What is an EL?

Now adays there are multiple acronyms for English Learners.  The most widely used are ELL, EL and ESL.

•ELL/EL= English Language Learner

•ESL=  English as a Second Language

Important Concept to Note:  It takes an ELL 5-7 years to acquire proficiency in a second language. 

•BICS versus CALP

BICs:  (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) This is the day-to-day language needed to interact socially with other people.  ELLs employ BIC skills when they are on the playground, in the lunch room, on the school bus, playing sports or talking on the telephone.  These social interactions tend to be context embedded and are not very demanding cognitively. These language skills usually develop within six months to two years after arrival in the U.S.

CALP:  (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)  This usually takes from five to seven years. Recent research (Thomas & Collier, 1995) has shown that if a child has no prior schooling or has no support in native language development, it may take seven to ten years for ELLs to catch up to their peers!

Academic language acquisition isn't just the understanding of content area vocabulary. It includes skills such as comparing, classifying, synthesizing, evaluating, and inferring. Academic language tasks are context reduced. Information is read from a textbook or presented by the teacher. As a student gets older the context of academic tasks becomes more and more reduced. 

Resource : (http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/bics_calp.php) 

Culture Shock:

Culture Shock refers to the anxiety and/or feelings of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, or confusion that is felt when one is placed in a different or unknown cultural or social environment.

•There are 4 phases:

•Honeymoon Phase: You will see the new culture as wonderful and new.  You might like the new foods, smells, pace of life.

•Negotiation Phase: After some time you may get anxiety.  You may long for food from your country, the pace of life might be too fast or too slow.  You may find people’s habits annoying.  This phase has lots of mood swings and you may go through depression.

•Adjustment Phase: Usually after 6-12 months newcomers grow accustomed to the new culture and develop new routines.  Day to day living seems “normal” and you reach the stage of adapting. 

•Adapting Phase:  Feeling comfortable in their new environment and feel at home.

As a teacher you can help aide in this transition by offering understanding and giving them time to process what they see, hear as well as the complexity of American life.

Resources:  

        (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock,  http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/language_stages.php,  http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/cultureshock.php)