Math and English Learners

This past weekend I gave a presentation on teaching math to English Learners at the NNETESOL conference at the University of Southern Maine campus in Gorham, Maine. Titled My Math Counts Too, the presentation focused on selected issues related to teaching math to students who are English language learners or English Learners (ELS) as they are now referred to. I have made several presentations at this conference over the years and they are always well attended. I have the sense that there is a great need for more research/information/support and so on for teaching math to students who are English learners. Quite often the math ELs have learned is quite different from that in the US classroom which can present quite a challenge. For example, the new CCMSs require that all students be taught the standard algorithms. Many EL student will, however, have spent many years learning algorithms
that are quite different from those defined as 'standard' in US classrooms!   

I always begin these presentations by addressing some of the assumptions we tend to make when teaching math to English learners. For example, we tend to think that math is the same the world over but there are so many differences between the math of different cultures that we really cannot make this assumption. The procedures and strategies students are taught as well as the mathematics of the culture can all be significantly different. It can also be assumed that a student's difficulty in math can be attributed to a lack of English competency but if the student has never had the opportunity to learn math no amount of instruction in English is going to make any difference to the student's math skills and understanding.

Next fall I will be offering a course titled Math and Diversity which will include a section on teaching math to English learners. Offered through the Graduate Education Program at St. Michael's College the course will focus on this and three other strands; teaching math to students with special needs, students in poverty and students with math disabilities.    

English Language Learners

One of the ways the Teacher Education programs at St. Mike's have changed during the past five years has been the inclusion in almost every course of information for helping teachers teach English Language Learners (ELLs). This has happened at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and is a direct result of the increasing numbers of ELL students in US classrooms.

Both the Burlington and Winooski school districts have large numbers of K-12 students who have been resettled, along with their families, in these two Vermont towns. Since both are right next to St. Mike's it is relatively easy for us to place students in these schools so that they can gain practical experiences learning how to teach English Language Learners. This gives St. Mike's graduates a significant competitive advantage in the job market when they are looking for education related employment upon graduation.

It is an exciting time in my own field, math education, as we begin to realize that ELL students face significant challenges in learning math in US classrooms while at the same time learning the English language. Contrary to common belief math is not the same the world over. There are significant differences in the math students learn as well as the way they learn it in different countries around the world. For example, some countries don't use base ten while others have completely different ways of solving simple problems. In many countries, boys and girls are educated in different schools while in some countries girls may receive no formal education at all.

I gave a presentation to a group of teachers in a local middle school this morning in which I shared my research findings and introduced them to my website My Math Counts Too. I always begin such presentation by challenging the assumptions that many of us hold regarding math education. For example it's easy to attribute a student's lack of math skills on the fact that they have very limited English. This is not always true. I once worked with a third grade student who could not count past 8 in English. When we interviewed her in French, her first language, she could not count past huit. It turned out she had received no formal math education in her native Congo.