ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

It was ironic that I was visiting a Vista High School US History class being taught exclusively in Spanish. After class I picked up the North County Times which carried this editorial headline:



If I understand this correctly, classes such as the one I was observing next year will be history (no pun intended). The emphasis will be English immersion. Good or Bad? Depends who you ask – it is a red-hot debate, it is sacred ground – it is a solipsistic issue with two disputing bands of professionals as its core – each with their own special pedagogical and political interests at heart.

In 1998 California passed Proposition 227 which did away with bilingual education. It is now 2005 – so what does this mean to teachers; to me? It means we have to be much more cognitive of what English Language Learners (ELL) students truly require – in theory and practice. We must be much more pro-active and sensitive to assess literacy levels and work to scaffold the students to be successful in the classes we teach all the while insuring that not only ELL students progress but that all students have the same support to excel in school. A challenge – you bet! Doable? No doubt.