Ontario Government Eyes New ESL Policy
| The Ontario Government will introduce a new policy statement this year requiring more accountability for English as a Second Language funding.
Education Minister Kathleen Wynne says the new policy would serve as a check and balance on government ESL funding. Wynne says Ontario wants to make sure school boards are actually spending funding on English as a Second Language students. |
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search for : English as a Second Language, ESL
Celebration of multi-cultural education
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For Evelyn Gomez, seeing the school embrace diversity with such enthusiasm was a unique experience. “It’s kind-of emotional,” she said. Gomez, now an English to Speakers of Other Languages instructor at Saddlewood, moved to the U.S. from Puerto Rico with her family five years ago. At the time she knew “basic” English. But that wasn’t enough to effectively communicate. The ability to relate to the challenges and triumphs ESOL students experience makes the job particularly rewarding, she said. This year, several Saddlewood students spoke barely any English their first day of school. |
search for : English to Speakers of Other Languages instructor, ESOL
English-language Teacher To Discuss Internet Resources
| How can those who teach English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) facilitate children’s learning through the use of the Internet? With so much out there on the World Wide Web, how can instructors teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) know what to choose for their classes? On May 31 at 5 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. Mexico City), join ESL/EFL/TESOL expert Caroline Linse for a webchat focused on helping children’s teachers become more aware of the types of Web sites they could find useful. |  |
search for : English as a second language, ESL, English as a foreign language, EFL
Hazelton’s alien law one of several stirring national debate
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Hazleton Area School District has seen its English as a Second Language program quadruple to more than 800 students in the last five years. In some elementary schools, Spanish-speaking students make up nearly one-quarter of total enrollment. “It’s not just they’re learning our ways. We have to learn their ways a little bit, too,” said Daniel Cassarella, director of elementary education. A lifelong Hazleton resident, Cassarella, 61, has a special insight into the city’s new demographics. His wife, after taking time off to rear their children, took a part-time job in the district about 17 years ago helping its lone ESL teacher. Now she is one of 22 full-time ESL instructors. |
search for : English as a Second Language, Spanish-speaking students, ESL teacher
Bilingual babies keep ability to discern languages from visual cues
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Babies as young as four months old can tell whether a speaker has switched languages from visual cues alone, but only those who grow up in a bilingual home seem to hang on to the ability, researchers have found. In Friday’s issue of the journal Science, Whitney Weikum, a doctoral student in neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, and her colleagues report the results of their tests on 96 infants who were shown video clips of bilingual speakers. |
search for : bilingual home, neuroscience, bilingual speakers
City Reading Scores For Middle School Students Show Improvement
| In 2007, 56 percent of the city’s English-proficient third through eighth graders met the state’s reading standards, but when students learning English as a second language are included, the passing rate fell to about 51 percent, virtually the same overall rate as last year. The passing rate of 56 percent for English-proficient students is about three points higher than the same group for last year, but still well below the statewide overall average of about 62 percent. |  |
search for : English-proficient
Yorkville adds ESL teaching staff
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Several hundred students here will get about twice as much help learning English next year as the district expands options for youngsters who speak Spanish and other languages at home. The School Board has approved dividing English-as-a-second-language classes by skill level and subject, doubling the number of instructors in the district from four to eight, and possibly creating a mixed Spanish-and-English kindergarten class as early as 2008. “Our population is increasing,” said Assistant Superintendant Doug Trumble, who recommended the new hires. Since 2005, the number of the district’s more than 4,000 students who need extra help with English has grown from 75 to 280. Roughly 80 percent of those students speak Spanish. |
search for : English as a Second Language, ESL, English-as-a-second-language class
| For anyone who isn’t bilingual, simple greetings in Spanish, Italian or French fall on deaf ears. The Ritter Public Library is hoping to change that by offering its patrons the free use of a widely known computer program called Rosetta Stone. It’s the latest way for people seeking to upgrade their communication skills to learn a foreign language at their own pace without the pressures of classroom instruction. All you need is a library card that offers special access, and the will to learn. With a computer and Internet service, you can choose from French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian, Spanish (Latin America) and Spanish (Spain). |  |
search for : bilingual