Late last year, a Naperville-based business and the Chicago Public Schools forged a new partnership that will hopefully bring parents, teachers, and students even closer together. I Speak English Inc. started working with Edwards Elementary School, 4815 South Karlov Ave., in Chicago. The Naperville company, which was founded in 2000 and was incorporated less than two years ago, will offer support service and specialized English-as-a-second-language training to parents of the children attending the school.

The Edwards program began late last year, and so far, school lead teacher Oriana Wilson said parents and kids are noticing some differences.

“The parents I have talked to so far love it and are happy they are able to learn some English,” Wilson said. “We have two groups going, with some that know some English and others that can’t speak the language at all.”

Wilson said she believes more Chicago Public Schools will likely use services like I Speak English, although Edwards is unique in that it has hired a business outside its immediate area.

“Most of the schools here in Chicago generally look for local help,” she said. “We didn’t know anything about the I Speak English group – they were the ones that approached us. We found all of them so personable and easy to talk with, the people sold us themselves. (more…)

search for : English-as-a-second-language

Local school districts are looking both in and out of the classroom for ways to reach immigrant students and their families who speak other languages. In the Poughkeepsie district, up to 7.5 percent of the school population, or 362 students, were considered limited English proficient, according to the 2004-05 school reports cards, the most recent available from the state Education Department. Rhinebeck had the smallest population of limited English proficient students — 10, or 0.8 percent — in the 2004-05 year.

In an increasing number of districts, a special effort to establish relationships with families begins even before the first day of school. It starts with extending hospitality. The Wappingers district hosts a back-to-school barbecue where English as a Second Language students are encouraged to bring their parents, grandparents and other relatives for a meal and activities. This year, nearly 100 people attended. “It gives them a heightened comfort level,” said Joseph DiDonato, coordinator for Wappingers’ ESL program, which serves more than 130 students.
(more…)

search for : limited English proficient students, English as a Second Language

When Juan Mendoza, 16, arrives in Bookcliff Middle School teacher Lee Harrison’s eighth-grade science class, Harrison gives the boy a run-down of what needs to be accomplished. He pulls up a chair between two eighth-grade Latino boys and relays the instructions to them in Spanish. They measure small amounts of salt, sand and iron with scales and graduated cylinders before calculating density. “Cuanto tenemos?” Juan asks them. In turn, the boys ask him questions as they fill out their worksheets. Juan and fellow Central High School junior Mario Gutierrez, both former English as a Second Language students, are the first mentors in a new ESL program at Bookcliff Middle School that seeks to improve not only language skills, but also life skills for Latino boys.

ESL teacher Lotte Laursen got the idea for the program after seeing how some Latino boys in ESL were struggling to fit into the classroom and were disengaged in learning. The program started in January and has gotten so much demand from Bookcliff teachers that the ESL mentors are double-booked for afternoon science, social studies and algebra classes. The mentors, who can be high school juniors or seniors, come for about an hour during the school day as part of a high school service-learning project. For Juan, being an ESL mentor makes him feel like he’s come full circle. Just five years ago, he was in the same position as many of the boys he mentors. He was taking science in Harrison’s seventh-grade class and knew little English, having just moved to Grand Junction from Mexico. “It took about two years to learn English,” he said. (more…)

search for : Spanish, ESL, ESL mentor

It churned up unreasonable fears when Jose Velasquez, a young immigrant and star student at Garinger High School, recited the Pledge of Allegiance in both fluent English and Spanish at his own graduation this week. Some people were offended by having a patriotic American oath stated in another language. “We are English-speaking people,” Tom Davis, a parent leader at another high school, told a reporter. “This is a core value for America.” Mr. Davis may speak for many residents of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, which wrestles with its new role as a center for both legal and illegal immigration. Yet Mr. Davis, and others like him, are wrong to perceive a gesture of respect as a threat to this nation’s principles or an affront to its language.

