ELL on Earth: US latest
New Mexico: Library Uses Grant to Help English Learners
Clovis-Carver Public Library was awarded a $5,000 grant last week by the American Library Association to add / increase their literacy services to adult English language learners. The grant was funded by the Dollar General Foundation, and was awarded to 34 public libraries across the United States, according to an ALA press release.
According to Belcher, the money will be spent to help the Hispanic community to improve their English comprehension and fluency and to aid in studying for naturalization tests. Should be enough for a class set of Headways or two, then.
Helping Spanish-speaking families feel comfortable, welcome and valued is a primary aim of Maple’s Family Bridges/Puentes de Familias program, which began in earnest in the fall of 2006, spearheaded by English Language Learner teacher Zehra Greenleaf. Bless.
North Carolina: Nearly Deaf Professor Teaches English Literacy, One Student at a Time
After three degrees, after five universities, after 40,000 pupils, and after 84 years, 10 months and 25 days, John Kuhlman has circumnavigated his way back to the essentials of education: a teacher and a student in a room. With a cochlear implant to capture sound and a practiced skill at reading lips, translating the random noise into words, Kuhlman has learned to converse face to face, particularly in quiet settings like his tutoring room.
Disability enabled ability, or at least affinity. For the last four years, Mr. Kuhlman has been teaching immigrants to read and write English, to listen and speak. Like him, his students are awash in a sea of indiscriminate sound, grasping as he does for comprehension and meaning. In 90-minute individual lessons, Mr. Kuhlman currently tutors 17 students in a week, from Mexico, Thailand, Ecuador, China, El Salvador and Ukraine. It his world, guys, we just live in it.
Read the full superheroic story…
Indiana: Eager to learn, unfairly tested
Math teacher Karen Rhoades calls it the most “despicable” thing she’s ever done as a teacher and no, she’s not talking about a stint as a moderator at Dave’s ESL café. Under federal and state accountability laws, immigrant and refugee students who are not proficient in English still must endure Indiana’s standardized achievement test and have their scores counted along with classmates who speak only English.
Idaho: Teachers’ Perceptions of ELL Education
Since implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) catastrophes, ahem, sorry, mandates, much attention has been focused on the education of the rapidly growing English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools. Disaggregated accountability reports for subgroups are required as a result of NCLB. Schools must report yearly progress in ELL students’ growth in English proficiency, reading, and math tests, and schools must assure that all students are taught by highly qualified teachers.
The investigation aimed to directly solicit solutions and priorities from participants in order to design professional development for the short term, and to rethink teacher education in a proactive mode for the long term. The major questions of the study were: (1) What are the greatest challenges impeding effective education for the state’s ELLs? (2) What areas of professional development are needed to overcome these challenges?
Bloody ELL! Read the full story…
Massachusetts: Barbieri School Axes English-Only Program
Most of the roughly 110 students enrolled in the English language curriculum at the Barbieri Elementary School will be taking classes elsewhere next year to help save money and balance the education budget. “It’s a little surprising to us,” said Angela Haugabrook, a parent of two children at Barbieri, who wished school officials worked to notify parents of the change earlier. ‘I think a lot of parents were not aware this was going on,’ she said.
Now Haugabrook and other parents of next year’s fifth-graders enrolled in the English language program will meet Superintendent Eugene Thayer to discuss whether to keep their kids at Barbieri for one more year, or move them to another school. Sounds like trouble’s a’brewin’.
Connecticut: Norwich schools reach out to immigrants
The Norwich schools and Norwich Adult Education recently teamed up to host two workshops to educate parents of English Language Learner students about the differences between the American education system and schools in other countries and how to improve communication between parents and school officials.
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