August 2007
Monthly Archive
29 Aug 2007 07:20 am
Inclusiveness Needed for Latino students in Indiana
| Despite well-intentioned efforts and a recent influx of funding from the Indiana General Assembly, more resources and different tactics are needed to address the huge growth in the number of Latino limited-English-proficiency students in the state, according to Indiana University researchers. That’s the conclusion of a special report from the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University. The report, “Latino Language Minority Students in Indiana: Trends, Conditions, and Challenges,” concludes that schools and communities tend to segregate and marginalize Latino students and other English language learners. While many schools may devote most resources and time to technical mastery of English, the report states more time should be focused on better training for staff and broader literacy development for students. |
 |
(more…)
28 Aug 2007 06:19 am
Latinos Describe “How I Learned English” in New Essay Collection
 |
Changing a language can change one’s worldview or even one’s personality, as University of Michigan anthropology professor Ruth Behar writes: “They tell me I was a nonstop talker, una cotorrita. But after we arrived in the United States I became shy, silent, sullen. I have no memory of myself as a little girl speaking Spanish in Cuba.” I have observed the personality changes that using different languages can bring first hand–my husband was born in New York to French parents, and learned English as a second language, in part from Sesame Street. When he speaks in French, he is typically more of a social papillon than he is when he speaks in English. |
(more…)
28 Aug 2007 06:06 am
Pescadero Making Special Efforts To Help English Language Learners
 |
In a school district where half the students are classified as English-language learners and more than 70 percent count English as a second language, classrooms throughout the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District have had to evolve to accommodate students with different levels of language ability. And with the start of a new school year, the district has a new plan in place to raise English language test scores and encourage classroom participation by students whose parents have often just arrived from Mexico. The students’ struggles to learn English has affected the school district’s overall academic performance in recent years. The district has been placed on “program improvement” status under the No Child Left Behind Act for its failure to meet academicbenchmarks in English-language performance over the past five years. |
(more…)
search for : English-language learners
27 Aug 2007 07:42 am
Learning English a Challenge For Most ESL Students
| Faye Leath, director of at-risk services, said the Alamance County School System relies on government funding to pay ESL teachers, provide support services for migrant students, and staff the intake center, which assesses student abilities. Next year, the schools will receive an estimated $2 million in state funding and another $382,000 in federal funding for ESL and migrant students. A handful of school principals have dug into their own coffers to pay for a translator, but the large majority of schools rely on teachers to make sure parents understand what is going on.Tina Manning, the school system’s lead ESL teacher, said sometimes other parents comment to her about the resources spent on educating Hispanic children. She tells them that federal law requires them to educate all students, regardless of immigration status. “Bottom line is no matter how you feel about immigration or anything else, the school system is here to serve the child,” Manning said. “And we want to educate everyone to be a productive person in this country.” |
 |
(more…)
search for : ESL
26 Aug 2007 06:38 am
Closing the Achievement Gap
 |
At a school where 75 percent of the students know very little English — and their parents even less — teaching English is the goal, but speaking Spanish makes the connections. It turns on those little lights in a child’s brain and comforts intimidated parents. Improving their own Spanish skills is one way teachers are reaching out to Hispanic students, who are often struggling to catch up with their English-speaking peers. Educators call this disparity the “achievement gap,” and it’s one of those daunting problems that gets bigger every year as more Hispanic families move into the county. It’s a dilemma that shows itself publicly around test time, when people see how poorly students perform when they can barely read the questions on a test. |
(more…)
search for : Hispanic families
25 Aug 2007 06:27 am
Lompoc CA Students Keep Pace
| Results of California’s two-part high school exit exam, released Thursday, show that 77 percent of Lompoc 10th graders passed the English-language arts portion in their first attempt as freshmen last school year. Seventy-six percent passed the mathematics section. Those scores match last year’s scores in math but are slightly lower in English - down from 81 percent in the previous school year. But they also show that local students are keeping pace with students statewide, Lompoc Unified School District officials said. But the scores for 10th-grade students who began with English as a second language but were labeled as Redisignated English Fluent Proficient Students, were significantly higher - 91 percent for English-Language Arts and 85 percent for Mathematics, Bass said. “These percentages are extremely high,” Bass said. These are students who used to be classified as English Second Language and have now been redisignated. … It’s a shining spot to look at.” |
 |
(more…)
24 Aug 2007 07:36 am
Hispanic Churches Add English Services
| |
While churches from every imaginable tradition have been adding Spanish services to meet the needs of new immigrants, an increasing number of Hispanic ethnic congregations are going the other way - starting English services. It’s an effort to meet the demands of second- and third-generation Hispanics, keep families together and reach non-Latinos. In some cases, the greater English emphasis has contributed to a growing phenomenon: evangelical Protestant megachurches drawing crowds in the thousands that aren’t white and suburban, but Hispanic and anchored in the inner city. |
(more…)
23 Aug 2007 07:29 am
Districts weigh increasing costs against students’ needs
| South Fayette School District is seeing more students whose first language is not English. “Our “English Language Learners” - students whose first language is not English, continues to increase in numbers and therefore, the dollars spent on those services continues to rise. We experienced a 49.5% increase or $42,768. The district spends well over $100,000 per year for these services,” said the superintendent. “Special education costs continue to escalate as that population of children with special needs grows.” “Several years ago, for example, school districts were required to put into place an English as a second language program,” Urbanek said. “We were required to employ a teacher for that if we did not have one. Following that, we were given class size numbers and considered employing another full or part time teacher. |
|
(more…)
— Next Page »