ESL4Math.com is a website to equip educators teaching mathematics to ESL students. Many math teachers are skilled in their respective content areas, but untrained to handle the different needs of their ESL students. They may lack the ESL resources or math lesson plans that address ESL student needs. This problem is often exacerbated by a lack of collaboration between ESL teachers and content teachers.
Math teachers should be aware that many ESL students struggle in their classrooms because they lack the academic vocabulary to understand the content. Learning math is extremely difficult and frustrating to ESL students who may not have grown up in the U.S. or come from homes where English is not spoken. Struggles in understanding math content can usually be traced back to insufficient ESL vocabulary and background knowledge. Therefore, a key aspect of teaching mathematics to ESL students is first teaching them the ESL vocabulary that they need to comprehend the math content.
Our website contains ESL resources that address the primary struggles of ESL students to learn English while keeping up with math content. The two goals go hand in hand. Academic vocabulary gives math content context and helps ESL students to understand the lessons. And at the same time, learning math strengthens ESL students’ academic vocabulary as new concepts require specific terminology.
Some of the ESL resources you will find here include printable math worksheets and math lesson plans, specifically designed to help educators teaching mathematics to ESL students. Our math lesson plans focus on strategies for increasing academic vocabulary, a key foundation for improving in the math content areas.
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