Teaching English Learners and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools

Teaching English Learners and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools , written for traditional, non-ESL classroom teachers, is the most up-to-date book on teaching secondary English learners and newcomer immigrant students in the content areas.  Teachers will find it filled with practical, research-based approaches and strategies based in recent sociocultural theories on teaching and learning. It is organized around five principles to effective teaching and learning known as Commitments in Practice and emphasizes engaging English learners in academic communities of practice. 

This practical classroom resource helps teachers address the needs of students with non-parallel schooling, and immigrant English learners who are two or more years below grade level when they enter secondary school.  It addresses standards and high stakes testing, arguing that teachers need specialized knowledge to assess English learners in literacy and academic content. 

This book also features an introduction to the theoretical reasons for the commitments, which are contextualized within historical and political developments within education programs for English learners.  It then goes on to show how teachers can use the commitments in practice within real classroom settings for teaching English language arts, science, social studies, and math to English learners.

• 5 Commitments in Practice - provide teachers with points of reference for making sense of the strategies and activities, incorporating all of the important principals of teaching and learning that are research-based and practical for secondary teachers of English learners.
• Create academic communities of practice-drawing from the latest research on teaching and learning in classroom settings this book describes the nature of, and how teachers can, create academic communities of practice in which learners take on new identities of members of the community.  Communities of practice are introduced in terms of how English learners are invited into them and become members of them.
• The formation of identity affiliations for language learning-identity formation in language learning represents cutting edge research on how adolescents become proficient in English as they create identities as oral and written users of English in various academic content areas.

• Classroom vignettes-provides readers with real classroom contexts and student participation in learning.  Readers can see how the 5 commitments in practice function in secondary content classes.  These vignettes offer readers opportunities to see how teachers put the commitments into practice.
• Content-based strategies-the commitments of practice for teaching English learners are tailored to specific content areas: English, science, social studies, and math.  Learn how different content area teachers use the commitments and certain strategies to ensure success with their content area.
• Reflections and end of the chapter questions-reflections embedded in the chapters at key points give readers the opportunity to think about the content being presented.  Activities are hands-on and practical, encouraging both pre-service and in-service teachers to think about and improve practice.