I'm not sure if my philosophy for teaching ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) will be much different from my philosophy for teaching mainstream classrooms. I think the basics of activities and content will remain mostly the same; activities will be geared toward active participation in learning. Most activities will be measurable and produce something that demonstrates the students knowledge. ESOL students should be treated just like other students and held to the same standards of behavior, even if more time has to be spent explaining and demonstrating the expectations. Every child should receive positive feedback for things done well and instruction for things that need improvement. ESOL students enjoy music and movement and crafts as much as a typical English-speaking student.
I will know little, if any, of the ESOL student's first language, so the student will experience immersion in an English speaking environment. I hope that if I know some of the language I can use it to help demonstrate interest in learning language and cooperating with expectations.
