How to Incorporate ESL Students into the Kingdergarten Classroom

Kindergarten is a child's first introduction to the routine and structure of the American education system. Children will learn how to work alongside their classmates, listen to instructions and follow through with what has been assigned to them. But what about ESL students? Where do they fit in?

With an increase in US immigration, it is inevitable that at some point in your career as a teacher you will come face to face with ESL students whose first language is not English. Kindergarten teachers will be trained to teach children in English. They are not likely to have received any additional formal training in teaching ESL or EFL students. If that is your personal experience, what should you do to make sure that you incorporate rather than isolate ESL students?

Do Not Focus on Difference

Very young children are aware of occasions when they are treated differently to others. Even teachers who try hard to disguise the fact will give themselves away. If they constantly use "Anna from Italy" as a model of difference, little Anna will feel singled out and different, rather than included. Teachers must resist the tendency to bring up the fact that there is an ESL student in the class who is worlds apart from American children in their midst. The young child is still adjusting to life in a new country and must be made to feel that this is their new home.

Involve ESL Students in Discussions Early On

In the beginning of the school year ESL students who walk through the door may only know a small handful of words in English. But that does not mean to say that they will be handicapped in this way for very long. Kindergarteners will quickly pick up English as they are exposed to it much more so in a natural setting on a day to day basis. Teachers should therefore call upon ESL students to join in with discussions from the very first week of the child's attendance. The kindergartener is likely to stare back mutely at the teacher as they fail to understand a single word they have said. But that is not what is important. The teacher's voice and requests will not always sound foreign to the ESL students.

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