ESL Students

One thing that I wondered about before I came over here was the difficulty with some of the students being able to understand me or English in general. I was concerned about the strength of the English skills of the students. Although they have been in either this school or another English speaking International school (at least that's my assumption) I was still concerned that there might be a bit of a language gap.

After a few days, I am able to notice a little trouble with some of the students and their comprehension of what I am saying. This may be due to and ESL issue, or it may be the result of an actually learning disability. This is something I have noticed more in my 8th grade class than anything else. There are about 3 boys in the 8th grade that are very quiet and do not say much. When I ask them questions, they look startled and give me a blank stare. I repeat the question and might eventually get what I am looking for.

I have discussed these students with some of the other teachers. I have gotten everything from, "That student is very quiet and does not say much." To, "There is some learning disability there." We do have an ESL teacher at the school as well as a special needs teacher. I have spoken with both of them about some of the students and some things I have noticed in the first few days. I think these two teachers will be very beneficial in the long run. My goal is to keep them in the loop and hopefully they can help out as much as possible.

Planning on having my first quiz on Friday. Hopefully it will go well.

Aaron