Children with English language barriers? Send in the French teacher…

Aug 24

jonpeltoBudget Cuts, Education Reform , 10 Comments

The number of students entering public schools who are not fluent, or even proficient, in English is growing.  In some districts, nearly half the students go home to households where English is not the primary language.

For the purposes of our education system, the students who need special help developing their English skills are called “English Language Learners.”

Many of these students come from Spanish-speaking households, but through immigration and adoption, public schools are working with students from a vast array of language backgrounds.

The need for specialized bi-lingual programs is growing, as is the need for additional instructional assistants to work one on one with English language learners.

At the same time, budget cuts are taking their toll, and a number of towns are limiting or reducing their bi-lingual programs and laying off their certified and trained bi-lingual teachers.

A reader recently wrote to describe how her elementary school is dealing with students who need to learn English; now that the district laid-off the teachers who had been running the school’s bi-lingual programs.

The new policy is that the district’s foreign language teachers will be taking over the workload previously performed by the ESL teachers.

So the Spanish teachers have been assigned to the Spanish-speaking children.

And as for the growing number of students who are coming from China and other Asian countries?

The French teacher is being assigned…

I appreciate it maximizes Vietnam’s history of French colonialism, but probably doesn’t work as well with those who speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean or any of the other major languages that students are arriving with.

If legislators were required to have state certification, we’d be talking about the need to add a course in American Demographics to their list of requirements for that certification. But luckily for legislators, no certification of skills is needed.

That said, social studies teachers are urged to contact your legislators.

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  • R.L.

    The way that Adamowski split the schools in Hartford into academies makes it much more difficult to provide these, as well as special ed, services. Because the academies are so separate, they don’t have the numbers to support true billingual classes. Also, there aren’t as many bilingual staff in each academy which makes for less pooling of efforts/resources.

    • Magister

      It looks like the same M.O. For Windham HS as well. Two academies, but a reduction of curricular variety.

      • rr

        Basicallly, Adamowski’s “dresses” up the districts. Shell game. No investment in the teachers who have stayed for whatever reason.

    • rr

      The Fed expectation is that a bilingual program’s critical mass (predominate native language) requirement is 20 in the district!
      ESL is an inappropriate approach for acquisition for young elementary students. Please don’t feed the myth that there aren’t enough bilingual professionals in CT. The tactic is old as “divide and conquer”

  • http://www.facebook.com/melanie.savage.1610 Melanie Savage

    I’m torn on this one. If a family chooses to immigrate to the U.S., the parents know full well that the dominant language is English ahead of time. Why should it be the responsibility of U.S. taxpayers to then foot the bill to teach the children English? Shouldn’t that be the responsibility of the parents? I think my views are pretty progressive in general, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. Where do we draw the line re where it’s the individual’s responsibility to provide for themselves vs. where the responsibility falls upon the taxpayer? I’m open to persuasion. :)

    • R.L.

      If the programs are there, the resources should at least be used efficiently.

      • msavage

        THAT I can certainly agree with!

    • RR

      MS: There is sufficient research indicating that the best pedagogical practice to reading and content learning is in the first language. Emerging bilinguals are compromised when they don’t have access to their first language in learning and all the desires of English acquisition are delayed unnecessarily so. The persistent programming of language and cultural oppression in this day and age is demoralizing and impacts young children’s academic success. ALL children will learn English, please understand that. Please find time to read Kashden, National Association of Bilingual Education website, UCONN Neag School MA in Bilingual Curriculumn and Instruction. Gracias.

  • http://www.facebook.com/melanie.savage.1610 Melanie Savage

    Just wanted to add–I think knowing where to draw the line, so to speak, is part of the problem in this country. The right is clearly perched on the edge of a cliff at the moment and is threatening to go over the edge. But what about the left? Don’t both sides have a responsibility to be reasonable–to “give” a little?

  • rr

    Egads! Adamowski has reassigned the Bilingual Director in New London. Without leadership the till will be assaulted. This man is need of some re-education! Socorro!