Wendi Tejada, English as a Second Language Teacher
Apollo Elementary School

Purposefully building positive relationships with students to keep them motivated and interested in learning is a goal of English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher Wendi Tejada. She has taught children and adults for 16 years and been an ESL teacher at Apollo Elementary for four of those years. Below, she talks about how she teaches.

I decided to become an ESL instructor when I first started teaching. I found I was unable to communicate effectively with parents and students without a translator. By returning to college on nights and summers, I was able to become certified in Spanish.

I believe all students can learn content and concepts at their grade level. Strategies and building skills and knowledge layer by layer are essential to all students but particularly essential to English language learners.

Giving up on a student is not an option. I look for any idea or way to motivate struggling students. Learning is the most important focus but more information is retained when the learning is fun and memorable. If I can get a child to interact and laugh then I know they will remember.

I purposefully build positive relationships with the students to keep them motivated and interested. I try to incorporate their lives in the learning when possible.

I use the latest research practices, such as using small competitions with boys to spark motivation and using more non-fiction to help build vocabulary. I combine these practices with the skills students should be learning at their grade level to create an individualized lesson for that group. Meeting my students at their level of proficiency and making the content comprehensible enables them to learn.

If a classroom teacher has taught a skill in class, I try to teach it a different way using different learning styles. We all work closely together to make sure that no student slips through the cracks. All students at Apollo belong to all teachers. We take responsibility and pride in our kids.

I call their parents and tell them about how hard their child is working and how much they have progressed. Parents are always happy to hear how well their child is doing at school. I believe that taking time to know the student and the parent gives me insight to what is important to both of them. This information helps me to motivate students and brings all of us together as a learning team. Parental support makes such a difference.

I am surrounded by an excellent, innovative staff and fabulous students. I am so very lucky to be where collaboration is valued and ideas are shared freely. We as a staff support each other with helpful activities, websites, and resources. Since we all have the same goals, we can focus on what individual students need.