Contributed by Neera Bhat
Arriving from different countries, students enroll in US schools throughout the school year. These students have varied educational backgrounds. Some students that enroll are on par with their peers. They adapt and excel in academic achievements; however, some students may have interrupted formal education where they may have missed years of formal education. Some students may not even be academically prepared in their native language or have the content knowledge of a grade level. Such students are defined as, “students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) are English language learners who have experienced interrupted education due to war, civil unrest, migration, or other factors; who have never had the opportunity to participate in any type of schooling before entering school in United States; or who have experienced limited education in their home countries due to lack of resources or trained teachers, the type of schooling they participated in or circumstances.”(DeCapua & Marshall, 2017)
Colorin Colorado – a bilingual site for educators and families of English language learners has an article that is a wonderful guide on understanding who SIFE/SLIFE students are, possibly which countries they are coming from, what would be some of their unique needs, etc. It helps the educators with measures they can take at their schools to help these students adapt and learn. It also lists some strategies for teaching SIFE students. As a teacher of newcomer/SIFE students this article has been my guide. The link to this article is:
colorincolorado.org/article/how-support-ell-students-interrupted-formal-education-sifes
The one thing to remember as an educator of SIFE students is that it is important to focus on their strengths more than their challenges. SIFE students can be great at problem solving, motivated and very resilient. They come with strong family ties. These strengths can prove very helpful when providing them with small classes that focus on both academics and social-emotional growth.
There are many different models being used for educating SIFE students such as Newcomer Programs, stand-alone models, integrated ESOL models and extended learning opportunities. (Custodio, B., & O’Loughin, J.,2017)
Resources for the SIFE Students:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XOP8Y-1jVK23fSLhCnR6rIHHFwsUdBhVaSU9k_uvOyc/edit?usp=sharing
References:
Custodio, B., & O’Loughin, J. (2017). Students with interrupted formal education: Bridging where they are and what they need. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
DeCapua, A. & Marshall, H. (2011). Breaking new ground: Teaching students with limited or interrupted formal education in U.S. secondary schools. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press ELT.
Robertson, K., & Lafond, S. (n.d.). How To Support ELL Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFES). Retrieved February 28, 2020, from https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/how-support-ell-students-interrupted-formal-education-sifes
SupportEd. (2020). How to Serve your Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) – SupportEd. [online] Available at: https://getsupported.net/serving-students-interrupted-formal-education-slife/ [Accessed 28 Feb. 2020].
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