ESL Train

LA and New York revamping their ELL programs

Two largest school systems in the country have announced that they will begin implementing measures that better serve their English language learners.

With pressure from officials on both the state and federal levels, the New York City Department of Education along with Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to make changes to pre-existing curriculum and take on new programs that better target the hundreds of thousands of ELL students in each city.

New York city officials have already promised to implement 125 bilingual programs over a span three years as well as take extra steps to reach out and communicate with parents of English language learners about the opportunities available for their children. Additionally, New York schools will be required to better their assessments and records regarding the performance of ELL student and utilize this information in an efficient way which gives critical feedback to students and parents.

In Los Angeles, officials and school districts will begin to feel strong pressure to locate and utilize academic resources and opportunities and provide this to African-American students. This measure comes after the LA Unified School District came under fire for not providing equal education to minority students.

There are approximately 200,000 students in the LA schools learning English. This makes up about 30 percent of LA’s total student population. In New York City about 154,000 students are said to be ELL students which accounts for about 14 percent of the total students. With the two largest school districts in the country making significant strides to better their ELL programs, hopefully other districts around the country will follow suit.

Get your student's parents involved and in the classroom

Teachers of English language learners probably all understand the challenges of getting student’s parents involved in their learning, especially if parents struggle with the language barrier. This doesn’t mean parents are uninvolved or not concerned about their children’s education and success but they just have difficulties communicating with the teacher about their children’s progress. Here are a few helpful tips that can allow parents to feel more welcome in the classroom and enables them to become more engaged with the teacher and their child’s learning.

Summer letters

During the summer, mail a letter greeting your students’ parents in their native language. Introduce yourself as their child’s teacher and explain how excited you are to meet them in the following year. Also, first week of class, mail home another letter indicating an open door policy that invites parents to meet and talk with you about their students’ performance.

Make the call

Instead of calling parents to tell them about the behavioral problems and bad performance of their children while in class, make it a habit to call parents and tell them about the positive behaviors or good grades their kids are achieving.

If all else fails, make the visit

Visiting your students’ parents at home will indicate your care for your students’ success. Once you’re invited in, ask parents what they think is the best plan of action for getting their child involved and performing at their best while in class.

Make video conferences

A few times a year, during big presentations, video tape students performing their lesson. Invite their parents into the class to watch their child’s performance which allows for an open and inviting dialog to begin one the parents are present.

A documentary all ELL instructors should watch

For teachers of English language learners, or anyone who’s interested in learning more about learning English and other languages in this country, I recommend the documentary Speaking in Tongues.

In 2009, the documentary Speaking in Tongues was released in order to illustrate the benefits of teaching our English language learners in a bilingual environment, as opposed to monolingual programs.

The film follows four students through various stages in their education within San Francisco’s nationally recognized bilingual education program. Students who are learning to speak English, are also taught to become fluent in other languages, such as Mandarin, Spanish, and Cantonese.

This film sends a resounding message against the backdrop of contemporary American politics and the issue of multiple languages. over 30 states have voted to make English the national language of America and most schools in the country practice monolingual programs that force students learning English to learn just that, without the option of speaking in their native languages, or learning an alternative language. One opponent of bilingual programs has even stated that America is becoming “a modern day Babel” where multiple languages are tolerated which threatens our nation’s identity.

However, I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that speaking multiple languages in this country is a negative thing. In Europe, and many countries elsewhere, citizens are expected to be fluent in 2 or more languages. How can detractors be so ignorant to say that we should be a country of one language. America’s identity has never been one ethnicity, religion, or color. This country is run on the basis that we are a melting pot.

Speaking in Tongues is a touching documentary that illustrates the strength this country could reach if the ignorant individuals who lived here would realize that embracing multiple languages is a positive and non-threatening move.

Useful sites for ESL teachers and students

If you’re struggling to find quality online content that helps you plan lessons for your English language learners or you need simple websites that your students can navigate, here are a few ideas.

There a a lot of online mapping sites but Community Walk is easy to use for students learning English. It’s a great site for students who are wanting to illustrate the places they visited during a field trip. It’s also a useful resource for students to use if working on history reports or other activities that require them to get out and about. It’s a simple way for students to search descriptions and pictures of places and present it on a navigable and interactive map.

This is a good site for instructors to use when wanting to teach listening skills in class. Blabberize allows its users to upload pictures or use online image of people, animals, or other objects and then record your voice describing the picture (or whatever lesson you want). You can then play these images to the class and a digital mouth speaks your recorded voice while the picture is shown. It’s great practice for your students to work on their listening skills

ESL Video is again, another great resource for teachers to implement in their classrooms. Instructors can pick which level video to use (beginning, intermediate, advanced) and then choose between different categories, such as favorite foods, or directions. There are all sorts of short videos that can be played to your class. Afterwords, you can quiz your students on the video’s subject matter using already generated quizzes, or create your own. A great site that engages students and helps them develop their listening and recall skills.

