August 2007
Monthly Archive
22 Aug 2007 07:00 am
Growing Asian community needs ESL skills
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Santa Clara County’s Asian population has jumped by 20 percent so far this decade, fast overtaking San Francisco as the county in the continental United States with the largest share of Asians. In order for Santa Clara County to continue thriving, we must pay closer attention to the needs of our growing Asian-American community. As we help Asian immigrants adjust to life in Silicon Valley and become contributors to the economy, we must recognize the need for English-as-a-second-language courses and culturally proficient support services that address the diverse needs of the population. |
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search for : English-as-a-second-language courses
21 Aug 2007 07:24 am
Learning A Second Language At Summer Camp
| Heading to summer camp is a rite of passage that many girls and boys anticipate eagerly. But for English as a Second Language (ESL) students, going away to camp takes on a whole new meaning. For them, far from home isn’t a different town or province, it’s another continent. And when they arrive in Canada for the first time, there are new faces, new geography and a new language. That’s pretty intense when you’re only nine or 12 years old. The month-long camp held at Kings-Edgehill for the past two years promises fun and adventure in rural Nova Scotia, but the main focus is language. Students spend three hours each weekday with ESL instructors improving their spoken and written English. |
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search for : English as a Second Language, ESL
20 Aug 2007 07:43 am
Lee County schools deal with immigration
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When the Lee County School District begins classes Monday, it expects about 800 new students who speak Spanish, Haitian-Creole, Portuguese or some other language — not English. That represents one in five of the 4,000 additional students Lee schools expect to welcome, bringing the projected enrollment to 82,100. It also means 8 percent of the district’s students have a lot of work to do to catch up to their English-speaking peers. |
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19 Aug 2007 07:36 am
A Better Way to Teach ESL Students
| Educators in Texas say a new method of teaching English to Spanish-speaking children is superior to the old way of delivering bilingual education. Several school districts in Texas have abandoned an approach used for the 35 years and adopting “dual language,” The Dallas Morning News reported Friday. Education researchers said dual language is superior because it helps students develop skills in both English and their native Spanish. With dual language, Spanish-speaking children receive approximately half their lessons in English and half in Spanish through the fifth or sixth grade. Under the bilingual system, the emphasis was on getting Spanish-speaking children into regular classrooms as early as second grade. |
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18 Aug 2007 07:46 am
Accommodating English Language Learners
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More and more students who do not speak English are enrolling in schools in Tennessee. Metro Schools also has seen the largest increase; more than 6,000 children are enrolled this year. “We represent over 80 countries and over 150 different languages spoken,” said Lawanna Shelton, director of Metro’s English Language Learners program.In the program, students are tested. They also follow the same curriculum as their peers for math, science, and social studies. Every Metro school has some form of the ELL program. Administrators believe the students benefit from what they learn in those classrooms. For a number of years, the state has supported some form of “English as a second language” as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. |
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17 Aug 2007 07:44 am
Acton Chinese Language School Teaches Chinese And Others
| Four and a half years ago, a group of Acton residents followed the lead of their neighbors in Cambridge and Newton by setting up a Chinese language school to accommodate the growing Chinese population in town. Michelle Deng, a former principal of the school and a member of the board of directors, said the school has come to serve a dual purpose. While it was originally founded to teach first and second generation Chinese-Americans to learn about their families’ heritage and culture, it has expanded to incorporate non-Chinese residents who want to learn about this growing segment of the town’s population. |
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search for : Chinese-Americans
16 Aug 2007 07:23 am
Second Language Top Priority in Asheville-Buncombe School System
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There are more than 1,800 English as a Second Language students and 38 languages spoken in Buncombe County Schools. This school year, the district is changing how it teaches ESL students. Instead of teaching the students English separately from their core subjects, the district has begun integrating English lessons into the content of the students’ regular courses. “Before we were more just teaching the language,” said Peggy Ayres, an ESL specialist for Buncombe County Schools. “We are moving away from the isolated ESL approach and using content as the vehicle for teaching the English language.” Last school year, the Buncombe County school district saw 323 additional ESL students enter its schools, a 45 percent increase from the 2004-05 school year. |
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search for : English as a Second Language, ESL
15 Aug 2007 08:02 am
Learning English brings American Dream closer
| Imagine coming to a new country to get a new start in life. You do not understand the money, or the customs, or even the language. Many Edmond residents do not have to imagine this situation — it is their lives. Diana Roberts has been there before. And for the past six years, the Edmond resident has worked as a teacher of English as a second language through the Mid-Del Adult Learning Center. One of the courses she teaches, free of charge, is held at the Edmond Library. The center sponsors some 30 English as a Second Language (ESL) courses each semester across the metro area, which are supported through a United States government grant. A typical class meets twice a week for three hours for four months. Roberts said class sites donate the use of their facilities. |
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search for : English as a Second Language, ESL
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