Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives on their Level of Preparation to Teach English Language Learners in their Regular Classroom

English Language Learners (ELLs) are students who are learning English as the language of instruction, while simultaneously learning academic content. As elementary teachers now commonly have ELLs in their regular classrooms, the range of unique needs possessed by those students has drastically changed the demands on instructors in terms of their preparedness to teach ELLs. According to the scope of literature, the effectiveness of Ontario faculties of education preparing teachers to work with ELLs remains unclear. The present research study focused on the perspectives of a small sample of elementary teachers with regards to their level of preparedness to teach ELLs in the Greater Toronto Area. Through semi-structured interviews, one English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor and one Early Childhood Educator (ECE) shared their experiences of having taught ELLs. Findings indicate that there is a crucial need to better prepare future elementary teachers to work with ELLs