My first occurrence with ELL learners was in high school. I had a really good relationship with my French teacher so I always helped after school with her in tutoring and such. Well, one day, the foreign language teachers needed students to help after school with some of the struggling students. At the time I didn't quite understand what ESL was or what it meant to be an ELL student. I remember the Spanish and French teacher trying their best to help the students understand their general homework (science, social studies, English, etc) but they had no certification in ESL and it shocked me to see teachers who did not know how to help. They looked very lost and helpless for these low-proficiency English language learners.
What I remember most vividly was a Chinese student needing help on a sophomore English homework. They were just four questions regarding a short reading. Two other students and I tried our best to reword the questions many times so that she would understand the question. But she didn't and couldn't communicate to us in words that she didn't understand it, she just kept shaking her head no. It was scary for me, because I didn't even really know what the question was asking neither did the other two students, so I could only imagine what the Chinese student was thinking. Later, I found out she dropped out of school because she just did not have the English skills to learn in school. I could tell she was very afraid and it was too much for her. It made me sad, but at the time I didn't understand why. I knew ESL was not something available at my school and it made me realize when I came to MSU that ESL was something I would want to be certified in so I wouldn't end up like my Spanish and French teachers and that I would have the knowledge to help students like the Chinese girl I tried to help.
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