My Classroom

• Secondary English Language Education (ELE)

  • 1 ELE Teacher for each secondary school

  • At the high school, students are place into ELE classes based on WiDA Level

  • 5 Classes offered:

    • Beginner

    • Intermediate (2 Sections)

    • Advanced

    • ELE English (Beginner English Language Arts class)

  • Students take all other courses with the general population

• District Profile

• Braintree High School

  • 1,828 Students

  • 4.2% are English Language Learners (ELLs)

• Braintree High School’s ELL population has multiplied fourfold in the past five years and is expected to continue growing.

• 9-12 graders

• All levels of English proficiency from beginner to near-fluency

• Students arrive from a wide variety of countries and speak numerous languages, including:

  • Portuguese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Greek, Albanian, Cape Verdean, Russian, Arabic, and more

Students rely heavily on my classroom as a place to gain extremely practical knowledge and skills. But I also see my room as a resource for them. For that reason, I keep my room stocked with basic supplies, books, and technology. I have a corner full of pencils, pens, notebooks, erasers, markers, band-aids and more with a sign that says "Need something? Check here first, then ask." The resources in my room are also an excellent way to teach vocabulary and personal skills related to borrowing and accountability. Pencils? Go ahead and take one and keep it. Chromebooks? Those need to be signed out on the white board. The above picture is of the "mobile supplies" I give as a gift to graduating English Learner seniors.

Many English Language Education teachers lean heavily on an "English-only" policy in their classrooms. I have a different idea. My students are living "English-only" lives outside of their homes and all of their content are classes are in English. During instruction and when they are communicating with the class as a whole, students are required to use English. But a more flexible approach allows students to help each other when clarification is needed in their home language and to relax in a way that I do not believe would be possible if Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Albanian, and more stopped at the door. The above picture shows many of my students gathered around for a surprise birthday party.