Educators who teach ESL students in mainstreamed classes face the challenge of instructing two groups of students with entirely different needs. Teachers must balance instructing the ESL students at a slow enough pace without the native English speakers becoming bored. Whether educators are teaching college, high school or lower grades, assimilating ESL students smoothly into a mainstreamed classroom ensures that all students benefit equally from instruction.

Co-Teaching
While the decision for this idea may rest with the principal or school board, co-teaching, which is becoming more common in the United States, is a great choice for classrooms with ESL students. Co-teaching comes in a variety of forms, but it can involve teachers planning lessons, managing the classroom and grading assignments together. Co-teaching allows for fewer students per teacher, and studies show that students are more successful when they learn in small groups. In a mainstreamed classroom, one teacher can focus on the ESL students, either by re-explaining and simplifying the lesson, or by being available to answer their questions as they work independently. Where co-teaching is not an option, some schools allow teachers to apply for a teacher's aide or assistant for classes with special needs.

Language Partners
Teachers with ESL students in a mainstreamed class should avoid segregating the ESL students. ESL learners need to interact with native speakers in order to improve their English, and native speakers can benefit from engaging with ESL students because it exposes them to other cultures and forces them to clarify their communication. Pair up native and non-native English speakers as language buddies at the beginning of the term to work as homework and discussion partners. Native English speaking students can show their buddies around the playground or campus, or sit with them at lunch. This will help students new to the country feel more at ease in the classroom and boost their speaking confidence.

Sensitizing Mainstream Students
The native English speakers in your classroom (especially if they are young children) may not be prepared to study with immigrants or exchange students from other cultures. In order for ESL students to feel welcome, native English speakers need to accept them into the classroom, playground, campus and cafeteria, as well as on the bus. Assign activities that mix native and non-native English speakers together. Have mainstream students interview the newcomers in the class about the countries and cultures that they come from. Discuss multicultural topics as a class, encouraging students from other countries to share their backgrounds and experiences. Have native-English speakers role-play that they are in a new country learning a new language. They can make a list of all the challenges they would face, how they would overcome them and how they would like others to treat them.

Classroom Routines
Format lessons, activities and class time into a routine that ESL students can depend on. Try to avoid surprises or doing something completely different than normal. It is impossible for an ESL learner to understand everything the teacher says. However, if they learn a routine, they can still follow along in class without understanding every word spoken. It can be embarrassing for an ESL student if all of the other students suddenly open their textbooks to a certain page and begin working on something the ESL student missed the instructions for. He may be too shy to ask the teacher, or not even know how to formulate his thoughts into an intelligible question.