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Elsewhere, The new ‘common core’ standards for K-12 math and English might be just what the U.S. Senate needs to break through its partisan logjam. With past failures in mind, notes Education Week, the Common Core State Standards Initiative, begun by governors and chief state school officers, has worked to gain widespread support that cuts across party lines, includes a broad range of education interest groups, and specifically does not involve the federal government.

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Minnesota: Second Thoughts on ESL Programs

Connecticut School ‘Outsources’ ESL

California: Valley Educators Seek New Ways to Teach English

Kansas: English Language Learners Programs Grow Quickly in Metro Area

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Florida: Demographic Changes On Horizon For County Schools

A new report unsurprisingly shows that a major increase in the Southeastern states’ Hispanic population will force schools to focus more attention on Spanish-speaking students and Hernando County is no exception. In Hernando, the population of students enrolled in English Language Learners — or ELL — has grown considerably since 2005, after Hurricanes Frances, Jeanne and Wilma walloped the southern half of the state.

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Arizona: New law puts pressure on ELL programs

Responding to new legislation, the state is preparing to change the way it educates its English learners this fall. As part of those changes, there will be more pressure placed on schools to successfully move English learners to speaking proficient English — and to do it more quickly. Sounds like trouble if you ask me. Schools measure what they call “reclassification rates,” which show the percentage of those students who become proficient in English each year.

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The ‘ell’ of learning English

Tennessee: ELL Enrollment Expected to Increase

Each year, Nashville’s public school system invests $15 million into the English Language Learners program. With a diverse student body that continues to expand that dollar amount may grow in the future. Throw money at the problem, that’s what I say.

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Massachusetts: No Longer Lost in Translation

None of her fellow students teased Maria Smolina, 13, just because she had to sound out simple test words, or because she confused her pronouns. They didn’t think it unusual that she still can’t get used to the taste of peanut butter or macaroni and cheese.

Smolina is one of about 200 students attending the Milford school system’s redesigned program for newcomers to English. Out of its total enrollment of 4,200 students, Milford has the largest number of English language learner, or ELL, pupils of any district in the Blackstone Valley.

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North Carolina: Program Will Put English-Speaking Students in Spanish-Only Class

Bilingual education is making a splash in McDowell County. Superintendent Ira Trollinger has announced the beginning of a new language immersion program for kindergarteners. Starting in July, some kindergarten classes at Eastfield Elementary will be structured around the Splash program. So now you know.

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Maryland: States Seeking Proper Balance in Use of ELL Test Scores

Now that they have new English-language-proficiency tests to comply with the federal ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act, state education officials are trying to come up with guidelines on how school districts use those tests to decide when English-language learners no longer need specialized instruction. Better late than never, it would seem. States vary widely in how prescriptive they are in the use of those test scores, but most seem to be taking steps toward standardizing the process.

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Alabama: Some Families of Students with Limited Proficiency in English Leaving the Hoover School System, As the Number of English Language Learners is Down

After years of growth, enrollment in Hoover City Schools’ program for students with limited English proficiency has dropped for the first time. School officials say it’s an indication that some immigrant families may be moving out of the city in search of jobs or more affordable housing. Either that or they already speak English.

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Pennsylvania: Language Teachers Help Students Learn Skills for Success
 
At the Shenandoah Valley School District, Eileen Marchetti teaches 62 students English as a Second Language in two rooms that used to be the staff lounge. “The number of students changes from year to year, but it’s growing steadily. We’re at a premium for space here,” she said. The program provides specialized instruction to non-English speaking students in pre-K through 12th grade in reading, writing, speaking and understanding English. Since Marchetti started the program in 2002 with 26 students, the district’s ESL staff has expanded. Two full-time certified ESL assistant teachers now work with Marchetti, who is the program’s full-time coordinator.

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Florida: English on Wheels Program Now Stationary at Immokalee Library

Sitting around three tables, nine women come together to learn English at the Immokalee Public Library. Much like all the women, Lucy Gutierrez and Ana Sierra, both 30 and natives of Mexico, know the importance of understanding and speaking English now that they live in the United States. Today, the Immokalee mothers are attending an English for speakers of another language class so they can communicate with others at local businesses, their children’s doctor and also help their children with homework once they start school.

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Arkansas: In a move that can hardly be considered revolutionary, Northwest Arkansas teachers have created a targeted vocabulary list this year to help students with limited English skills score better on state mandated Benchmark exams. The list shows specific words that students must understand to meet the state’s learning objectives.

The vocabulary was identified after teachers realized that students designated as English-language learners were using words (shock, horror) without fully understanding their meanings, said Buddy Auman, director of the cooperative and newly emerged from the dark ages, one would presume.

I don’t know whether such a story should be newsworthy in the 21st century, but, hey, if you really must, read the full story here.

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I taught ESL in California, USA for about one year. After I posted a few flyers in the Mexican supermarkets a lot of South and Central Americans called me. After a few lessons, I realized that the main thing I needed to teach was not English, but rather self confidence and basic studying skills. I had a 50-year-old student, who had been sent to work on a farm since the age of 5, and had been working ever since.

He had never studied, and felt very insecure about his ability to learn. His wife told me, that he was worried I would not want to teach him because of his bad memory! I constantly encouraged him, and told him he was doing very well. My top priority was to be very patient. I kept reminding myself that what I had planned to teach, was for HIM and not for me. It would take a few weeks to complete one lesson.

Read the full artcle at One Stop English Magazine. Also, learn more about teaching in North America at the forum and at the North America blog.

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