Teaching English within the Collaborative ESL Classroom

Bilingualism has become increasingly important for individuals interested in excelling

academically, in business, and for extracurricular reasons due to globalization and increased
online communication. As an ESL teacher, I recognize the opportunities English speakers
received internationally as well as how increased multiculturalism requires bilingual skills to
interact within society. I work to reflect the diversity of potential English language learners in
linguistic experience, interest, age, and culture and the challenge by providing a classroom in
which all students equally benefit. I see myself as a facilitator of language with a responsibility
to provide students with the opportunity and tools to learn in a positive collaborative
environment using authentic materials and activities that connect meaningfully with their lives.
As an English language teacher, I respond to the needs of a classroom with diverse
expectations, motivations, and interests through a variety of teaching methods, which result from
conscious recognition of learners as individuals with separate socio-economic, cultural, and
personal backgrounds. Together these differences influence worldview, motivation, and learning
preference creating a complex teaching environment. A student who is studying English to attend
a university in the United States will not have the same needs, interests, or learning preferences
as a grandmother who is learning English to speak with her English – speaking grandchildren.
Based on ESL methods which demonstrate the benefits of learner recognition of measurable
goals in the classroom, I create flexible lessons that allow learners to make connections between
their work in class and their own lives through meaningful, authentic activities (for example,
interviews, podcasts, and book reports), and materials (such as movies, literature, and music).
Students respond to prompts and activities which reflect their abilities and learning preferences
to engage within each individual’s zone of proximal development. I provide students with the
opportunity to choose cultural or practical topics they are interested in exploring outside of class;
this creates differentiation within the broader class environment. My structure supports intrinsic
motivation within the classroom by creating opportunities in which students may independently
produce material that benefits them personally and reflects their own motivation and interests for
language learning; thereby creating greater participation and interaction with the target language
outside of class. For example, students may choose to
Furthermore, I work to incorporate authentic production of language to engage students
with linguistically and socially relevant activities that provide additional input through discourse
created by and for native speakers. Through independent activities, students of different levels
and interests are able to engage with the same material within the classroom creating
opportunities for students to demonstrate strengths (by acting as peer tutors) while self-
identifying areas of weakness. This promotes learner self-advocacy through active engagement
in the learning process with classmates. I encourage students to develop personal short and long-
term goals (for example, understanding and appropriately using a grammar form) to demonstrate
learner growth on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis and promote self-reflection. As language is
often learned socially through interactions, I promote a collaborative positive learning
environment (through class discussions and online social media platforms) within which students
negotiate meaning. I also interact with learners individually during free-writing or working
periods in class to reduce learner anxiety and promote a sense of equality and partnership
between faculty and students.
I work to balance course outcomes and expectations of the institution and state with
learner needs and interests through individualized curricula and materials to promote basic
understanding of English while providing language strategies that students may use to negotiate
meaning between speakers of other languages. I encourage the development of communicative
language strategies through Content-Based Language Teaching which facilitate a focus on
meaning through relevant activities for individual classes (for example, analyzing possible
medical questions for nurses or office procedures) as determined by surveys and learner interest
free-writes. For learners who are self-motivated, I practice Task Based Language Teaching to
emphasize personal and class achievement through short and long-term interrelated activities that
develop additional skills to understand and recognize grammar and language form (for example
the creation of radial networks using phrasal verbs). I develop learner skills in linguistic
problem-solving by providing models and language tools (dictionaries, online resources, etc.) by
which students may come to their own conclusion through guidance. I work to help students
develop linguistic curiosity in the language by developing student recognition of patterns and
practices through inductive techniques. Professionally, I maintain current awareness of new
methods and pedagogical theories, including continued reflection of Second Language
Acquisition theories, and inductive and deductive teaching methods. I also reflect after each
lesson to examine what was successful within each class to adapt further lessons and practices in
the future.
I promote diversity within the classroom through cultural recognition of other dialects
and countries; as such, I encourage learners to identify that there is no absolute in language use
through exposure to World English. By providing authentic materials in World English, I express
different dialects and speech patterns to L2 learners and provide opportunities to build learner
confidence in providing output due to communicative diversity. Through short discussions of
linguistic influences in English, I promote recognition of the influence of culture, beliefs, and
context in discourse through authentic creative works such as poems, music, and short stories.
Creative works may then be produced within the language classroom to promote linguistic
curiosity and flexibility among learners, while also allowing students to express strengths that
occur outside of English creating intrinsic motivation and pride.
Currently, I am working within an academic institution with highly motivated English
learners who are learning language to achieve a degree or pass a class. With these academic
English learners, I work to develop learner recognition of expectations in behavior, topics, etc. as
well as writing conventions to assist them in understanding the context in which they will be
interacting. This may include understandings of audience, genre, and social constructs of writing
to assist them in presenting their own ideas or summarizing those of others in an efficient
manner. I also provide opportunities for students to practice communicative exchanges that occur
within the university environment (for example, meeting with an advisor) which provides
students the opportunity to practice difficult situations in a low-stress environment.
Finally, I assist in student reflection of mistakes through self-correction techniques
including specific feedback identifying their strengths and areas that they may continue to
develop. I promote in-person consultations during conferences or periods between classes in
which students may ask for additional guidance. I also use traditional methods of evaluation
through comments or numerical assessment to provide students feedback in a familiar format.
Students are encouraged to revise previous work to encourage recognition of language as a
process, within which there is opportunity to grow and develop.