Chapter 8: Teaching Arts To English Language Learners

Tobi is 11 years old and has recently moved to the United States with his Nigérian immigrant parents. His father works three jobs to support his fam-ily. Tobi’s mother stays at home taking care of him and his two siblings. Although English is the official language of Nigeria, it remains a second language in many homes. At home, Tobi speaks the Queen’s Anglo-phone (British) English and Yoruba, an indigenous language associated with his family’s Nigerian ethnicity. Tobi has difficulty communicating in his new 5th grade American classroom due to his accent, which is his main problem to slowly transit, understand, and pronounce the standard American English. This problem is further exacerbated when he is often made fun of by his peers for his “British accent.” Consequently, Tobi becomes withdrawn in his classes and discouraged in many class activities. His academic performance is thus affected significantly. In a meeting with Tobi’s parents, his teacher recommended that Tobi be placed in an ESOL class where ELLs are provided with extra support to improve English. The parents were concerned because prior to immigrating to America, Tobi was a brilliant and well-rounded child with a passion for school. At home after the meeting, Tobi’s parents asked him what his problems were and how he could be helped. His parents were surprised by his response. He simply answered that it was in the art classes or with art activities that he could find a means to express himself without being intimidated and laughed at by his peers due to his not being able to speak English in the American way. The teacher also observed that Tobi was almost a transformed child with much interest in the arts lessons (i.e., visual, music, dance, and theatre).