English Language Learners
What is the best way to teach students the language?
There are as many ELL programs as there are schools. Some use total immersion but other schools vary greatly in how they teach the language to foreign speaking students.
Ventnor, NJ
Ventnor Elementary School has an interesting student body. Geoff Mulvihill, [The Associated Press, NJ.com, 2-8-07] says, "Ventnor, a seaside bedroom community whose year-round population of about 11,000 includes many employees of the casinos in neighboring Atlantic City, is an extreme case. Its 1,000 students speak a total of 19 languages."
Languages
Students at Ventnor hail from
- Chili
- Mexico
- Puerto Rico
- Albania
- Germany
- Honduras
- Spain
- Vietnam
- U.S.
but some of these countries have different dialects and one country's language must be treated as two or more.
NCLB
Mulvihill states, "Under federal educational policy, the students who are just learning English are now held to the same expectations on standardized tests given in English as children who uttered their first words in English." Theoretically, a student who moved from Spain on Monday could be expected to take a standardized test for NCLB on Wednesday in English.
20 or More
"New Jersey is one of a handful of states that requires some schools to offer bilingual education. The theory is that students should not be left behind in content areas such as science and math as they get a grasp on English," says Mulvihill. Therefore, any language that has twenty or more students must teach those students in their native language. Arizona and California have abandoned this philosophy but New Jersey continues to promote this policy. One ESL or ELL 5th grade class has only five seventh grade students but they have four native languages: Vietnamese, German, Spanish and Albanian. These students do not have to be taught in their native languages.
Spanish-Dominant
The classes that are Spanish-dominant follow these steps:
- Kindergarten--solely taught in Spanish
- 1st grade--mixture of Spanish and English
- 2nd grade--mixture of Spanish and English
- 3rd grade--primarily English
Total Immersion
Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota offers language camps to students from all over the world in the summer. Fourteen languages are offered by "total immersion." Students are greeted at the camp by "customs agents" speaking fluently in the language the child has selected. Students not only learn the languages but the cultures of the countries. The camps are available for one week, two weeks, four weeks, and high school credit. In just two weeks, the results are amazing. This is an incredible experience for children. Visit Concordia Language Villages for more information. Sessions are filling up as early as January for the following summer.
NCLB Timeline
Mulvihill states, "Under the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law, states must monitor how many students in various subgroups -- including English learners -- pass standardized tests. If the number is not high enough, schools risk losing federal money or being taken over by the state. Every three years, the percentage of students who must pass goes up. In the 2013-14 school year, schools could face sanctions if any students fail."
Related article: NCLB Unfair to the Poor
Read previous articles on Educational Issues.
Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
