Teachers who work with English language learners know that academic language takes longer to achieve proficiency than conversational language. On average, ELL students need at least two years to acquire conversational language and five to nine years to develop academic language skills. Many English words that ELL students are exposed to in school they have not yet learned or even heard in their first language, making knowledge transfer impossible. The large differences in the ability to use colloquial versus academic language can be an obstacle for these students and have lasting effects on their studies and therefore their lives. I was interested in finding out how teachers can help ELL students develop this type of vocabulary and whether or not there is a highly effective technique that can benefit every student in the classroom. As classroom teachers we must understand the specific needs of our ELLs. We need to understand that although they are just as capable as our native speakers, they are at a distinct disadvantage due to the amount of information they have to process all at once and which is in a language they do not fully understand. I have found that there are several ways teachers can encourage vocabulary growth in ELLs, I will focus on the most effective one: the use of graphic organizers. What are graphic organizers? Graphic organizers are maps or graphs that essentially reveal the organization of concepts and relationships between concepts in a simple way. They help make information more precise by eliminating many small details to allow concentration on the key points. This helps reduce the cognitive load of ELLs by allowing them to process lighter amounts of information, all in… middle of the paper… 2). Graphic organizers. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Access to the General Curriculum. Retrieved November 2011 from http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/ backgroundpapers/graphic_organizersLee, C.C. (2007). Graphic organizers as a scaffold for student revision in the pre-writing phase. In ICT: providing choices for students and learning. Ascilite Singapore Proceedings 2007. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/lee-cc.pdfSmith, J. J. (2002). The use of graphic organizers in teaching vocabulary. MA ResearchProject:KearnUniversity http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED463556&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED463556Organization author not specified. Color in Colorado! how the vocabulary refers to ells.(2007). http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/teaching/vocabulary/