Besides, English isn’t threatened. The demand for English as a second language classes in this community and state far outstrips the available courses. The new people who are coming here want to learn English and are learning it. Every credible study we know of shows that’s true. Children of immigrants (such as Mr. Velasquez) assimilate twice as fast as adults. What are the lessons from this controversy? 1. It’s ignorant to think honoring any heritage in this nation’s patchwork of backgrounds by publicly speaking its language somehow diminishes the United States. 2. Speaking a language other than English isn’t divisive. Fear or resentment of those who speak another language is divisive. (more…)

search for : fluent English and Spanish, English as a second language

Reading a menu at your favorite restaurant. Balancing your checkbook. Updating a resume. Sharing a story with children or grandchildren. For most adults, these ordinary tasks cause little anguish, but for someone who can neither read nor write, they can seem downright impossible. Jacqueline Willis, director of the Susquehanna Valley Adult Literacy Cooperative (SVALC), said there are various reasons people find themselves illiterate at 18, at 25, or even 60.

Most people do not seek help unless prompted by a specific event, such as being offered a promotion at a job or the realization that they can’t help their elementary-age children with homework. As one can imagine, Willis said admitting you can’t read is a big step, but a necessary one in order to break the cycle of illiteracy among families. In addition to reading skills, SVALC’s volunteer tutors also teach basic math and life skills and illustrate cultural differences for English as a second language, or ESL, students. It’s a goal-oriented program where each student has his or her own objectives. For some, it’s helping their children with homework, passing a citizenship test or the desire to communicate better in general. Others want to prepare for GED classes, learn to use a computer or pass the driver’s license test. (more…)

search for : ESL

What do you say to children whose parents no longer have the legal right to raise them? Author Julie Nelson delivers a straightforward yet gentle message in her new picture book, “Families Change: A Book for Children Experiencing Termination of Parental Rights,” illustrated by Mary Gallagher and published by Free Spirit Publishing in Minneapolis. The book is appropriate for foster parents or anyone else wishing to help children sort through the conflicting emotions that arise when their birth families can no longer care for them. Nelson’s sparse text explains that changes can be happy and sad at the same time, that children can have more than one mother and father and that big problems are never a child’s fault.

Nelson’s sparse text explains that changes can be happy and sad at the same time, that children can have more than one mother and father and that big problems are never a child’s fault. Her approach is informed by 30 years working with at-risk families, most recently as senior teacher at a preschool at Lifetrack Resources’ Families Together Program in St. Paul. The illustrations depict families of many ethnicities and ages. Gallagher has worked as a pediatric occupational therapist at Families Together. Nelson offers these tips for working with children who have been taken from their parents; answer simply and honestly a child’s questions about why they no longer live with their parents. Not explaining what has happened may cause children to blame themselves or their foster parent for the change and loss, manage stress by providing a predictable and nurturing daily routine that includes outdoor play and physical activity. (more…)

Colorado students would have to be competent in English before graduating from high school under a bill that squeaked through the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. The proposal by Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, found an odd set of backers, as three Republicans and one Democrat supported it, while three Democrats opposed it. It moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Colorado Department of Education has a comprehensive English language program in which children from households that speak other languages are tested on English proficiency.

Opponents of the bill called it redundant with the statewide program. The also warned of unexpected costs to the school districts if a large number of students fail the test and must repeat the 12th grade. They also questioned whether requiring schools to focus funds on English-as-a-Second-Language students would cause them to cut programs in other areas. Barbara Medina, director of English-language acquisition for the department of education, said current tests are given to about 91,000 Colorado students and show about 48,000 of them are not proficient in English. Many of those struggling kids range from kindergarten through second grade, she said.
(more…)

search for : Colorado Department of Education, English language, English-as-a-Second-Language

As the students troop into Rachel ben-Ismail’s class at Washington Elementary School, she asks them, en Espanol, how they are doing. Spanish isn’t a required subject for the 20 second- and third-graders in the class and Rachel ben-Ismail isn’t a Spanish teacher — yet. Ben-Ismail, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and parent of a Washington student, is volunteering to teach after-school Spanish classes on the 15 early dismissal Wednesdays during this school year.

Second-grader Felicity DiLeonardo said she wanted to take the Spanish class “just in case” she needed to speak the language. Her prep work might not be misplaced. According to data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the percentage of Hispanic students at Washington is increasing. Just over 20 percent of Washington’s students are non-white and 10 percent of the school’s students are limited-English proficient. Being exposed to other languages and cultures early, ben-Ismail said, is good for the students. “It is good to hear it so they don’t grow up prejudiced or so naive that English is everything,” she said. Teaching the class is helpful for ben-Ismail, as well. She is studying to get her license to teach pre-kindergarten through third grade and is now considering teaching English as a Second Language or Spanish. (more…)

search for : English as a Second Language