Karen Salerni Master’s Candidate in TESOL, Literacy, and Culture Open Enrollment: Coping With a Fluctuating Adult Population at a Private English Language School Karen Salerni Master’s Candidate in TESOL, Literacy, and Culture

Research Context and Needs Assessment “San Diego English School” (SDES) Intensive English Program (IEP) Open enrollment New students take entry test on Mondays, begin class on Tuesdays Core (integrated skills) classes meet Monday-Friday Partner-teacher system Began teaching a Tuesday/Thursday Intermediate Core class on January 21 Teaching is hard! Open enrollment makes it harder! I struggled with: Lesson planning Integrating new students into my classroom

Open Enrollment by the Numbers

Research Question How can I cope with a fluctuating international adult population at an English language school with open enrollment?

Literature and Theories English as a lingua franca Only about 25% of English users are native speakers (Seidlhofer, 2005) English is notable for: geographical spread, cultural diversity of speakers, variety of purposes it serves (Dewey, 2007) Open enrollment “Less than optimum” (Wardell, 1991, p. 66) To improve teaching and learning: Build community (Martinsen, 2009) Differentiate instruction (Finn, 2010)

Phase I: Plan Area of Study Intervention Assessment Plan Coping as a teacher Study myself to separate effective and ineffective teaching strategies Interview and observe partner and mentor teachers Record of lesson plans and attendance Reflection and observation journals Community in the classroom Tuesday-morning introductions Group/pair work Create community through interactions Differentiating instruction Use continuing students as “experts” to assist the new students Review student work

Phase I: Findings Area of Study Findings Evidence Coping as a teacher Flexibility and adaptability Move from detailed lesson plans to basic notes Communicate with co-teacher Interviews: “Be flexible. [Open enrollment] makes you a better teacher because you’re used to adapting lessons and activities” —Anya Record of lesson plans Conversations with my co-teacher about student needs in his class informed material covered in my class Ex: Question formation Community in the classroom Students felt comfortable speaking in class Continuing students welcoming to new students Students still did not know each other’s names! Observations and reflections: laughter, willingness to speak, participation of all students during communicative tasks Observations: continuing students offered to accompany new students during class breaks Observations: Students did not fill out classmate’s names during travel survey activity; responded that they were unsure of names Differentiating instruction Did not explore in-depth “Students as experts” worked when utilized Boredom when covering material that continuing students had already learned Observations and reflections: “Old” students stimulated interest in and helped new students understand Marley and Me Observations and reflections: Talking and cell phone use during lesson, “selfies”

Building Community: Conversation Cards

Phase II: Plan How can I better cope with open enrollment by: effectively and quickly building community in my classroom? differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all of my students? Area of Study Intervention Assessment Plan Community in the classroom Continue teacher interviews (for strategies) Continue group/pair work Facebook page Reflection and observation journals Exit slips Differentiating instruction Teacher interviews (for strategies) Deliberate – not random – student groups Back-up tasks for “early finishers” Student work

Phase II: Findings Area of Study Findings Evidence Community in the classroom Student felt comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions with their classmates, especially during group work Humor, interviews, and group work helped students remember names Facebook did not appear to improve community Observations: Continuing to mix up pairs/groups worked to create a welcoming atmosphere – laughter, applause Exit slips: What activities help you learn other people’s names? “Work directly with them in groups and kidding” “Work with groups, interviews” “Kidding with them” Observations/reflections: Average class size of 14 students, only 9 “likes” on Facebook Differentiating instruction Continuing students were willing to work as “experts” and help new students Starting homework in class helped “early finishers” remain engaged Continuing students appeared less engaged with material Observations: “Expert” students helped explain new material to new students; I was able to assess student needs based on these explanations Observations/reflections: By giving “early finishers,” a task, I helped ensure that they were engaged in class – and not busy on their cell phones! Observations/reflections: Continuing students began to become more disruptive in class and no longer turned in homework

Phase III: Plan How can I improve my teaching and student learning in an open- enrollment context by: differentiating instruction? continuing to build community both inside and outside of the classroom? Area of Study Intervention Assessment Plan Differentiating instruction Continue to use “older” students as experts Utilize needs assessment tasks to better understand learner needs Learning centers – students can work on different activities depending on their needs Reflection and observation journals Exit slips Student work and test scores Community in and out the classroom Create WhatsApp group for students Service-learning activities Interviews/focus groups with students

Overall Findings and Reflections Open-enrollment findings: Other teachers can provide information and support The best way to plan a lesson is to plan less! Be flexible and open to change Building community provides support to teachers AND students in this context Differentiating instruction is challenging when you have a limited amount of time to meet your students and learn about their needs Personal reflections: I’m a teacher now! Open enrollment has many challenges, but there are also many positive aspects: I’ve met a variety of students from around the world Classroom dynamics are always changing: If you have a good group of students, it’s difficult when someone leaves, but if you have a difficult student, you know they will leave eventually! Not only am I a teacher, but I’m a better teacher – and person – because of open enrollment