Teachers should be prepared to support and guide any and all students who are learning English as their second language. I believe that all teachers should have the skills and knowledge of how to properly educate and guide ESL learners and that each and every child should be given the same and equal opportunity to learn, regardless of race, culture, disability, etc. .
Teachers are developing new strategies each year to maximize opportunities for culturally diverse students to participate and succeed. Students from culturally diverse backgrounds are being put into teachers hands each year because their families believe in our education system. It is our job as teachers to be completely prepared and know the strategies to teach these children as if they were any other child in the classroom. Instruction in the classroom should be comfortable, and the teacher should create a low stress environment. Students need to feel safe where they are learning, especially ESL students, since they are so vulnerable. The classroom should be a place for discussion and conversation. All students should be interacting with each other regardless of the language they are used to speaking. (The Foundations of Dual Language Instruction (Fifth ed., p. 98)) This will create new ideas and facilitate new ways of thinking and understanding one another. When grouping students, it is a teacher's responsibility to keep in mind that every individual has different abilities and to group them in way that their groups are evenly balanced. Most children who are learning English as a second language are not always ready to talk in class, therefore the teacher needs to create opportunities for nonverbal responses until those students are more confident in speaking orally. Another important thing for teachers to incorporate in their classrooms is modifying their spoken language to make it accessible to new language learners.