Ashley Churchill

Professor Maurer
ED 199 Exploring Educator Identity
10 November 2020
ENL/ELL Reflection
The whole class had the privilege to talk with Susan Adams about the skills and
dispositions necessary to be an ENL teacher. ENL teachers teach students who are learning to
speak English while also learning everything else students would normally learn in school. As
Adams puts it, ENL is “academic life and death.” One thing to keep in mind is that ENL is not
the same as special education because not knowing English is not a disability but an asset the
students bring. To be an ENL teacher, we need to work to understand the students’ perspectives,
experiences, and injustices. Often, students come with very different practices, expectations, and
cultural backgrounds, so sometimes ENL teachers must be a bridge between the different
cultures.
To become an ENL teacher, you need to add a second licensure to your first license.
Becoming an ENL teacher is much more than this though. The state of Indiana does not require a
background in any other language but having a background in Spanish can be beneficial. You
also need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable because everyday is going to bring new
challenges. As Adams said, “Sometimes you have to make it look like you have it completely
under control.” Being an ENL teacher takes courage and great listening skills. You also must be
good at building relationships because as an ENL teacher you hold more responsibility for the
students’ futures. Being an ENL teacher has a lot of background in social work. Often, ENL
teachers will work with home life more or try to get the students to the eye doctor, dentist, or
doctor. The most important skills to have as an ENL teacher is compassion, imagination, and a
willingness to shift so everything is accessible to all students. On top of educating students, as an
ENL teacher you will be a social worker, you will be breaking up fights, and you will be the
bridge connecting all students.
Overall, the biggest lesson I learned is that as an ENL teacher you must work hard to
connect with students. The students ENL teachers work with are working hard to first learn a
new language and second learn everything a student would normally learn. The important thing
to remember is that you, as an ENL teacher, are the resource for the families and students you are
servicing. You should strive to help those families with all that you can and teach the students as
much as you can with the time you have with them.
During our small group interview, we talked with April Adams. Adams is a third-grade
teacher at Thomas Gregg Neighborhood School. She works with students in the ENL program,
but she is not the ENL teacher for that grade level. The reason she decided to take the ENL
pathway during her time at Butler was because she, “did not do anything halfway.” She decided
to do as many added licenses as she could, so she ended up getting her ENL licensure added. She
also decided to teach because of her philosophy in life. Thomas Gregg is a neighborhood school
that does not accept any money from private organizations. She decided to teach there because
she believes in living, working, and worshiping in one community. Her family also hosted a few
foreign exchange students in high school, so she enjoyed helping the new students navigate life
in an English-speaking world.
Adams does not enjoy teaching in the world we live in now because she is all virtual, so
she teaches from home every day. Usually, she would enjoy teaching because of the students.
She likes to make connections with students and families. She did mention that the virtual setting
has helped her incorporate technology more, so she will eventually carry those lessons back into
the classroom with her.
A few skills that Adams said are important are patience, willingness to not know,
flexibility (the phrase “every student is different” is amplified in ENL), and an ability to
understand that each family has their own struggles (build open relationships with families). She
agreed with Susan Adams when she said, “Being able to speak Spanish is helpful but not
necessary.” These skills also help her in her general education classroom.
ENL teachers must come up with unique ideas for engagement and relationship building
when the students cannot speak English fluently. A few ways that Adams works to build
relationships with families are:
 Google Translate
 Rely on ENL support
o Each grade level has ENL support available to them at Thomas Gregg
 Pay attention during informal times like lunch and free time
o Adams likes to eat lunch with students in the cafeteria so she can observe during
those informal times
A few things that Adams likes to use for engagement are:
 Full body engagement
o The beauty of human connection is being able to communicate with body
language
o Communication transcends the boundaries of language
 Photographs
 Manipulatives
 Know the students’ language levels
 Use all four methods
o Reading
o Writing
o Listening
o Talking
The most important lesson from the interviews this week is that ENL teachers need to be
flexible and great at building relationships. The teachers who really make an impact on ENL
students are the ones that go above the classroom needs and work to make sure the students have
their needs met at home too. Students cannot be successful in school until their basic needs are
met, so teachers may need to meet those basic needs before starting to educate the students. One
last piece of advice that April Adams gave us was to listen better in the moment. These classes
we are taking now are giving us the skills and information we need to be teachers. It is important
that we listen good now so when we get a classroom of our own, we are ready to teach the
students.
Throughout the interviews this week, many of the core values stood out to me. The first
one is “the appreciation of diversity and similarity.” At Butler, “We value richness in
experiences, values, beliefs, and backgrounds. Our faculty, staff, and candidates as well as our
school and community colleagues, come from ethnically and culturally diverse populations.” The
Thomas Gregg Neighborhood School also values this diversity. April Adams said that their staff
“looks like” their students. They have a diverse array of backgrounds and ethnicities, so the
students feel welcome and comfortable. Students should never feel like they do not fit in, and
staff at Thomas Gregg work to make sure every student feels safe at school. ENL teachers see
the most diverse array of students as any teacher in education. They work with students who
speak many different languages, and they make sure they are comfortable even without the
English language. Diversity is a huge concept when it comes to ENL teachers, and both Susan
Adams and April Adams demonstrated their appreciation for the diverse students and families
they work with.
Another core value that was clearly exemplified in the interviews this week is “the
challenge of integrated practice and collaboration.” At Butler we learn to “utilize a variety of
instructional techniques and resources that are appropriate for the development of knowledge and
the examination of thoughts, values, and practical experiences.” ENL teachers must use a variety
of instructional techniques to teach students English, but they also must use a variety of
techniques to communicate with their students and families. Many times Google Translate is
used just to have a conversation with a family. Other examples that show how important this is,
is the use of the whole body for communication, the use of photographs, and the use
manipulatives. Due to the restrictions that ENL teachers face in the classroom every day, a
variety of techniques and resources is life or death to the students. These teachers demonstrate
their understanding and usage of techniques and resources every day in their classrooms.
ENL teachers fit into many of the values that are important to us at Butler. They go above
and beyond to help educate students who have different backgrounds and experiences. The skills
and dispositions needed to be an ENL teacher are numerous, but the most important is the ability
to build relationships. ENL teachers need to be able to build relationships with students and
families that cannot speak English or cannot speak English well. The teachers we interviewed
this week demonstrated the importance of relationships in an ENL classroom!