Empowering English As A Second Language (ESL) Class For Immigrant Parents

While immigrant youth may gain useful knowledge and skills, they miss out significantly on culture resources because they become Americanized. Subtracting schooling occurs in a variety of ways. Classifying ESL (English as a second language) are labeled “limited English proficient rather than as Spanish dominant” (p. 173), faculty and staff linguistically butcher names through mispronunciations, materials such as the school handbook that does not even mention the ELS program are not provided in English, and information is withheld from capable youth which can result in failure. This chapter also addresses the divisions among youth such as Latina female friends, religious immigrant males, immigrant females in trouble, ESL students, mixed generation groups, and U.S. born

The class is a mainstreamed first grade co-teach class of 34 students and two teachers. There are 16 females and 18 males that included 12 active English Language Learners (ELLs) (5 females, 7 males) and five Level 5 (proficient) students. The 12 ELL students represent five languages—Spanish (7), Chinese (1), Chin Burmese (1), and Arabic (2), Brazilian Portuguese (1). Eight of the twelve students tested at Level 1 on the WIDA language proficiency scale.

Furthermore, Vonderlack-Navarro suggest another beneficial way to support English language learners is to involve parents in the students’ education. Because of the language barriers, education levels, and culture, this goal will not be a stress-free assignment; however, once the parents have “buy-in” and trust the school systems, the goal would be accomplished (Stover,

The curriculum for English-Spanish Learners (ESL) or English-Language Learners, was created to assist students who do not speak any or little English. Angela Valenzuela describes in her article, “Subtractive Schooling, Caring Relations, and Social Capital in the Schooling of U.S.~Mexican Youth,” that

As our nation shifts towards a more culturally diverse population both educators and families have to find a common ground to ensure that English Language Learners are academically successful. All stakeholders must carefully consider the social cultural impact on an ELL education. The process of raising bilingual learners take more than a language a school and a language learned at home. The transition must have a purpose and a goal.

The students that make up the school are mostly Latino, African American, West Indian and white. Language is the medium through which students gain access to the curriculum. (Tamara Lucas). For example, Maria was placed in a dual language classroom, since arriving from Mexico and when she entered middle school that was taken away. The teacher in her English class needs to realize it takes second language learners longer to develop fluency in academic English than in conversational English. (Tamara Lucas). Ms. O’reilly should take this inconsideration when it comes to the strategies used in the classroom. Social interaction will help Maria’s language development and a method that can be useful to promote social interaction is the use of group work. Using group work will allow Maria to not only expand her English skills but also learn from the other students. Tamara Lucas states; “Scaffolding learning for ELLs requires teachers to consider the relationship between students’ linguistic abilities and the tasks through which they are expected to learn”. Ms. O’reilly has set the goal of having all the students to be on the same level at the end of the school year, this might not be a realistic goal since each child comes from different backgrounds and learn at different speeds. Different scaffolding strategies should be use to accommodate the ELLs in her classroom. Group work, sharing about ones culture, knowing the child’s mother tongue and creating a comfortable environment where the students can raise their hand or ask questions without feeling dumb or like an

Majority of college football or basketball teams bring in enough money to support many student clubs and programs. Even though they bring enough for these programs and enough for themselves, what about the other teams that don’t bring in any money at all. Teams like lacrosse , golf or swimming might not earn as much revenue to support themselves and using money the bigger teams bring to give to them would not be fair Splitting money between all the teams would be hard because there is not a fair way you could spilt it. Many teams earn way more money than the others. Hruby reported that, “NCAA pocketed an astonishing $771 million in television money for its just-completed men's basketball tournament.”(Hruby) The NCAA men’s basketball tournament

Despite having researched the educational challenges ESOL students face, it was only by actively engaging with students that I came to understand the disjunction between the resources available and the requirements for progress in the educational system. ESOL students, lacking familial support and economic resources, are deterred from advancing in their efforts to learn English, thus leading them to become discouraged and

In the article, Involving Parents of English Language Learners in a Rural area. The author explains how ELL have increased in public schools over the years. The author makes note that many of the barriers for ELL include the lack of parental involvement. In addition, the author explains how the lack of parental involvement can hinder a child’s performance and impact collaborative efforts between parents and teachers. Furthermore, this article explains how the cultural divide between parents and teachers can lead to parents feeling inferior.

