose To do list

Stage 1 1.27-2.14 Preparation Implement different strategies depending on the
& curriculum and learning content. Write a journal
Attempting each week. Collect the data and evidence of the
improvement of the ESL students.
Stage 2 2.14-4.7 Summary Do a summary and highlight the most effective
& differentiation strategies. Apply these strategies
Attempting as main teaching methods in the classroom.
Keep writing the journal.
From the part of the project I have done, there are both positive and negative situations

happened. There are 3 effective strategies for doing differentiation: group work, stations, and

dictionary. First, group work. Group work is a common strategy I highly used in my class. There

were many competing games that engage students the most. However, because all students want

to win the games, new ESL students with lower Chinese proficiency have been “isolated”.

Therefor, I planned more cooperating activities with certain jobs for everyone in the group. I

noticed that ESL students are more engaged in the activity with more confidence with certain

roles to contribute to their group. The feeling of being valuable during the activity engaged new

ESL students with increasing their self-esteem. Meanwhile, the rule that group members could

help each other make students feel safe. With peers' help, ESL students have enough time and

support to comprehend my directions. From the teachers’ perspective, group work is also an

efficient time to do individual support. Second, stations. I always put a teacher center in stations.

It is a great time to do individual instructions for all students especially the new ESL students.

Meanwhile, I also give harder work to those students who have a higher language level. The

Stations is an efficient strategy that not only benefits students with low proficiency but also those

with higher language levels. The last one is a resource: a Chinese dictionary. I made a second

grade Chinese dictionary with another Chinese teacher. There are Chinese characters with Pinyin

on the top, and English meanings on the right in the dictionary. I let the ESL student write their

native language or draw pictures next to the Chinese for better comprehending. One positive

phenomenon I noticed is that students love to read the dictionary when they have extra time

during and out of Chinese class.

I was following the timeline very well till Baldwin closed because of the coronavirus. I took

some pictures, wrote down journals, etc. However, I did not get the chance to complete my

project since school has been closed right now. Under this situation, I do not have the evidence

to prove the improvement of new ESL students’ Chinese language level. From what I have, like

informal assessment and journals, I feel like the new ESL students developed not only on

speaking Chinese but also on the interest of learning Chinese. Even though the gap between them

with other students who have been learning Chinese for a couple of years is still visible, I believe

the ESL students can learn Chinese better and better with the increasing of individual support

and individual instruction and unguided practicing time.

Reflections

Differentiation is always the biggest challenge for me in teaching. In this project, I focused on

doing differentiation on the new ESL students which are the biggest issue for me. During the

project, I see the development of students and myself at the same time. For the new ESL

students, they are developed not only on speaking Chinese but also on the interest of learning

Chinese. For me, while using the differentiation strategies, I noticed that my teaching mode

switched to the student center. Meanwhile, all the strategies successfully used during this project

could be applied to various students who need differentiation support.

In the process of implementation, I noticed that I always focus on the lesson for the whole class

with not seeing those who need special support. The goal of my work is to help all students to be

achieved in Chinese language and culture with no one left. Hence, I have to explore my mind out

of planning lessons for the whole class and dug into more details for individual help. My focus

cannot just be limited in whole group instruction but do more individual support to achieve all
students who are sitting in my classroom. This project helps me to see my job in a new version

by concentrate on doing differentiation