Introduction

//**How can teachers ensure support for the mathematical development of all English Language Learners?**//

**//"Students who speak a first language other than English or have related cultural differences must not face special barriers to learning mathematics. Every student’s cultural heritage should be accepted and celebrated for the diversity that it brings to the learning environment. Expanded opportunities should be available to English language learners (ELL students) who need them to develop mathematical understanding and proficiency. Mathematics teachers should have knowledge of content and pedagogy that support ELL students, including an understanding of the role of the first language." (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2008).//**   My name is Nailah Stamp and I am a second grade teacher at the International School of Monagas. Teaching math to elementary students can be fun and enlightening. I love to see the transition the students make from learning to knowing. A challenge for me is how to make it easier for those students that come to me not knowing any English. Most of my students have been learning English for several years and are familiar with most of the academic language, but the challenge for me is to catch up those students that are first year English students. I always assumed that math class would be the easiest for them, but I am realizing that as long as it's learning math facts and memorization the students excel, but they ALL struggle with problem solving. I noticed on homework and assessments they are very fearful of problem solving. They immediately think they do not have the tools to complete the problem. I chose this topic because I want to best help ALL of my ELL students understand the mathematical language and improve their confidence in mathematical problem solving.

**//"Many people assume math is a universal language and therefore easy for ELLs (English Language Learners). In fact, success for ELLs in math is highly tied to language and literacy (Coggins in Celic, 2009, p. 55).//**

My name is Yleana Leon, I teach Calculus and a remedial math class for 8th and 9th graders at the International School of Monagas. Teaching mathematics for ELLs in a highschool environment is both challenging and rewarding. Being an ELL myself, I can relate to these students and understand their struggles. When I started reading about techniques and strategies I could use in the classroom to help students understand math regardless of their language proficiency and at the same time make sure they were working at a high academic level, I knew I wanted to share these sources. We found that the approach on teaching math to ELLs has several similarities between the elementary and the highschool setting, so we would like to share some of our findings by introducing four subtopics in our research project: Vocabulary, Problem Solving, Homework and Assessment.

If you have any ideas or resources on this subject please feel free to comment. Thanks!

**References:** Celic, C.(2009) //English Language Learners Day by Day K-6: A Complete Guide to Literacy, Content Area and Language Instruction//. (p. 55). Portsmouth, N. H. : Heinemann

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2010) //Teaching Mathematics to Englis Language Learners// retrieved from February 28, 2012 from []