As someone who is planning on getting licensed to teach two different, yet often marginalized, groups in a school setting, it is very important to consider how to make a school welcoming to all of its students. There is a lot of information available on making a classroom inclusive for students with special needs, but this sort of information is harder to come by for immigrant students who speak a language other than English at home. For this paper, I am looking into the question of how can a school be fundamentally welcoming to students from an immigrant background. I will be doing this by analyzing the experiences of students at a school in Bayview, California, the topic of Made in America: Immigrant Students in our Public Schools, a famous book by Laurie Olsen (1997). Her purpose was to study, “Through their encounters[, …] an illuminated version of the American system of stratification and exclusion through language, cultural, and racial relations” (p. 36). However, by analyzing and describing the school, Olsen has made it possible to assess any number of concerns that immigrant and English Language Learners (ELLs) face. Using the legwork she has already done, I have identified three characteristics a welcoming school should strive towards in order to help immigrant students.

Even though one out of every four children in the United States is an immigrant or the U.S.-born child of immigrants, many schools are ill-equipped to meet their needs. Immigrant youth frequently are learning two languages, an incredible asset, but one that many schools have yet to learn to support effectively. Using multiple forms of communication in the classroom, along with supporting native language development, takes skill and practice. The demands of standardized testing often force schools instead to emphasize rote learning in English, neglecting the incredible asset of children’s native languages and much of what researchers have discovered about how children learn second languages. Related to bilingual language development, immigrant

Many Hispanic families are living in poverty; the children are depended upon to provide for the family as soon as they can. Unfortunately, education becomes second on the priority list. Author Goldenberg, (2004), claims that parents of ELL students do value their children’s education. The author states that parents are heavily involved in making sure their children finish their homework; they participate in parent-teacher meetings and attend school-based parent meetings. From my experience of raising four children, I’ve experienced and have interacted with many E LL parents. I can concur with the author Goldenberg that parents of ELL students do value education. The issues that lie are not based on the fact that they value or don’t value, but more on the inability to support the children in their educational journey. Language exhibits a major barrier to ELL parent-school collaboration. Many ELL parents often feel alienation, misunderstood, or intimidated by their lack of native English skills. Since most school staff are limited by their inability to speak effectively and regularly with ELL parents, this two-way language barrier often prevents and hinders all forms of oral and written communications between school and home (Waterman & Harry, 2008). As one source concurs, author Xiang, (2015), briefly highlights “the three Rs in building a positive and effective ESL learning environment: relationships, resources, and routines” (Xiang, L., 2010,

With nearly 30 million immigrants crossing our borders in the last three decades, the United States education system has seen a dramatic increase in the number of English Language Learners (ELLs) entering the classroom (Migration Policy Institute website, n.d.). With this influx of non-native English speakers has come the need to find the best ways possible to meet them where they are academically and teach them accordingly. However, after years of research, education gurus are still divided on how to best meet the needs of ELLs. While there is no clear-cut approach, there are several strategies and programs that schools can implement in order to help immigrant learners and their families be successful in our school system.

“Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway is a short and confusing story that takes place at a train stop where the two nameless characters wait for their train to Madrid. The male of the story is given the label “The American”, while the girl of the story is just called “The Girl” or “Jig”. They sit at a bar and drink and talk about whether or not the girl should get an abortion. The dialog does not come straight out and tell you what exactly they are talking about. In this story you will have to make your own inferences and use your imagination.

Bilingual” (qtd in Shi, Steen 63). The objective of the ESL students is to learn how to speak, read, and write in English and know about the system of the school too. That learning will help them with other courses in school. ESL students have come from all over the world in America to study. Statistically, the number of immigrants in the USA is growing quickly. This quote shows us that