Open Enrollment: Coping With a Fluctuating

Adult Population at a Private English Language School

Karen SalerniMaster’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:

1) Lesson planning

2) Integrating new students into my classroom

Open Enrollment by the Numbers

1 2 3 4 50

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Weekly Changes in EnrollmentJanuary 20–February 21

Students Continuing Students Leaving Students Arriving

Week of Class

Num

ber

of

Stu

dents

Research QuestionHow can I cope with a fluctuating international adult population at an English language school with open

enrollment?

Literature and TheoriesEnglish 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:

1. Build community (Martinsen, 2009)

2. 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

• Reflection and observation journals

Differentiating instruction

• Use continuing students as “experts” to assist the new students

• Reflection and observation journals

• 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:

1. effectively and quickly building community in my classroom?

2. 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”

• Reflection and observation journals

• Student work

• Exit slips

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:

1. differentiating instruction?

2. 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

• Reflection and observation journals

• Exit slips

• 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