LTEL Essential Component:
Community and Relationships

Community and Relationships

Long-term English Learners have typically become nonparticipants in school, in part because they have lacked the language to understand instruction, feel uncomfortable about not adequately comprehending and being afraid of making mistakes and being ridiculed. They do not easily drop their card and frequently resist a teacher's enthusiastic efforts to get students to participate. Teachers of long-term English Learners classes find that it is important to build relationships with their students and also to create a climate in the classroom that fosters safe, trusting relationships among students. In part, a safe and trusting classroom is created through the act of inviting sharing, creating activities in which students can talk about their experiences and what they know, working with students to understand how they are doing and what steps they can take to reach their goals, and front loading the material they need to comprehend for their academic classes. Students see that the class and this teacher are on their side.