Supporting ELL Students’ Remote Learning during the COVID-19 Shutdown

by Lisa Yu

The COVID-19 induced school shutdown has left millions of teachers and students dependent on remote teaching and learning across the country. In response to the abrupt transition, the New York State Education Department has provided new guidance and resources to school leaders and teachers to keep all students engaged in learning. As noted in a previous NYKids blog, some students including English Language Learners (ELLs) may encounter unique difficulties and challenges in online schooling due to unequal access to technology and other factors.

To better understand ELLs’ learning experience and provide recommendations for teachers, we interviewed the interim director of Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network (RBERN), Carmen Diaz to find the answers to these questions: What challenges are educators facing in supporting ELLs during the COVID-19 school closure? What resources and suggestions are provided to educators to help their ELL students keep learning language and content at home? What can leaders and teachers do to keep connected with children and engage parents?

Maintaining Equal Access to Information and Resources

As a concern for other disadvantaged students, unequal access to information and resources is one of the major challenges that ELL students and their families are facing. “They could be more afraid than us as they may not have access to the information during the pandemic,” Ms. Diaz explained. The top priority for educators to support ELLs is to meet their “basic need of living and feeling of safety.” School leaders and teachers are responsible to help those students and families who are new to this country and do not speak English as their first language to access necessary resources such as food, healthcare, and legal services.

Ms. Diaz also recommended that educators use technologies to stay connected with ELL families. They can collaborate with internet companies to distribute hotspots for students and use messaging apps that parents are familiar with such as WhatsApp.

According to the Blueprint for English Language Learner Success, districts and schools are required to provide translation of important materials and to connect with interpretation services for multilingual families to ensure school correspondence is in a language the families understand. Ms. Diaz gave an example of the use of messaging apps that provide translation versions of teacher messages such as Talking Points and Remind to keep students and parents informed in their home language. “Even though the translation they offer is not always perfect, that is sometimes the only way to communicate in a native language with multiple language families,” Ms. Diaz explained.

Unfortunately, many schools and districts with fewer resources for remote instruction and available technologies prior to the COVID-19 shutdown may be playing catch up. In our discussion with Ms. Diaz, a solution some educators have used is a low-tech approach involving mailing learning packages to students who do not have internet access. In addition, some education organizations such as RBERN have collaborated with producers of educational programs such as the local PBS Channel (WMHT) which provide disciplinary learning programs in multiple languages for ELLs. The Statewide Language RBERN in New York City also provides multilingual glossaries by subject to better support ELLs’ content learning.

 “All Teachers are Teachers of ELLs”

Staying connected with ELLs and their families is the key to providing the services and resources they need. “The ENL teacher is the connection,” said Ms. Diaz, “… the work they did in the very beginning of this year to build the relationship and to make sure they [ELL families] are connected really paid off this year.” Ms. Diaz also encouraged ENL teachers to continue co-planning and co-teaching with classroom teachers to meet ELLs’ different needs and engage them in interdisciplinary learning opportunities.

However, not all districts have a full-time ENL teacher who serves as a liaison between schools and families due to a shortage of ENL teachers across the state. Ms. Diaz repeated the statement in the Blueprint for English Language Learner Success that “All teachers are teachers of ELLs,” and pointed out that teachers should understand that:

Even though you do not have the expertise in language development, you are still qualified as a certified teacher to provide tier 1 or tier 2 interventions. Even just to access the student information so you can try to reach home. Even though you are not the specialist specialized to serve the child, you still have the responsibility to that child.

Meeting the Needs of ELLs with Disabilities

Engaging ELLs in language and content learning has been a challenge for schools during the pandemic. The challenge to provide adequate support to ELLs with disabilities can be even more acute. Accurate identification of those students is the premise for effective and appropriate intervention. Ms. Diaz suggested that schools should assist ELLs with disabilities to go through the local or the state process of identification using “bilingual”, “equitable”, and “culturally sensitive” evaluation.

Since the New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners (NYSITELL) is cancelled due to the COVID-19 shutdown, the official ELL identification process cannot be completed until schools re-open.  Ms. Diaz described the method to partially identify ELLs written in the Provision of Services to English Language Learners and World Languages Students During Statewide School Closures Due to the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak in New York State. ENL teachers can present the Home Language Questionnaire in digital form for parents to complete and submit electronically, and then conduct a virtual interview with ELLs and their parents. In this way, schools help ELLs to complete the registration process and gain a basic understanding of these students’ needs. A suggestion given by Ms. Diaz to teachers is:

Err on the side of the student. If there is any doubt that the student might need the services, act as if you are providing them services.

As a follow up to our interview with Ms. Diaz, we are sharing information and resources she provided to support ELLs keep learning language and content on our Resources pages. Districts and schools are welcomed to contact Capital District Region RBERN for support and professional development throughout the summer and the upcoming school year.

Stay tuned as NYKids will keep investigating the topic of supporting ELLs in remote learning environments. We welcome your feedback and suggestions at nykids@albany.edu.