Imagine this: Lily just moved to the US from Korea and is in grade 9 taking Geometry. Lily aced her first math test despite having a very limited English vocabulary. However, on the second test, she had a very hard time and eventually gave up. Lily’s parents were baffled as she was a star math student in Korea and did so well on the first test. Did Lily not study hard enough for the second test? What is going on?

There could be numerous reasons why Lily did not do well on the second test: she did not study, most students did poorly, the content was harder, etc. However, considering the subject was Geometry, there could be another explanation: the first test mostly dealt with mathematical symbols and equations, whereas the second test dealt with proofs (a.k.a. a lot of reading and writing). If this is the case, is math really a universal language? How can we tell if a student is dealing with a math or a language issue? How can we help our children deal with both of these issues in math classes? Let’s take a look at what we can do to help our children not lose interest in math due to the language barrier.​

Elementary school is when students build most of their foundational math blocks. The beauty (also difficulty) of mathematics is that each skill builds upon another; we continue to build on the foundational skills students learn in elementary school all the way up to college and beyond. This also means, once a student starts falling behind, it becomes increasingly difficult to catch up. Needless to say, one thing that all students (not just English Languages Learners (ELLs)) should do is focus on building a solid foundation with systematic and repetitive practice that does not rely on language.

Besides building a solid math foundation, ELLs’ main focus in the elementary years should be developing reading comprehension skills. As we talk about helping ELLs in math, we still need to focus on developing very solid reading and writing skills​. While the students are gradually progressing through the language, we can help by focusing on math vocabulary. Knowing and understanding math vocabulary will allow ELLs to be more confident and effective when communicating. One great way to help our students is to model how to read and write in math. Instead of just telling your child to “write your answer in a full sentence,” show what and how you would write the answer. As we learn by mimicking before we can fully be on our own, modeling for your children will put them on the right path.​

Are you familiar with the saying, “better late than never?” When it comes to improving reading comprehension skills, that is definitely true. It is never too late to focus on reading and writing; if your child struggles with reading and writing now, this will only hinder his/her progress throughout the years in all subjects. This is why even for older students (middle school and beyond), it is still crucial that we focus on developing better reading and writing skills. All subjects (even Chemistry!) require good reading comprehension skills. Imagine how difficult it would be to teach someone how to solve a word problem involving systems of equations when he/she cannot even comprehend the problem! That is why even in math, good reading and writing skills are essential.

At the end of the day, you cannot predict how fast your child’s English will progress. While we do everything we can to help this journey along, we should make sure the child is not getting frustrated in his/her math class due to the language barrier. At the very least, if you notice that your child has strong foundational math skills but is doing poorly on tests, make sure the child’s teacher knows this is the case. Mathematics is a universal language in that once we get past elementary math, we can use symbols to communicate what we are trying to say. However, until then, let’s make sure our children do not lose interest in math and can feel the joy that comes with learning.​​​