ESL is a method of language acquisition where students are placed in regular English-speaking classes for part of the school day and pulled out for intensive small-group language focus during other classes.  Are you an educator or parent searching for accommodations to help ESL students? Well, look no further. Here are some ways that you can make the learning process easier for ESL students.

Classroom Accommodations: To succeed in the classroom, ESL students need access to appropriate supports, including:

• Allow extra time on tests
• Provide a quiet space to work
• Explicitly teach language objectives.
• Simplify the language used in instruction
• Give additional instruction including reviews, drills
• Use manipulatives to enhance concepts depending on the language level of learner
• Provide visual aids to enhance key concepts
• Provide for alternate seating for proximity to peer helper or teacher as necessary
• Assist the student in building a picture file of key vocabulary
• Assist students in underlining keywords or important facts in the text
• Use prompts, photocopies of notes or outlines, or highlighted texts and materials
• Utilize resources in the student’s first language
• Teach new concepts in chunks
• Provide frequent checks for comprehension
• Orient students to expectations through rubrics
• Provide simplified/additional instructions
• Allow editing and revision before grading
• Distribute a daily or weekly syllabus of class and homework tasks
• Give alternative homework or classwork assignments suitable to the student’s linguistic ability for activities and assessments
• Extend time for assignment completion as necessary
• Give students an opportunity to express key concepts in their own words
• Allow alternate reading assignments/materials at the student’s reading level
• Utilize resources in the student’s first language
• Substitute a hands-on activity for a written activity
• Utilize assignment notebooks
• Simplify language or shorten assignments
• Provide a word bank
• Allow the student to take the test/re-test individually with a teacher or paraprofessional
• Read the text aloud
• Allow for small group administration of assessments
• Utilize informal observations of performance and classroom participation as a percentage of the overall evaluation (see rubric).
• Incorporate group work into the assessment process
• Simplify the language and organization of the assessment
• Give opportunities for the student to take tests in sections/chunks
• Allow for an extended time to complete the assessment
• Provide the opportunity for a student to provide oral responses to be recorded by the teacher or paraprofessional
• Allow editing and revision before grading
• Design projects and assessments for the student that requires a reduced sentence or paragraph composition
• Use rubrics as an assessment tool in place of textbook tests

At Home Accommodations: Parents can support the work that is being done at school, by providing their children with the following at-home accommodations.

• Play language development games
• Learn the new language alongside your child
• Provide a quiet place to study
• Help with homework
• Be understanding