Often when teachers talk about this, what they mean is how we provide variety for students. What I want to talk about is the variety of students who walk in our rooms, particularly as ESOL teachers. Further, when I say variety, I want to focus in on the variety of skill levels, languages, and education levels in the room. For ESOL teachers, I think this is a unique concern (in comparison to other language teachers) because students are often put into an ESOL class based on their ability with a test in English, but it often isn't the best/only indicator of where they should be. Being completely honest, I don't have a fix for that problem and I don't think there is a simple fix. What I want to consider is how we, as the teacher in the room, handle those students and all they bring to the classroom. What I propose is a short series of posts focusing on one aspect of the variety of students we might receive in our classrooms. Each post will discuss what I experienced in my own room and provide some reflection on the things I tried, what worked, and what didn't. This is a series that could simply rely on the initial list below, but it could very easily expand with combinations and ideas that I hadn't thought of initially. So, take this intro with a grain of salt and comment below if there is something you'd like me to address in this series.

I want to start this page with an introduction. While I started teaching ESOL classes three years ago, my journey began long before that. In my first few years teaching Latin in public school, I received a student in my class with an ELPP (English Language Proficiency Program). The student was from China in a Latin 1 class with little English. While I had studied quite a few languages at that point, Chinese (Mandarin or otherwise) was not one of them. Fortunately I had another student in that class who spoke Mandarin and was able to help me establish meaning. Over the years with these two, we began to establish norms and resources that I would use in later years as well. This experience inspired me to get my ESOL certification. 

Three years ago, my department head approached me and asked me if I'd be willing to take on an ESOL LDC (language development for content) class. I agreed immediately and had my first class of English language learners the following school year. I taught this class alongside Latin for two years and helped some of my ESOL students in Latin 1, before transitioning to full time ESOL classes. 

In that time I have had a lot to reflect on. It is no secret in the language world that CI has long been a component of ESOL instruction and I tried to bring much of what I already knew into my ESOL classroom. In some cases that was easy. In others, it required mental thought and reflection and perspectives I hadn't considered. I now bring that experience back with me to the Latin classroom online and (hopefully) the ESOL classroom online. In this space I will reflect on these experiences, perspectives, and work and share what I've learned.