Supporting English Learners with Culturally Responsive Social and Emotional Learning
An Interview with Aislinn Cunningham, ELA Expert and Manager of Professional Learning, StudySync
We’ve recently conducted a survey to understand the current state of English learner (EL) education in the U.S., and found that teachers need increased supports in providing ELs with social and emotional instruction appropriate for their unique needs. To get a sense of what social and emotional supports that can benefit English Learners look like in the classroom, we sat down with Aislinn Cunningham, educator and Manager of Professional Learning at StudySync, for a quick interview. Aislinn is an expert in ELA education, and passionate about empowering underserved student populations. Here’s what Aislinn shared with us:
We know that SEL instruction should be integrated into the school day and can impact academic learning. How might SEL instruction impact academic learning specifically for English Learners?
Aislinn: For English Learners, language acquisition can come with a lot of stress and anxiety. ELs sometimes don’t yet have the English language and vocabulary skills to communicate their problems, ask for what they need, or to start conversations with their English-speaking peers. It can be very isolating.
When social and emotional learning is a facet of a school’s approach and curriculum, teachers can help reduce the stress, anxiety, and isolation that English Learners are vulnerable to if unsupported.
Take, for example, phrases and words that native English speakers use on a daily basis. “Where’s the restroom?” “What time is it?” “How do I get to where I’m going?” “How much does that cost?” By explicitly teaching what some call “survival vocabulary,” we can help ELs develop critical language to satisfy their most basic needs. Combine that instruction with opportunity for role-play within the safety of the classroom, and ELs can feel more at ease when it comes time to ask for what they need, whether they’re in school or shopping at a store with their family.
What are some specific disciplines where we can integrate SEL supports for English Learners, and how?
Aislinn: Anywhere, everywhere. Truly, it doesn’t need to be that complicated. Anywhere a student is expected to use language, we can integrate SEL. Any teacher — science, social studies, English, P.E., art, etc. can use something like role play to teach appropriate behavior in class. Let’s say an art teacher has a process for putting away art supplies: he or she can teach this process and then have students role play that process to practice.
All classrooms can get in the habit of labeling items in their classroom. This shows recognition of an EL’s home country language while teaching necessary vocabulary.
In social studies, teachers can build in content and historical figures from students’ home countries.
In science, teachers can encourage classroom talk in which students rephrase what their peers have said, add their ideas, agree/disagree, and justify or revise conclusions. Anchor charts or visible classroom handouts with sentence frames can help ELs construct sentences more accurately during conversations.
English class is a great opportunity to ensure that all students are represented in the curriculum. The curriculum should be diverse and represent characters, individuals, and authors of diverse backgrounds. English teachers can also hone in on the language of emotions and how to regulate emotions in a productive way. This type of instruction can help all learners to better understand characters and individuals that we read about in an ELA class. For a deeper dive into the opportunities presented by ELA class, I recommend Rudine Sims Bishop’s essay, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.”
In all classrooms, teachers should build in fewer teacher-led, whole-class instruction, and more small group instruction, where students can practice language with their peers in a more personal, lower-risk setting. This also allows teachers to differentiate and scaffold instruction more effectively.
But really, I think a school-wide approach is best. Say, for example, all teachers are equipped with a protocol to help students recognize and manage stressful situations. Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence has an amazing program that does just this. It’s called RULER, and it’s a school-wide approach that teachers students to Recognize, Understand, Label, Expressing, and Regulating emotions. Using a couple of simple tools, teachers model how to do this with their own emotions and guide students as they learn how to do it too.
How do SEL supports for English learners change at a 6–12 level?
Aislinn: I think, in a lot of ways, they don’t. Scaffolding instruction and supporting academic progress for ELs, for instance, helps ELs to feel successful at school. That’s a practice that should be held up in all levels of schooling. Of course, it’s also critical that teachers recognize when it’s time to change or remove that scaffolded support.
Positive self-talk is another great tool. This is something, frankly, I’m still learning how to do! Teachers and guidance counselors can talk to students about positive self-talk to help manage difficult feelings at school. Regardless of language, it’s a tool that can help students at any age.
Here are some specific high school strategies:
- Diversify youth leadership and leadership opportunities: give voice and influence to students who might not otherwise be represented.
- Increase collaboration and social learning. Make sure that ELs and English-speaking peers are given opportunities to work together and learn from each other.
How can culturally responsive teaching and content support collaboration and group work?
Aislinn: One of my favorite leaders in this work is Zaretta Hammond. She’s a former teacher and neuroscientist and author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Her book provides fantastic insight into how our brains “function on culture.” She specifically talks about a couple of cultural archetypes that we can become aware of when we’re teaching multicultural classrooms:
The first is the idea around individualism and collectivism. The U.S., for example, is a highly individualist culture, with norms around self-reliance (pull yourself up by your bootstraps), while many of the countries that our students come from lean more toward collectivism, a culture that is less about self-promotion and more about interdependence and communal living. She makes a point not to generalize an entire country’s culture, but reminds readers of the “cultural mismatch.”
The second is the oral and written tradition, another “cultural mismatch.” She says:
“Although most oral cultures now use reading and writing as tools for documentation and communication in formal settings, many still rely on their oral traditions at home and in their immediate communities. This situation reinforces the brain’s preference for processing information through traditional oral methods.” — Zaretta Hammond, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain
Collaboration and discussion are two strategies that can uplift our ELs. Opportunities for collaboration and discussion are both culturally responsive and offer time for practice in developing SEL skills. They also support what Hammond references around cultural archetypes like collectivism and the oral tradition.
For more with Aislinn on the unique cultural, social, and emotional needs of English Learners, check out this podcast episode with EduTalk radio:
