ELL Student Report

Growing up in a Spanish speaking household, I was an ELL student when I was in elementary school. My mom only speaks Spanish, and my dad speaks both English and Spanish, but his fluency in English came many years later. My first language was Spanish, but I learned English soon after I learned Spanish. As a result, I clearly remember having to take the CELDT test, which is a test that is given to any student who does not speak English at home and is used to measure the student’s proficiency in English. Science is a unique subject in and of itself because the real challenge arises when the science teachers aim to make the science content comprehensible for students first language is not English. Although science content can be translated, that

Nevertheless, I believe that schools need to place more importance on the experiences and assets that every student brings with them to school because each student is unique and their socioeconomic status affects the student’s elementary journey. According to the article, “Native Language Background and Academic Achievement: Is Socioemotional Well-being a Mediator?” there is a higher probability of English language learners living in poverty, being discriminated against, and overall dealing with stressful factors outside of their school setting (Niehaus, Adelson, Sejuit & Zheng, 2017). All students bring their own “baggage” but there are some students that are affected in a more negative way and as a result, that can take a negative toll on their learning. It was brought to my attention last semester in my Anthropology course, that the lower performing schools are often low

The factors including socioeconomic status, strategies, native language, and the teacher’s role were the factors that most captivated my interest. As a result, through the research that I gathered, I found very astute information regarding how these particular factors affect the accessibility of science content aimed at ELL students. For an English language learner, their understanding and learning of science can be altered by their socioeconomic background, the science programs, and strategies provided by the school in which they are enrolled in, the native language that they speak in school and out of school, and lastly, the way in which their science teacher decides to teach and assist their second language students. Science can definitely be a challenging subject for ELL students to learn due to the student’s need to understand phenomena through investigating or asking for information. Science is equally an important of a subject as mathematics and English, so the more accessible it can be to all types of learners, the better. There are an ample amount of ways in which science content can effectively be made accessible, and through my acquired research, I highlighted a few aspects that affect all ELL students as they progress through their academic elementary journey. Science is an amazing subject, and