I have spent the last 10 years working with teachers and students as a teacher myself and now as a teacher coach. I love my chosen profession, but I am concerned about the "invisible children," those who are learning English as a second language. In this country we have a reputation for jumping on many a bandwagon from READING, READING, READING to MATH, MATH, MATH, to protected reading time, intervention, and RTI. Because demographics change, there is no single "program" that will solve all the problems of American Public Education, certainly not if these "programs" are aimed at a demographic that no longer exists in this country. The facts are these:- More than 5.5 million, or 11%, of public school students are now categorized as English language learners (NCES 2006).
- language acquisition is a process
- Social language (BICS) develops faster than academic language (CALPS) therefore just because a child can talk with friends doesn't mean they understand academic language
- It is BEST PRACTICE for teachers to consider ALL learners background and needs
- "What's good for ELLs is good for everyone else. What's good for everyone else is NOT always good for ELLs." --Cindy Hunt
As an advocate for all children to have an equitable education in this country, I ask myself how I fight for this change.
I have always felt the need for a solution, but I felt even more of a boost taking the culture class for the ESL program. We read Outcast United which I would love to use as a cross-curriculum unit my 9th graders. Anyways in searching about the book, I came across a few activist documentaries coming out. I will probably blog about them as well, but here are the two links:
ReplyDelete1. http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/
2. http://thelotteryfilm.com/