In a suggested shift that could signal a significant change of role for teachers of English as a second language (ESL) in US schools, professors Andrea Honigsfeld and Maria G Dove put forward the case for co-teaching in languagemagazine.com
Due to the rising number of children entering US schools whose first language isn’t English, they look at the growing trend away from specialty teachers toward teacher collaboration: essentially pairing up a classroom teacher with an ESL specialist teacher to plan and deliver integrated instruction so that those students acquiring English are taught alongside their peers.
For the classroom teacher this would mean considerable collaboration and for the coaching ESL teacher it would mean less pupil contact, as the professors’ recommended approach sees the coach working with the classroom teacher rather than the students themselves. However, the case as presented suggests the outcomes are better for the children and provide more professional development for the teaches, so a potential win-win.
