Dear Reader,

This blog post will introduce you to the

Relevance of Sheltered English Instruction (SEI) strategies in Health Education:
I have been teaching Health Education for over twelve years in Newtown, CT, a large rural school
district in southwest Connecticut. It is a very low-incidence district. Actually, Newtown is an anomaly
on two fronts: First, in my twelve year career, teaching almost 10,000 students, (as the only Health
Educator in my school, I literally teach every child, every year, which can be anywhere, from 700-900+
students), I have only had a total of four ELLS (two this school year, one other tested out, another was
only in my class two weeks and moved on). Currently, in the entire district of over 4,700 pupils, only
nine students are ELL. Secondly, according to Superintendent, Joseph V. Erardi, in his recent budget
proposal to the Board of Finance, enrollment in Newtown, CT schools is expected to drop by another
700 students in the next seven to eight years. Newtown is definitely not experiencing an increase in
diverse learners (or any learners) anytime soon. However, I believe every student is entitled to an
excellent educational experience in the least restrictive environment. So, even if I only have a couple of
ELLs, they are just as important as all the other children in my classroom. While some administrators
do not see Health Education as an academic class (they should!) and currently NCLB, does not
recognize Health Education as a core subject (they should!), Health Education taught correctly,
incorporates every other subject. Health Education in K-12 builds the foundation for Health Literacy.
Therefore, relevance of SEI strategies are crucial.
The SEI strategies I can (and now) use (after self teaching them) are using visuals, realia, hands-on
tasks, gestures, modified text, graphic organizers, front-loading instructions for concepts and
vocabulary, scaffolding information, adjusting my speech by using shorter more direct sentences, not
using idioms and speaking slowly and clearly. As I typed that and as I read the course materials, I
thought, hey, wait a minute, isnt SEI just good teaching? Unfortunately, according to Ester J. de Jong
and Candance A. Harper (2005), while good teaching practices for native English speakers are
often relevant for ELLs, they will be insufficient to meet their specific linguistic and cultural needs. . I
can also use the ELLs culture to drive instruction. Culture definitely needs to be addressed and
considered with ELLs. For example, when I teach nutrition to ELLs, what constitutes a typical diet to a
Caucasian child born and raised in the USA does not look typical (or healthful) to a child born in
Mexico, or Poland, or China, or Egypt.
How do these strategies help? Considering ELLs really have two major tasks learning the
curriculum in each content area of instruction and learning to read, write, and speak and be assessed
in English, any strategies educators can use to expedite the learning process and meet lesson
objectives would be helpful. In a district such as mine, it is on each teacher of an ELL student to adapt
to the ELL as he/she adapts to us. After all, it is each educators job to ensure that No Child is Left
Behind!
What might be some challenges to implementing SEI?
Speaking from experience, the greatest challenge for me in implementing any curriculum, to any
student, not to mention SEI, is time! I can easily see the frustration in some teachers when they say, I
dont have time to do this in English and now I have to create ELL materials too. Another major
challenge to implementing SEI, is the fact that in twelve years of teaching, five years of undergraduate
course work, and course work for my Masters degree, I have had zero minutes of Professional
Development (PD) in understanding the unique needs of English Language Learners (ELLs). Until I
began the work in this course, I had never heard of SEI; I had no knowledge of what my obligations
were for ELLs in my classroom; I had absolutely no knowledge of protocol. As I have previously
explained, my first level one ELL student entered my classroom four weeks ago. She is from Brazil and
only speaks, reads, writes, and understands Portuguese- the national language of Brazil. No Child Left
Behind, (NCLB) mandates that students should be taught by highly qualified teachers. I am a highly
qualified teacher of Health, Wellness and Physical Education. Last year I was nominated as the
Eastern District Associations Health Teacher of the Year, but I have had absolutely no ELL training
during my schooling or during career PD. I am a highly qualified teacher in ENGLISH! So a major
challenge I have is trying to independently learn all I can before my Portuguese speaking student
enters my classroom next week.