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A Visual Representation of ELLs
GESL 501 - Helping English Language Learners in Mainstream Classes
Duquesne University - School of Education
Ms. Megan Evangeliste
May 9, 2023
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First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the messy drawings. It has been a while
since I have done artwork like this. I tried to make my interpretation of ELLs multifaceted. On
one hand, ELLs may receive positive support from a number of faculty and staff in schools. This
positive support may be accompanied by peace, love, and acceptance, as shown in my drawing.
The first image that I chose to include in my visual representation was the Earth in the center of
the page, with people standing around the globe. This is meant to represent how ELLs come
from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds. When I think of ELLs, Latinx individuals always
automatically come to mind, which I recognize is an incorrect perception based on my own high
school experience. It was enlightening to hear in the presentation this week that ELLs make up
9.5% of the national student population, and that 38% are actually born in Asia.
On the bottom right hand corner of my visual, I drew a girl with negative labels and
microaggressions surrounding her. The hands in the drawing are meant to represent feeling
confined by these labels (i.e. model minority, illiterate, “what are you,” etc). The red smoke and
fire within the image could mean a variety of things, such as feeling embarrassed or angered by
these negative comments. The red smoke around the girl’s head could also represent her brain
feeling “foggy” from the challenges of attending a primarily English-speaking school. I also
chose to include the American flag in my visual with the word “assimilation” next to it. While
our goal as school personnel is to prevent ELLs from feeling like they have to assimilate
(instead, we should focus on acculturation), ELLs might feel pressure to do certain things the
“American” way, since so much of our country is defined by patriotism.
Finally, I tried to include specific academic images in my visual, such as a burning
textbook and the word “failure” with a capital F. These images were meant to illustrate the
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academic challenges that ELLs may face in the classroom. I am interested to hear more about
this topic next week, when we touch on special education considerations for ELLs.