Tips on Increasing the Collaboration Between General Education and ESL Teachers

Henry Ford once said, "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." For teachers of English language learners (ELL students) of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, working together could be the answer that teachers need to help them overcome the challenges of catering to English language learners - collaboration.

Over the last year and a half, the number of English language learners in the Pittsburgh Public School city district alone, has significantly jumped from 400 to 600 learners, says Jon Covel, ESL curriculum coach of PPS. And the problems are getting worse. ELL learners in both ESL support groups and general education classrooms are not reaching the level of proficiency they need in order to succeed on the high-stake tests, which is causing teachers frustration, feelings of inadequacy and general ineffectiveness.

Helping teachers to recognize the importance of collaborative practices is timelier than ever. English language learners spend most of their school time in general education classrooms, not in English as a second language (ESL) classes (Brown, 2003). And these realities beg the question for teachers: Do teachers know how to address the unique learning needs of ELL students in general education contexts? ESL teachers are typically trained in ESL methods or second language acquisition and are usually not part of teacher preparation program requirements for general education students and new teachers.

Teacher collaboration for the sake of English language learners is an emerging field of research and is slowly being implemented in various instructional and non-instructional collaborative practices in several districts across the country. Sasson suggests replacing teacher isolation with relationships. "If teachers have more opportunity to interact professionally, they build partnerships as opposed to just talking about a handful of English language learners in the teacher's lounge," says Sasson. "The numbers of English language learners studying in both ESL and general education classes will only get higher. Now's the time to establish an effective dialogue on types of collaboration that yield the most effective instruction to meet the academic and language development needs of ELL students before the problems become even worse."

With the threat of continuing budget cuts, using the ESL teacher as a consultant to general education teachers seems to be the natural place to start. This collaborative model, based on the research of Clara Lee Brown, assistant professor of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is also being implemented in several school districts across the country. "Using the ESL teacher as an ether indirect or direct consultant is the most cost-efficient way to help general education teachers. If general education teachers knew how to accommodate ELL students, these students could learn and demonstrate adequate progress. This model helps with that." says Sasson.
Sasson suggests an indirect consulting model for those busy and harried general education whose time schedules do not coincide with those of an ESL teacher, but who need the extra help and support. In this configuration, ESL teachers do not directly work with ELL students in the class but help general education teachers learn teaching techniques to be effective. In the direct consultation model however, ESL teachers not only work with general education teachers, but also get involved in teaching ELL learners. "This is a much harder practice to implement and involves a lot more factors on a level of planning than just good will and intentions."

At the end of the day, teacher collaboration is the ingredient to help teachers overcome isolation and develop partnerships. "What we are dealing with is not just a class problem, but a problem for many school districts. We need to move away from just seeing English language learners as "my students" or "your students," but "our students." Collaboration is not the end, but the means to providing equal access for English language learners to academic language and content to help them succeed.