Chapter 7: Teaching Technology To Ells

Lilly is an ELL student. Lilly and her family moved to the United States recently because Lilly’s dad got a new job offer from a well-known company on the East Coast. Lilly started attending a new school. She loves her new teachers, classes, and classmates. She loves math and science classes in her new school. In addition to her favorite subjects, Lilly has to take required English classes for all ELL students. She took English classes in her home country but English classes in a new school were different. They required using computers to complete homework. Lilly has a computer at home but she usually uses it for leisure and fun. To complete homework for English class, Lilly has to do online language exercises every day. Even though she likes learning a new language, completing language exercises every day becomes a boring and difficult task. For hours she stares at the silent computer screen trying to guess the right answer. Her heart beats faster each time she clicks on the possible correct answer. She intuitively closes her eyes and when she opens them to see if she did well or not, her hope is usually ruined. As a re-sult, Lilly’s grades in English went down by the end of the first semester. She lost her motivation and confidence in learning a new language.