As I’ve written previously, our international students (ELL for the sake of brevity), predominately from China, come with needs and challenges and strengths that we are blessed with a chance to address. It truly is global missions brought to America.
As I promised in the previous article and failed to deliver until months later, here are some tips for teaching this population.
- Check your biases and prejudices
Though my intention in my first article was to chisel away at these things that exist in all of us, it bears a reminder for teaching this population. I have seen many wonderful Christians carry anger and hostility for our international students for merely being who they are: teenagers living thousands of miles away in a totally different culture, immersed in a school that is not using their primary language, all without daily parental contact.
It is incredibly easy to dismiss our international students. We write them off thinking they are lost causes due to their language deficiency or poor sleeping habits or misbehavior (usually tied to abuse of technology). If many of us are honest, myself included, we can believe in our lowest points that the Gospel will never take root in them and that it isn’t worth trying to teach them.
Thus, in teaching these students, it is important to be metacognitive weekly, daily, periodically (that is: after each class period): how are we feeling, why are we feeling that way, and what needs to be done to bring us back to the call in Colossians 3:12:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
2. Help them visualize
It is good teaching, in general, to use visuals to illustrate content, to map concepts, to draw connections. The Bible Project videos are incredible for depth and engagement, though they need to be played multiple times, especially for ELL students, since the narrators talk quickly and can use advanced vocabulary.
Because Bible classes have especially new vocabulary and complex concepts, utilizing visuals is important. Here are some ideas: timelines of events, graphic organizers for some of the stories, artistic portrayals of key moments, PowerPoints with images, non-verbal expressions of vocabulary (ie: holding wrists together = slave, bonds, chains).
Another activity is to have the students sketch their own pictures to illustrate verses. Some verses, like Matthew 7: 24-27, lend themselves to a consistent type of picture: a house in a storm staying upright juxtaposed to one either sinking into the sand or crumbling to pieces. Even though we assume the words in this passage are straightforward, having students draw the picture of what is being said accomplishes a variety of goals: one, we can assess their comprehension. Two, it reinforces the message: it makes it more memorable, and, hopefully, more impactful.
Other verses can lend themselves to illustrations that the student can project their own understanding and, subconsciously, hopes, dreams, needs.
Take Luke 6:31 as an example: Do to others as you would have them do to you. Imagine what we, as teachers, can learn from the students’ illustrations of this very simple verse. Do they draw someone apologizing for wronging someone else? Do they draw someone stepping in to stop bullying? Do they draw someone sharing food when the other person is in need?
Have them draw a non-example of this verse: Do they draw their parents or teachers screaming at them? Do they draw something worse?
Visuals can certainly help our students learn. But like all student work, they can help us learn too.
3. Check the speed and complexity of speech
A machine gun spits a barrage of English syllables as you ask the class a question. The ELL students sit quietly, and though you have prodded them to answer, they unflinchingly remain silent. Why?
Well, while you were unleashing a torrent of words, here’s what happened to your ELL student.
Hear English sentence–>translate into Chinese–>Identify it is a question–>Think of an answer–>Formulate answer in Chinese–>Translate into English–>Decide to answer or not.
It’s similar to the image at the top of this blog but even more complicated.
As a result, when we are lecturing or doing any other activity with complex and unfamiliar words, students will stumble trying to figure out the meaning of that one word while the teacher flows on through the lesson. Then the student needs to catch up, recognizing they may miss the parts of the lesson they spent trying to figure out that one word. Then another word stumps them. Rinse, repeat for 50-90 minutes.
It is important to be cognizant of the words we are using and the speed in which we are talking. Also, pocket those idioms and figures of speech or you’ll make your students’ heads turn like a top. Seriously, idioms can take it out of them, drive them up a wall.
4. Scaffold Important Concepts
Realize that justification, epistle, substitutionary, and even grace are incredibly foreign concepts (pun sort of intended) for our international students. If there is a book or thematic unit you are going to teach, identify the bigger concepts and break them down before reading. Not only will this help our ELL students be familiar with the words, but it will give them purposeful reading and better retention of that skill.
Though I teach English, I did a quick lesson on justice v. mercy v. grace in the story “A Handful of Dates” (it’s an awesome, very short story that lends itself to compare Islam and Christianity). Before I could cover those three terms, I had to make sure my students understood “sin.” The Bible Project videos were a massive help. Once we established the situations that call for justice or mercy or grace, we could dive into these deep Biblical concepts in a natural, meaningful way. It was one of the most impactful lessons this year in my class, which has 4 ELL students and 12 American students.
5. Learn the Big 4
I believe my rapport with my ELL students is strong. I’ve been told they are thankful I am in their lives. And honestly, it’s primarily because I’ve learned to say a few expressions in Mandarin.
I strongly believe that whenever I travel to a country whose citizens primarily speak a language other than English, I need to learn five phrases: Hello, How are you, Thank you, Please, and Where’s the Bathroom? For the sake of teaching, the first four are my Big 4.
So much of teaching is relational. Even though our ELL students ostensibly came to us to master English, we are not hindering their development with these 4 expressions. Instead, we are validating our students. We are inviting them into our schools by speaking their language. We are saying, “You are not foreign. You are family.” We are showing them that we care to learn about who they are.
How comforting it must be to hear “Hello” in their native tongue. How reassuring to be asked “How are you?” in the same language of their mom and dad and grandparents and friends. How empowering to hear an authority figure say “Please” and “Thank you” in a language that’s not their own.
Those four simple expressions can be enough to connect to students who come to us scared and intimidated and maybe even hostile.
When we make an effort to speak the language of ELL students, when we slow down and simplify our own speaking, when we support our students’ language acquisition, we are reflecting the love of Christ and His heart that all nations should know Him.
Teaching ELL students can be burdensome in many ways. But what an awesome burden to bear for the God who carries ours.
A couple more resources:
