ELT World North America

Minnesota: When Jim Robinson came to St. Cloud State University in 1989, only a few students wanted to teach English to schoolchildren who didn’t know the language. The school had no degree program or licensure program for those who did, either. Twenty years later, St. Cloud State’s English as a Second Language program is the largest producer of ESL teachers in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and the second-largest producer in the state behind Hamline. Its program has about 200 students, and as many as 50 will get their degrees this year.

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Georgia: JeeHae Lee found her passion in a “garten” more than 5,000 miles from her South Korean home. She and her mother, Hi-Ja Kim, a school principal, traveled to Germany as part of a delegation studying the various ways countries educate children. Lee’s exploration led her to Athens, where today she serves as a lead language teacher at Howard B. Stroud Elementary School. She helps children there who arrive speaking a primary language other than English. Most, if not all of her students this year, communicate primarily in Spanish. How Lee relates to them often is personal since embracing change is a skill she had to acquire, too.

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Massachusetts: Brazilian immigrants make up about a third of the population of Framingham, Massaschusetts. Many newspapers, radio stations and businesses cater to the immigrant’s needs. But the Brazilians still want desperately, to learn English. Eduardo de Oliveira of Feet in Two Worlds reports that the town’s English classes are so popular that you need to win a lottery to get in.

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Wisconsin: The State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has announced that students from Racine Unified’s Limited English Proficient, also known as English Language Learner, programs have met the Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives for the 2007-08 school year. “The student’s progress is a reflection of the instruction by our bilingual and ESL teachers,” said Dr. Jose Martinez, interim director of English Language Learner programs.

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Massachusetts: The Morse is one of several libraries in the area conducting English as a Second Language programs (through Literacy Unlimited) for those not from around here — and that “around” can mean anywhere from Mexico to Moldavia. “We asked students, ‘what would you like to learn?’ They want to speak, to have that social interaction,” said Christie. “There’s like skills in that, too, and people also create friendships.”

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Tennessee: The Daily Beacon reports how the University of Tennessee is hosting several exchange students visiting the United States from Brazil. For five weeks, 20 students will be on campus, learning about the history and culture of East Tennessee. The English Language Institute began in 1978 to encourage developing English language skills of non-native students. Students are sent to the U.S. through this program by their employers, or they enroll themselves in order to improve their English by immersion.

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Nebraska: Ray Caras, a 10th-grader at Columbus High School, is one of 15 CHS students helping tutor Emerson students in reading. Through the Learning Together program started this semester, the students are meeting twice a week at the elementary school. A unique part to the program is that both the elementary and high school participants are English language learners and are reading below their grade levels. So, participating in the program helps not only the younger ones, but also the older students practice their reading skills.

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Nebraska: In 1996, Crete had 59 English Language Learners. By 2006, it had 560-a nearly 850 percent increase-and they now constitute one-third of the total student enrollment. But it’s certainly not the only community in this country with sky-rocketing numbers of Spanish speakers. Across the United States, but especially in the new “gateway” states (which include heartland states like Nebraska and almost the entire Southeast), the sudden jump in English Language Learners (ELLs) has been both dramatic and challenging.

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Illinois: Opinions clashed over the value of Chicago Public Schools efforts to alleviate discriminatory effects on students who are learning to speak English, with federal court supervision of the system hanging in the balance.

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Illinois: Tess Setchell thinks the new dual-language learning program her 5-year-old daughter will enter this fall at Salt Creek Elementary School will help her grow and prepare her for a multilingual society. Though the dual-language program will be new at the Elk Grove Village school and in Arlington Heights-based Community Consolidated School District 59, other schools in the north and northwest suburbs have had programs that teach students part of the day in one language and part of the day in another.

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