The Challenge Of Serving Non-English Speaking Students
A growing population of English as a second language students is forcing the Keystone Oaks School District to hire new teachers amid budget concerns.
The school’s ESL population ballooned from a handful of students more than a decade ago to 70 now, causing administrators to reassess how to best serve those students.
The state recommends ESL students receive two and a half to five hours of ESL education daily, Assistant Superintendent Kathy Foster said. (more…)
ESL Classes Cater To All Cultures
Lecturers Lindy Chan and Stella John said it was wonderful to welcome so many students to the course, from those with English as a second language to those with English as a first language who want to brush up on their existing reading and writing skills.
“The wonderful thing about this CGEA class is that it has two different angles so we can teach both streams of learning,” says Lindy.
“One aspect concentrates on students who wish to improve their current levels of literacy and are looking for extra employability skills, while the other gives students practise with speaking and writing English.” (more…)
Minneapolis Schools Address Language Gap
In the hallways of Andersen United School, Spanish is spoken as often as English, and Dora the Explorer backpacks dangling from coat hooks in kindergarten classrooms outnumber Disney-themed ones.
Close to 800 English language learners are at the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school in south Minneapolis, more than twice as many as at any other school in the city’s school district.
The 1,100-student school is the prime testing ground for Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson’s initial effort to improve education for students who speak English as a second or even third language. (more…)
Language Testing Rules Questioned For Effectiveness
Shuler Pelham spent Wednesday morning trying to explain to a 15-year-old Mexican boy why he should come to school.
The teen arrived in Nashville in March, attended one week at Overton High in August and then disappeared. A truancy court ordered him back to Overton.
He told Pelham, the principal, that school is too hard when you don’t know any English. Besides, he said, he’ll probably move back to Mexico with his family by summer. (more…)