When we ask veteran teachers of English language learners (ELLs) what advice they would offer to new teachers of ELLs, they nearly always talk about building relationships with students. You might think of it as "going slow to go fast" — a process that not only builds confidence and community but increases engagement and supports students' later academic success while providing invaluable information that can inform your instruction and family engagement.
What's in this article
We have compiled some of these ideas and resources for building relationships with English language learners (ELLs) and their classmates below in the following strategies:
- Getting to know students' interests
- Interacting with students individually or in small groups when possible
- Providing opportunities for students to tell their stories
- Creating times for students to share regular updates
- Encouraging students to identify their goals
Essential Question
As you read this article, consider the following essential question:
In what ways can I build strong relationships with multilingual students this year?
Strategies: Getting to Know Students
1. Learn how to pronounce and spell students' names correctly.
Show respect for your students by taking time to learn how to pronounce and spell their names correctly. You can find related tips and activities in Learning Students' Names: 7 Tips for Educators.
2. Get to know students' interests, strengths, and talents.
What are your students' experiences, interests, hobbies, talents, and strengths? Tapping into these "funds of knowledge" can:
- Foster relationships, friendships, and student confidence
- Make students' strengths more visible to peers and educators
- Engage students across the curriculum
Bring these topics into the class by:
- Giving students a chance to share their interests or strengths in surveys, peer interviews, writing prompts, and art projects
- Encouraging students to express themselves by decorating a virtual locker or bringing in something they can hang on the wall of the classroom
- Talking with family members about their child's interests and talents
Project Idea
- Asking students to share a photo or drawing of themselves that is important to them and to explain why. (You can learn more about this strategy that ELD Team Lead Cindy Close in Douglas County, CO shared with us from Education Week.)
- Asking students to create a project focused on one of their hobbies, interests, or talents that they can share with the class such as a collage, a short presentation, poem, or a short video
3. Look for one-on-one and small group time.
Making time for regular personal interaction with students will strengthen your ability to deliver effective, meaningful instruction. To help carve out this time:
- Talk with colleagues and administrators about ways to fit that interaction into the schedule
- Look at small group or one-on-one time during lunch periods, before or after school, homeroom, and advisory periods
- Look for opportunities to co-teach or collaborate with colleagues or paraprofessionals to use time efficiently
- Collect examples of success and share them with administrators to advocate for more time if needed
Project Idea
Ask students to prepare 3-5 (appropriate!) questions they would like to ask you in an interview, such as your favorite food, a favorite toy from childhood, or a book you enjoyed reading. After reviewing and approving their questions, schedule time for them to interview you, in person or online, which they can share with the class through a written summary, video, or presentation. If time allows, you may wish to interview them as well!
4. Provide students with opportunities to share their stories.
Sharing personal stories can be powerful experiences for students and their classmates as well. Look for opportunities for students to share their stories, whether through artwork, in writing, or in conversation. If a student shares some difficult experiences, consider whether more support is needed through follow-up conversations with families or counseling.
Notes of caution
If you do invite students to share personal stories:
- Attend to student cues on whether they wish to share their personal experiences with classmates: Many students have endured traumatic experiences that they may not wish to share. Explain at the beginning of any storytelling activity that it is voluntary and provide alternative assignments as needed. Some students may be willing to share their experiences with their peers or in a more public format such as school assemblies, the school newspaper, or self-published books.
- Be aware of the "dangers of a single story": Be mindful of what Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls "the danger of a single story" in her 2009 TED talk; in other words, when learning about a student's life story, remember that your own experiences and assumptions, as well as the stories of other individuals, may not reflect your student's life. In addition, students who have the same racial background, speak the same language, or who hail from the same country may not have much in common, and in fact may experience some tension if they come from different groups with histories of conflict.
- Don't single students out because of their identity: Never put students on the spot as a "representative" of their race, gender, ethnic group, gender identity, country of origin, experience, or other aspect of their identity. Honor students' experiences and perspectives for what they are, especially if those experiences and perspectives challenge your assumptions.
Project Idea
Work with students to present a brief personal story they want to share in writing, artwork, video, or audio. This small project may grow into a larger, longer project, such as an autobiography project or yearbook project (which could work well online!).
5. Create regular times for students to share updates.
Many educators use circle time as a chance to check in and learn more about how students are doing. We have also heard from middle and high school educators that advisory periods offer powerful opportunities to connect with students. One ELL educator shared that her colleagues at the high school level were reluctant take on advisory periods. However, in a survey at the end of the year, the overwhelming majority favored keeping the advisory periods as a way of getting to know students better throughout the year.
In addition, other educators use private mailboxes, student mood charts, journal entries, and other personal ways for students to let teachers know how they are doing.
As you work with ELLs:
- Make sure that all students have opportunities to participate in these activities and scaffold their participating with strategies such as offering sentence frames for discussion to help scaffold students' participation.
- Think about different topics and questions to use during circle time or advisory, perhaps alternating between general updates and focused activities. You also wish to invite students to come up with topics and themes.
6. Help students identify their goals.
Talk with students about short-term and long-term goals. Consider setting goals within the classroom that you can meet together as a class, and discuss what their future goals might be. There may be some ways to tie instruction to these goals through lessons, guest speakers, field trips or other activities.
Discussion/Reflection Questions
- What is one takeaway that resonates with you from this article?
- What is one activity you might try?
- What strategies have you used in the past to build strong relationships with students?
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