California needs to revamp ESL education

Did you know 25% of students in the California education system are English language learners. This makes up one third of English language learners in the entire country. The state is home to the nations largest population of Hispanic students, but these same students are continuously rated worst in the nation for reading and math performance. Now, LA school districts have come under harsh fire for not providing equal education for non-native English speakers. There are approximately 200,000 English learners in the whole LA school system, and many kids are not receiving the curriculum they need to excel in the English language, and are also floundering in other academic areas.

California, Arizona, and Massachusetts are the only states in the country that continue to teach strictly English immersion classes for English learners. This means students are immersed, day one, into an all English speaking classroom. All of their subjects are taught in English, and priority is given to learning the language, over other areas like math or history. Because students are quickly thrown into these immersion courses, they soon begin to fail in other courses because they do no understand the material as it is taught in a foreign language.

All other states take a different, and what seems to be, more affective approach for teaching their students how to speak English. Most English language programs are taught using bilingual methods, meaning educators teach lessons in their students’ native languages, and slowly implement lessons in English in order to strengthen student performance over time. This enables students to not fall behind in their other courses because they can learn about math equations or historical events in their own languages.

Hopefully, increasing criticism regarding California’s failing English learning programs will motivate the state to implement reforms like bilingual classrooms.

Beware of sleazy teach abroad programs

There are a lot of what seem to be “reputable” companies out there who have jumped on the band wagon and are offering positions to teach English abroad. But make sure you do your research before getting in to deep.

The market for English teachers is increasingly growing and more and more countries are wanting their youth to learn the global language of business in order to broaden their economic prospects. However many companies are just rackets. They hook you into believing they are a secure program that will support you during your time abroad but when they have your money, forget about them caring about your welfare. Not all organizations are sleazy and there are professional companies out there. It just takes some weeding out to find them.

Things to watch out for:

Program Benefits:

Many programs promise certain benefits such as paid accommodations and airfare reimbursements after the program is finished. However be aware that these benefits are associated with the schools your program partners with, not with the actual program you’ve signed up with. So if a program is promising certain benefits, be wary, it’s not always their call but the school you will work with.

Also, the fine print in your contract most likely states that you must serve a certain period of time in order to receive benefits. Some programs even promise to pay for your flight home if you work for a given period. What’s the catch? You have to start the program at a particular date, or stay through a particular date. Of course the program doesn’t advertise what date and you realize half way through your program you must pay your own flight home because you didn’t begin the job in time.

Read the contract!!

I’m one of those people whose given a contract and quickly glances over it before signing. My advice, read carefully. These programs create broad legal contracts that cover their butts in most situations. So know what you’re getting into.

I learned the hard way. I signed up for a program to teach in Thailand for about a year. When recent floods (the worst in 50 years) inundated Bangkok as well as the city I was hired to teach at, I decided to postpone my trip. Little did I know, the program I had signed on with held no responsibility for me in case of natural disasters and was not obligated to refund my program expenses. I lost a lot of money because of it.

Read program reviews:

With any program you are interested in teaching with read reviews that are not on the program’s website. Get opinions from those who have done it and are not directly writing to promote the company. Also make sure to search for potential scams.

Teach English in Georgia

Georgia is quickly becoming a hotspot for English teachers who want to experience what it’s like to teach abroad.

Since taking office in 2003 after an uprising, western minded President Mikheil Saakashvili has become determined to transition his country from the grips of Russian influence. One of his proposals is to make English Georgia’s primary language.

During communist rule, countries under Russian control were often forced to adopt Russian as their primary language, a way to unite many nations under a single dominant regime. After the fall of Soviet Russia, many countries formerly under the control of the communist state began to integrate their own languages as the primary means of communication, pushing Russian to a secondary language. The reason for countries such as Estonia, Uzbekistan, and now Georgia to weed out Russian and incorporate their own language was to develop their own nationalism and promote their new state of independence. Now, Georgia also sees English as a way for his people to strengthen their country’s economy and participate in the global market.

Data indicates that most Georgians older than 40 years of age speak Russian, while younger demographics are becoming increasingly more interested in learning English.

In order to appease the Georgian people and appeal to English speakers around the world, President Saakashvili and the government have instituted English programs modeled after Peace Corps and Teach for America. Qualified English speakers are able partner with the Ministry of Education and teach in Georgian schools throughout the country. They are offered free accommodation, often with Georgian families, and receive monthly living stipends, sometimes in addition to the pay received for working. Former English teachers that have taught in Georgian schools have reported being welcomed by both school staff and children and have been happy with their experience working abroad.

If you’re looking into teach abroad positions, consider Georgia as an option. The government and many of its younger citizens are excited to work towards becoming an English speaking nation and are very welcoming to those interested in helping.